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| Fort Tops 4-Cylinder Special...Roberts Cashes in at Ocala | by Dave Westerman
Ric Fort took a giant step toward winning the Coca-
Cola Four Cylinder Bomber point championship as he
topped the special 25-lapper for the Class Saturday
night at Ocala Speedway.
Steve Gallagher's "Flying Tomato" Volkswagon was
fastest in time trials at a 19.183 and he started
fourth on the re-draw next to A.J. Schreier who
came into the race just 20 markers behind Fort in
the standings.
Dan Sanderson had his Mini-Truck on the pole and
jumped out to a quick lead with Joey Durbin,
Gallagher, Schreier, Fort and Rocky Bowden swapping
spots behind him. Gallagher and Fort each took a
turn at the point.
Just past halfway, Schreier got the lead and seemed
to have his car back in the "groove" again, while
Fort and Gallagher were tussling for second.
But with just a few laps to go, Schreier's car began
to miss and he started falling back as Fort took the
point and raced to the win, just nosing out
Gallagher at the line.
Sanderson made a late charge back up to third while
Harold Bartup, in his first race driving a car
formerly owned and driven by Bobby Valeo, took
fourth. The engine on Schreier's car came unglued
coming to the checkered flag, but he held on for
fifth although he lost more ground to Fort in the
points race with just one week remaining.
Rocky Bowden was sixth while Chris Antis came from
last on the grid to finish seventh. Tom Ellis,
Richard Kuhn, and Dale Durbin rounded out the top
ten.
After several "close" finishes in the past few weeks,
Speedy Pete Close, Jr. finally found victory lane
in the Steven A. Bagen Sportsman headliner. Close
won the first heat while second heat winner William
Edwards elected to invert the field for the feature
and go for the bonus put up by the track if he could
win from the rear of the field.
The first several laps were wild as Jim Higginbotham
held the point with Tommy Brakeman right behind him.
Close moved to the outside along with Edwards and
Michael Mennenga and they raced side-by-side for
several laps before Bob Masciarelli and Tom Posevac
got hooked together coming past the flagstand. Point
leader Masciarelli made a Banzai charge to come from
well behind to nab third while Brakeman held on for
fourth. Just ahead of Mennenga, Posavec, Gary Wayne
Croutharnel, Frank Buchanan, Higginbotham, and
Jeremy Finegan completed the top ten.
The Diamond H Air and Heat Modified feature was another
crazy one as Alan McCafferty brought his Central
Florida Machine and Speed Silver Bullet into victory
lane although he admitted he didn't have the fastest
car.
Rick Hall made a daring three-wide move early in the
event and checked out on the field as his machine
was dialed-in perfectly. However the old saying goes
"they always run fastest just before they break"
and that analogy fit Hall to a tee as his engine went
sour with a handful of laps left and his full
straightaway lead evaporated as he pulled into the
pits.
McCafferty, running a strong second at that time,
inherited the lead as the drivers behind him were
into "WWE" mode with lots of slamming and banging
going on.
David Baxley held on for second place finish after
some last-lap bumping with Raymond Vann that led to
a brief post-race altercation and some no-to-kind
words from Baxley in victory lane directed at Vann.
John Foerg took advantage of the late-race shenaninas
in front of him to zip up to third at the finish
ahead of Troy Robinson and Scott Millar. Rounding
out the top ten were Kevyn Terry, Rich Brewster,
Vann, Marion Durbin, and Hall.
Tommy Roberts may need a Brinks truck to carry his
winnings to the bank after a great run in the
Thrifty Nickel Hobby Stocks.
After winning the second heat, Roberts elected to
invert the field and go for the bonus now put up
by the track to a driver who can win from the tail
of the field if he so chooses to start there.
While William Edwards came up just one spot short
of the bonus in Sportsman, Roberts was not to be
denied in the Hobby Stocks. Roberts used his typical
methodical style of working his way through the pack
and the battle between Roberts, Jamie Dunn, and
point leader John Betts turned out to be the best
race of the night.
Roberts eventually got to the front and never looked
back as a late charge netted Moose Alderman second
spot just in front of Bets who wrapped up the points
title. Chauna Johnston celebrated her anniversary
with a fourth place finish while Mark Mitchell
checkered fifth.
Dunn, Chuck "8-Ball" Stewart, Steve West, Harold
Edwards, and William Oquim were sixth through tenth.
Roberts not only won the first place purse money and
the bonus cash, but also won the 50/50 raffle as well
to cap a rather big night dollar-wise.
For the last several weeks, Kyle Maynard has had some
kind of early-evening trouble that relegated him to
the rear of the starting grid in the Ford of Ocala
Pure Stocks. This week, Maynard ran a comfortable
third in his heat, then moved from seventh on the start
to grab the lead late in the going for a well-deserved
win.
Bobby Carter put his Ford into second holding off a
determined David Danielson and point leader Darren
Dukes. Mike Fiddia elected not to go for the bonus
after winning the second heat, but drew the invert
pill anyway. He drove a steady race to round out the
top five.
Sixth through tenth were Paul Fletcher, Michael Rosa,
Rick Bass, Sid Mosbrucker and Bobby Valeo.
Despite the NASCAR Winston Cup race at Bristol being
on TV, the races were held in front of a large
crowd. Also in attendance were employees of Home
Depot, Wilson Construction, All Pro Roofing, Rinker
Concrete, and Double R Manufacturing as guest of the
speedway.
Next Saturday will be the final Saturday evening of
racing at Ocala Speedway and it will feature the TBARA
Winged Outlaw Sprint Cars.
The Grand Re-Opening is Friday night, September 6th
featuring Super Late Models, Modifieds, Sportsman,
Modified Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, and Four Cylinder
Bombers plus a big Fireworks Show.
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