IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

October 12, 2008 Combast Pulls the Upset at Ocala by BJ Cavin Paul Combast in Ocala Winners Circle Nature provided a beautiful night for racing at Ocala Speedway as an enthusiatic crowd gathered for a night of hot racing action. The Open Wheel Mods were back in action along with a the V8 Thunder Stocks after both divisions had a week off, and both put on quite a show. But possibly the biggest surprise of the night came early on in the Mini Stock race, as an upset winner drew big applause from the fans. And it was the Market of Marion Mini Stocks that began the feature races with Frank Prouty on the pole, but soon after the green waved disaster stuck on the front stretch as Prouty and David Miller collided on the front stretch as Miller challenged for the lead. Prouty would continue but Miller's car would leave on a hook with heavy damage. William Stalnaker was also involved in the fracas but managed to drive away and continue to race. From that point it was Keith Briggs who seemed to have the race well in hand. Briggs would make a daring outside pass to grab the lead, then begin to pull away from the rest of the field. But Briggs had not counted on a very quick Paul Combast who had his car hooked up on the very sticky and smooth track. Combast would catch Briggs and pass him for the lead and never look back, surprising the fans by solidly beating the dominant racer in the division by quite a distance. Keith Briggs finished second, followed by William Stalnaker who recovered form that earlier tangle to take the third place finish. Arnold Perkins and Christopher Prouty rounded out the top five finishers. The Pepsi Hobby Stocks usually feature a heated battle between David Miller Jr and Grady Christian, and while the two of them raced each other hard for a couple of laps, their battle took place behind the leaders on this night. David Miller Jr. would start the race on the 6th row and make his way forward, contesting Grady Christian along the way to the front. Alan McCafferty was the early race leader and held that lead until Miller caught and passed him on lap 10. From there the race was dominated by the 21 car as David Miller Jr. outpaced everyone to get the win. Alan McCafferty would settle for second place, followed by Kevin Durden in third place. Bubba Christian placed fourth and Bill Littell finished fifth. The Gladiators followed the Hobby Stocks with a competitive race that saw Paul Hahn blast his way to the front. Brian Chisholm, who normally has a very fast race car, had some sort of mechanical difficulty that slowed him down at times and cost him valuable positions, which he would have to fight to make up. Chisholm would get his car running up front again late in the race, but he would never catch Hahn who got the victory. Chisholm would finish a respectable second while Curtis Clark would place third. Eddie Lentz and Brian Brogan rounded out the top five. The Open Wheel Modifieds had quite a frustrating outing when they last visited Ocala Speedway, but this week's race featured intense racing and very few interruptions for track clean up. Roger Crouse would lead from the pole, but after a slight bobble Jeff Matthews and Dave Barber Jr, would knock him back to the third spot. Barber would later have troubles of his own and finish outside of the top ten, while Crouse would inherit the second place spot and hold it until the end. But Jeff Matthews was too much for Crouse to overtake, and Matthews would race home to claim the first place finish. Crouse would be second, followed by John Bradley, Chris Littrell, Tim Zackery. The Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks would round out the night of racing and provide action, drama, and bent sheet metal as well. James Erickson started on the pole but broke an axle early on, ending his night. With James out, Harold Erickson picked up the torch and put on quite a show as Micheal Stalnaker led the race. Harold Erickson would be in the mix until David Kinsey, Jerrid Bennett, and Terry Dunbar got involved. Kinsey would end up racing Stalnaker for the lead, but contact between the two sent Stalnaker's car into the wall on the front stretch, and again in turn 1. Even though Stalnaker's car glanced off of the wall and continued racing, the caution waved for debris and the drama began. There was repeated contact between Kinsey and Stalnaker under caution, prompting the race officials to DQ both racers and send them to the pits for the night. With Michael Stalnaker and David Kinsey out of the picture, Jerrid Bennett moved to the lead and held it until the finish to get the win. Meanwhile Harold Erickson, Terry Dunbar and James Sealy would make it quite interesting as they raced to the finish, and in the end it was Dunbar who earned a second place finish, beating Erickson at the line by only a few feet. James Sealy claimed the fourth place finish, as Eddie Lake raced to the fifth spot. Next week Ocala Speedway welcomes the Sportsman Division cars with a 30 lap, $1000 to win, challenge event just for them. In addition to the only Sportsman race of 2008 , Ocala Speedway has designated Friday, October 17th as Church Night. No beer will be sold at the speedway, and church members are invited to fill the grandstands for cash for their churches. The church with the most members attending will be awarded $1 per general admission ticket sold to their respective church. In addition, a Faster Pastor Race will be run featuring local ministers and preachers going head to head for more cash. Purse monies for the Faster Pastor Race will be distributed to the churches based on the finishing order of the race. Ocala Speedway Results for 10/10/08 Mini Stock 1- 19C Paul Combast 2- 19T Keith Briggs 3- 59 William Stalnaker 4- 55 Arnold Perkins 5- 26 Christopher Prouty 6- 14 Frank Prouty 7- 11Z Johnny Zackery 8- 40M David Miller Hobby Stock 1- 21 David Miller Jr. 2- 1M Alan McCafferty 3- 35 Kevin Durden 4- 04 Bubba Christian 5- 56L Bill Littell 6- 83 Joe Boyd 7- 10 Austin Kirkpatrick 8- XX Augie Burtram 9- 08 William Edwards 10- 00T Eddie Tovett 11- 36 Grady Christian 12- 81 Donald Woosley 13- 23 Glenn Baum 14- 15 Donald Paugh 15- 55 Joey Durbin DNS- 58 David Kinsey Gladiator 1- 78 Paul Hahn 2- 60 Brian Chisholm 3- 23 Curtis Clark 4- 96 Eddie Lentz 5- 63 Brian Brogan 6- 66 Dennis White 7- 8 James Gentles 8- 55 Dalton Strehle 9- 2B Guy Bacelo Jr. 10- 8R Nathan Rhodes Open Wheel Modified 1- 33 Jeff Matthews 2- 32 Roger Crouse 3- 27 John Bradley 4- 00 Chris Littrell 5- Z Tim Zackery 6- 23VP V.P. Pipken 7- 8 Rick Scott 8- 75C Charles O'Neill 9- 22 Ron Burgess 10- 11 Chuck Gustafson Jr. 11- 56 Dave Barber Jr. 12- 99 Charlie MacNichols 13- 28 Alan Reynolds 14- 41 Darren Smith 15- 40 James Smith 16- 54 Larry Burkins DNS- 2H Cory Hupp V8 Thunder Stock 1- 12 Jerrid Bennett 2- 72 Terry Dunbar 3- 4E Harold Erickson 4- 66 James Sealey 5- 56 Eddie Lake 6- 05 Donald Winne 7- 14 James Sullivan III 8- 69 Michael Carr 9- 123 Timothy Eisenhower 10- 81 Courtney Eubanks 11- 47 Chris Fountaine 12- 57 Matt Schell 13- 19A Jacob Antis 14- 73 Jeff Eisenhower 15- 3D Jessie Corbitt 16- 85 Juan Montealvo 17- 1 Doc Batson 18- 66E James Erickson DQ (conduct)- 17 David Kinsey DQ (conduct)- 19 Michael Stalnaker DQ- (conduct)- 3X Justin Tilton Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on The Real Racin USA Florida Fan Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!