Collins' Mopar Outlasts NLMS Field - Pratt Tops SLM at Ocaala
by Dave Westerman
Jacksonville's Johnny Collins and local favorite Rich Pratt were among the big winners as Ocala Speedway wrapped up a big two-day show that saw plenty of action and excitement for the fans who packed the track both nights.
The National Late Model Series dirt-track Late Models were back at Ocala Speedway racing "topless" and were blistering the track in their qualifying efforts Friday evening.
Sylvester, GA driver Stacey Roberts, a winner here in NLMS action back in May, had his Ford-powered Sunbelt Ford/Georgia Peanut Taurus on a rail and set quick time of 14.034 seconds with NLMS point leader Michael Lloyd of Jacksonville close behind at 14.178.
Roberts, Michael Lloyd, and Ocala's Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. took the three heat races to set the first three starting positions for Saturday's 100-lap main event.
Heat races were also held on Friday evening for Ocala Speedway regular divisions setting the fields for features on Saturday worth double points.
Anthony's Rich Pratt dominated the heat race for the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Models while heats for the Diamond H. Air & Heat Sportsman were won by Bob Masciarelli and Tommy Brakeman. Heat races for the K-Country Street Stocks were claimed by A.J. Schreier, Pete Close, Jr., and Shane Nichols while the Toyota "Rick and Rick show" continued in the Four Cylinder Stocks as Rick Kuhn and Ric Fort drove their Celicas to heat race victories.
The Open Wheel Lites were also on the card for both heats and a feature on Friday Evening. Jacksonville's Rick Lundeen and Winter Haven's Brian Gingras took the heat wins to set the stage for the 20-lap main event.
Lundeen wasted little time blasting from his third row starting spot into the lead on the opening lap and it looked like he was on his way to his second straight OWL win here.
But fellow Jacksonville driver Bob Quick had other ideas as he moved into second on lap six, chased down Lundeen and passed him for the lead on lap 14. Quick never looked back, racing to his second OWL win of the year at Ocala. Lundeen was second followed by Gingras, Jim Biglin and Wayne DeClerck.
Again there were only two cars in the new V-8 Stock class but they put on quite a show with Laura Fletcher taking the measure of Dan Tremblay to score her third win in a row.
The grand finale on Friday was the ever-popular School Bus Figure Eight race and eight buses showed up to do battle.
Lou Tremblay, driving what actually was of former church bus, and Jim Bertotto duked it out in the early going and were paying so much attention to each other that they didn't notice Ted Visneski closing in on them.
Visneski made the pass for the lead with Doug Webster also making a charge. Unfortunately, Webster's three-wide run into turn four was not what his bus wanted and it rolled on it's side. Webster scrambled out unhurt just before the front end of his bus burst into flames.
The fire was quickly extinguished and the race continued with Visneski holding off Jim Bertotto and Lou Tremblay for the win. Skip Bertotto and Dan Tremblay were fourth and fifth.
Great weather welcomed the drivers, crews and fans back to the speedway Saturday evening and the stage was set for what would be a very entertaining 100-lapper for the National Late Model Series dirt cars, a race nobody seemed to want to win.
Stacey Roberts was on the pole, and by virtue of his performance here in May, was the odds-on favorite.
Roberts didn't disappoint as he blasted out front at the drop of the green flag. Things did not go so well for point leader and outside pole sitter Michael Lloyd as his car slowed with a broken valve and he headed to the pits after completing only one lap.
On lap three, David Clegg and DeWayne Johnson tangled in turn four. Richard Ferry, with no place to go, slid into Johnson's car while Lawton Minchew slid into Ferry's machine.
When all was said and done, Clegg was done for the night while Ferry made several attempts to return but his car was not up to par following the wreck.
With the green back out, Roberts was having an easy time of it out front but all eyes were on Johnny Collins as he had worked his Mopar-powered machine into fourth on lap nine after starting thirteenth.
