by BJ Cavin- Ocala Speedway Media

OCALA, FL- Near perfect weather greeted racers and fans at the historic Ocala Speedway on Friday night, as “All Churches Night” featured five divisions of racing action, plus the fun and fellowship of Faster Pastor racing as well.  Elvin Harper of Belleview Christian Church came to the southeast’s toughest 3/8ths mile as a first timer and beat Monty Grant of First Baptist Church Ocala to the checkers, thus becoming the reigning racing reverend for 2010.  So far Faster Pastor races have spanned three years at Ocala Speedway, and has produced three different winners for three different churches.

But while the reverends were one of the draws to the track on Friday night, so were the Colortyme Modifieds as the $500 bounty remained in place on current points leader, Jeff Matthews.  And for the second time in two weeks, a tough field of modifieds was there to take on the challenge, and when it was over “The Repo Man” had upped his score of losses this season at Ocala to three.

Kyle Bronson and Wayne Hammond were the odds on favorites to collect the bounty from the start as both have given Mathews fits in the past and were more than capable of doing it again.  And as was the case two weeks ago, Mathews struggled with his set up on the night while Bronson nailed his, and it was Bronson who dominated the race while Mathews and Hammond kept it close in the top three.  Kyle Bronson collected the $500 bounty, plus another $100 bonus from Astor Recycling, plus his normal payout for a Colortyme Modified feature win.  Jeff Mathews held off Wayne Hammond to finish second, while fourth place went to Garret Stewart after a run that saw him running in front of both Mathews and Hammond at one point in the race.  “Big Mac” Charlie MacNichols returned to America’s Dirt Track after a long absence and nabbed the fifth place spot.

Probably the wildest feature race of the night came from the Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, which normally feature tough and exciting racing but hardly ever produce spectacular fireworks.  But Friday night’s Hobby Stock Field was on a tear, and so were Danny Miller and “The Outlaw” Jody Wells.  The first five laps of the race featured a heated battle between both racers that ended when an inside move by Miller sent him into the grass and one of the tractor tires on the inside of turn 1.  Miller’s car almost went end over end, but settled on it’s top after performing an all but perfect pirouette on it’s nose as Dean Jarvis barely escaped by on the outside.  Miller suffered an elbow injury that required some attention, but otherwise walked away for the spectacular crash. 

 
And while the cleanup of the remains of Miller’s machine took place, Jody Wells ducked into the pit area to change a tire that was going down and was therefore relegated to the rear of the field for the restart.  That put current points leader, Dean Jarvis, into the lead spot, and Wells knew that if he failed to clear traffic and get to Jarvis fast, the veteran racer would drive away form him. So when the green waved Wells shot inside of everyone in an attempt to gain position, but pushed high in turn 4 and into the teeth of the grid.  That resulted in contact with at least two other cars, plus Wells slamming into the concrete of the frontstretch wall in the second thunderous hit in one lap, ending his night with a badly damaged race car on the dreaded hook.

So with Miller and Wells in pieces in the pits, one might think that Dean Jarvis might take control and go the distance.  But on a night when attrition was becoming as important as anything else in the division, fans and racers should never assume anything.  Just three laps from the finish Jarvis slowed as a tire began deflating and that opened the door for Ronald Lentz in second place and Tim Hughes in third.  Lentz tried to pass Jarvis low as Jarvis attempted to go in the same direction to get out of harm’s way, and that allowwed Hughes to rocket around the top of turn 3 and into the lead.  From there it was all Tim Hughes as he claimed the victory plus another $100 bonus from Astor Recycling, and Ronald Lentz settled for second place.  Heath Walker hung on and grabbed the third spot while Tommy Ausburn ventured off of the pavement again and finished fourth.  Dean Jarvis limped home on the flat tire and finished in the fifth spot.

The Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stocks are known for fender banging action at Ocala Speedway, and there was plenty of that to go around.  Jesse Corbitt and Chris Fontaine were among the racers who were near the front when they were involved in altercations and were penalized to the rear, while others were forced to exit due to damage and call it a night.  But while the liberal use of fenders and bumpers went on throughout most of the field, Scott Mooers shot to the lead and found that the going was much safer if one simply outruns all of the animosity behind them.

Mooers’ main threat came from Jason Gamble, who managed to stay close to the 10 car thanks to some hard nosed driving and some caution flags, but was never able to catch and pass the leader.  Meanwhile Michael Stalnaker was just outside of the top five and struggling as his ride seemed to be down on power after last weekend’s top to bottom teardown that resulted in a victory.  In the end Mooers was simply too tough to tame as he notched the win and Jason Gamble followed for second place.  Michael Valdez had another impressive run with a third place finish, holding off Chris Shea who came in fourth.  and Chris Fontaine fought back from the rear of the field to salvage fifth place on the night.

The fireworks were equally spectacular with Ocala’s Mini Stock Division, as some early contact between two cars erupted into a big mess exiting turn 1.  Buddy Pope and Dan Kerr swapped some paint and caused a caution on the first lap, and both were relegated to the rear for the restart.  And as the green waved Dan Kerr’s attempt for some retaliation resulted in his 73 car slamming the frontstretch wall hard, demolishing the machine while Pope suffers only some minor damage and drove away. The incident not only sent Dan Kerr’s car home in a wad, but it also earned him a conduct disqualification.

