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| FASTRUCKS and Modifieds Spice Up Ocala Show Friday Night | by Dave Westerman
The FASTRUCK Series brings their traveling road show to Ocala Speedway Friday night as part of a great six division racing program.
Bartow driver Tommy King continues to lead the FASTRUCK point standings by a fairly healthy 74 point margin after a second place finish at FASTRUCK's most recent event at Bronson Motor Speedway. South Florida driver Tim Shaffner has parlayed a very steady second half of the season into a second place spot in the current points, but just eight markers in front of third-place Jimmy Gill.
Bronson winner James Wright III is fourth in points and also won the FASTRUCK race held here earlier in the year.
Wendell Bristol of Auburndale is currently fifth in points with Bobby Owens, Marty Wolf, Paul Grynewicz III, Paul Grynewicz, and Jeff Firestine round out the top ten in points headed into the Ocala race.
Other drivers who are expected include Gary Foxworth, Big Al Neumann, Billy Barstow, John Mitchell, Jeff "Jinx" Moyer, Eddie Moran, Bill Stacy, Brandon Anderson, and a host of others.
The WIND-FM Classic Rock Modifieds will also be back in action this week and all eyes will be on the current "battle of epic proportions" between first-half point champion David Baxley of Anthony and Tampa's Jeremy Gerstner, the current point leader.
Baxley and Gerstner have had several run-ins lately, including a tangle while battling for the lead two weeks ago. Both are downplaying their recent driving tactics against each other as "just racing" but track officials will be keeping a watchful eye as the two and many more as they duke it out for the biggest weekly Modified purse in the State.
Right now, the "Tampa Trio" of Jeremy Gerstner, his brother John and Johnnie "The Rat" Newsome are 1-2-3 in points with only three points separating the Gerstner brothers heading into this week's action. Baxley is currently fourth in the standings followed by Modified rookie Bobby Valeo of Ocala.
Tight is the only way to describe things in the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman class as young Kyle Maynard of Ocala holds a slim one point edge over Gainesville's William Edwards. Maynard's teammate, Frank Buchanan is third in the standings, but only three points behind Edwards. Patrick Mennenga and Diamond Jim Higginbotham round out the current top five in Sportsman.
The point lead changed hands for the sixth consecutive week in the K-Country 93.7FM Street Stocks after last week's feature. Ocala's Paul "Tweety" Fletcher has re-taken the top spot, but only by a single point over Crystal River's Bobby Taylor. Tommy Roberts is just six points out in third place while Doug "Big Bird" Webster and David Chastain are tied for fourth spot.
As tight as the other point chases are, Rick Kuhn of Ocala looks to have things well in hand in the Four Cylinder Stocks as he now has a 28 point cushion over second-running Weird Harold Barup. Barup enjoys a healthy 17 point edge over third place Tom Ellis while Terry Dunbar and Ric Fort round out the current top five.
The new V-8 Stock class continues to grow, but it will take a virtual miracle to keep Laura "Mrs. Tweety" Fletcher from claiming the point title as she has a rather good-sized advantage over second place Dan Tremblay.
Pit gates open Friday afternoon at 4PM, Grandstand gates open at 6PM and heat race action begins promptly at 8PM.
Advance tickets are now on sale at the Ocala Speedway office for the Second Annual Fall Festival to be held November 14-16th. On tap that weekend will be twin 100's for the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models, twin 50's for the WIND-FM Classic Rock Modifieds, A 100-lap race for the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman, 100 laps for the K-Country Street Stocks, Four Cylinder Stock Racing, and a School Bus Figure Eight race.
For the complete Fall Festival schedule, log on to www.ocalaspeedway.com or call the track at (352) 622-9400 for more information.
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