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2001
NEWS ARCHIVE
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| E. J. Wise Wins Ltd. Late Model Race At Ocala Speedway | 
E. J. Wise slipped past Rich Pratt with only 2 laps to go to take home the Ltd. Late Model victory at Ocala Speedway Saturday night. Pratt started on the outside pole and looked like he would lead from flag to flag but the handling on his car started to go a little more than half way through the 30 lap feature.
On Lap 17, the caution flag flew when Robbie Smith and Pratt got together. Smith was sent to the rear of the field thus allowing E. J. Wise to move into the 2nd position.
Pratt appeared to have the faster car down the straightaways, but Wise was better in the turns. Wise stayed right on Pratt's rear bumper and waited for the perfect opportunity to make his move.
That opportunity came on Lap 29 when Pratt got loose in Turn 1. Before Pratt could gather it up and get racing again, Wise had gone by as well as Ronald Lentz, Ray Wheeler, Richard Ferry and Keith Zarvel.
On the last lap, it appeared that Ronald Lentz got into Turn 4 just a little too hard and spun his car. Wise took the checkered flag. Rounding out the top five were Wheeler, Ferry, Zarvel and Pratt.
Kenny Abney made it a two for two night winning both his heat race and the feature race in the Steven A. Bagen Sportsman division. Abney started on the pole in the feature race and led from flag to flag, while the remainder of the field was involved in some good short-track racing.
Bob Masciarelli and Pete Close, Jr. started the race in the 8th and 10th positions, respectively, and worked their way up to the front of the pack.
Masciarelli got as far as the 2nd position, but just couldn't get around Abney, though he gave it a good try. Tom Posavec started the race on the outside of Row 1 but got shuffled back as far as the 6th position before working his way back up through the field and into 3rd place.
Close, Jr spun on Lap 11 and had to go to the rear of the field and still managed to come back to the front and barely edge out Michael Mennenga for the 4th position thus delegating Mennenga to 5th place.
In the WTRS Pure Stock division, it looked like young Bobby Valeo was the man to beat. From the time the green flag flew, he led the pack followed by Paul Fletcher and Bobby Carter. Fletcher worked Valeo from every angle, but Valeo was determined not to let him by.
On Lap 13 Valeo got a little high in Turn 4 and with Carter almost pushing him, Fletcher went under Valeo down the front straightaway, bringing Carter with him. When the checkered flag flew, it was Fletcher with the win followed by Carter, Valeo, Rick Hart and David Danielson.
For the second week in a row, Robert Oxendine took home the trophy and money for the Coca Cola 4 Cylinder Bomber division feature. Oxendine had to battle Rocky Bowden and A. J. Schreier from the start.
Bowden stayed right with Oxendine throughout the race, occasionally sticking his nose in, but Oxendine held his line. Dan Sanderson ran a good race getting around Schreier on Lap 12 to take 3rd place and began his pursuit of Bowden.
A couple of quick cautions late in the race allowed the field to close up and gave Bowden his best chance to get by Oxendine. Oxendine went on to take the win and Sanderson finished in 2nd when Bowden was disqualified in Tech. Bill Brezner finished 3rd followed by Neal Durbin and Ric Fort.
The final feature of the night was run by the Thrify Nickel Hobby Stock division and it appears that Tommy Roberts is making up for lost time, winning again this week. He started on the pole, by virtue of winning his division heat race, and didn't look back. Moose Alderman started right behind Roberts and that's exactly where he stayed throughout the race.
The remainder of the field traded places from time to time while the leaders ran off. At the finish, the top five finishers were Roberts, Alderman, Mark Mitchell, John Betts and Frank Buchanan.
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