Caution flew again on lap 11 as Jason Hylton looped his machine. Roberts again set sail following the restart with Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. second ahead of Johnson and Collins. Collins passed Johnson for third on lap 15 as leader Roberts' car began to show smoke.
Smoke turned to fire on lap 20 as the red flag was tossed to get the fire crew to a stunned Roberts, who up to that point was oblivious to what was happening. A leaking valve cover gasket was the culprit and Roberts retired his super-fast machine to the pits.
Much to their pleasure, Ocala Speedway fans now found local driver Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. in front of the field with Collins second and Johnson third.
Green flag racing was now the norm as Lloyd led Collins, Johnson, Greg Ward, Patrick Sheltra, Richard Souter, Lawton Minchew and John Rankin as the field completed 25 laps.
Lloyd and Collins had built up a full straightaway lead as they began to encounter lapped traffic. On lap 43, Collins dove low to lap Minchew on the backstretch, but the two cars collided sending Minchew for a long slide into the infield. Minchew's car was damaged too much to continue while Collins' car had only minor sheet metal damage and he continued in second spot.
The order was pretty much the same as the field took the half-way signal from starter Larry Bowden although Souter got past Sheltra for fifth on lap 51.
On lap 57, the engine in Lloyd's car began to sour and he dropped off the pace and headed pitside handing the lead over to Collins. By lap 75, Collins was laying waste to the field as only nine cars remained on the race track with Souter slowing significantly and losing positions.
It looked to be a cakewalk for Collins as he continued to build his lead lapping up to fifth place. DeWayne Johnson, running in second, crashed into the lapped car of John Rankin on lap 93 to bring the caution flag out.
Since the incident involved a lapped car, Johnson was placed back in second, however the damage had been done and he slowed on the restart with the field zooming past his wounded racer.
Johnson's car lost a fender on the backstretch bringing out the final caution on lap 94 as Johnson took his car into the pits.
Collins easily outdistanced Greg Ward on the restart and drove his Sheltra Ranch & Grove/Sheltra & Son Construction/Mopar Performance car to a well-received victory. Ward came home second followed by Collins' teammate Patrick Sheltra. With Michael Lloyd's early problems, 17-year-old Sheltra took over the NLMS point lead.
Jason Hylton checkered fourth followed by local driver Bob McQuaig, whose race team is based in Ocala. Scott Thompson (driving his first race on asphalt), Johnson, Rankin, Aaron McQuaig and Souter rounded out the top ten.
Rich Pratt's only real problem in the Steven A. Bagen Super Late Model 30-lap feature was negotiating lapped cars.
Tate Pierce, making his first start at Ocala since late last year, grabbed the initial lead but could only hold off Pratt for two laps before Pratt assumed the point.
Pratt and Pierce were both running strong and pulling away when Brad Heath, another driver making his first start of the year, had something go wrong with his car and he spun in turn four. Heath retired his car to the pits.
Pratt continued to lead with Pierce in his shadow as they moved into lapped traffic. On lap 21, Pratt tried to lap Tim Shull, but was forced to the infield where he spun. Pratt was awarded his lead position back and he cruised the remaining nine laps for his first win of the year, a fitting tribute to his Sponsor Troy Groeb of Groeb Farms who was celebrating his birthday.
Pierce held on for second followed by point leader E.J. Wise, Robbie Smith (sporting new sponsorship from Alternative Phone Service and University Supercenter) and Keith Zavrel.
Kyle Maynard led all the way but had to hold off a furious last-lap charge by Bob Masciarelli to win the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman feature. It was Maynard's second win of the season, but first in this particular car.
Masciarelli came home second followed by William Edwards, Roger Damron and Frank Buchanan. Point leader Tom Posavec blew an engine in warm-ups and was unable to race.
Ocala's A.J. Schreier looked to have his first K-Country Street Stock feature win in the bag, but it wasn't to be.
Schreier was leading easily when Bobby Carter's car laid some oil on the track on lap 12. Schreier spun in the oil and was clipped by second-running Doug Webster. Schreier's car did not feel right to him and he went to the pits, handing the lead over to Webster.
