Mods, Sportsman, and More at Ocala this Friday

The Colortyme Modifieds have had only two races so far in 2010 thanks to weather related cancellations, and the lack of racing has kept the points race extremely close.  Jeff Mathews holds the current edge, with Roger Crouse only 6 points out of first place. Then comes Wayne Hammond and Kyle Owen, just 9 and 10 points out of first, and Kyle Bronson is just 11 points outside of the lead.  John Bradley, Garrett Stewart, and Chip Owen, are also within 25 points of the leader. 

The Sportsman Division is normally scheduled on the same weekends with the Colortyme Modifieds, and so they have had the same issues with weather and are left with an even closer points race.  Kevin Mills has a one point lead over Augie Burttram, while Burttram only has a two point advantage over Tim Powers.  Shane Nichols is 6 points out of first place, with Chad Scranton within 10 points out of the points lead.  And Billy Costello, who had to overcome some frustrating carburetor issues in his first time out at Ocala, is only 18 points out of first place for the season.

Dean Jarvis still holds onto the points lead with the Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, but just barely.  His main nemesis this season has turned out to be Heath Walker, and Walker is a mere 3 points shy of replacing Jarvis at the top. Jonathan Appleby has had great success this season and is third in the points race, 27 points shy of the leader.  The last time out for this division saw a multi lap battle for the lead between Jarvis and Walker, with Jarvis getting the win.  Those roles could easily reverse this time out, and if one of the two leaders has a bad night, it could shake up the top three.

There has been some lousy luck circulating at the top of the Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants V8 Thunder Stock points race, but Jerrid Bennett remains in the lead at 27 points ahead of Brian Shea.  Meanwhile Michael Stalnaker, who just a few weeks ago looked to be in total control of the division, would simply like to be able to finish a race as mechanical misfortunes have derailed his victory train.  Stalnaker remains in the third spot in the points race despite the recent troubles, and is working hard to turn things back around.  Last Friday night it was Austin Kirkpatrick who put together a dominating performance and took home a win, while Scott Mooers continues to have solid top five performances week after week.

Ocala’s Gladiator division has been producing some highly competitive racing that has had the crowd on its feet, and their last time out was no exception.  Lasoski Racing’s Devin Walker has positioned himself in second place in the points, just 10 points shy of displacing the leader, Steven Johnson, with outstanding performances born from overcoming pitfalls and misfortunes.  But the most recent car to beat seems to be EBD Racing’s Matt Shea, who has snatched two victories and has Casey Feaster doing the chasing instead of being chased.  And while Shea and Feaster continue to battle at the front, Devin Walker is poised to pounce should either one, or both, make a mistake.

Racing gets underway at Ocala Speedway at 8PM this Friday night, and the gates will be open at 5PM to allow the early birds to grab the best seats.  For more information on Florida’s oldest speedway, please be sure to visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com.