Anderson All the way in Super Lates - Byall Gets First Win at Ocala
by Dave Westerman
Wildwood's Wayne Anderson just needed to come back home to Ocala Speedway Friday night to get himself back on the winning track.
Anderson came to Ocala Friday with a string of second place finishes in major events all over the state, but he was back in winning form on this night as he dominated the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model field and will certainly be one of the heavy favorites for the Powell Memorial here on June 6th.
Anderson had the Airframe International Chevy Monte Carlo on a rail in time trials, clicking off a lap at 15.023 seconds for quick time although Patrick Williams was not far behind at 15.090.
Anderson drew a 0 for the inversion, so the field started straight-up from qualifying with Anderson and Williams on the front row for the 50-lap race.
Anderson wasted little time in taking the point but Williams had his car running well and was able to stay on Anderson's tail as the first 13 laps ran under green until Roger Shinholser spun to bring out the first of six cautions.
Tim Shull spun on lap 21 for the second yellow. Just before the restart, Williams took his car to the pits, returning as the field completed lap 28. Ultimately, Williams would finish in last place in the 14 car field.
Point leader E.J. Wise would take advantage of Williams' misfortune. After missing the drivers meeting and being forced to start near the rear of the field, Wise found himself in second spot after Williams made his pit stop. Although Wise had nothing for leader Anderson, he finished a solid second to pad his point lead over Williams.
For Anderson, it was his third win of the season at Ocala Speedway in just four starts. For Wise, second place was an accomplishment as he had to borrow a truck from a friend just to get his car to the track after his own rig broke down last week.
Rich Pratt had a steady run in the Groeb Farms Chevy to place third in front of Herb Hoeffler and Paul Combast. Savannah, GA visitor Walter Reardon checkered in sixth with John Buzinec, Chuck Burkhalter, Roger Shinholser and Mike Webb rounding out the top ten. Rob Cooper made it back to back wins in the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman class, no small feat considering the level of competition in this division.
Cooper put his Bronson Lube Camaro out front at the drop of the green and that was the place to be as the sheet metal was flying all race long behind him with several altercations leading to some "hot" drivers.
Roger Damron took the hardest shot when he was forced into the turn two wall on a lap 17 restart. Although a bit winded, Damron was OK, but he joined several of his fellow competitors on the sidelines. Point leader Patrick Mennenga held off a big pack of cars for second with Bob Masciarelli right on his bumper in third. William Edwards charged back to fourth after being "hung out to dry" in the early laps while Wally Schneider took fifth.
Heats for Sportsman went to Cooper and Frank Buchanan. Although Palm Harbor's Bud Spencer led all the way, it was a five car blanket finish for the visiting Classic Auto Racing Series coupes & coaches.
Spencer and his "Lavender Love Machine" '34 Ford sedan just nosed out the '32 Ford sedan of Daryl Grief and the '34 Chevy coupe of Jim Rahman as the checker fell.
Rahman, who charged from 11th starting spot, was being cheered on by a large contingent of fans who came out from his sponsor Ro Mac Lumber of Leesburg. Joey Strehle and Ed Yates were also part of the big rush to the checker, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
David Chastain outgunned polesitter Doug Webster into turn one at the drop of the green and led flag to flag to win the K-County Street Stock feature in his racecarcity.com Camaro, his second win of the year.
Webster stayed close all the way but had to contend with a bumper full of Tommy Roberts as the trio of Chastain, Webster and Roberts ran all 15 laps in tight order and finished that way.
Mark Mitchell ran a steady fourth and took over the point lead as Kyle Maynard finished tenth and dropped to third in the very close standings behind Mitchell and Webster. "Ocala" Paul Fletcher made a late charge to grab fifth spot in the race.
Street Stock heat races were won by Pete Close, Jr., "Ocala" Paul Fletcher, and Kenny Abney.
Point leader Larry Goolsby dominated the 15-lap Mini Stock run but was later disqualified in tech for an improper intake. Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. was awarded the win, his first of the season while his son, Jeff Stalmaker, Jr.'s car came home second but with Rick Sirmans driving.
