OCALA, FL-  After a few weeks off to rest and allow nature to rain itself out, race fans returned to Florida’s oldest speedway and witnessed 95 cars in four divisions challenge the toughest 3/8ths mile in the southeast.  The Colortyme Modifieds headlined the night with a $1000 to win race that featured a $500 bounty on Jeff Mathews, who has won all but one race in that division in 2010 at Ocala Speedway.  Plus the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, the Mini Stocks, and the Gladiators, were all racing for double points on the night, which made those races doubly important as the 2010 racing season moves into fall and an eventual end.

Ocala Speedway owner Mike Peters has taken note that Jeff Mathews has been less than cooperative about sharing celebration time in Ocala’s victory lane, so with the Colortyme Modifieds lining up for a scheduled $1000 to win race, he added a $500 incentive for someone else to step up and pose for pictures while holding a checkered flag.  That incentive was enough to attract over 30 top modifieds to Ocala, plus prompt some late model heavy hitters to borrow modifieds and get a piece of the action.  Even the area legend, Buzzy Reutimann, could not resist the temptation to come to Ocala and get involved in what could be a $1500 payoff.

Dale Murray held the pole position for the start, but a tangle in turn four on the first lap involved several machines and sent Murray to the pits, which moved Jeff Mathews to the pole position for the second try at getting underway.  But the bounty on Mathews was an excellent motivator, as “The Locomotive” Johnny Collins blasted his way out front along with Kyle Bronson.  And as Mathews tried to reign in those two hot shots, he was forced to contend with a hungry pack of wolves salivating at his back bumper, including Buzzy Reutimann and Jamie Carter.

Ocala Speedway has earned the moniker of the toughest 3/8ths mile in the southeast for a reason, and that reason was more than evident on Friday night.  While the racers were more aggressive thanks to Mike Peters’ $500 bounty on Mathews and the $1000 winner’s check, the track was equally unsportsmanlike to the racers and many wound up leaving on a hook.  Gary Sexton got the worst of it during a spectacular backstretch tangle that rolled his machine against the wall and red flagged the race.  Sexton would walk away to race another day, but his relatively new car will need some serious rehab.  Attrition spread throughout the field, and in the end even Jeff Mathews would fall victim to the rugged racing and fail to finish, which nullified the $500 bounty offer. 

Kyle Bronson was the toughest of the tough, not only surviving the race but finishing in front of everyone else for the $1000 win, while Jamie Carter also survived a tough outing, but came home in second place behind Bronson.  Third place went to Wayne Hammond, who was still running strong with one side of his machine totally ripped away, and who had to fight his way from the rear of the field to the top three.  Mark Whitener claimed the fourth spot, and Buzzy Reutimann finished fifth.

The Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks have run tough races all season, and Michael Stalnaker has had his ups and downs through it all.  But as the season begins to wind down Stalnaker has returned to top form, and found himself in a heated battle for the top spot in Friday’s feature with David Kinsey.  Their tussle was the highlight of another rugged race that saw as many cars drop out as finished, and that featured the night’s other spectacular crash.

The last time that Glenn Vincent raced at Ocala Speedway, his 28 machine ended the night on its roof in front of the grandstand.  Vincent walked away from that exciting crash and repaired his battered car, then returned to the site of his misfortune to test the toughness of the track once more.  And for the second outing in a row, the tough 3/8ths mile won as Vincent suffered an ugly barrel roll in turn 2, this time trashing the car to where repairs are probably impossible.  But once again Glenn Vincent walked away from the mayhem, thanks to good luck plus the use of top quality safety equipment.

In the end, the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock feature became less about who won and more about who did not, as heavy hitters like Scott Mooers and Chris Fontaine were sidelined by accidents on the track, and a disqualification took the win away from David Kinsey.  So Michael Stalnaker was awarded the victory with Chris Shea placing second and Michael Valdez moving up to the third spot.  Harold Erickson picked his way through the field and survived more than a couple of brushes with the wall to finish fourth, and Gordon Cade rounded out the top five.

