by BJ Cavin- Ocala Speedway Media
All Photos Courtesy of rewingphotos.com
OCALA, FL- Fans who were in attendance at Ocala Speedway last Friday night saw an action packed night of hard fought racing, and may have assumed that this Friday might not could be as exciting. If that was the case, then they were wrong. The Colortyme Modifieds, Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, Amsoil Thunder Stocks, Mini Stocks, and Gladiators, all ran exciting and competitive races, which had the crowd on their feet and cheering for the second week in a row.
Chip “Hollywood” Owen held the pole position and led 13 Colortyme Modifieds to the green flag in their feature race, but by the time that the first lap was completed Jeff Mathews had planted himself in second place and was about to pounce on the leader. But Mathews was surprised by Kyle Bronson who roared past and took up the task of making Owen sweat. And as it turned out, Bronson got too aggressive with his efforts to pass Owen, colliding with the 1 car in turn one and actually riding up and over it before both spun to a stop. Bronson was relegated to the rear for causing the caution, while a broken spring on Owen’s machine ended his night early.
That incident caused Jeff Mathews to inherit the lead, and Mathews looked pretty tough as he held off a hard charging Roger Crouse for a few laps. Meanwhile Wayne Hammond had discovered that the high side was the place to race and he began rocketing around the top of the track while the two leaders stuck to the bottom. Hammond made quick work of Roger Crouse and gave Jeff Mathews fits until a caution on lap 21 forced a restart. Hammond managed to gain the upper hand on the restart and grab the lead, then hold off Mathews and Crouse for the win. Jeff Mathews was second followed by Roger Crouse for third, then John Bradley and Kyle Owen rounded out the top five finishers.
William Edwards led the Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks to the green flag and managed to hold the lead for most of the first lap, but Dean Jarvis and Heath Walker overwhelmed him in turn four. Jarvis grabbed the lead while Walker stuck to him like glue, and the two of them quickly outdistanced the rest of the competition. A restart on lap 13 gave Walker the upper hand and he pulled alongside Jarvis for the final laps, but the 37 car was simply a tad better and Dean Jarvis got the narrow victory in the final turn. Heath Walker finished second with Jonathan Appleby coming home in third place. Daniel Baldwin was the fourth place finisher while David Miller Sr. nabbed the fifth place spot.
Fans have learned by now that when the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks hit the clay at Florida’s oldest race track, that there will be action, drama, and probably some hard feelings and bent sheet metal as well, and as usual the Thunder Stocks were more than ready to give more of the same. Michael Stalnaker jumped out in front early on in the race and held the lead through several cautions, despite Scott Mooers applying tons of pressure at times. But the race was slowed by quite a few caution periods which never let the leaders get away from the field or each other, and eventually led to the race being shortened by a couple of laps.
Chris Watson had kept himself in the top five until late in the race when he and Eddie Lentz had some contact in turns one and two. Lentz ended up spinning onto the infield as did Jessie Corbitt, but as Corbitt drove away, Eddie Lentz drove directly into Watson’s machine as the field passed the accident under caution. That retaliation under caution earned Lentz a disqualification, and sent Watson to the pits on a hook.
That incident was the final straw that caused time to expire on the race and the green/white/checker rule to be used. Micheal Stalnaker beat Scott Mooers to the checkered flags, but failed to pass the post race tech inspection, thus handing the win to Mooers. Harold Erickson earned the second spot while Donald Winne was scored in the third spot. Jessie Corbitt recovered to nab fourth place and Danny James rounded out the top five.
Sixteen Mini Stocks came to Ocala Speedway on Friday night looking to help bolster the field at the last track in Florida to still run the division on dirt, and they put on quite a show for the fans. Kris Prouty had the pole but failed to keep it as Buddy Pope rocketed past, but Paul Combast also bypassed Prouty went after Pope. Both drivers battled for most of the race until Nick Kerr fought his way forward and joined the fray, thus complicating the situation.
