First Time Winners Lead Ocala's Last Asphalt Night
by BJ Cavin
Friday, November 9th, was a night of bittersweet endings and new beginnings at Ocala Speedway. At an old race track where traditions die hard, new faces signaled that changes were afoot as Melissa Hunley grabbed her first 4 Cylinder Stock victory, and Ben Fritz collected a major first with the TBARA Winged Sprints.
And as the crowd made their way into the grandstands and the drivers made race preparations in the pits, everyone knew that it was the last night of divisional racing for 2007. The season would end, regardless of any foreseeable changes and champions would be added to the long lists of names who have challenged Ocala Speedway over the last 55 years.
But there were questions to be answered and rumors to be put to rest, and by the time the driver's meeting began the assembled group knew something big was about to happen. And happen it did, as speedway owner Mike Peters stepped up and made a simple statement. This would be the last night of divisional racing at Ocala under the current rules, and on pavement. From now on Ocala Speedway would go back to what made it successful for most of it's 55 years. In 2008 it will be a dirt track again, paved with rich, Florida clay instead of asphalt.
In the meantime there was racing to be done, and championships to be won. The Street Stocks began the racing with a make up of a feature event rained out weeks ago, with Patrick Mennenga driving Mike Stalnaker's 8 car from the pole position. Mennenga knows Ocala Speedway well no matter what he might be driving, and he went flag to flag never looking back. Pete Close climbed into Hall Robertson's 91 car for the race and made his way toward the front of the pack, as did Brent Cooper, Jeff Stalnaker Jr, and Justin Durbin. In the end it was Patrick Mennenga with the win, with Brent Cooper following for second place. Justin Durbin finished third while Pete Close and Jeff Stalnaker Jr rounded out the top five.
Heat races followed the Street Stock feature race, including three challenging runs for the TBARA Winged Sprints who were in town for their next to last race of the season, and their last one on pavement at Ocala. Also following the heat races were more surprises, including a magical moment when Pete Close Jr, used the front stretch to thank his friends and family, and propose to his long time girlfriend. The crowd loved it, and happily cheered her answer of, "Yes!" and before the cars returned to the track, Ocala Speedway owner Angie Clifton took a turn at the microphone, thanking the fans for their support and officially informing them that the following feature races would be the last ones run on asphalt.
It might be hard to top a public proposal plus a huge announcement, but the Street Stocks had another race to complete, meaning Pete Close had little time to relish his moment before getting back to work. Pete Close led the points going into this race with David Foster close behind, but Foster would be starting this race from the rear thanks to his win the previous week. That set the stage for an exciting and competative race, and that is exactly how it played out for the fans.
Mark Mitchell had his 71 car on the pole at the start, but as the race progressed it became apparent that some of those who started toward the rear would be the ones making waves. David Foster, Pete Close, and Jeff Stalnaker, all began charging through the field of 19 cars, determined to be in the front by the end. Others began the charge, but found trouble instead of a route through the pack. Michael Stalnaker and Shelby Mather were racing hard when things got out of hand, with both Stalnaker and Mather's cars ending up wrecked into the frontstretch wall. Mike Stalnaker would leave the track on foot while his wrecked car was towed behind him, and Shelby Mather would leave the racing surface under power, but with a DQ and a missing wheel.
In the end it was Jeff Stalnaker Jr who made his way from deep in the field to the front, taking the win while Mark Mitchell followed in second place. Hall Robertson would have a good night finishing third, followed by David Foster in 4th and Pete Close Jr in 5th. And while David Foster managed to finish in front of Pete Close in the race, it was Close who beat Foster for the championship.
The V8 Pure Stocks were next, with James Sullivan on the pole and sitting in the third spot in points. Points leader Jessie Corbitt would start much further back and have problems getting into the top five, while second place points holder Josh Brown managed to run in the top five for the virtually the entire race. But before all of that could be settled there would be a lengthy delay as Aaron Welter's 82 car came unglued and dumped fluids all over the track. James Sullivan, James Sealey, and Greg Valdez, all found that fluid the hard way, winding up in a wad in turns 3 and 4. They all would continue, but never challenged for the front spots after the setback.