The Mini Stocks have survived a season where the division came close to going into extinction on dirt tracks in Florida and where drama off the track has played out to where the division is as strong as ever at this point in the season.  Nineteen Mini Stocks were on hand on Friday night and the racing was some of the best of the season as Keith Briggs suffered a coolant leak that left him on the rear of the field for the start of the feature race.  And as one might expect, Briggs was not about to be a follower.

While Briggs was busy fighting his way through heavy traffic, there was plenty of action up front thanks to Charlie Staats, Johnny Zackery, and Rob Underwood.  Zackery’s night would not go his way as he was involved in two accidents, the second of which ended his run, but Staats and Underwood ran strong throughout the race, as did Nick Kerr and Paul Combast.  In fact, Combast had a starting position that had him mired in traffic for a good portion of the race, but he climbed to the top three and was the second car to take the checkers.

Keith Briggs fought hard through the pain of a bad back to make his way to the point and claim a victory as Combast followed, but Combast’s night would go south from there.  A protest was made on Combast’s 19C machine but Combast refused a teardown, automatically resulting in a disqualification under the rules.  That moved Rob Underwood up to second place and Charlie Staats up to third, while Nick Kerr and Ray Ethridge were fourth and fifth.

By the time that the Gladiators made their way out for their feature race, they found that the other three divisions had left them with a rough race track that was going to be every bit as challenging as the other competitors in their division, but Casey Feaster was up to the task.  Jordan Myers led early but Jerry Taylor fought his way into the top spot by lap 7.  That is when Casey Feaster began working on the 31 car in his quest to win, eventually getting the better of Taylor and making another visit to Ocala’s victory lane.  Taylor finished behind Feaster, but earned a disqualication after racing ended, which moved up the rest of the field.  Matt Shea went home with the second place trophy, while third place went to Devin Walker.  Steven Johnson finally had a good night and finished fourth, and Jordan Myers hung on to finish in fifth place.

Ocala Speedway returns to action this Friday, September 10th, with the annual Tribute to 9-11 Heroes Night.  In appreciation for all of our heroes, all emergency responders and active military will be admitted free of charge with proper ID, and will see action from the Late Models, Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, and the Gladiators.  For more info, or to see more info on the exciting events still to come in 2010, please visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com.

Ocala Speedway Results for 9/3/10

Colortyme Modified (30 laps/$1000 to win)

1- 40B Kyle Bronson
2- 75 Jamie Carter
3- 66H Wayne Hammond
4- 8M Mark Whitener
5- 00 Buzzie Reutimann
6- 9 Roger Crouse
7- 44 Tim Powers
8- 7 Kent Corbin
9- 0 Dakotah Stephens
10- 11 Chuck Gustafson Jr.
11- 8 Rick Scott
12- 33 Jeff Mathews
13- 54 Johnny Collins
14- 75C Len O’Neil
15- 410J P.J. Wiggins

16- 67 Garrett Stewart
17- 54B Kevin Bryant
18- 66 Dale Murray
19- 8B Shane Burrows
20- 7S Ronnie Chance
21- 40 James Smith
22- Z Tim Zackery
23- 1G Gary Sexton
24- 8S Steve Whitener
25- 2D Devin Dixon
26- 10 Don Depew Jr.

Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock

1- 8 Michael Stalnaker
2- 76 Chris Shea
3- 15 Michael Valdez
4- 66 Harold Erickson

5- 326 Gordon Cade
6- 12D Justin Durbin
7- 3D Jesse Corbitt
8- 54 Mike McDonald
9- 96L Eddie Lentz
10- 31 Frank Ziesmer
11- 5W Jason Gamble
12- 55 Joey Durbin
13- 64 Jonathan Gillette
14- 17K Eddie Kilbury Jr

15- 19 Brian Shea
16- 69A Jonathan Appleby
17- 28 Glenn Vincent

18- 4W Mark Trexler
19- 10 Scott Mooers
20- 84 Chris Fontaine
21- 3W Vaughn Woodall
22- 55W Donald Winne
DNS- 77 Jeff Stalnaker Sr.
DNS- 40J Danny James
DQ- 58 David Kinsey

Mini Stock

1- 19T Keith Briggs
2- 73U Rob Underwood
3- 9AR Charlie Staats
4- 75K Nick Kerr
5- 21 Ray Ethridge

6- 44 Jamie Tinkham
7- 81 Buddy Pope

8- 73 Dan Kerr
9- 12B Jimbo Bird
10- 9 Ryan Babcock
11- 1 Terry Dunbar
12- 3D Dean Kinsey
13- 47 Pat Terrell
14- 75H Stephen Hollbaugh
15- 11Z Johnny Zackery
16- 09 Travis Staats
17- 69 Sean Babcock
DNS- 40 George Christenson Jr

DQ- 19C Paul Combast

Gladiator

1- 20 Casey Feaster
2- 96 Matt Shea
3- 55JR Devin Walker
4- 81 Steven Johnson
5- 72 Jordan Myers

6- 11 David Ladrie
7- 3G Brice Gilbert
8- 23 Rebecca Paugh
9- 83 Kody Fisher
10- 3H Brandon Haseleu
11- 82 Kyle Morse

12- 10 Larry Nelson
13- 76 Ken McCloud

14- 57 James McDonald
15- 77 Matthew Kramer
16- 42 Dalton Strehle
DNS- 83M Kathie Fisher
DQ- 31 Jerry Taylor

Anytime that the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks hit the track the fans can rest assured that they will be hitting each other as well, and Friday was no exception.  Scott Mooers led from the pole, but failed to hold the lead as Jeff Stalnaker Sr. overtook him on lap 3, drawing a huge cheer from the fans.  Mike Stalnaker soon joined Jeff in front, and family ties were undone in mere seconds as they battled side by side.  But as luck would have it, just as the domestic dispute heated up, contact between the parties involved resulted in enough damage that both Stalnakers, plus Curtis Clark, all went to the pits.  Mike Stalnaker managed to return, but Jeff Sr. was done.

The Stalnaker exodus handed the lead back to Mooers, but before he could enjoy it he had Chris Fontaine on his rear bumper, then in his side window, and then in his path.  Fontaine drew another large cheer as he knocked Mooers out of the lead for the second time in the race and never looked back, grabbing a win and forcing Mooers to settle for second place.  Michael Valdez had a strong run that resulted in a third place finish, while Justin Durbin fought his way forward to claim fourth place, with Chris Shea following for fifth.

Devin Walker had the points lead and the pole as the Gladiators took the green flag on Friday night, but the race became a 15 lap tussle between Matt Shea and a determined Casey Feaster as Walker followed.  Shea rocketed to the front with a 3 wide pass on the front stretch, then was passed by Feaster before the lap was completed.  Feaster may have been the leader, but Matt Shea made him work to keep it on every lap, especially as they weeded their way trough lapped traffic.  And coming down to the final turn shea was all over Feaster, but could not find a way to get past him.  Casey Feaster rebounded from the previous week’s misfortunes with a resounding win, as Matt Shea was a very close second.  Devin Walker claimed the third spot as Steven Johnson followed in fourth place,  and a continuously improving Kyle Morse rounded out the top five.

Nineteen competitive late models wrapped up the night’s action at Ocala Speedway, but as the green flag flew many fans were watching the back of the pack, where Ivedent Lloyd was trying to make a comeback.  Lloyd had been dominating his earlier heat race when his driveshaft broke, and after repairs the 21 car was going through the field like a hot knife through butter, climbing all the way to sixth place in just 3 laps of green flag racing.

