Memorable Action On Memorial Day Week-End At Bubba Raceway Park
Jim Rouse, Ocala, FL- The Bubba Army 360 Sprints headlined the night with the Scorpion Racing Products UMP DirtCar Open-Wheel Modifieds, Hobby Stocks- who raced for $750, 1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks, and the Rent-N-Roll Gladiators taking part as well.
The Scorpion Modifieds kicked the action off and Rich Pratt took the Woodstown Ice and Coal #78 right to the front. Pratt, a heat race winner, ran a dominant race and won easily over the other heat winner Bryan Bernhardt and Chuck Gustafson, Jr. In fact, Pratt nearly lapped Gustafson and beat Bernhardt by over 13 seconds. Pratt now has at least 1 win in each season he’s driven the #78. Chris Littrell was the first car 1 lap down in 4th and Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. finished 5th after a 3,000-mile flight earlier in the day.
An always exciting Hobby Stock race got better with $750 on the line and Brian Morgan on point. Hunter Gustafson brought the yellow out on lap 3 when he spun while battling inside of the top 5. Before the yellow flew, however, Devin Walker passed Morgan for the lead. A 14-lap run was halted when Jerome Dipple spun right in front of the leaders. The final 8 were run without a problem and Walker walked away with the cash. Scotty Kay, Jr. played bridesmaid once more while Sean Monoghan, Morgan, and Tommy Hill completed the top 5. Hill, Gustafson, and Kay won their respective heat races.
The Bubba Army Sprints embarked on their new mission and Robbie Smith led them into battle. AJ Maddox spun on lap 2 and brought a caution out; the restart gave Terry Witherspoon and Matt Kurtz a shot at the #6S. On lap 17, Kurtz found his way around Smith and began to sail away, but “The Jacksonville Jet” was brought back down to earth when Tanner Witherspoon spun with 3-to-go. Fortunately for Kurtz, Smith had used his stuff up and- after a blistering 13.5 second lap- Kurtz won easily over Smith. “The Captain” Tony Agin finished 3rd, Bob Auld was a solid 4th, and Tanner Witherspoon rounded out the top 5. Maddox and Smith won their heats.
The 1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks started off with Melvin Fockler leading and a bunch of his fellow title contenders behind him. On lap 6, Brandon Tillander’s motor quit while he was in a good position and set up another restart. Just 5 laps later, Jeff Stalnaker, Jr. cut his left rear while racing with Brandon Elwood for the 2nd position. Fockler had to hold Elwood off, and he did for 7 and 3/4 laps, but Elwood muscled to the inside as the white flag waved. Elwood stole a win from Fockler, but driver #33 has learned his lesson after 2 consecutive runner-up finishes. Mike Valdes finished 3rd with William Gillam and Tony Campbell in tow. However, Valdes was disqualified when his exhaust pipe was found to be too short. That moved Gillam to 3rd, Campbell to 4th, and John Florkowski to his 1st career top 5. Stalnaker and Valdes won their heats, but Valdes’ DQ means Brandon Tillander gets his first career heat win.
The Rent-N-Roll Gladiators saw a real fight and Ray Hunter led the opening stint. Hunter, however, couldn’t stave off David Walls and Walls went on to win the caution-free event. Hunter held on to 2nd while Stephen Frankland found himself in an unfamiliar 3rd place. Tom Sheehan rebounded from a dismal week last week to finish 4th. Bill Southard completed the top 5. Frankland won the heat and gained the points lead.
Next week the Bubba Army 360 Sprints return as do the Hobby Stocks and Rent-N-Roll Gladiators. The E-Mods will do battle once more and history can be made there as well. For more information, please visit
www.bubbaracewaypark.com or call us at 352-622-9400!
Bubba Raceway Park Results (5/25/13)
Bubba Army 360 Sprint Cars
1- 92 Matt Kurtz
2- 6S Robbie Smith
3- 38 Tony Agin
4- 83A Bob Auld
5- 99 Tanner Witherspoon
6- 43 Terry Witherspoon
7- 3K Kerry Gilbert
8- 111 Andy Cobb
9- G6 Brandon Grubaugh
10- 3A AJ Maddox
Scorpion Racing Products UMP DirtCar Open-Wheel Modifieds
1- 78 Rich Pratt
2- 33L Bryan Bernhardt
3- 15 Chuck Gustafson, Jr.
4- C00L Chris Littrell
5- 59 Jeff Stalnaker, Sr.
6- 1K Scott Kurtzner
7- 2B Jeff Barrett
8- 75 Charlie O’Neill
9- 21 Devin Walker
SCR- 5 Tim Grubaugh
Bubba Army Hobby Stocks
1- 55JR Devin Walker
2- 21 Scotty Kay, Jr.
3- 51 Sean Monoghan
4- 9 Brian Morgan
5- 1H Tommy Hill
6- 24 Dennis Williams
7- 26 Chris McCormack
8- 98 Tim Arnold
9- 81 Don Woosley
10- 19 Brian Shea
11- 14 James Sullivan, III
12- 63S Jeff Sargent
13- 14 Jerome Dipple
14- 15 Hunter Gustafson
15- 16 James Erickson
16- 8 Mike Stalnaker
17- 54 Alvin Adkison
18- 23 Rebecca Paugh
1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks
1- 28 Brandon Elwood
2- 33 Melvin Fockler
3- 13 William Gillam
4- 6 Tony Campbell
5- 54 John Florkowski
6- 66 Harold Erickson
7- 19 Kyle Goulard
8- 9 Jeff Stalnaker, Jr.
9- 85 Chuck Cessna
10- 73 Brandon Tillander
11- 23 Tom Bassett
12- 73J Joey Durbin
13- 20 Eric Davis
DSQ- 15 Mike Valdes (Exhaust Pipe)
Rent-N-Roll Gladiators
1- 35 David Walls
2- 79 Ray Hunter
3- 7UK Stephen Frankland
4- 75 Tom Sheehan
5- 83S Bill Southard
SCR- 31T Tyler Bryden (Crash)
SCR- 14 Alan Harmon (Crash)
