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| Ocala Speedway Kicks off Second Half of the Point Season Friday Night | by Dave Westerman
Ocala Speedway returns to Friday night racing action this week with a four division show as the second half of the 2003 point season begins in earnest.
First half point races were very tight with championships being taken by Ocala's E.J. Wise in the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models, Anthony's David Baxley in the WIND-FM Modifieds, Patrick Mennenga of Belleview in the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman, Kyle Maynard of Ocala in the K-Country 93.7 Street Stocks, Belleview's Marlon Durbin in the Mini Stocks and Ocala's Rick Kuhn in Four Cylinder Stocks.
Some changes have been made recently with Scott Armstrong now taking a more active role in heading up the management team and Deanna Kennington in charge of the day to day operation of the speedway as Director of Operations.
One of the major changes is the "streamlining" of the weekly show. The Super Late Models and Modifieds will now alternate weeks while the Sportsman, Street Stocks, and Four Cylinder Stocks will run just about every week. The Mini Stocks have been dropped as a regular weekly class although Kennington says they may be brought back on occasion as a special event, plus the Florida Mini Stock Challenge Series is also slated for another appearance later this year.
Armstrong says running just four classes each week leaves room to bring in other traveling series such as the TBARA Sprints that will be on the card July 18th and still get the fans home at a decent hour.
"Some of our shows have been running much too long," says Armstrong. "We want to give the fans a quality fast-paced show that they can enjoy, yet still be out by 11PM or earlier. that's important for folks that have to get up early and go to work on Saturday," he says.
Armstrong also indicated by running the Super Late Models and Modifieds on an alternating basis, more drivers will be able to run for points. "It's tough to run these expensive cars on a weekly basis," says Armstrong. "Hopefully more of the drivers will be able to run for points and the fields of cars will be bigger, which I'm sure the fans will appreciate," he says.
Armstrong also says the real backbone of the weekly show and what keeps the fans coming back week after week is the awesome competition in the Sportsman, Street Stock, and Four Cylinder Stocks. "I'd stack these drivers up against similar classes at any track in the state. No one puts on a better and more exciting show," he says.
Another change fans may have noticed at last week's special NASCAR mid-week event was a change for the better in the concession food. The track had not been happy with the previous vendor and has once again taken control of the concessions adding several new items last week and upgrading the cooked food portion of the menu.
New souvenir t-shirts, pullovers, polo shirts, hats and more are now
available on a weekly basis and soon special Ocala Speedway t-shirts will be available featuring artwork and photos of drivers competing at the track.
This week the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models head the show along with the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman, K-Country Street Stocks and Four Cylinder Stocks. There will no longer be time trials for the Super Late Models and Modified Classes. They will run heat races just like all the other classes giving the fans more actual racing action to see each week.
Pit gates open at 4PM, Grandstand gates at 6PM, with heat races beginning at 8PM sharp. For more information on racing at Ocala Speedway, feel free to call the track at (352) 622-9400 or visit www.ocalaspeedway.com on the web.
FIRST HALF POINTS - TOP TEN:
STEVEN A. BAGEN SUPER LATE MODELS:
1) E.J. Wise #7 476
2) Patrick Williams #58 460
3) Gig Smith #23 406
4) Tim Shull #8 364
5) James Findley #89 284
6) Troy Robinson #0 237
7) Dave Schwendeman #23Y 222
Paul Combast #90 222
9) Roger Shinholser #26 200
10) Wayne Anderson #84 199
WIND-FM MODIFIEDS:
1) David Baxley #64 432
2) Jeremy Gerstner #70 427
3) John Foerg #1 410
4) Johnnie Newsome #31 361
5) Jamie Tinkham #98 331
6) Bobby Valeo #8 300
7) Glen Ervin #0 258
8) Wayne Kissam #7 237
9) Paul Combast #90 210
10) Chris Faddling #29 185
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN:
1) Patrick Mennenga #16 629
2) Tom Posavec #01 627
3) Frank Buchanan #07 611
4) Roger Damron #76D 609
5) Kathy Ray #63 572
6) Charles Hornbeak #67 567
7) Jim Higginbotham #76 530
8) Big John Smith #31 529
9) Wally Schneider #57 441
10) Rob Cooper #98 435
MINI STOCK:
1) Marlon Durbin #72 599
2) Rick Sirmans #05 586
3) Larry Goolsby #27 582
4) Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. #10B 562
5) A.J. Schreier #98 548
6) Jake Garver #10R 467
7) Clint Foley #7 317
8) Greg Valdez #60 275
9) Donnie Strosahl #15 225
10) Joey Brinson #26 211
K-COUNTRY STREET STOCKS:
1) Kyle Maynard #07 709
2) Mark Mitchell #71 705
3) Tommy Roberts #44 703
4) Doug Webster #72 700
5) David Chastain #17 680
6) Bobby Taylor #66 628
7) Tom Fralish #1 619
8) Mike Fiddia #41 607
9) Estle Morrow #02 569
10) Paul Fletcher #94 558
FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS:
1) Rick Kuhn #47 711
2) Tom Ellis #31 703
3) Joel Byall #40 679
4) Ric Fort #2 661
5) Harold Barup #3 652
6) Harry Drier #61 634
7) Kurtis Mitchell #00 601
8) Justin Durbin #34 595
9) Michael Stalnaker #8 580
10) Jeff Pittsley #20 567
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