Once the race was able to resume it was time for Matt Schell to shine, driving his 57 machine to the front and taking over the race. Schell would speed to a convincing win while Josh Brown followed in the second spot and Larry Welter Sr finished third. Andy Taylor ran a clean race and stayed out of harm's way for a 4th place finish, followed by James Erickson who fought his way from deep in the field for 5th place. Jessie Corbitt would finish just outside of the top five, but it was enough to clinch the points championship for 2007.
Seventeen 4 Cylinder Stocks hit the track for their feature race as several competitors from Citrus County Speedway decided that they wanted a last go round on Ocala's pavement. Justyn Elwood had the points lead and the pole for the race, and was certainly looking like he had the whole thing under control as the green flag dropped. Others did not, as contact at the start caused a double spin and a caution, resulting in a restart. That was followed by a false start as some drivers failed to wait for the green, and on the third try Brandon Elwood's 28 car went up in a thick plume of smoke, while depositing a massive oil slick down the front stretch and into turns 1 and 2.
Another lengthy delay ensued as another clean up was done, but the race finally got underway. This time it was Melissa Hunley and Mike Taylor getting together, and Taylor got the worst end of the hard contact with Hunley's machine and the front stretch wall, but leave under his own power. Melissa Hunley would defiantly drive away from that fracas and continue on as Mike Taylor would be done for the night. Justyn Elwood remained out in front and looked like he was heading for a win until lap 12 when something began to go wrong. The 17 car slowed and was passed by Melissa Hunley and Nick Kerr for the lead, and sputtered it's way into the pits on the next lap with mechanical woes.
That development opened the door for a host of cars, which all began a 8 lap free-for-all for the front spots. In the end it was the Belleview High School student, Melissa Hunley, who took off and grabbed the win, with Nick Kerr and John Layerd finishing behind her. Hunley drove like her closest challenger was right on her tail, while in reality she had left the others far behind. But the drama did not end there, moving to the tech shed as Kerr and Layerd both failed post race inspections. That moved Richard Kuhn into the second spot and gave Karl born a third place finish, while Justin Durbin and Travis Hoefler rounded out the official top five.
Tim Shull had his car on the pole for the Sportsman feature with his closest challenger for second in the points, Jim Higginbotham, to his outside on the front row. But before the green would wave Shull was sent to the pits because of a fluid leak, putting Higginbotham's 76 car on the pole and relegating Shull to the rear for the start. But as fate would have it, yet another division would have to sit out a lengthy delay on the track while a mess was mopped up.
This time it was the 07 of Kyle Maynard and the 02 of Mike Bates that collided hard on the frontstretch, sending Bates car hard into the turn one wall at the pit entrance. Maynard's car would leave under it's own power, but with the front end almost totally destroyed. And for the second time is as many races for Mike Bates, his car would leave the track wadded up and dangling from a hook.
Higginbotham would finally lead the field to the green for the second time later on, with Shelton Bowers and Bill Stalnaker close behind. Bowers would slide under Higginbothan and steal the lead on lap 6, and the 76 car would get trapped high on the following laps as a train of competitors motored past. Bowers would power his 32 machine to a victory while Michael Mennenga would make his way to the front for second place. Tim Shull would recover from his earlier setback before the start to finish third, while points leader William Edwards, and Don Milam, would round out the top five. That would be enough for William Edwards to clinch the points championship, and allow Tim Shull to hold off Jim Higginbotham for second in points.
Thanks to all of the delays earlier in the night it was getting late when the TBARA Winged Sprints had their turn for a final round at Ocala. Despite that, the crowd was still braving the chilly night in anticipation of more excitement from Florida's premier racing series. Ben Fritz must have known this was a night of firsts and lasts, as he blasted around Ocala's flat turns and ran away with his first TBARA victory. Kipp Beard would be the closest challenger to Fritz, but would finish a distant second, while Bo Hartley would take home the third place hardware.
The V8 Thunder Stocks would finish out the night for the regular racing divisions at Ocala, with John Bakalars out front and on the pole. Guy Bacelo Jr had a narrow points lead going into the race, but would struggle on the night before winding up in the second place spot. Donnie Buckner, who was the closest challenger to Bacelo in points, took advantage of John Bakalars' spin on lap 4 to collect the win. Following in third place was Brian Brogan, while Shawn Bailey and John Bakalars rounded out the top 5.
