by BJ Cavin-Ocala Speedway Media
All Photos Courtesy of rewingphotos.com

OCALA, FL-  The 15th Annual Powell Memorial seemed destined to be a special race.  First, on a day when the forecast was for a 70% chance of thunderstorms, nary a drop fell at Ocala Speedway.  Secondly, most of the brightest and best late model racers in the region came to Florida’s oldest speedway with the Sunoco United Dirt Late Model Challenge Series to race in the event.  And last, but certainly not least, James Powell III was again in attendance for the most prestigious late model race in the region, in order to carry on with the  memory of the family members whom he lost so tragically.

Anyone who allowed the weather forecast to frighten them away from Ocala Speedway missed what probably was the greatest and most exciting Powell Memorial ever run.  It was a race that featured multiple lead changes, plus many more position swaps and changes throughout the top ten cars during the 75 lap race. And even the drama of those who failed to start the main event, or who managed to salvage a respectable finish from near disaster.

David Clegg’s night ended in his heat race when his car rode the wall in turn one toward turn two. Clegg’s machine then climbed the barrier between turns one and two, straddling the top of the wall and destroying the warning signal on that end of the track.  While the track crews worked to extricate Clegg’s car from the top of the wall, the veteran racer was left to walk back to the pit area to end his night.


Ocala’s hometown favorite, Ivedent Lloyd, is the defending winner of the Powell Memorial, and his blistering 15.378 lap earned him the Zeigler Racing Engines Fast Qualifier award.  Lloyd also drove his Roush-Yates powered ride to a convincing win in his heat race, but the invert at the start of the main event placed him on the second row in the third position, while his teammate and friend, Darrell Padgett, earned the pole position and led early on.

Tyler Ivey was sure bet to possibly get the better of Lloyd, but an opening lap spin and contact with a tractor tire in turn 3 put him to the rear of the field instead of in the fourth spot beside Lloyd’s 21 car.  But despite the early mishap, Ivey managed to get the car repaired under yellow and return to the race without losing a lap, then used patience and determination to work his way up as high as second place before misfortune came his way again later in the race.  Ivey was running on the outside and looking to challenge the race leader when he hit and rode up on the turn two wall, which knocked him back to the sixth spot.  Then he spun in turn 4 and found himself fighting back from adversity yet again, eventually salvaging a top five finish.
The race also produced a prolonged and heated battle between Ivedent Lloyd and Mark Whitener, where the two racers flip flopped the lead a few times while battling side by side.  Their battle continued unabated until Jack Nosbisch saw an opening and joined the competition up front, thus complicating the race for the leaders.  Depending on who was leading at the time, Nosbisch fought some impressive battles of his own, using the outside to remain side-by-side with either Lloyd or Whitener.  And while those three were preoccupied with each other, Phillip Cobb quietly crept through the top ranks until he also was involved in the racing in at the front of the pack.

Jack Nosbisch had just stolen the lead from Ivedent Lloyd on lap 54 when Cobb charged forward to give Nosbisch a scare, eventually wrestling the lead away.  Lloyd hung tough but had used up his tires and could not muster the moves to retake what he had lost.  Lloyd and Jack Nosbisch were left to do battle for second place while Cobb extended his lead.  A couple of late lap caution periods were enough to keep things close, plus keep open track in front of the leaders, and on a restart on lap 68 Jack Nosbisch made a last ditch effort to catch Phillip Cobb napping.  Cobb was not buying it, and went on to collect the $5000 check, and notching his name in the honored list of those who have won the Powell Memorial.

Ivedent Lloyd followed Phillip Cobb across the line to claim the second place finish, while Mark Whitener placed third.  Jack Nosbisch might have made his move too early and thus faded a bit to finish in the fourth spot, while Tyler Ivey rallied to take a fifth place finish.  Christian Augspurger, who just turned 15 years old and made history as the youngest Powell Memorial racer to date, drove a very patient and controlled race to earn the sixth spot.

One of the favorite divisions at Ocala Speedway is the Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants V8 Thunder Stocks, which creates exciting action and is home to some of Ocala Speedway’s most competitive racers.  And on this night the battle up front looked to be a five way slugfest between Scott Mooers, Chad Scranton, Michael Stalnaker, Willard Driggers, and Augie Burttram.  But the Amsoil Thunder Stock races tend to create their own destiny, and that meant that a lot of the expected favorites were not around to mix it up in the end.