Joey Durbin made his debut in the Mini Stocks with a good third place finish ahead of A.J. Schreier and Greg Valdez.
Second year driver Joel Byall led all the way in the Four Cylinder Stocks to take the first win of his career.
The four bangers kept the crowd on the edge of their seat with plenty of side-by-side action with Byall turning back all challengers including a last lap banzai charge by Jeff Oglesby who grabbed second with Tom Ellis a close third.
Ric Fort and Rick Kuhn got tangled up on the final lap allowing Harold Barup and Kurtis Mitchell to get fourth and fifth. Heat race wins went to Fort and Kuhn.
Next week it's 50 laps for the Diamond H Air and Heat Sportsman cars and the FASTRUCKS make their first appearance of the year.
STEVEN A. BAGEN SUPER LATE MODELS (50 Laps):
1) Wayne Anderson #84 2) E.J. Wise #7 3) Rich Pratt #0 4) Herb Hoeffler #22 5) Paul Combast #90 6) Walter Reardon #54 7) John Buzinec #08 8) Chuck Burkhalter #30 9) Roger Shinholser #26 10) Mike Webb #75 11) James Findley #89 12) Tim Shull #8 13) Gig Smith #23 14) Patrick Williams #57
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN (20 Laps):
1) Robbie Cooper #98 2) Patrick Mennenga #16 3) Bob Masciarelli #72 4) William Edwards #08 5) Wally Schneider #57 6) Charles Hornbeak #67 7) Big John Smith #31 8) Kathy Ray #63 9) Tom Posavec #01 10) Tommy Brakeman #20 11) Jim Higginbotham #76 12) Roger Damron #76D 13) Frank Buchanan #07 14) Dusty Bouchard #47 15) Fireball Maguire #M19 16) Doug Levesque #27 DQ Michael Jordan, Jr. #7
CLASSIC AUTO RACING SERIES (15 Laps):
1) Bud Spencer #7 2) Daryl Grief #1 3) Jim Rahman #5 4) Joey Strehle #42 5) Ed Yates #74 6) Harvey Ewing #17 7) George Hall, Jr. #32 8) Bill Posey #00 9) Ben Booth #12 10) George Hall III #9 11) Greg Helton #3 12) Tim Ousley #88 13) Patrick Sanders #8 14) Al Hagan #6 15) Randy Grief #90 16) Sharen Ewing #16
MINI STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. #10B 2) Rick Sirmans #8 3) Joey Durbin #0 4) A.J. Schreier #98 5) Greg Valdez #60 6) Marlon Durbin #72 7) Joey Brinson #26 8) Jeff Stalnaker, Jr. #05 DNS Jake Garver #10R DQ Larry Goolsby #27
K-COUNTRY STREET STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) David Chastain #17 2) Doug Webster #72 3) Tommy Roberts #44 4) Mark Mitchell #71 5) Paul Fletcher #94 6) Tom Fralish #1 7) Mike Fiddia #41 8) Bobby Taylor #66 9) Pete Close, Jr. #0 10) Kyle Maynard #07 11) Don Teague #2X 12) Paul Fletcher #28 13) Estle Morrow #02 14) Paul Gladdin #9 15) Jamie Dunn #24 16) Sid Mosbrucker #62 17) Rick Bass #21 18) William O'Quinn #09 19) Bobby Carter #99 20) Dan Geer #65 21) Shirley Johnson #79 22) Rick Hart #13 DNS Todd Roberts #4T DNS Kenny Abney #6X DNS Gordon Cade #21X DNS Dot Kelly #38
FOUR CYLINDER STOCK (15 Laps):
1) Joel Byall #40 2) Jeff Oglesby #88 3) Tom Ellis #31 4) Harold Barup #3 5) Kurtis Mitchell #00 6) Harry Drier #61 7) Jeff Pittsley #20 8) Rick Fort #2 9) Rick Kuhn #47 10) Charles Mishow #57 11) Clark Pittsley #64 12) Steve Moulton #41 13) Heather Stalker #78 14) Justin Durbin #34 DNS Mark Marcotte #196 DNS