Meanwhile Mark Whitener was large and in charge, and dominating the race as the leader, while Patrick Williams and Keith Nosbisch squabbled over the second spot.  Ryan Mitchell had a strong run going as he alternated between the fourth and fifth place spots, and J.O. Nobles also spent time in the top five, but eventually slipped to sixth late in the race.  And after making record work of the majority of the field, Ivedent Lloyd’s advance stalled just outside of the top five.

Whitener was virtually untouchable a scored a decisive victory while Patrick Williams managed to get the better of Keith Nosbisch and finish second as Nosbisch followed for third.  Ryan Mitchell hung tough and completed his run in the fourth spot, and Ivedent Lloyd finally managed to get around J.O. Nobles in the final laps to round out the top five.

Ocala Speedway is taking its traditional summer break over the next three weeks, letting the heat and humidity win while the racers, fans, and staff, get a well deserved breather.  Racing action will return to Ocala on September 3rd, as Florida’s oldest speedway reopens with a Colortyme Modified $1000 to win race, complete with a $500 bonus to the racer who beats Jeff Mathews to the checkered flags.  Fans will also see action from the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, the Mini Stocks, and the Gladiators.

 

Fans are also reminded that contracts are being finalized for many exciting events over the remainder of the 2010 season, including Car Wars on dirt for the first time at Ocala Speedway, and featuring dirt figure 8 racing, on September 24th.  Events will be posted on the 2010 schedule at www.OcalaSpeedway.com as they are finalized, so check the website often over the summer break.

Ocala Speedway Results for 8/6/10

Late Model

1- 58 Mark Whitener
2- 5W Patrick Williams
3- 101 Keith Nosbisch
4- 5K Ryan Mitchell
5- 21 Ivedent Lloyd
6- 18JO J.O. Nobles
7- 32 Phillip Cobb
8- 35 Christian Augspurger
9- 15 Roger Crouse
10- Z Tim Zachery
11- 51 Doodle Pipken
12- 49 Justin Tilton
13- 1* John Koller
14- 158 Augie Burttram
15- 83 Wayne Hayes
16- 41 Barry Sheffield
17- 23VP V.P. Pipken
18- 73 Jeremy Simpson
DNS- 8 Tim Dowling

Mini Stock

1- 19T Keith Briggs
2- 19C Paul Combast
3- 75 Nick Kerr
4- 74 Dan Kerr
5- 81 Buddy Pope
6- 36 David Whitner
7- 12B Jimbo Bird
8- 40M David Miller
9- 69 Sean Babcock
10- 9 Ryan Babcock
11- 3D Dean Kinsey
12- 47 Pat Terrell
13- 11Z Johnny Zackery
DNS- 73 Dave Beasley

Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock

1- 84 Chris Fontaine
2- 10 Scott Mooers
3- 15 Michael Valdez
4- 12D Justin Durbin
5- 19 Brian Shea
6- 07 Kevin Ingram
7- 7E James Erickson
8- 14 Tim Mathieu
9- 8 Michael Stalnaker

10- 83 Jonathan Appleby
11- 326 Gordon Cade
12- 3W Vaughn Woodall
13- 89 Kenny Asbell Jr.
14- 40J Danny James II
15- 88 Kurt Prouty
16- 77 Jeff Stalnaker Sr.

17- 0 Curtis Clark
18- 12B Jerrid Bennett
19- 58 Larry Welter Jr.
20- 5W Jason Gamble
21- 64 Jonathan Gillette
DNS- 76 Chris Shea
DNS- 96L Eddie Lentz

Gladiator

1- 20 Casey Feaster
2- 96 Matt Shea
3- 55JR Devin Walker
4- 81 Steven Johnson
5- 82 Kyle Morse
6- 83M Kathie Fisher
7- 76 Ken McCloud
8- 83 Kody Fisher
9- 3H Brandon Haseleu
10- 3G Bryce Gilbert
11- 10 Larry Nelson
12- 4 Hunter Gustafson