Austin Kirkpatrick looked strong in the heat races and earned the pole position for the 20 lap feature.  Meanwhile Michael Stalnaker had issues all night that finally parked him early in the feature race, and Augie Burttram also was forced to retire at about halfway through the event.  Scranton was pushing for the lead when he and Austin Kirkpatrick came together, resulting in a flat tire that parked Scranton in the infield, and left Kirkpatrick in front of everyone else, while Driggers repeatedly found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, spinning from contact and mired in traffic.

Austin Kirkpatrick held onto the lead and grabbed a feature win in front of the Powell Memorial crowd, while Chris Shea powered his EBD Racing entry through traffic and hung tough to take second place.  Scott Mooers also drove a tough race but could no get further the top three, finishing third on the night.  But the big mover of the night was a hard charging, yet patient, Eddie Kilbury, who gained 20 positions from his 24th starting spot to grab the fourth spot at the checkers.  James Erickson also did some moving up during the race, climbing nine positions to finish in the fifth spot.

Ocala Speedway’s Mini Stock Division had the honor of closing out the night, and as had ben the case in the earlier events, the toughest 3/8ths mile in the southeast was not very kind to some of the competitors.  Ron Kinsey took the worst of it as his car plowed into the wall at the exit of turn four.  Kinsey walked away, while his race car will need some serious TLC in order to get back to racing,

Brack Gill also had problems, as he contacted the wall twice.  Gill and Kinsey had contact during heat racing that sent both of them into the wall in turn four, but both were able to drive away and rejoin the race.  But later Gill slammed the front stretch wall hard after contact with another car, and that incident destroyed a rim and sent Gill to the pits.
Father and son battled early on as Nick and Dan Kerr fought over the lead, but Nick Kerr prevailed and went on to notch a win.  Defending Mini Stock champion, Paul Combast, charged into the top two and was close to making a move on Kerr in the end, but ran out of laps and settled for second pace while Dan Kerr followed in third place.  Buddy Pope was another racer who survived the night, and drove his battered car to a fourth place finish while Johnny Zackery overcame some early woes and finished in the fifth spot.

More racing action returns to Ocala Speedway on June 11th with action from five top divisions, including the Colortyme Rental Modifieds, Ocala’s Sportsman Division, the Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants V8 Thunder Stocks, and the Gladiators.  The gates will open at 5PM with racing at 8PM on Friday night, and for more information please visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com.

Ocala Speedway Results for 6/4/10
15th Annual Powell Memorial (75 laps/$5000 to win)

1- 32 Phillip Cobb
2- 21 Ivedent Lloyd
3- 58 Mark Whitener
4- 12 Jack Nosbisch
5- 47 Tyler Ivey
6- 35 Christian Augspurger
7- 46P Darrell Padgett
8- 24 Dennis Williams
9- 16 Shane Williams
10- 101 Keith Nosbisch
11- 9 Jimmy Waldrop

12- 26 Dillon Wood
13- Z Tim Zackery
14- 2 Brandon DeWitt
15- 22B Brandon Cameron
16- 66 Chuck Chitty
17- 311 Kenny Monahan
18- 5C Johnny Collins
19- 17 Richard Ferry
20- P1 Wallace Peacock
21- 41K John Kellum
DNS- 07 David Clegg
Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants V8 Thunder Stock
1- 11 Austin Kirkpatrick
2- 76 Chris Shea
3- 10 Scott Mooers
4- 17K Eddie Kilbury Jr.
5- 66 James Erickson
6- 21 Willard Driggers
7- 69A Jonathon Appleby
8- 96 Eddie Lake
9- 19 Brian Shea
10- 64 Jonathon Gillette
11- 3W Vaughn Woodall
12- 77 Dan Cobb
13- 12B Jerrid Bennett
14- 69C Michael Carr
15- 18W Chris Watson
16- 58 Augie Burttram
17- 96L Eddie Lentz
18- 27 Chad Scranton
19- 13 James Edwards
20- 3D Jessie Corbitt
21- 0 Curtis Clark
22- 326 Gordon Cade
23- 8 Michael Stalnaker
24- 75 Raymond Wheeler
25- 5W Sean Babcock
26- 4W Mark Trexler
27- 12D Justin Durbin
Mini Stock

1- 75 Nick Kerr
2- 19C Paul Combast

3- 73 Dan Kerr
4- 81 Buddy Pope
5- 11Z Johnny Zackery
6- 9 Ryan Babcock
7- 35G Brack Gill
8- 12B Jimbo Bird
9- 3D Ron Kinsey
10- 21 Ray Ethridge