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| Williams and Damron Top 50-Lap Races at Ocala Speedway | by Dave Westerman
It waw quite a wild final Friday night of racing for
'the 2002 season as Patrick Williams and Roger Damron
took 50-lap races for the Super Late Models and Steven
A. Bagen Sportsman Division.
The biggest winners of the evening, though, were two
special young men named Andrew and Jacob who were
special guests of the speedway as part of the Racing
for Smiles program for kids with life-threatening
illnesses or recovering from serious accidents. Both
Andrew and Jacob were crew chiefs for two race teams,
then got to ride in the Palm Chevrolet pace car
during a race and join the winning drives in victory
lane.
Twenty-three Super Late Models signed in for the
evening's competition with Kevin Bryant setting fast
time at 15.195.
This one would prove a difficult one to get started.
Front row starters David Baxley and Rich Pratt tangled
on the opening lap and went to the rear for the restart.
On the second try, new polesitter Rusty Dixon spun
going into turn one and he took a trip to the back of
the pack. The third time would not be the charm either
as Bryant, now on the pole, spun around as the field
took the green and he too went to the back for the
next start.
Track officials opted to line up the field single-file
for the next try.
Patrick Williams, in his final ride in the Armstrong
Homes/Petty Quarterhorses machine before moving into
that group's new Modified for next year, had the point
for the restart followed by veteran Lee Faulk, who
was making a guest appearance in one of the McCullough
Water Treatment cars.
And that was the wy they'd run the entire 50-lap
distance as Williams held off repeated challenges
from Faulk while Herb Neumann, Jr. maintained a solid
third spot.
Caution would come out only three times during the
event with the only major problem being a lap 37
tangle between Robbie Smith, Liquid Lee McCullough
and Troy Robinson, who was making his debut in the
Super Late Model class after winning the Fall season
Modified championship.
Brock Oglesby drove a steady race to take fourth while
Bryant had the fastest car on the track, but ran out
of time coming from the rear and settled for fifth.
After their opening lap tangle, Baxley and Pratt drove
back to sixth and seventh while Bob Hughes, Ron Lentz
and Tom Haselmeyer completed the top ten.
The Super Late Model Fall Season Championship is
still up in the air at press time as it appears Robbie
Smith and Rich Pratt ended up in a tie for the title.
The Steven A. Bagen Sportsman class was set to come down
to the final race of the year to determine the Fall
Champion.
Pete Close, Jr. entered the final night two points up
on Roger Damron and needed only to finish in front
of or just right behind Damron in the 50-lap finale
to claim the title.
In the end, it would be a lap 46 tangle with regular
season champion Bob Masciarelli that would clost Close
Jr. the big prize.
Southwest Florida visitor L.B. Skaggs was doing all
he could to hold off Roger Damron as it appeared they
were going to battle to the wire for second spot as
Gainesville's William Edwards had checked out on the
field and looked to be on his way to a big win after a
season of hard luck.
It wasn't to be for Edwards as the engine in his car
blew up just past halfway handing the lead to Skaggs
from the point, it was a wild battle for the lead
as Skaggs was doing everything but dropping hails on
the track to keep Damron behind him.
Close, Jr. meanwhile was trying to keep Damron in his
signts all while being involved in a five-car fight
for third.
With just four laps to go, Bob Masciarelli made a move
to pass Close and the two tangled with both going to
the rear for the restart.
Skaggs held on to the lead to the checker despite
incredible pressure from Damron. The two had a
heated conversion in victory lane, but later shook
hands as Damron was told he'd won the Sportsman
Fall title as Close, Jr. was only able to work his
way back up to seventh at the finish.
Things would only get better for Damron as Skaggs was
disqualified for running illegal heads which gave
Damron the feature win as well as the championship.
Tom Posavec ended up second with the DQ with another
strong run followed by Doug Levesque, who finally had
most of the bugs worked out of his new car. Frank
Buchanan took fourth spot with Charles Kopach driving
his "museum piece" to fifth.
Michael Mennenga was sixth trailed by Close, Jr.,
Masciarelli, Wally Schneider, and Big John Smith in his
Racing for Smiles Special.
Bob Masciarelli earned a $50 bonus from racecarcity.com
for setting fast time of 16.395 seconds.
Pete Close, Jr. made up for his disappointment in the
Sportsman race by taking the checkered flag first in
the Street Stock division for the second consecutive
week in John Betts' car.
Close, Jr. took the top spot away from Doug Webster
with an incredible pass in lapped traffic late in the
race to get the win.
Webster held on for second and claimed the Fall season
point championship, his very first track title. James
Dunn led the first six laps and finished fourth over
Mike Wilson in fifth.
Kyle Maynard, Mark Mitchell, Estie Morrow, Chauna
Johnston, and Michael Rosa rounded out the top ten.
Webster, Alderman and Mitchell topped the heat wins
for the 26 Street Stocks assembled in the pits.
It didn't seem like anybody wanted to win the Mini
Stock feature, but in the end Larry Goolsby finally
ended a spate of bad luck by winning the 20-lap race.
It looked like the engine problems that have plagued
Goolsby over recent weeks were back again as he
dropped from the heat race early. The problem was
diagnosed and Goolsby started from the back of the
feature line-up.
It appeared Tate Stalnaker would be celebrating his
Fall season Mini Stock championship in victory lane
as he easily had the car to beat taking the point
until his engine went sour. Clint Foley then took
over the lead looking for his third straight win.
However, Foley's car suddenly slowed coming out of
turn two as something broke. Goolsby and Johnny Allen
were unable to check up in time and bumped together
sending Goolsby into Foley, spinning him around.
Foley's car was pushed to the pits while Goolsby was
sent to the rear of the field. But with only five cars
still running, Goolsby wasn't done. He quickly moved
back in on Allen and took the lead with two laps to
go and ultimately the victory.
Allen made the long trip up from Lehigh Acres a worth-
while one by claming second over Wayne Wells and Jake
Garver. Foley was credited with fifth.
Tater Stalnaker won the heat.
Joey Durbin did everything he needed to do to win the
Four Cylinder Stock points title for the Fall season.
But in the end fell one point short in his quest.
Durbin passed early leader Rick Kuhn on lap seven and
led the rest of the way despite pressure from Tom Ellis
who settled for second. Kuhn held on for third while
Ric Fort survived a couple of scares to wind up fourth,
just good enough to give him the Fall season title to
go along with his regular season championship.
Robert Oxendine was fifth in the 20-lapper while Durbin
and Fort claimed the heat race wins.
Next week, it's a fantastic Sunday of racing with the
Fall Festival 400 featuring twin 100-lap races for
the Super Late Models, 200 laps for the Modifieds and
50 lap events for the Mini Stocks and Street Stock
cars.
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