From that point, Webster, showing no ill effects from his bus crash the night before, was able to hold off Bobby Taylor to score his second victory of 2003. Taylor checkered second followed by Tommy Roberts, Mark Mitchell, and Paul "Tweety" Fletcher.
Only one caution flag slowed the Four Cylinder Stock main event, but nothing could slow Tom Ellis as he took his third win of the year although it was his first trip to victory lane since April. Rick Kuhn, Harold Barup, Rick Fort and Terry Dunbar completed the top five.
1) Johnny Collins #5C 2) Greg Ward #241 3) Patrick Sheltra #23S 4) Jason Hylton #X 5) Bob McQuaig #5 6) Scott Thompson #38 7) DeWayne Johnson #45 8) John Rankin #53 9) Aaron McQuaig #20 10) Richard Souter #48 11) Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. #21 12) Lawton Minchew #23M 13) Stacey Roberts #11 14) Richard Ferry #17 15) David Clegg #07 16) Michael Lloyd #18 17) Steve Lade #00
STEVEN A. BAGEN SUPER LATE MODELS (30 Laps):
1) Rich Pratt #0 2) Tate Pierce #81 3) E.J. Wise #7 4) Robbie Smith #01 5) Keith Zavrel #47 6) Gale Grayer #87 7) Paul Combast #90 8) Troy Robinson #0B 9) Gig Smith #23 10) Tim Shull #8 11) Brad Heath #28
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN (20 Laps):
1) Kyle Maynard #27 2) Bob Masciarelli #72 3) William Edwards #08 4) Roger Damron #76D 5) Frank Buchanan #07 6) Patrick Mennenga #16 7) Jim Higginbotham #76 8) Bryson Ryker #48 9) Michael Smith #4 10) Tommy Brakeman #20 11) Eddie Kilbury #71 12) Charles Hornbeak #67 13) Big John Smith #31 DNS Tom Posavec #01
K-COUNTRY STREET STOCKS (20 Laps):
1) Doug Webster #72 2) Bobby Taylor #66 3) Tommy Roberts #96 4) Mark Mitchell #71 5) Paul Fletcher #94 6) David Chastain #17 7) Pete Close, Jr. #08 8) Estle Morrow #02 9) Marlon Durbin #0 10) Shane Nichols #6X 11) Mike Rosa #76 12) Mike Fiddia #41 13) Sid Mosbrucker #62 14) Harold Edwards #11X 15) Rick Bass #39 16) A.J. Schreier #98 17) Harry Brown #29 18) Robert Capps #44C 19) Bobby Carter #99
FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS (20 Laps):
1) Tom Ellis #31 2) Rick Kuhn #47 3) Harold Barup #3 4) Ric Fort #2 5) Terry Dunbar #72 6) Kurtis Mitchell #00 7) Michael Stalnaker #8 8) James Turgeon III #18 9) Chris Noce #99 10) Festus Barup #69 11) Steve Visneski #42 12) Donnie Pitts #24 13) Justin Durbin #33 DNS Tony Thompson #007
OPEN WHEEL LITES (20 Laps):
1) Bob Quick #06 2) Rick Lundeen #04 3) Brian Gingras #09 4) Jim Biglin #07 5) Wayne DeClerck #96 6) Erik Powell #21 7) John Sproul #02 8) Ron Towles #01 9) Bill See #54 10) Becky Davis #6 DNS Bill Burback #77
V-8 STOCKS (7 Laps):
1) Laura Fletcher #21 2) Dan Tremblay #40
SCHOOL BUS FIGURE EIGHT (15 Laps):
1) Ted Visneski #71 2) Jim Bertotto #54 3) Lou Tremblay #10 4) Skip Bertotto #72G 5) Dan Tremblay #5 6) Doug Webster #72 7) Pete Close, Jr. #86 8) Frank Buchanan #98