So with that the paved era at Ocala Speedway draws to a close, making this Friday not only the end of the 2007 season, but also the new beginning of an old tradition. According to speedway owner Mike Peters, work will begin on converting the speedway over to a dirt facility sometime after Thanksgiving. After meeting with other area dirt tracks and discussing rules, the official rules for Ocala Speedway should be posted sometime early in the new year, allowing drivers plenty of time to adapt.
Peters also added that he appreciates all of the support that fans and drivers have given to Ocala Speedway in recent years, and he hopes they will join legions of new fans and drivers by continuing that support in the new twist on old traditions. Ocala Speedway is the oldest race track in Florida, but it seems to have just entered its second childhood.
TBARA Winged Sprints 1- 16 Ben Fritz 2- 66 Kipp Beard 3- 3X Bo Hartley 4- 18 Stan Butler 5- 68 Troy DeCaire 6- 51 Mark Gimmler 7- 21B Larry Brazil Jr. 8- 99 Brian Gingras 9- 21T Johnny Gilbertson 10- 29 Gary Gimmler 11- 19 Keith Butler 12- 55 Tommy Nichols 13- 21 Jim Alvis 14- 56 Bobby Rose 15- 9X Michael Smith 16- 80 Wendy Mathis 17- 14 Shane Butler 18- 0Z Charles Ladner 19- 0 Dude Teate 20- 10S Matt Stegeman 21- 41 Steve Heisler 22- 27 Sonny Hartley 23- M80 Josh Wichers 24- 78X Gil Granda 25- 15T Heather Rehm DNS- 21K Richard Kissinger
Street Stock (Make up for rain out) 1- 8 Patrick Mennenga 2- 97 Brent Cooper 3- 12 Justin Durbin 4- 91 Pete Close 5- 10 Jeff Stalnaker Jr. 6- 39 Rick Bass 7- 4 David Foster 8- 09 Carl Carr 9- 81 Don Woosley 10- 6 Leonard Arnold 11- 14 John Buzinec DNS- 1 David Baxley DNS- 00 Terry Dunbar
--Advertisement--
Street Stock (Scheduled feature) 1- 10 Jeff Stalnaker Jr. 2- 71 Mark Mitchell 3- 91 Hall Robertson 4- 4 David Foster 5- 86 Pete Close 6- 97 Brent Cooper 7- 12 Justin Durbin 8- 81 Don Woosley 9- 6 Leonard Arnold 10- 48 Joey Durbin 11- 0 Neal Durbin 12- 39 Rick Bass 13- 14 John Buzinec 14- 0D Geoff Danielson 15- 83 David Danielson 16- 3X Mark Trexler 17- 8 Michael Stalnaker 18- 09 Carl Carr DQ (conduct) - 17 Shelby Mather
V8 Pure Stock 1- 57 Matt Schell 2- 67 Josh Brown 3- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 4- 63 Andy Taylor 5- 66 James Erickson 6- 3D Jessie Corbitt 7- 14 James Sullivan 8- 28 Don Welter 9- 60 Greg Valdez 10- 22 Kenny Thornton 11- 3K Chris Okuira 12- 3D Chris Watson 13- 21 James Sealey 14- 72 Terry Dunbar 15- 127 Bobby Taylor 16- 82 Aaron Welter
4 Cylinder Stock 1- 18 Melissa Hunley 2- 46 Richard Kuhn 3- 06 Karl Born 4- 17 Justyn Elwood 5- 20T Travis Hoefler 6- 20 Justin Durbin 7- 001 Jeff Eberly 8- 00 Chris Harvey 9- 21 Phil Edwards 10- 22 Bobby Richards 11- 39 Chris Eberly 12- 6 Shawn Pawlak 13- 94 Mike Lane 14- 43 Mike Taylor 15- 28 Brandon Elwood DQ (tech)- 75 Nick Kerr DQ (tech)- 02 John Layerd
Sportsman 1- 32 Shelton Bowers 2- 9 Michael Mennenga 3- 8 Tim Shull 4- 08 William Edwards 5- 69 Don Milam 6- 76 Jim Higginbotham 7- 61 William Stalnaker 8- 121 Gordon Cade 9- 38 Todd Kelly 10- 39 Rick Bass 11- 3 Harold Barup 12- 02 Mike Bates 13- 07 Kyle Maynard
V8 Thunder Stock 1- 98 Donnie Buckner 2- 25 Guy Bacelo Jr. 3- 63 Brian Brogan 4- 30 Shawn Bailey 5- 21 John Bakalars