As the leaders encountered slow traffic in turn 4 Buddy Pope spun to avoid a collision and caused a caution, but was given his lead spot back by track officials. That seemed to light a fire under Nick Kerr, who made quick work of Pope on the restart and who hung on to win the race. Pope tried valiantly to beat Kerr in the final few yards of the race, but spun in the process and only managed a fifth place finish. Paul Combast followed Nick Kerr and claimed second place while Dan Kerr was third. Ray Ethridge snuck past the spinning Buddy Pope to grab the fourth spot.
Ocala’s Gladiators finished out the night and again entertained the crowd with another hard fought race. Devin Walker was the hard charger of the race, climbing all the way to second place before a flat tire in the final laps sent him to the pits. Casey Feaster led the race twice as he battled with Matt Shea, but Shea ended up winning the final battle in turn four to claim the trophy and force Feaster to settle for second place. Steven Johnson had another strong night with a third place finish, and Mike McDonald drove the 10 car to a fourth place showing. And even after a late race trip to change a tire, Devin Walker still went home with a top five finish.
The Late Models will return to Ocala Speedway on Friday, May 21st, along with the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, the Mini Stocks, and the Gladiators. For more information on upcoming events, please visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com, or phone the track at 352-622-9400.
Ocala Speedway Results for 5/14/10
Colortyme Modifieds
1- 66 Wayne Hammond
2- 33 Jeff Mathews
3- 9 Roger Crouse
4- 0B John Bradley
5- 2 Kyle Owen
6- 5 Kyle Bronson
7- 67 Garrett Stewart
8- Z Tim Zackery
9- 41 Gary Sexton
10- 0J Justin Tilton
11- 1 Chip “Hollywood” Owen
12- 09 Rob Underwood
13- 7E James Erickson
Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stock
1- 37J Dean Jarvis
2- 55 Heath Walker
3- 69 Jonathan Appleby
4- 21 Daniel Baldwin
5- 7 David Miller Sr.
6- 12 Mike Tripp
7- 08E William Edwards
8- 37S Tyler Sistrunk
Amsoil Synthetics Thunder Stocks
1- 10 Scott Mooers
2- 66 Harold Erickson
3- 55W Donald Winne
4- 3D Jessie Corbitt
5- 40J Danny James
6- 77 Dan Cobb
7- 3W Vaughn Woodall
8- 326 Gordon Cade
9- 7E James Erickson
10- 21 Willard Driggers
11- 18W Chris Watson
12- 12B Jerrid Bennett
13- 55 Joey Durbin
14- 64 Jonathan Gillette
15- 76 Chris Shea
16- 09 William O’Quinn
17- 19 Brian Shea
18- 1 Austin Gamble
DNS- 12D Justin Durbin
DNS- 7 Roy Lester
DQ (conduct) 96L Eddie Lentz
DQ (tech) 8 Michael Stalnaker
Mini Stock
1- 75 Nick Kerr
2- 19C Paul Combast
3- 73 Dan Kerr
4- 21 Ray Ethridge
5- 81 Buddy Pope
6- 40M David Miller
7- 11Z Johnny Zackery
8- 12B Jimbo Bird
9- 9 Ryan Babcock
10- 3D Ron Kinsey
11- 19T Keith Briggs
12- 26 Kristopher Prouty
13- 31 Michael Oglesby
14- 64 Mike Budka
DNS- 5S Edward Pope
DNS- 7M Mike Goss
Gladiators
1- 96 Matt Shea
2- 20 Casey Feaster
3- 81 Steven Johnson
4- 10M Mike McDonald
5- 55JR Devin Walker
6- 57 Richard Smith
7- 77 Matthew Kramer
8- 3 Brandon Haseleu
9- 31 Taylor Lovejoy
10- 23 Rebecca Paugh
11- 14 Jeffrey Olive
12- 83 Kody Fisher
13- 76 Ken McCloud
14- 82 Kyle Morse