Fritts Tunes Up for Florida Pro with Super Late Model win at Ocala
by Dave Westerman
Orange City's Mike Fritts continued his recent hot streak by topping the 30-lap Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model feature Friday night at Ocala Speedway.
For once, the rains fell on the track early in the afternoon making for a pleasant evening of racing.
Fritts, the defending Florida Governor's Cup champion and recent winner of the Clyde Hart Memorial race at New Smyrna Speedway, was making his first try behind the wheel of the well-known Sytsma "Silver Streak" out of South Florida.
Fritts was a bit "out to lunch" in his heat race trailing Rich Pratt's Groeb Farms Chevy to the checker while veteran Chuck Burkhalter took the other heat race in Don Emberson's Don's Paint & Body Monte Carlo.
Kevin Durden had his immaculate new car on the pole for the feature with Pratt Outside and Fritts starting fifth.
Durden took the early lead with Pratt hounding his every move while Fritts and his crew had gotten his car dialed in and he quickly moved to third and was closing on the lead duo when Durden and Pratt got together off turn two sending the leader spinning. That brought the caution out on lap seven with both Durden and Pratt being sent to the rear of the field.
Fritts now found himself in the lead with Burkhalter second. That didn't last long as Burkhalter spun in turn two on the restart to keep the yellow out and he was sent to the tail of the field. Durden dropped out of the race at this point.
Jay Middleton, the Florida Pro Series point leader who was at Ocala Speedway to get some "seat time" before next week's big FPS race here, inherited second spot with first half Ocala point champion E.J. Wise third.
Only one lap could be completed before Burkhalter and Roger Shinholser banged together on the front straight sending Burkhalter's car spinning toward the wall. Somehow, Burkhalter managed to avoid major contact with the wall coming to rest facing traffic near the pit entrance. After a quick check of the car in the pits, Burkhalter returned to the track at the rear of the restart line-up.
Finally there was some green flag racing and Fritts was on a rail pulling quickly ahead of Middleton who had his hands full with Wise on his back bumper. A persistent Wise was able to make the move for second on lap 21 but was needing a caution to catch Fritts.
That caution came with four laps to go as Troy Robinson and Gale Grayer did a double spin in turn four.
Wise had his car working perfectly but could not unseat Fritts from the top spot as Fritts claimed the win and established himself as one of the favorites for next week's Florida Pro race. Wise took the place money and also took over the point lead while Middleton held on for third with Dave Schwendeman and Keith Zavrel making a last lap charge to net fourth and fifth.
Brock Oglesby was sixth with Pratt recovering for seventh. Paul Combast, Burkhalter, and John Buzinec rounded out the top ten.
Gainesville's William Edwards notched his second Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman feature win, but it certainly wasn't easy.
Patrick Mennenga grabbed the initial lead from the outside pole with Williams, Tom Posavec, Bob Masciarelli and Kyle Maynard in tight formation behind him. They ran that way until the first caution was displayed for Big John Smith as his bad luck continued. Smith broke a rear end and spun off the track on the backstretch seeing yet another early end to another race.
On the restart, Masciarelli was on the charge, dogging Edwards while Edwards kept the pressure up on Mennenga, slipping by for the lead on lap 12 and bringing Masciarelli with him.
Running in tight formation behind the three leaders, Posavec, Maynard, Frank Buchanan and Pete Close, Jr. had a little "sheet metal sandwich" to bring out the caution with three laps to go. All four were placed at the back of the field for the restart.
Masciarelli put all the moves he could on Edwards, but Edwards held firm to claim the win by half a car length at the checker. Mennenga was third while Tommy Brakeman claimed fourth ahead of a hard charging Kyle Maynard.
Sportsman heats were won by Mennenga and Posavec.
While the Sportsman victory lane celebration was going on, Ocala's Pete Close, Jr. was making the transition to his K-Country Street Stock ride and he lined up on the pole for the 20-lap feature.
