Anderson Tops Ocala Super Lates - Nichols Nabs Sportsman 50 Lapper
by Dave Westerman
Well, it was one of those nights at Ocala Speedway punctuated by rain, wet conditions, blown engines and big crashes and fans certainly got their money's worth of action and great racing.
Just as it looked like the afternoon rains were moving out of the area, a persistent drizzle began to fall and didn't let up for nearly two hours.
Track drying efforts began, but with no daytime heat in the race track and the saturated conditions of the speedway grounds, it took until almost 8:30 to get the track in race condition.
A features only format was instituted with the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models first out for a 35-lap event.
David Baxley grabbed the early lead in his Heat Treating Inc. Pontiac Grand Prix and proceeded to set sail while all eyes were on Wayne Anderson who was quickly working his Calabrese Racing/Airframe International Chevy toward the front. Anderson, who started 13th was all the way up to third by the time the first caution flag flew on lap 13, a caution that unfortunately ended the evening for race leader Baxley.
Baxley had just entered a large group of lapped cars when Tim Shull and Gig Smith tangled in front of him. Baxley plowed into Shull's stalled machine. Walter Reardon, who had just been lapped by Baxley, got hard on the brakes but couldn't avoid rear-ending Baxley's mount.
When all was said and done, Baxley, Reardon and Shull were done for the night. Baxley's misfortune handed the lead over to Chuck Burkhalter who had his mirror full of Anderson. Try as he might, Burkhalter could not fend off Anderson who zipped by to take the lead on lap 16 just after another restart caused by Brock Oglesby's spin in turn two.
Anderson was clearly the class of the field as he motored away on each restart, only to see caution flags for minor spins on laps 17, 21, 23, and 31 keep the field close.
Things would turn ugly though on lap 33. Herb Hoefler, trying to work his way back through the field after a tangle with E.J. Wise, attempted an outside pass of Dave Schwendeman coming out of turn four.
Somehow the two cars got locked together and turned abruptly to the right under full acceleration. Both cars hit the wall nearly head-on with Schwendeman's machine taking the brunt of the impact.
Despite the big crowd, there was an eerie silence as track crews attended to both drivers. Hoeffler climbed out of his battered Monte Carlo after a couple of minutes while track EMT's called Marion County Fire Rescue to the scene to help treat Schwendeman.
By the time paramedics arrived, Schwendeman had come around and was talking to the rescuers. Since he had been knocked unconscious in the crash, it was mandatory that he be cut out of the car, immobilized and then transported to a nearby hospital. However he was coherent, talking, and even complaining about his car being dismantled around him and it appeared he was not seriously hurt.
The race was called complete at lap 33 with Wayne Anderson declared the winner, his fifth of the year. In a true show of sportsmanship, Anderson spent several minutes at the crash scene making sure Schwendeman was OK before walking back to the pits.
The recently un-retired Chuck Burkhalter brought Don and Mark Emberson's Chevy home second followed by Keith Zavrel who ran most of the race with his left front fender hanging loose. Troy Robinson was fourth and Robbie Smith fifth.
Travis Nichols of Inverness made his first Ocala win a big one as he topped the 50-lap Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman feature.
Tommy Brakeman jumped to an early lead as the field diced for position behind him. The red flag flew at lap six when Patrick Mennenga's engine came unglued going down the backstretch resulting in a flash fire that quickly put itself out. For Mennenga, it was his second broken engine in two weeks.
Brakeman was still showing the way when Jim Higginbotham spun to bring out the caution on lap nine. Following the restart, Nichols began to really apply the pressure on Brakeman, finally edging past for the lead on lap 16 only to be drilled from behind and spun by Brakeman a lap later.
Nichols was placed back at the point by track officials with Brakeman sent to the rear of the restart line-up.
As the race reached half-way, it was a four car breakaway with Nichols leading Frank Buchanan, Kyle Maynard and Roger Damron. About a straightaway back, Big John Smith was leading a freight train consisting of Tom Posavec, William Edwards, Bob Masciarelli, Pete Close, Jr. and Dusty Bouchard.
Close spun in turn three on lap 33 with Charlie Kopach and Brakeman also getting involved to bring out the caution and close the field back up.
Nichols was having to work hard as Buchanan was applying constant pressure. Third-running Kyle Maynard spun after a bump with Damron to bring out the race's final caution on lap 41.
Nichols was able to hold Buchanan and Damron at bay to take the win, his first of the season here. Big John Smith finally had a little good luck go his way as he came home with a well-earned fourth spot just ahead of Sportsman point leader William Edwards. Masciarelli, Posavec, Bouchard, Brakeman and Higginbotham rounded out the top ten.
Jacksonville's Rick Lundeen was back to his winning ways in the visiting Open Wheel Lite division leading all the way in his Suzuki powered "Flying Grape."
The race got off to an uneasy start as two separate tangles involving the cars of Wayne DeClerck, Bill Molenaar, Bob Quick, and Bill Burback brought action to a halt before the field could get to turn one. All cars continued with the exception of Molenaar who was towed to the pits.
DeClerck spun again just as the field completed lap one to bring out the caution flag again.
Once the little cars got to some green flag racing, they put on quite a show. Quick made a "quick" move to second while all eyes were on John Godwin and Jimmy Wagner. Godwin, who started 11th, moved to third on lap 11 with Wagner moving to fourth right behind him after starting last in the field.
