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2001 NEWS ARCHIVE

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Monday, September 9, 2002

Anderson Leads the Charge in Successful Ocala Grand Re-Opening

by Dave Westerman



With 110 race cars jamming the pits and a packed grand- stand, Ocala Speedway returned to Friday night racing with a bang that included a great fireworkds show and plenty of fireworks on the track.

Heavy rains over the past week washed almost all the rubber from the racing surface leaving the Super Late Model drivers guessing on their set-ups. Fourteen year old Brock Oglesby surprised the veterans by setting fast time among the 23 Super Late Model competitors.

The re-draw would put Oglesby on row three for the 50- lap feature as Kevin Bryant and 2002 Modified champion David Baxley led the field to the green.

Entering turn one, Bryant got loose and slid into Baxley then spun low on the track where Doug Levesque slid into him. Bryant tried to return, but his car was too damaged to continue.

The inside row moved up and E.J. Wise was now on the pole, but as the field took the green a second time, Baxley powered to the front with Wise, Rich Pratt, Oglesby, and wiley veteran Dick Anderson in tow.

Anderson was his usual self at Ocala, slowly getting dialed in and picking off cars one by one using the numerous caution periods to keep his tires cool.

Anderson dove under Baxley for the lead on lap 21 and never looked back as the fans were watching a great effort from David Reutimann who started well back in the field but was passing cars right and left headed to the front.

Anderson coasted to the win in Hubert Simmons Monte Carlo well ahead of Baxley who was clearly the best of the rest. Wise drove a steady race to checker third over Pratt and Reutimann while Oglesby held his ground all race long as the youngster wound up sixth. Bob Hughes, Mac McCullough, and Mac Johnson rounded out the top ten.

Gary Southard set fast time for the Modifieds but broke a transmission on his second qualifying lap. His crew went to work, changed the tranny, and got him on the track for the feature.

The 20-lapper however would belong to Dade City's Mike Wilson who led all the way to claim his first win in a modified.



Southard was putting the pressure on Wilson late in the ace when a much slower lapped car came down on him in turn two. Southard was able to gather his car back up, but by the time he did, he was nearly a lap down and soldiered on to a 16th place finish.

Wilson, a standout in Ocala's Sportsman class for several years, hadh is car handling perfectly and he took the win in front of David Baxley, giving Baxley two runner-up finishes on the right. In fact, Baxley has finished second in his last five races at Ocala.

Troy Robinson charged from well back on the grid to third at the finish followed by Alan McCafferty and John Gerstner. Completing the top ten were Scott Miller, Jeremy Gerstner, Shane Nichols, Kevin Durden and John Clair.

Heat race action proved the Modified Mini Stock drivers were having a tough time with the tricky Ocala layout.

Clint Foley topped heat one but not before Rick Sirmans, Mike Dunham and Sam Rogers, Sr. were eliminated from further competition in a grinding turn four crash.

Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. would win heat two by default as he was the only car out of nine starters still running after three laps of competition!

Five of the 19 Mod Minis in attendance would not answer the call for the 15-lap feature, but Tater Stainaker's crew did a great job after Tater's car had much of the front body work "peeled" off in his heat and he was able to start from the pole and lead all the way despite constant pressure from Foley who settled for the runner- up slot.

Tom Clark ran third while Burt Morse came from the rear of the field following an early-race tangle to checker fourth ahead of Jeff Stainaker, Sr., Larry Goolsby, Don Strosahl, Sr., Wayne Wells, Glen Ervin, Jr., and Don Strosahl, Jr. rounded out the top ten.

Tom Posavec topped a crowd-pleasing 15-lap Sportsman feature after a dandy battle with 2002 champ Bob Masciarelli and Roger Damron who ultimately ended up second and third. Pete Close, Jr. was fourth ahead of Tommy Brakeman, while the second five consisted of William Edwards, Kenny Abney, Tommy Roberts, Big John Smith and Gary Wayne Crouthamel. Close, Jr. and Masciraelli won the heats.

Three heat races were needed for the large field of Street Stocks that were assembled in the pits. Mark Mitchell, Jamie Dunn and Moose Alderman grabbed the heat wins, but a ten row inversion put the heat winners near the rear of the starting grid and Ocala's Doug Webster used that to his advantage, jumping from the outside pole spot to the lead and an eventual win.

It looked like Webster would make it a runaway victory but Paul Gladin put on a late banzai charge and nearly passed Webster for the lead in lapped traffic on the final lap.

Gladin would settle for a crowd-pleasing second ahead of Mark Mitchell, Chauna Johnson, and Moose Alderman. Taking the checker sixth through tenth were Frank Buchanan, Chuck "Eight-Ball" Stewart, Larry Welter, Jr., Jamie Dun and Rich Hart.

2002 regular season Four Cylinder Bomber Champion Ric Fort picked right up where he left off, leading every lap of the 15-lap feature.

