Damron Leads the Lap that Counts - Wright Tops FASTRUCKS at Ocala
by Dave Westerman
Ocala Speedway race fans had to wait for the weather to clear Friday night, but when it did they were treated to some incredible racing along with some great stunts performed by Rocky Hauri of Extreme Stunts including a well-executed school bus jump.
A persistent rain shower held up activities early in the evening, but with a large field of cars and the sun coming out, the track was dried quickly and the show started only a half hour late as the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman cars qualified for their 50 lap special.
Ocala's Bob Masciarelli turned a lap at 16.405 seconds topping Roger Damron's 16.406 by a mere tick of the clock. Luck of the draw put Masciarelli on the pole and Damron in fourth starting spot in a field of 21.
This race looked like it was going to be a Masciarelli massacre as he quickly moved well in front of the field, opening up a straightaway lead by lap ten. Rob Cooper, winner the previous two weeks, would see his night end prematurely as engine trouble forced him pitside on lap two.
Masciarelli was already in lapped traffic by lap 12. Steve Seymour, who had just been lapped by the leader, spun in front of a huge group of cars fighting for second place. Everyone missed Seymour's machine, but the spin brought out the first caution flag of the race on lap 14 just after Dusty Bouchard had take over second place from Mike Wilson.
On the restart, Masciarelli again began to pull away as Damron was now on the move. Damron got by Bouchard for second on lap 21 and set his sights on Masciarelli but he needed a pair of binoculars just to see Masciarelli's high-flying JD Squared Camaro.
Damron was closing in but running out of time when Wesley Keller and Arthur Conquest tangled in turn four on lap 47 to bring out the caution and bring the field back to Masciarelli.
Damron began to put the pressure on as the green came back out, moving inside of Masciarelli and making the pass for the lead just as the white flag began to wave.
Damron would lead only the last lap, but it was the one that counted, as he claimed his third win of the season in his Damron Refrigeration/Oglesby Drywall/Hugh's Concrete/W.A. Oliver Painting Monte Carlo. Masciarelli was disappointed, but happy with second place after a season of frustrations just trying to finish races while young Dusty Bouchard impressed the fans with a great third place drive.
William Edwards had a strong run placing fourth just in front of Tom Posavec in fifth. Posavec may have taken the point lead as Patrick Mennenga fell out early and placed 18th.
Tommy Roberts, Mike Wilson, Frank Buchanan, Charles Hornbeak, and John Carter rounded out the top ten.
Twenty-one FASTRUCKS made their way to Ocala Speedway for their first of two races this season and the competition was keen as it always is in this traveling series.
Local favorite Thomas Carter and James Wright III would take heat race victories, however Carter fell ill after his heat and was rushed to the hospital with his truck being scratched for the 50 lap main event.
Veteran Paul Grynewicz had the pole for the feature and took the lead as son Paul Grynewicz III moved right in behind him. However the first start would be negated as several trucks got jumbled up on the backstretch with Scott O'Neil getting into the wall ending his night early.
Again it was a Grynewicz "family feud" as the race got under way again. The elder Grynewicz would lead the first four laps before Paul III would take over. Grynewicz III was beginning to look like he had the field covered while dad got tangled up with Jimmy Gill on lap seven after a lapped truck spun and pulled out directly in front of the pair.
This brought out the first caution and FASTRUCK officials placed Grynewicz and Gill back in their spots deeming the lapped truck at fault.
Grynewicz III maintained his high-flying pace on the restart but James Wright III was on the charge now finally catching and passing the leader on lap 28. Jimmy Gill moved by Grynewicz III into second on lap 32.
Something broke on Grynewicz III's truck and he spun coming out of turn four on lap 37 to bring out the caution for just the second time. Grynewicz III retired to the pits after leaving a trail of fluid on the track while Paul Grynewicz also headed to the pits, done for the evening.
Wright III had the field covered the rest of the way, easily holding off Jimmy Gill who held on for the runner-up spot. Jeff Firestine did the passing job of the night coming from last starting spot on the grid to finish third while Bobby Owens and FASTRUCK point leader Tommy King were fourth and fifth. It was Wright III's first win of the year in his Center State Hauling & Harvesting/Mason's Custom Paint & Body/C&M Signs & Graphics Chevy Silverado out of Auburndale. Wendell Bristol, Al Neumann, Tim Shaffner, Steven Jordan, and Donald Davis completed the top ten. Kudos to Marty Wolf who backed his truck hard into the wall in practice but made repairs and managed an 11th place finish.
As always, the K-Country Street Stocks put on a show for the big crowd. It took three tries to get this one started as polesitter Bobby Carter looked to be having transmission troubles and dropped to the rear of the field.