There would be only one more caution for an Eric Powell spin on lap 13 and from there things pretty much stabilized with Lundeen leading all the way for the win followed by Quick, Godwin and Wagner. Ron Towles was fifth, while DeClerck came back from his earlier miscues to checker sixth ahead of Brian Gingras, Powell, Jim Biglin, and Jerry Davis.
Wally Schneider grabbed the early lead in the K-Country Street Stock 25-lap feature and was looking strong until a broken axle sent him into a spin and out of the race on lap ten.
Mark Mitchell inherited the lead at that point and led the rest of the way although there was plenty of action behind him.
Tommy Roberts got loose and spun coming off turn four on lap 19 with Krystal Batson, Zephyrhills Paul Fletcher, and Doug Webster crashing trying to avoid him. The Batson and Fletcher cars were done for the night while Webster managed to continue despite some obvious damage.
When all was said and done, Mitchell had earned his second win of the year while Pete Close, Jr. drove from 14th on the grid to finish second. Bobby Taylor made a late charge to nip Paul "Tweety Bird" Fletcher at the line for third while Larry Goolsby drove a steady race in Dot and Todd Kelley's Bi-Lo Camaro to claim fifth.
Ric Fort drove his Toyota to his fifth win of the season in the Four Cylinder Stocks although it was his first win since mid June.
Fort snared the lead with a bold move on the opening lap and was never headed although young Michael Stalnaker threw out all the stops in an effort to win his third in a row, coming up just one position short.
Point leader Rick Kuhn was third just ahead of Terry Dunbar and Harold Barup.
Charlie Kennedy led most of the way to top the new V-8 Stock class but had to fend off the constant challenges of Laura "Mrs. Tweety" Fletcher.
Bobby Taylor, Ken Sheffield, and David Knutson rounded out the top five.
Next Friday night, Open Wheel Modified fans can see both the "old" and the "new" as the WIND-FM Modifieds will be joined by the Classic Auto Racing Series which features replicas of Modified style cars of the '50's and '60's. The Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman, K-Country Street Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, and V-8 Stock "Road Hogs" will also be in action.
RESULTS - OCALA SPEEDWAY - 8/22/03:
STEVEN A. BAGEN SUPER LATE MODELS (Cut to 33 Laps due to crash):
1) Wayne Anderson #84 2) Chuck Burkhalter #30 3) Keith Zavrel #47 4) Troy Robinson #0B 5) Robbie Smith #01 6) E.J. Wise #7 7) Gig Smith #23 8) Brock Oglesby #88 9) Herb Hoeffler #22 10) Dave Schwendeman #23Y 11) Paul Combast #90 12) Rich Pratt #0 13) David Baxley #64 14) Walter Reardon #54 15) Tim Shull #8 DNS Mario Hernandez #5
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN (50 Laps):
1) Travis Nichols #2 2) Frank Buchanan #07 3) Roger Damron #76D 4) Big John Smith #31 5) William Edwards #08 6) Bob Masciarelli #72 7) Tom Posavec #01 8) Dusty Bouchard #47 9) Tommy Brakeman #20 10) Jim Higginbotham #76 11) Kyle Maynard #27 12) Steve Seymour #88 13) Pete Close, Jr. 82 14) Charles Kopach #53 15) Michael Mennenga #4 16) Doc Batson #B4 17) Patrick Mennenga #16 DNS Glen Baum #09 DNS Michael Jordan #7
OPEN WHEEL LITES (25 Laps):
1) Rick Lundeen #04 2) Bob Quick #06 3) John Godwin #22 4) Jimmy Wagner #17 5) Ron Towles #01 6) Wayne DeClerck #96 7) Brian Gingras #09 8) Eric Powell #71 9) Jim Biglin #07 10) Jerry Davis #02 11) Harvey Johnson #34 12) Bill See #54 13) Becky Davis #6 14) Bill Burback #77 15) Bill Molenaar #0
K-COUNTRY STREET STOCKS (25 Laps):
1) Mark Mitchell #71 2) Pete Close, Jr. #08 3) Bobby Taylor #66 4) Paul Fletcher #94 5) Larry Goolsby #38 6) David Chastain #17 7) Tommy Roberts #44 8) Mike Rosa #76 9) Sid Mosbrucker #62 10) James Morgan #55 11) Dan Geer #65 12) Doug Webster #72 13) A.J. Schreier #98 14) Rick Bass #39 15) Ken Asbell #89 16) Mike Fiddia #41 17) Krystal Batson #B4 18) Paul Fletcher #28 19) Dave Danielson #70 20) Wally Schneider #91 21) Travis Wofford #24 DNS Bobby Carter #99
FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS (25 Laps):
1) Ric Fort #2 2) Michael Stalnaker #8 3) Rick Kuhn #47 4) Terry Dunbar #72 5) Harold Barup #3 6) Tom Ellis #31 7) Dan Sanderson #7 8) Chris Noce #99 9) Festus Barup #69 10) James Turgeon #18 11) Heather Stalker #78 DNS Stephen Visneski #42
V-8 STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) Charlie Kennedy #34 2) Laura Fletcher #21 3) Ken Sheffield #25 4) David Knutson #71 5) Dan Tremblay #5 6) Barry Curley #69 7) Bobby Taylor #27X