8 Michael Stalnaker and 12 Jerrid Bennett

84 Chris Fontaine, on his way to a Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock victory

32 Phillip Cobb, 1* John Koller, and others in Late Model action

The Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks were anointed the division to open feature racing, and Daniel Miller Jr wasted no time in declaring that the 99 machine was the one to beat.  While Cory Hupp gave him a fight over it, Miller grabbed the lead and fended off Hupp’s efforts while points leader Dean Jarvis sparred with a few others behind them.  Jarvis had his hands full with a determined Philip Brown, who came to Ocala speedway looking to run at the front but had to get past Jarvis in order to get there.  Meanwhile Heath Walker was fighting to get into the top five and finally achieved that status, then immediately developed issues on the back stretch that ended his night.

After some struggles in the mid season, Daniel Miller Jr has come on strong the last two outings, and scored another convincing win on Friday night with Cory Hupp in fast pursuit for second place.  Dean Jarvis had a fight on his hands the entire race but came home in the third spot, and Philip Brown grabbed fourth place just behind him. And after deliberately starting at the rear in his new race car, Paul Combast finally got a feel for his new Hobby Stock and drove it to a fifth place finish.

Ocala’s Gladiator Division had reason to get aggressive as their points leader, Casey Feaster, was MIA on the night, and with the Gladiators running second on the night’s program, they got to have a feeding frenzy over Feaster’s points lead with everyone watching.  The result was a race that featured lots of contact and gave the fans plenty to cheer about.  Larry Langston took control early, and along with Steven Cox they dominated almost the entire race.  Meanwhile Steven Johnson had another round of lousy luck befall him, as he failed to turn left and plowed into the turn one wall early on.

Langston beat everyone to the checkers as Cox and Matt Shea squabbled over the second spot.  Matt Shea won that battle in the last 50 feet of the race, which had a definite effect on what would happen later.  Langston’s celebration lasted only as long as it took for him to arrive in tech, where his car was disqualified 
and Matt Shea was declared the race winner.  That brought Steven Cox up to second place, and then a second technical DQ for Jerry Taylor brought Devin Walker up to third place.  Kathie Fisher moved up two spots to fourth place, and Ken McCloud climbed to fifth.

As the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks began their 20 lap adventure, Scott Mooers looked to have the race figured out as he rocketed to the lead and tried to drive away.  But as is usually the case with the Thunder Stocks, contact comes with the territory and yellow flags tend to keep everyone in touch with the lead pack.  Michael Stalnaker had what looked like an absolutely atrocious starting position in the 14th spot, but the green flag was his signal to begin an often frustrating, but determined trek toward the front.

Things came to an abrupt halt on lap 6 when Glenn Vincent got out of shape in turn four, slammed the wall, then flipped his car down the frontstretch in a spectacular mishap.  That drew a red flag and certainly got the fans’ attention as the car lay on its top against the wall just short of the flagstand, but Vincent managed to climb out and make his way on foot back to the pits while the track crew righted what was left of the car and dragged it out of the way.

Michael Stalnaker never gave up in his quest to chase down Scott Mooers, gaining 13 positions and with five laps remaining in the race was right up to Mooers’ back bumper.  After a brief caution, the two had three laps to settle the score, and Stalnaker gave Mooers more than he could handle.  Stalnaker made the pass cleanly on the white flag lap, and with Mooers all but under his car Michael Stalnaker registered a hard fought win with Mooers settling for second place.  Eddie Lake had been in the fight up front for most of the night, but came home in the third spot after Mooers and Stalnaker’s battle developed.  Willard Driggers followed Stalnaker through the field and gained 19 positions to finish fourth, while Jerrid Bennett had another rough night and survived to place fifth.