Tommy Roberts grabbed the lead at the start in his Roberts Cleaning/Slimm Construction Camaro and would lead every lap but it wouldn't be an easy win to achieve as several drivers took a shot at Roberts over the course of the 15 laps.
Pete Close, Jr., driving the Southside Builder entry, wasn't afraid to use the difficult outside groove and thrilled the fans with a hard charge to second spot, just getting nosed out at the line by Roberts. "Ocala" Paul Fletcher came home third in a tight battle with fourth and fifth place finishers Mark Mitchell and Estle Morrow. Roberts broke a long dry spell with his first win since topping the first two races of the season.
Street Stock heat wins went to Roberts, Kyle Maynard and Bobby Carter. The WIND-FM Modifieds were back in action and Wesley Chapel's Troy Robinson helped his parents celebrate their 35th anniversary by setting quick time and then winning the 20 lap feature.
Robinson had the pole for the start and led lap one only to be tracked down and passed by Jeremy Gerstner. Gerstner led until lap seven when Robinson got his "Batmobile" dialed in and reclaimed the lead.
From that point it was a runaway for Robinson. Point leader David Baxley got around Gerstner for second on lap eleven but was unable to chase down the leader as the race ran green to checker. Gerstner held on for third followed by Scott Grossenbacher and John Foerg. Defending Four Cylinder Stock champion Ric Fort grabbed the lead from Tom Ellis on lap three and led the rest of the way to claim the stock four-banger checkered flag.
Point leaders Ellis and Rick Kuhn finished second and third with Dan Sanderson and Joel Byall rounding out the top five. The three heats for Four Cylinder Stocks were won by Fort, Sanderson, and Ellis.
RESULTS FOR 5/23/03:
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN (50 Laps):
1) Roger Damron #76D 2) Bob Masciarelli #72 3) Dusty Bouchard #47 4) William Edwards #08 5) Tom Posavec #01 6) Tommy Roberts #7 7) Mike Wilson #07 8) Frank Buchanan #0 9) Charles Hornbeak #67 10) John Carter #86 11) Big John Smith #31 12) Larry Welters, Jr. #58 13) Kathy Ray #63 14) Wesley Keller #34 15) Tommy Brakeman #20 16) Arthur Conquest #7C 17) Jim Higginbotham #76 18) Patrick Mennenga #16 19) Steve Seymour #88 20) Robbie Cooper #98 21) Ray Wheeler #74 DNS Wally Schneider #57 DNS Eddie Kilbury #71
FASTRUCKS (50 Laps):
1) James Wright III #56 2) Jimmy Gill #5 3) Jeff Firestine #93 4) Bobby Owens #1 5) Tommy King #16 6) Wendell Bristol #18 7) Al Neumann #4 8) Tim Shaffner #29 9) Steven Jordan #33 10) Donald Davis #3 11) Marty Wolf #9 12) Billy Barstow #01 13) Bill Stacy #32 14) Eddie Moran #15 15) Paul Grynewicz III #44 16) Paul Grynewicz #40 17) Tony Lanier #202 18) Brandon Andersen #46 19) Gary Foxworth #25 20) Scott O'Neil #09 DNS Thomas Carter #12
WIND-FM OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS (20 Laps):
1) Troy Robinson #0R 2) David Baxley #64 3) Jeremy Gerstner #70 4) Scott Grossenbacher #33 5) John Foerg #1 6) Kevyn Terry #007 7) Bobby Valeo #8 8) Glen Ervin #0E 9) Mark Emberson #34 10) Wayne Kissam #7
K-COUNTRY STREET STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) Tommy Roberts #44 2) Pete Close, Jr. #0 3) Paul Fletcher #94 4) Mark Mitchell #71 5) Estle Morrow #02 6) Kyle Maynard #07 7) Tom Fralish #1 8) David Chastain #17 9) Bobby Taylor #66 10) Paul Fletcher #28 11) Sid Mosbrucker #62 12) Rick Hart #13 13) Dan Geer #65G 14) Shirley Johnson #79 15) Rick Bass #21 16) Kenny Abney #6X 17) Harold Edwards #65E 18) Paul Gladin #9 19) Mike Fiddia #41 20) Doug Webster #72 21) Bobby Carter #99 22) Mike Rosa #76
FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) Ric Fort #2 2) Tom Ellis #31 3) Rick Kuhn #47 4) Dan Sanderson #7 5) Joel Byall #40 6) Steve Gallagher #39 7) Chris Noce #99 8) Justin Durbin #34 9) Harold Barup #3 10) Harry Drier #61 11) Kurtis Mitchell #00 12) Clark Pittsley #64 13) Mike Hillary #9 14) Steve Moulton #41 15) Heather Stalker #78 16) Jeff Pittsley #20 17) Brooke Driggers #25 18) Mike Muroski #M61 19) Michael Stalnaker #8 DNS Rick Hurley #48
