Jim Rouse, BRP Media (9-17-12) Ocala, FL – As the points paying season at Bubba Raceway Park begins to close we see that no division has more than 10 features scheduled through the season finale. A few of those divisions will come 1 race closer to deciding their champion; they are the RaceCar Engineering Late Models, Buddy’s Home Furnishings Limited Late Models, 1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks, and Barfield Law Group Mini Stocks. Those 4 divisions will be joined by the first Figure-8 Race of the Bubba Clem Era!
Mark Whitener and Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. can make things pretty boring and 2012 has been no exception- they’ve won 9 of the 15 points-paying features held in 2012 with “The Magic Man” up 1 on Lloyd. However, those 6 they haven’t won have been won by 6 different drivers including top-5 points chasers Richard Ferry and “Cheddar” Christian Augspurger. Ferry held Lloyd off for 25-laps early in the season while “Cheddar” remembered a move Lloyd used to beat him and made full use of it as he beat Whitener by the nose of the car. Jason Fitzgerald and Tyler Ivey have won this season as well as Keith Nosbisch and Modified champion Jeff “4-Time” Mathews. Whitener and Lloyd are still the class of the field but there are, for the first time in a while, no surprises in the RaceCar Engineering Late Models.
In 17 features during their return to Bubba Raceway Park we’ve seen JO Nobles win 9 of the Buddy’s Home Furnishings Limited Late Models features (and he hasn’t entered all 17!), Eddie Gainey take 3, and 5 others have visited Coors Light Winner’s Circle. Nobles has been the dominator of 2012 but he has David Showers, Forrest Gough, the McGillivray brothers, David Showers, Jr., and Forrest Gough chasing him for a title. The Showers family each has 1 win as well as Phillip Cobb, Kyle Chappell, and Kevin Mills. The Showers boys have thrown the monkeys off their backs leaving just Gough to throw his off and that could happen any time
The most competitive division is, however, the 1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks. Chad Scranton has 7 wins, Jonathan Appleby (who is fighting for his first championship) has 5, Shane Nichols has 4, and James Erickson has 2; then you have the most consistent driver in Brian Mullins, Jason Gamble, Bubba Durbin, Mark Trexler, Grady Christian, Mike Tovet, Eddie Kilbury, Jr., Robert Ray, and Ray Wheeler all at 1 win each. That is ultra competitive, especially with just 2 drivers with consecutive wins (Appleby had 3-in-a-row and Nichols just swept the week-end). Mullins, Appleby, Gamble, and Scranton have been fighting for a title all season- 2 have championship trophies; the other 2 had never won a race before this year
Buddy Pope and Reid Christensen have been quite dominant in 2012 but Travis Staats has been on fire as of late. Staats will fight hard to take this championship from Pope and he has something Buddy doesn’t- a team mate, his father Charlie. Shirlene Hammond, Zach Amundsen, and Nick Kerr have also broken into Coors Light Winner’s Circle in 2012 and this fight, though rarely talked about, is closer than you would think.
Bubba will open the Pit Stop at 1, pits at 4, grandstands at 5, and racing is scheduled for 7. For more information visit www.bubbaracewaypark.com or call us at 352-622-9400!