Thunder Stocks Provide the Lightning At Ocala By BJ Cavin
Frequent thunderstorms peppered Marion County all afternoon with torrential downpours, thunder, and lightning, but at Ocala Speedway the racing gods were in charge. Almost no rain at all fell at the track and a solid crowd gathered in the grandstands for what turned out to be an excellent night of racing. Thanks to a previous rainout the V8 Thunder Stock Division had not had the chance to race for their division championship, but on this night a champion would emerge. The championship race marked the end of the line for some drivers in Ocala Speedway's rookie division as those drivers will now race with the V8 Pure Stocks, while others who might need more time to develop their skills will continue to race with the Thunder Stocks indefinitely.
Guy Bacelo Jr. won the pole and led the Thunder Stock cars to the green flag, but he was quickly overtaken by Scott Anderson before the first lap could be completed. And while Anderson dictated the pace, many cars took turns behind him switching places in a constant battle for position. Josh Brown fought his was through the field to take the second position, but made a mistake on lap 18 that sent him spinning in turn four and allowed Chris Oliveri to move into second place. Oliveri then made his own blunder that opened the door for Jason Henry who charged past into second place. Scott Anderson held on for the win while Jason Henry finished second and Chris Oliveri finished in the third spot. Scott Anderson was a little emotional after his big win, saying that he and his wife had been through a lot recently and that they were very thankful for this good fortune to come their way. Anderson also thanked his friend, Jeremy Gertsner, who helped him along the way.
The Sportsman racers were surprised when they were given new decals to put on their race cars thanks to Diamond H Racing, the new Sportsman Division sponsor. And the first feature race under the new sponsorship offered quite a show for the fans. Greg Young started on the pole and appeared to have the race well in hand before he suddenly spun out on lap 8 and ended up parked in the middle of turn 4 while everyone else attempted to dodge him. From that point Tim Shull took command of the race and held off all challengers until the end in order to take the win. Meanwhile the crowd was awed by Shelton Bowers as he clawed his way through the field to eventually finish in second place after starting deep in traffic. Jim Higginbotham finished in the third spot while managing to hold off a hard charging Rick Bass until the end.
Justyn Elwood found himself starting the 4 Cylinder Stock feature race from deep in the field, but persistence and a refusal to give up left him in the right place when a few doors were accidentally left open. He patiently worked his way forward until he stole the show with a heart stopping pass in turn 4 that put him into the lead on lap 13. Rick Kuhn started on the pole and led most of the race before Justyn Elwood made the pass and held on to win, while Kuhn settled for second and Karl Born fought his way forward to claim the third place trophy.
Brent Cooper is used to being in the front when he races, but for the first time he found himself on the pole in front of 17 Street Stocks instead of his usual competitors in the V8 Pure Stock Division. After racing had ended Cooper was heard saying that the Street Stocks were quite fast compared to what he was used to, but Cooper's car held on to lead most of the race. In the end it was Mike Stalnaker, the defending Street Stock Champion, who passed Cooper for the lead on lap 17 and raced to the win. Brent Cooper ended his first Street Stock race in second place while Pete Close charged from the back to the front to wind up third.
Matt Schell won the pole for the V8 Pure Stock feature and looked like he was going to drive away from the field, but a caution flag on lap 8 erased his lead and set up Tommy Roberts' pass to the front spot on lap 10. Roberts started the race in the rear because he missed the heat race, but in the end he went to the front and collected the first place hardware. Schell raced his way to a second place finish while Jessie Corbett fought his way to the third spot.
Thanks to a rainout two weeks ago, the Open Wheel Modified cars missed out on their twin 25 lap feature races and the possibility of collecting a $1000 bonus for accumulating the most points between the two modified races at Citrus County Speedway and the two races scheduled for Ocala Speedway. Those races postponed by rain will be made up in two weeks on July 27th, so this week's feature race turned into a tune up for that event. Johnnie Newsome lead the field to the green flag, but quickly felt heat from both Alan McCafferty and Robbie Cooper who were close behind. And on lap 13 it was McCafferty who found a kink in Newsome's defenses and managed to wrestle the lead away, while Robbie Cooper and Mike Stalnaker took advantage of the situation and sent Newsome to 4th place in virtually no time flat. Alan McCafferty took the win and Robbie Cooper claimed the second place prize, while Mike Stalnaker finished in the third spot.
Nine cars hit the track to race the Figure 8 course and Larry Welter Jr. led his father through all of the event. The field quickly spread out after the green flag dropped and that meant almost instant problems in the crossroads as some cars slowed and dodged each other. Larry Welter Jr led from flag to flag to take the win while Larry Welter Sr. spun on the final lap and slipped to a 5th place finish. Justin Durbin was far from intimidated about starting deep in the field and he gradually worked his way to the front to take the second spot. Rick Hart drove like a man possessed and finished third.
Track officials deemed that the boat and trailer race should run the kidney bean course through the infield, and also that each boat and trailer should remain intact in order to finish the race. With that decided only one car earned a disqualification for losing their boat while the rest of the field put on quite a show. The biggest battle was between husband and wife, as Larry Welter Jr. and Katie Welter demonstrated their competitive sides and raced each other hard, but clean. Larry Welter Sr. took the win convincingly while the other competitors battled for second spot. Don Welter emerged as the second place finisher while Larry Welter Jr. wound up the third place.
