{"id":5065,"date":"2011-02-18T13:03:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T13:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=5065"},"modified":"2011-02-18T21:00:25","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T21:00:25","slug":"gardner-and-mathews-win-first-night-races-at-ocala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/series\/gardner-and-mathews-win-first-night-races-at-ocala\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardner and Mathews Win First Night Races at Ocala"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>by BJ Cavin- Ocala Speedway Media<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

OCALA FL-\u00a0 Near perfect weather greeted a huge crowd of excited fans as Ocala Speedway hosted the opening night of the Bubba Army Sprint Car Nationals, featuring the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series.\u00a0 Twenty nine wingless sprint cars took on the southeast’s toughest 3\/8ths mile on Thursday night, and as expected the D shaped oval claimed a victim or two before it was over.\u00a0 Fans also saw heated action from the UMP Modifieds, which featured a contingent of Florida racers who were not\u00a0very hospitable to the visiting racers from other states.<\/p>\n

Ocala’s track crew provided the USAC National Sprint Car Series with a smooth and fast surface, and Hunter Schuerenberg took advantage by setting a fast qualifying time of 14.801.\u00a0 Four exciting heats and a hard fought B main set the field for the 30 lap feature race, with Chris Windom, Tracy Hines, Jerry Coons Jr, and Shane Cottle, all claiming heat race wins.\u00a0 Casey Riggs took the win in the B main, with Blake Fitzpatrick, Bill Rose, Robert Ballou, Justin Grant, and Wes McIntyre, all following to qualify for the A main.\u00a0 And credit Justin Grant for making the field after tumbling down Ocala’s frontstretch in his heat race after hard contact with the turn four wall.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The feature race was anything but disappointing, as Jon Stanbrough jumped out in front and remained there.\u00a0 But a red flag displayed as Casey Riggs\"\"<\/a> failed to keep the rubber side down brought things to a halt on lap 5.\u00a0 Riggs was undaunted by his flip and remained in his ride to rejoin the\u00a0race at the end of the field.\u00a0And it was after the stoppage that Damion Gardner found a route around Bryan Clauson to claim the second position,\u00a0then set about making sure that\u00a0Stanbrough stayed in the throttle in order to protect his lead. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Lapped cars proved to be quite the complication for Gardner as he chased the leader around the speedway, but in the end it was a lapped car that was at the\u00a0right place at the\u00a0right time and thus opened the door for Gardner to make his move.\u00a0 As the cars came out of turn 4 on the final lap, Stanbrough could only watch as Gardner shot under him and pitched a wheel stand down the frontstretch\u00a0as the checkered flags waved above from the flagstand. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Damion Gardner repeated as the USAC Amsoil National sprint Car Series opening night winner\"\"<\/a> for the second year in a row while Jon Stanbrough claimed the second spot.\u00a0 Third place went to Bryan Clauson, as Levi Jones and Bud Kaeding rounded out the top five finishers.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>As the UMP Modifieds made their way onto Ocala Speedway for their feature race, the fans were well aware that a contingent of Florida racers were well positioned in the field, and that they had ample experience with the odd layout and sticky clay that makes Ocala so tough to tame.\u00a0 But earlier the out of town bunch had held the locals at bay, as Mike Spatola of Manhattan Illinois,\u00a0and Todd Sherman of Chuizubusco Indiana, nabbed heat race wins. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>But that was as much hospitality as the Florida gang was ready to extend, as Kyle Bronson jumped to an early lead in the 20 lap feature and Jeff Mathews quickly fought his way to third place.\u00a0 A mechanical issue caused Bronson to struggle, then retire, which moved Todd Sherman into the lead with Mathews right behind him.\u00a0 Todd Neiheiser of Panama City, Florida, held the third spot as Alachua, Florida’s Dave Barber advanced himself within the top five.\u00a0 Barber would also fall victim to a mechanical issue later in the race, as other Florida racers moved up to fill the gap left when\u00a0Barber turned into the infield. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Jeff Mathews had spent the previous week struggling at the other end of the Ocala\u00a0National Forest during modified racing at Volusia Speedway Park, and the two time modified champion at Ocala had something to prove to everyone who was watching.\u00a0 Mathews found his way around Sherman and began to stretch his legs, and Leesburg, Florida’s Garret Stewart battled his way to third place.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Despite some cautions that slowed the field and took away his sizable leads, Jeff Mathews made the trip from Tampa worthwhile by scoring a convincing victory at Ocala.\"\"<\/a> Garret Stewart claimed the second spot and was followed by Todd Neiheiser to make it a one-two-three Florida finish for the night.\u00a0 Liberty Illinois’ David Weitholder was fourth, followed by Todd Sherman.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Bubba Army Sprint Car Nationals continue on Friday night as both the USAC sprints and the UMP Modifieds will again challenge Ocala Speedway to the delight of excited race fans.\u00a0 The grandstand gates will open at 4PM with racing slated to begin at 7:30PM, and fans will again have the option to visit the working pit area pre race by getting and\u00a0presenting a special pass out card at the gate.\u00a0 For more information on the Bubba Army Sprint Car Nationals, or to see the complete early season schedule for America’s Dirt Track, please visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com<\/a>, or call the track at 352-622-9400. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Ocala Speedway Results for 2\/17\/11<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bubba Army Sprint Car Nationals, Night 1<\/p>\n