The Colortyme Rentals Modifieds had all sorts of problems just completing the first lap of their feature race, as tangles and mishaps, including Larry Mott’s wild ride on top of the turn two wall, resulted in 4 separate complete restarts.  But Wayne Hammond and Jeff Mathews remained on the front row throughout it all, and by the time that they actually got to complete a lap both had run through their respective bags of starting tricks.

Hammond and Mathews exchanged the lead early on, but on lap 8 Hammond careened into the turn two wall as the caution flew for a separate incident on the opposite end of the track.  The front end of Hammond’s car bounced up and onto the wall, causing enough damage that it was towed to the pits for the night, and leaving Roger Crouse and Jamie Carter to find a way to deal with Mathews.  Carter passed Crouse and went to work on Mathews, but “The Repo Man” held fast and took the win.  Jamie Carter was second, while Kent Corbin recovered from an earlier mishap to climb back to third place.  Tim Zackery also had to overcome some adversity in his fourth place posting, and Roger Crouse slid back to fifth late in the race.

Ocala Speedway will be back in action on August 6th before taking a summer break, with exciting racing from the Late Models, the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, the Mini Stocks, and the Gladiators.  The summer break will last for three weeks, with racing returning on September 3rd.  Keep an eye on www.OcalaSpeedway.com as some exciting additions to the racing schedule will be announced during the coming weeks.

Ocala Speedway Results for 7/30/10

Colortyme Rentals Modified

1- 33 Jeff Mathews
2- 75 Jamie Carter
3- 7 Kent Corbin

4- Z Tim Zackery
5- 9 Roger Crouse
6- 33F Michael Flick
7- 3 Josh Sanford
8- 1G Gary Sexton
9- 75C Len O’Neil
10- 40 Kyle Bronson
11- 66 Wayne Hammond
12- 0 Richard Dickinson
13- 1H Ed Hill
14- 10 Don Depew Jr.
15- Z06 Larry Mott
16- 67 Garrett Stewart

Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stock

1- 99 Daniel Miller Jr.
2- 2H Cory Hupp
3- 37J Dean Jarvis
4- 13 Philip Brown
5- 19 Paul Combast
6- 69 Tommy Ausburn
7- 4H Cory Howard
8- 9 Sean Babcock
9- 08E William Edwards
10- 55 Heath Walker
DNS- 26 Brian Jerrels

Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock

1- 8 Michael Stalnaker
2- 10 Scott Mooers
3- 96 Eddie Lake
4- 21- Willard Driggers
5- 12B Jerrid Bennett
6- 3W Vaughn Woodall
7- 83 Jonathan Appleby
8- 14 Tim Mathieu
9- 76 Chris Shea
10- 19 Brian Shea
11- 64 Jonathan Gillette
12- 7 Roy Lester
13- 15 Michael Valdez
14- 5W Jason Gamble
15- 12D Terry Dunbar
16- 4W Mark Trexler
17- 09 William O’Quinn
18- 54 Mike McDonald
19- 28 Glenn Vincent
20- 77 Jeff Stalnaker Sr.
DNS- 96L Ronald Lentz
DNS- 89 Kenny Asbell Jr.
DNS- 4 Richard Calmes Jr.

Gladiator

1- 96 Matt Shea
2- 88 Steven Cox
3- 55JR Devin Walker
4- 83M Kathie Fisher
5- 76 Ken McCloud
6- 57 Jeremy Backus
7- 18 Mike Stein
8- 83 Kody Fisher
9- 3 Brandon Haseleu
10- 4 Hunter Gustafson
11- 10 Ann Moon
12- 82 Kyle Morse
13- 81 Steven Johnson
DQ (tech) 49 Larry Langston
DQ (tech) 31 Jerry Taylor

Pictures follow:  ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF rewingphotos.com


Daniel Miller Jr.- Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stock Winner

Michael Stalnaker celebrates his Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock Win with his week old son

Larry Mott climbs the turn two wall during Colortyme Rentals Modified action