That would be bad news for the rest of the field as Close pretty much dominated the event, unusual for this class.
Close had nearly a straightaway lead when the first caution came out on lap 13 as Mark Mitchell and Estle Morrow tangled in turn three.
Tommy Roberts was right on Close's bumper for the restart and began to apply the pressure only to see the caution out again on lap 17 for a spinning Rick Bass.
Roberts made a run at Close over the final three laps but Close held firm and took his first win in a Street Stock. Roberts' teammate, young A.J. Shreier, making only his fourth start in a V-8 powered race car, made a bold move on the last lap to nab third spot from Bobby Taylor with David Chastain fifth and Doug Webster coming from dead last on the grid to claim sixth.
Heats for Street Stock were won by Chastain, Kenny Abney and Mike Rosa.
Michael Stalnaker isn't old enough to have a drivers license, but he passed the Ocala Speedway driving exam in style by topping the Four Cylinder Stocks for his third win this season.
Stalnaker had his Nissan 200SX on the pole and managed to keep the Toyota Celicas of Rick Kuhn and Ric Fort behind him all the way. Ford Mustang mounted Harold Barup made a late pass of Tom Ellis' Mustang to claim fourth spot with Ellis fifth.
Four Cylinder Stock heats were topped by Stalnaker and Kuhn.
Next week, the Florida Pro Series Super Late Models invade Ocala Speedway for the first of back-to-back races here on Friday and at Citrus County Speedway on Saturday. The WIND-FM Modifieds will also be in action next Friday along with the Sportsman, Street Stock and Four Cylinder Stocks.
Two other big races were announced Friday night. Four Cylinder Stock drivers were stunned to hear they'd be competing for $1,000 to win in a special race on October 3rd, while the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman will also run for $1,000 to win on October 22nd. The Classic Auto Racing Series has also been booked for another race at Ocala Speedway on August 29th.
RESULTS - OCALA SPEEDWAY - 8/8/03
STEVEN A. BAGEN SUPER LATE MODELS (30 Laps):
1) Mike Fritts #77 2) E.J. Wise #7 3) Jay Middleton #74 4) Dave Schwendeman #23Y 5) Keith Zavrel #47 6) Brock Oglesby #88 7) Rich Pratt #0 8) Paul Combast #90 9) Chuck Burkhalter #30 10) Johhn Buzinec #08 11) Gig Smith #23 12) Roger Shinholser #26 13) Troy Robinson #0B 14) Gale Grayer #87 15) Kevin Durden #56 16) Robbie Smith #01
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN (20 Laps):
1) William Edwards #08 2) Bob Masciarelli #72 3) Patrick Mennenga #16 4) Tommy Brakeman #20 5) Kyle Maynard #27 6) Frank Buchanan #07 7) Pete Close, Jr. #86 8) Tom Posavec #01 9) Jim Higginbotham #76 10) Glen Baum #09 11) Big John Smith #31
K-COUNTRY STREET STOCKS (20 Laps):
1) Pete Close, Jr. #08 2) Tommy Roberts #44 3) A.J. Schreier #98 4) Bobby Taylor #66 5) David Chastain #17 6) Doug Webster #72 7) Paul Fletcher #84 8) Kenny Abney #6X 9) Bobby Carter #99 10) Paul Fletcher #28 11) Mike Rosa #76 12) Mike Fiddia #41 13) Estle Morrow #02 14) Sid Mosbrucker #62 15) Rick Bass #39 16) Harry Brown #X 17) Mark Mitchell #71 DNS Pete Reynolds #91
FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS (20 Laps):
1) Michael Stalnaker #8 2) Rick Kuhn #47 3) Ric Fort #2 4) Harold Barup #3 5) Tom Ellis #31 6) Terry Dunbar #72 7) Joel Byall #40 8) Steve Moulton #41 9) Chris Noce #99 10) Donnie Pitts #24 11) Heather Stalker #78 \\\\\\
