The best way to sum up the racing at Ocala Speedway on Friday night is to use the word, hot. Hot because the temperature outside was sweltering, and hot because it was double points night and many drivers tried extra hard to have a great finish. Despite the oppressive heat, a solid group of fans came to see a night of racing topped off by the Figure 8 cars and a Big School Bus Figure 8 feature. And while the fans suffered through the heat to see some racing, the drivers endured the heat from the inside of already hot race cars. Some reported some cramping and dehydration issues, but most just thought it was oppressively hot to be going racing.
The Sportsman Division began the feature races with Jim Higginbotham on the pole, but trouble struck on lap 2 as the field entered turn 1. There was contact between the 11 of Harold Edwards and the 32 of Shelton Bowers. Edwards spun and ended up sideways in the turn just as John Mamph was leaving the front stretch, and although Mamph tried desperately to avoid Edwards' car, there was contact and Mamph's black number 8 sportsman slid hard into the outside wall. That accident brought out the red flag for a period while track crews cleaned up the mess and the EMT's made sure that John Mamph was still in one piece. Mamph walked away from the accident but his race car was done for the night. When racing resumed it took Shelton Bowers just one more lap to pass Jim Higginbotham and take the lead for good, while Tim Shull fought hard for a second place finish and William Edwards came from the last starting position for third place.
Ocala Speedway's rookie division known as the Thunder Stocks featured much passing and excitement, but as it turned out in the end the tech man had the final say as to who finished where, and those whom the crowd saw cross the line did not get credit for their efforts. Allen Hall had his car on the pole for the race, but lost the lead just after the green fell to a hard charging Guy Bacelo Jr. Hall regained the lead just one lap later and finished first, but in the end was disqualified in post race tech inspection. Three top finishers were found to be wrong in tech, so the win was awarded to Donnie Buckner in the 98 machine. Wade Brown was awarded the second place spot while Guy Becelo Jr earned third place honors.
Fourteen Street Stocks took the green flag with Shelby Mather on the pole. By lap 3 there were cars going three wide as they attempted to negotiate the hazardous turns 3 and 4. Brent Cooper had his number 97 in great running order, climbing to the 2nd spot while the 1 of David Baxley and the 86 of Pete Close made their way from the very back of the field toward the front. Hall Robertson and Donald Woosley made contact on the backstretch and both spun out with Robertson smacking the wall quite forcefully. Both cars were able to continue and after some minor cleanup the race continued. Brent Cooper eventually made his way into the lead on lap 10 before the race was briefly stopped when Leonard Arnold had hard contact with the wall in turn 2. When the race resumed, none other than Pete Close and David Baxley had made their way into contention. Close raced into the lead on lap 14 and never looked back, and David Baxley followed him past Brent Cooper to take the second place finish. Brent Cooper held off the other challengers to finish third.
The 4 Cylinder Division saw a good demonstration of unselfishness when Richard Kuhn's motor grenaded on the front stretch in hot laps. Being a double points night, losing an engine could have seriously done damage to Kuhns' quest for a championship, but John Hagans rushed to the rescue and loaned Kuhn the "Little Alien" number 23 machine, which Kuhn drove to a respectable 4th place finish. Brandon Elwood raced to victory while John Layard scored a very nice second place finish. Third place went to Justyn Elwood.
Domination was the name of the game with the V8 Pure Stock feature race as Harold Erickson outran everyone else by over half of a lap to get to the finish. Jessie Corbett has begun the race from deep in the field but raced to the second position only to lose it in tech. James Sullivan was awarded the second place trophy while third place finisher Larry Welter Sr. also was found wrong and lost third place to Josh Brown.
Mike Stalnaker lead the field of Open Wheel Modified racers to the green flag to begin their feature race. Behind him a very determined but patient Robbie Cooper was waiting for his chance to get to the front. Cooper made repeated advances in an attempt to pass Stalnaker but to no avail. On lap 15 Cooper made a bold move to the outside to eventually earn the lead and a win. Stalnaker then had to deal with a hard charging Eric Sauers after falling into the second spot, but had enough left in his car to get the job done and go home proudly in second place. Eric Sauers earned the third place prize.
The Figure 8 cars hit the track ready to go all out for a win and they did not dissappoint. Larry Welter Jr. proved to be the man to beat, charging by the rest of the field to earn the win, while Rick Hart hung on for second spot and Justin Durbin finished third.
Many of the Figue 8 drivers then had to make the swtich to school busses for the most anticipated event of the night, the School Bus Figure 8's. And once again it was Larry Welter Jr. who asserted his dominance and stole the show, leaving everyone else so far behind that he lapped the entire field! But, while Larry Jr. was running away, the rest of the busses were beating and banging for position. Rick Hart tangled with another bus and was spun out but managed to continue.
The big contact of the race goes to Larry Welter Sr. and David Foster. They suffered an extremely violent crash in the X that sent both busses way off course, and as he tried to get back on track the steering box for Foster's bus broke, leaving him with no means to steer. The crash ended Foster's night while he was running in second place and was the closest challenger to Larry Welter Jr. The wreck also sent the 85 of Larry Welter Sr. off course but he recovered to claim the third place trophy. Eric Gellman was the second place finisher and the first bus on the second lap after being the last bus lapped by Larry Welter Jr.
Next week at Ocala Speedway the kids are encouraged to bring their bicycles to the speedway for the huge Kid's Bike Challenge races to be held on the track during intermission. The late models will, also be on track for next week along with races from the 4 Cylinder Stocks, Thunder Stocks, V8 Pure Stocks, Street Stock, and Sportsman races.
