IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 21, 2007 A Chilly Night Brings Hot Racing To Ocala by BJ Cavin A cold wind out of the northeast might have chilled the crowd at Ocala Speedway on Friday night, but the racing action quickly compensated with hot action on the track. But before any of that could take place, Ocala Speedway fell silent as the gathered fans, drivers, and the speedway staff, all paused in memory of the 32 victims from Virginia Tech University and their families. Robbie Cooper continues his winning ways. Before the heat races were run a strong field of open wheel modifieds took to the track to run the feature race that was rained out three week previously, on March 30th. Troy Robinson was on the pole and the starting positions were shuffled because three cars that had qualified for the race were not present, and others who were not qualified were allowed to start at the rear of the field. Robbie Cooper left his primary car at home and brought his secondary car to the track, and it overtook Robinson for the lead before the first lap was completed. Cooper held on to take a convincing win, while Robinson settled for second and Mike Stalnaker had an excellent showing in third place. After heat races were run there was a special tribute held for "Uncle Den," a longtime friend and coworker at Ocala Speedway who passed away earlier in the week after a long illness. Lead by the pace car, the drivers did a slow "Polish Victory Lap" around the 3/8ths mile speedway and the crowd stood in silence as a tribute to Denny Armstrong. Lou Tremblay, Ocala Speedway General Manager said that he was saddened by the death of his long time friend and that "Uncle Den" would be missed in the racing community. The V8 Pure Stocks opened feature racing with Don Welter on the pole. A spin in turn 2 at the start caused the field to have to reform and restart, and from there Don Welter jumped the green flag and was charged with a false start. The third time was the charm as the drivers took the green and Don Milam took the lead. But James Erickson took his race car to the front group and remained there to collect the win after Milam's car failed the post race tech inspection and earned a DQ. Matt Schell was second and Jacob Antis raced to a third place finish. When the 4 Cylinder Stocks left the pit area the crowd was stunned to see only five cars ready to race in the feature. Sean Evans suffered an engine failure and had to withdraw, plus John Hagans was unable to take the green due to undisclosed problems. The track officials shortened the race to 12 laps and pole sitter Tom Ellis took advantage and held off all challengers for the win. Rick Kuhn raced Ellis but settled for second place while Rick Elwood (filling in for Justyn Elwood) took the third place finish. Scott Anderson won the pole for the V8 Thunder Stock feature race and fought off a hard charging Josh Brown on the final lap for a win. Jason Henry scrambled to a third place finish as Chris Oliveri lost control in turn 4 on the final lap and slammed into the wall almost head on. It was a scary moment, but Oliveri walked way unscathed. Unfortunately his car was not so lucky and will not be racing again. Pete Close began on the pole in front of 20 Street Stocks, and he made certain that he stayed there until the checkered flags waved at the end. Norm Brown was the closest challenger to Close but had to settle for a second place finish, and Kyle Maynard overcome an earlier spin to finish in third place. Dan Tremblay had charged his car into the front pack but a tangle with Mark Trexler early in the race sent him to the rear. He then climbed through teh field a second time only to be charged with spinning out Kyle Maynard on lap 19, and again was sent to the rear. And with the green and white waved together Tremblay passed four cars on the final lap to finish in 11th place. The second modified feature of the night saw the same cars take the green flag as earlier in the night, but with different results. Greg Valdez started from the pole and was immediately passed by Troy Robinson. Apparently Robinson made proper adjustments to his car after the earlier feature race because he stretched his lead to over half of a lap over Robbie Cooper to take the win. Cooper settled for a distant second but put a large chunk of asphalt between himself and Wayne Anderson who finished third. Anderson had surprised everyone by charging his modified through the field and managing two top five finishes on the night. Shelton Bowers had been working hard to become a top five racer in the Sportsman Division this season, and it paid off with a start from the pole in the feature against 13 other cars. Bowers had to fight to maintain his lead as William Edwards constantly harassed him from behind, but in the end Edwards settled for second and Bowers delivered his first Sportsman win to the delight of his fans. On the final lap Tim Shull and Matt Blum made contact on the backstretch, sending Shull's car spinning into the infield. The checkered flags still waved but Blum was penalized after the race for his part in the accident, which opened the door for Greg Young to earn a third place finish. Pete Close had already loaded up his race car and was on his way out of the pit gate when someone suggested that he join the Figure 8 race just for the fun of it. Close unloaded and stayed and was glad that he did as he won the even after starting in the rear. The trailing cars in the field were kind to the leaders and opted to use their brakes at the crossing, thus allowing the leaders to race wide open. Rick Hart took home a second place finish after Close passe him mid way through the race, but it was Justin Durbin who earned the crowd's approval with a wild flight through the infield. Durbin slid wide to the outside of the crossing and hit a dip in the dirt, which launched his car high into the air. It was a hard landing after all four wheels went airborne, but Durbin and the car survived and managed a respectable third place finish. Next Friday night the Fast Mini Cups will return to Ocala Speedway to join the late models and the other regular divisions for another "Whacky Friday." The night will also include a flag pole race and will be the last night of regular racing at Ocala before the Monster Truck Extravaganza Weekend the first weekend in May. Ocala Speedway, Ocala Florida, 4/20/07 Modified (make up feature from rain out on 3/30/07) 1) Robbie Cooper 2) Troy Robinson 3) Mike Stalnaker 4) Wayne Anderson 5) Don Strosahl 6) Jimmy Wagner 7) David Costello 8) Brian Hutchenson 9) Johnny Newsome 10) Mark Ryder V8 Pure Stock 1) James Erickson 2) Matt Schell 3) Jacob Antis 4) Don Welter 5) Brent Cooper 6) Jessie Corbett 7) Hall Robertson 8) Larry Welter Sr. 9) Geoff Danielson 10) Kenny Thornton 11) Bruce Pernitza 12) James Sullivan DQ-Harold Erickson (conduct) DQ-Don Milam (tech) 4 Cylinder Stock 1) Tom Ellis 2) Rick Kuhn 3) Rick Elwood 4) Brandon Elwood 5) Jon Laird V8 Thunder Stock 1) Scott Anderson 2) Josh Brown 3) Jason Henry 4) Chris Oliveri 5) Bill Thomas Street Stock 1) Pete Close Jr. 2) Norm Brown 3) Kyle Maynard 4) Shane Nichols 5) Jeff Stalnaker Jr. 6) Justin Durbin 7) Tommy Roberts 8) Shelby Mather 9) Carl Carr 10) David Foster 11) Dan Tremblay 12) Rick Bass 13) John Buzninec 14) Joey Durbin 15) Leonard Arnold 16) Kenny Abney 17) Mark Trexler 18) Jonathan Appleby Open Wheel Modified 1) Troy Robinson 2) Robbie Cooper 3) Wayne Anderson 4) Brian Hutchenson 5) Mike Stalnaker 6) Don Strosahl 7) David Costello 8) Jimmy Wagner 9) Johnny Newsome 10) Greg Valdez 11) Mark Ryder Sportsman 1) Shelton Bowers 2) William Edwards 3) Greg Young 4) Eric Sauers 5) Rick Bass 6) John Mamph 7) Harold Barup 8) Tim Shull 9) Matt Blum 10) Mike Fortner 11) Leroy Donaldson 12) Jim Higginbotham Figure 8 1) Pete Close Jr. 2) Rick Hurt 3) Justin Durbin 4) Eric Gellman 5) Kenny Abney 6) Kenny Thornton 7) Larry Welter Sr. 8) Scott Anderson Have an opinion on this story? 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