The final event of the night was the School Bus Figure 8 race, featuring many of the same drivers plus some others, but this time they were strapped into big and bulky school buses. As in the earlier figure 8 race, the field quickly spread out and close calls in the X were quite common. With so many big buses trying to occupy so little space, some were forced out onto the infield grass where they found the drainage channels to be a challenge and a definite eye opener. David Foster took the brunt of the bad hops through the drainage area, with his bus bouncing completely off the ground more than once during the race. All 8 buses managed to race to the checkers with Larry Welter Jr. taking home the win, followed by his dad, Larry Welter Sr. And Eric Gellman charged from deep in the field to collect a third place finish.
Next week the Goodyear Challenge Series will visit Ocala Speedway to take on the toughest 3/8ths mile in the southeast. They will be joined by Ocala's own 4 Cylinder Stocks, V8 Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, and Sportsman cars. And in addition the kids will get another chance to test their skill on Ocala Speedway as Kids' Bike Races return for the intermission entertainment.
Racing Results for 7/13/07
V8 Thunder Stock Championship Race (30 lap, $500 to win)
1- 07 Scott Anderson 2- 96 Jason Henry 3- 3K Chris Oliveri 4- 67 Josh Brown 5- 18W Chris Watson 6- 87 Jay Raley 7- 18B Shawn Bailey 8- 03 Justin Cahoon 9- 25 Guy Bacelo Jr. 10- 79 Wade Brown 11- 00 Michael Valdes
Sportsman
1- 8R Tim Shull 2- 32 Shelton Bowers 3- 76 Jim Higginbotham 4- 39 Rick Bass 5- 11 Harold Edwards 6- 61 Bill Stalnaker 7- 08 William Edwards 8- 5 Rusty Bremer 9- 23 Greg Young 10- 02 Mike Bates 11- 29 Leroy Donaldson DNS- 3 Harold Barup
4 Cylinder Stock
1- 17 Justyn Elwood 2- 46 Richard Kuhn 3- 06 Karl Born 4- 28 Brandon Elwood 5- 02 John Laird 6- 43 Michael Taylor 7- 23 John Hagans
Street Stock
1- 8 Mike Stalnaker 2- 97 Brent Cooper 3- 86 Pete Close Jr. 4- 4 David Foster 5- 12 Justin Durbin 6- 17 Shelby Mather 7- 69 Tommy Ausburn 8- 48 Joey Durbin 9- 39 Rick Bass 10- 09 Carl Carr 11- 10 Jeff Stalnaker 12- 7E James Erickson 13- 6 Leonard Arnold 14- 8B Tim Shull 15- 91 Hall Robertson 16- 14 John Buzinec 17- 3X Mark Trexler
V8 Pure Stock
1- 44 Tommy Roberts 2- 57 Matt Schell 3- 3D Jessie Corbett 4- 14 James Sullivan 5- 28 Don Welter 6- 18W Randy Glick 7- 15 Terry Dunbar 8- Kenny Thornton DNS- 96 Bruce Pernitza
Open Wheel Modified
1- 32 Alan McCafferty 2- 98C Robbie Cooper 3- 8 Mike Stalnaker 4- 01 Curtis Neumann 5- 31 Johnnny Newsome 6- 39 Gary Southard 7- 1 David Baxley 8- 0 Troy Robinson 9- 27 Eric Sauer 10- 5.0 Mike Batten 11- 20 David Castello 12- 15 Don Stroshal 13- 98Y Mark Rider
Figure 8
1- 58 Larry Welter Jr. 2- 12 Justin Durbin 3- 13 Rick Hart 4- 82 Aaron Welter 5- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 6- 22 Kenny Thornton 7- 18B Shawn Bailey 8- 53 Eric Gellman 9- 48 Joey Durbin
Boat & Trailer Race
1- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 2- 28 Don Welter 3- 58 Larry Welter Jr. 4- 82 Aaron Welter 5- 8 Katie Welter 6- 00 Shane Nichols 7- 13 Rick Hart
School Bus Figure 8
1- 58 Larry Welter Jr. 2- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 3- 53 Eric Gellman 4- 4 David Foster 5- 88 Matt Bastow 6- 727 Clint Foley 7- 13 Rick Hart 8- 39 Mike Foley
Next week, July 20th:
Goodyear Challenge Series 4 Cylinder Stock V8 Pure Stock Thunder Stock Sportsman Kids Bike Races
Frequent thunderstorms peppered Marion County all afternoon with torrential downpours, thunder, and lightning, but at Ocala Speedway the racing gods were in charge. Almost no rain at all fell at the track and a solid crowd gathered in the grandstands for what turned out to be an excellent night of racing. Thanks to a previous rainout the V8 Thunder Stock Division had not had the chance to race for their division championship, but on this night a champion would emerge. The championship race marked the end of the line for some drivers in Ocala Speedway's rookie division as those drivers will now race with the V8 Pure Stocks, while others who might need more time to develop their skills will continue to race with the Thunder Stocks indefinitely.