1- 71 Damion Gardner
\n2- 53 Jon Stanbrough<\/p>\n

<\/a>3- 7 Bryan Clauson
\n4- 20 Levi Jones
\n5- 29 Bud Kaeding
\n6- 36 Brady Short<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>7- 5 Bobby East
\n8- 14 Coleman Gulick
\n9- 10T Bill Rose
\n10- 35 Hunter Schuerenberg
\n11- 5X Chris Windom
\n12- 81 Robert Ballou<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>13- 69 Jerry Coons Jr.
\n14- 4G Casey Shuman
\n15- 39 Dave Darland
\n16- 1G Scotty Weir<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>17- 37 Casey Riggs
\n18- 4 Tracy Hines
\n19- 83 Wes McIntyre
\n20- 10 Blake Fitzpatrick
\n21- 40 Justin Grant
\n22- 10E Shane Cottle <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>UMP Modifieds, Night 1<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1- 33 Jeff Mathews
\n2- 67 Garret Stewart
\n3- 72 Todd Neiheiser
\n4- 05 David Wietholder
\n5- 65 Todd Sherman
\n6- 89 Mike Spatola
\n7- D4 Dave Jamison
\n8- 12 Jason Miller<\/p>\n

<\/a>9- 1S Keith Smith
\n10- 07 Jeff Thomas
\n11- 11 Chuck Gustafson Jr.
\n12- 1K Scott Kurtzner
\n13- 56 Dave Barber Jr.
\n14- 21 Gary Brooks<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>15- 99 Jim Passino
\n16- 40B Kyle Bronson
\n17- 18 David McWilliams<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>18- 271 Rich Pratt <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Bubba Army Sprint Car Nationals continue on Friday night as both the USAC sprints and the UMP Modifieds will again challenge Ocala Speedway to the delight of excited race fans.\u00a0 The grandstand gates will open at 4PM with racing slated to begin at 7:30PM, and fans will again have the option to visit the working pit area pre race by getting and\u00a0presenting a special pass out card at the gate.\u00a0 For more information on the Bubba Army Sprint Car Nationals, or to see the complete early season schedule for America’s Dirt Track, please visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com<\/a>, or call the track at 352-622-9400. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by BJ Cavin- Ocala Speedway Media OCALA FL-\u00a0 Near perfect weather greeted a huge crowd of excited fans as Ocala Speedway hosted the opening night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,3,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ocala-speedway","category-front-page-news","category-race-results","category-series"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5065"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5100,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065\/revisions\/5100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}