Robert "Mr. Outside" Oxendine put on quite a show but settled for second over Joey Durbin, Tom Ellis, and Rick Kuhn. Dan Sanderson came back from an early race crash to take sixth in front of Neal Durbin, Kurtis Mitchell, Doug Auriemma and Joel Byle.

Rocky Bowden and Sanderson won the heats.

Next Friday evening, the Street Stocks race for 50 laps. The Super Late Models, Modified Mini Stocks, Sportsman, and Four Cylinder Bombers are also on the card.
COMPLETE FINISHES

SUPER LATE MODEL (50 Laps)
1) Dick Anderson #14
2) David Baxley #lX
3) E.J. Wise #57
4) Rich Pratt #0
5) David Reutimann #00
6) Brock Oglesby #88
7) Bob Hughes #13
8) Mac McCullough #86
9) Mac Johnson #6
10) Robert Yoho #00Y
11) Brad Atkins #25
12) "Liquid" Lee McCullough #H20
13) Mike Wieczoreck #19
14) Roger Shinholser #26
15) George Receveur, Sr. #9
16) Jeremy Fehrenbach #8
17) Keith Azvrel #47
18) Tate Pierce #81
19) Robbie Smith #01
20) John Buzinec #08
21) Doug Levesque #68
22) Kevin Bryant #54
23) James Powell III #137 (DNS)

MODIFIEDS (20 Laps)
1) Mike Wilson #79
2) David Baxley #64
3) Troy Robinson #0
4) Alan McCafferty #32
5) John Gerstner #77
6) Scott Millar #20
7) Jeremy Gerstner #70
8) ShaneNichols #65
9) Kevin Durden #69
10) John Clair #44
11) Kevyn Terry #13
12) Marlon Durbin #5
13) Jon Compagnone, Sr. #5B
14) Rick Brewer #9
15) Tom Bailey #24
16) Gary Southard #39
17) Jeff Borden #l
18) Nick Cavalizz #22
19) Mark Rider #16
20) Timmy Moore #57 (DNS)

MODIFIED MINI STOCK (15 Laps)
1) Tater Stalnaker #14
2) Clint Foley #7
3) Tom Clark #99
4) Burt Moorse #98
5) Jeff Stainaker, Sr. #77
6) Larry Goolsby #27
7) Don Strosahl Sr. #15
8) Wayne Wells, #23
9) Glen Ervin, Jr. #0
10) Don Strosahl, Jr. #84
11) Wild Bill Stainaker #59
12) Rex Christensen #v3
13) Joe Waldron #l
14) Sam Rogers, Jr. #25
15) Jeff Stainaker, Jr. #10 (DNS)
16) Sam Rogers, Sr. #2 (DNS)
17) Mark Gonzalez #47 (DNS)
18) Rick Sirmans #11 (DNS)
19) Mike Dunham #58 (DNS)

SPORTSMAN (15 Laps)
1) Tom Posavec #01
2) Bob Masciarelli #72
3) Roger Damron #76D
4) Pete Close, Jr. #86
5) Tommy Brakeman #20
6) William Edwards #39
7) Kenny Abney #6X
8) Tommy Roberts #44
9) Big John Smith #31
10) Gary Wayne Crouthamel #28
11) Jim Higginbotham #76
12) Jeremy Finegan #22
13) Patrick "Sweet Pea" Mennenga #69
14) Wally Schneider #8 (DNS)
15) Ron Lentz #96 (DNS)
16) Brody Giddens #71 (DNS)

STREET STOCK (15 Laps)
1) Doug Webster #71
2) Paul Gladin #9
3) Mark Mitchell #71
4) Chauna Johnston #43
5) Moose Alderman #7
6) Frank Buchanan #07
7) Chuck Stewart #8-Ball
8) Larry Welter, Jr. #58X
9) Jamie Dunn #24
10) Rick Hart #13
11) John Betts #08
12) Tom Fralish #79
13) Darren Dukes #4
14) Michael Rose #76
15) Rick Selvage #73
16) David Danielson #70
17) James Morgan #7X
18) Rick Bass #21
19) Harold Edwards #65
20) Paul Fletcher #94
21) Jack Pate #69
22) Gordon Cade #21X (DNS)
23) Sid Mosbrucker #62 (DNS)
24) Barry Heller #58 (DNS)

FOUR CYLINDER BOMBER (15 lAPS)
1) Rick Fort #2
2) Robert Oxendine #24
3) Joey Durbin #38
4) Tom Ellis #31
5) Rick Kuhn #47
6) Dan Sanderson #7
7) Neal Durbin #33
8) Kurtis Mitchell #00
9) Dopug Auriemma #27
10) Joel Byle #40
11) Dennis Harden #17
12) Shane Goodyear #5
13) Jacob Antis #99
14) Rocky Bowden #l
15) Steve Gallagher #39
16) Chris Antis #01


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