by BJ Cavin- Ocala Speedway Media
OCALA, FL- The historic Ocala Speedway returns to action this Friday night, July 30th, with four exciting divisions poised to do battle on the toughest 3/8ths mile in the southeast. The Colortyme Rentals Modifieds will headline the night, and race fans will also see intense action from the Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, and the Gladiators. All four of these divisions feature heated points races at this point in the season, and with limited races left on the 2010 schedule.
Jeff Mathews still has the top of the 2010 Colortyme Modified points list in his grip, but Wayne Hammond and Kyle Bronson are both tied at just 25 points shy of Mathews. In addition to the double threat tied for second place, Mathews also must keep tabs on Kyle and Chip Owen, who are 45 and 52 points out of first place. Mathews was a winner the last time out, beating Wayne Hammond to the checkers on July 9th and thus protecting his lead, but can he continue to keep the competitors at bay for the remainder of the season? Should Mathews encounter some bad luck, the points race could become superheated in a flash.
The Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks had been a two man showdown at the top for weeks on end, but recently Dean Jarvis and Heath Walker have stumbled a bit while others have surged into the top spots in feature races. Jarvis remains the top points man at just 20 in front of Heath Walker, but Daniel Miller used a win on July 17th to leapfrog up to third place and tie William Edwards, putting both of those drivers only 60 points out of the top spot, and 40 short of bumping Walker out of second place. Daniel Miller has had an up and down season so far, but if he can continue to win he might be able to stir things up at the top of the heap.
Michael Stalnaker began the 2010 Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock season strong, but then had a string of misfortunes that set him back during the middle part of the season. But if last Friday night was any indication, the new current points leader may be over all of that and running downhill toward the end of the season. Stalnaker survived what turned out to be a brutal battle among some of the heavy hitters, and some of those hitters failed to see the checkers because of the hitting. This Friday night those racers will be back with dents banged out and mechanical repairs completed, and may have some grudges to settle as well. Jerrid Bennett is one of those who became a victim last weekend, and is just 16 points behind Stalnaker at the top. And if anyone will return with something to prove, Bennett is the one to watch as it was his DNF and Stalnaker’s win that bumped him out of the top spot.
Last Friday night Steven Johnson had to borrow Steven Cox’s race car in order to run with the Gladiators at Ocala, and Johnson wound up with the short end of just about everything that he encountered. Meanwhile Casey Feaster had topped Johnson in the points standings, and topped everyone else with yet another win, as Devin Walker managed to vault past Johnson into second place behind Feaster. Those developments have left the Gladiator points race even tighter than before, as Devin Walker has chipped it down to a 9 point difference between himself and Casey Feaster at the top of the heap. Meanwhile Steven Johnson and Matt Shea are all knotted up at 20 points out of first place, as Shea steadily continues to climb the points ladder and Johnson keeps slipping back. Depending on who does what this Friday night, a lot could change or everything could remain the same, and Devin Walker now finds himself poised to take over the top position should Casey Feaster falter.