From that point on it was the Keith Briggs show, as “Hot Shot” rocketed to the lead and ran away from everyone else.  Belleview’s Steve Mooers took a turn in the 73U and was fast, but not as fast as Briggs.  Keith Briggs got his fourth consecutive Mini Stock win while Steve Mooers finished second and Buddy Pope battled back to third place.  Johnny Zackery was the fourth place finisher and Dean Kinsey claimed fifth.

Ocala’s Gladiator Division features the closest points battle of the season and has seen a list of racers occupy the top spot and then lose it, so it was no surprise when some contenders had their struggles on Friday night wile others were ready to take advantage of the situation.  Casey Feaster got caught up in someone else’s’ fight in his heat race, but found himself on the pole as the green flag waved for the feature.  Feaster was focused and determined to win, and went three wide at the start before wrestling control away from Robert Graham and David Ladrie.

Ladrie earned a win last week after a post race tech disqualification claimed the only car to beat him to the checkers, and Ladrie was on fire after getting his first career win.  “Super Dave” kept the 11 car in the top three for the entire race but never found his way around Robert Graham, as Graham tried to chase down Feaster.  Casey Fester got the win and narrowed his point deficit in the process while Graham finished on the second spot.  Devin Walker came on strong late to get past Dave Ladrie and take the third spot, while Ladrie finished fourth and failed to bring home another trophy for his wife to dust.  And Matt Shea never managed to climb any higher than the fifth spot, but still held onto the points lead by a mere 7 points over Devin Walker.

The wildest show on wheels comes to Ocala Speedway on Friday, September 24th, as Car Warz brings a nationally known brand of demolition derby, stunt driving, and racing, to the southeast’s toughest 3/8ths mile.  The show will feature multiple wacky races including a boat and trailer race, flag pole racing, plus a big money four cylinder enduro event.  There will also be an RV demolition derby, plus spectacular mid air t-bone crashing, ATV and motorcycle stunt competition, and more.  Gates will open at 5PM on Friday night and all seating is first come, first served.  For more information, please visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com.

 Ocala Speedway Results for 9/17/10
Colortyme Modified

1- 40B Kyle Bronson
2- 33 Jeff Mathews

3- 66H Wayne Hammond
4- 67 Garret Stewart
5- 11 Charlie MacNichols
6- 17 Richard Livernois Jr.
7- Z06 Larry Mott
8- 8A Rick Scott
9- 71 Richard Livernois Sr.
10- 0 Richard Dickinson
11- 33F Michael Flick
12- 9G Tim Grubaugh
13- 7 Kent Corbin
14- Z Tim Zackery
15- 0S Dakota Stephens
16- 8 Chuck Gustafson Jr.
17- 7X Jody Robbins
18- 75C Len O’Neil
19- 10 Don Depew Jr.

Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stock

1- 54 Tim Hughes
2- 96 Ronald Lentz
3- 55 Heath Walker
4- 69 Tommy Ausburn
5- 37J Dean Jarvis
6- 08E William Edwards
7- 11W Jody Wells
8- 99 Daniel Miller Jr.

9- 26 Brian Jerrels

Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock

1- 10 Scott Mooers
2- 5W Jason Gamble
3- 15 Michael Valdez
4- 76 Chris Shea
5- 84 Chris Fontaine
6- 29 Thomas Hughes
7- 8 Michael Stalnaker
8- 114 John Thorpe
9- 326 Gordon Cade
10- 12D Joe Boyd
11- 19 Brian Shea
12- 3D Jesse Corbitt
13- 36 Austin Stamper
14- 64 Jonathan Gillette
15- 14M Tim Mathieu

16- 55W Donald Winne
17- 89 Ronny Harrell
18- 56A Richard Appleby
19- 3W Vaughn Woodall
20- 69A Jonathan Appleby
21- 54 Mike McDonald
22- 88 Tim Smith
23- 4W Mike Skinner
Mini Stock

1- 19T Keith Briggs
2- 73U Steve Mooers
3- 81 Buddy Pope
4- 47 Johnny Zackery
5- 3D Dean Kinsey
6- 9 Ryan Babcock
7-75 Nick Kerr
8- 68 Sean Babcock
DNS- 09 Travis Staats
DNS- 21 Ray Ethridge
DNS- 9AR Charlie Staats
DNS- 11Z Pat Terrell
DQ- (conduct) 73 Dan Kerr

Gladiator
1- 20 Casey Feaster
2- 75/8 Robert Graham
3- 55JR Devin Walker
4- 11 David Ladrie
5- 96 Matt Shea
6- 82 Kyle Morse
7- 72 Jordan Myers
8- 77 Matthew Kramer
9- 3H Brandon Haseleu
10- 23 Rebecca Paugh
11- 31 Jerry Taylor
12- 14C Tommy Cribb