A good analogy that describes a double points night at Ocala Speedway would be to say it is like pouring gasoline on a fire. The chance to make major advances in the points standings causes racers to take risks and make bold moves, and that translates into exciting racing in all divisions. Throw in 23 TBARA Winged Sprint cars plus a Figure 8 race, then fill the grandstand with race fans, and the result is almost explosive.
The first feature race of the night began with John Hagans on the pole as the 4 Cylinder Stocks lined up for 20 laps of hard racing. And as the green flag waved Rick Kuhn made a near impossible pass to jump from the middle of the pack to the front before the field got through turn 2 the first time around.
The real race was for second through 5th place as several racers traded paint and positions on the track. In the end it was Mike Ogelsby who came from deep in the field to follow Kuhn to a second place finish, and Brandon Elwood settled for third place.
Seventeen Street Stocks took the green flag in their feature race, which at times looked like a dress rehearsal for their 50 lap, $1000 to win race scheduled for next week. The racing was fast and furious, but a first lap pile up in Turn 1 delayed the real racing for some time. Joey Durbin's engine grenaded into turn 1, sending him into a wild spin as most of the field slammed on their brakes and tried to dodge the mess.
In the end all but Durbin were able to continue, but the race was red flagged for some time before that could happen. When the green finally fell it was Shane Nichols who led the pack from the pole, but Shelby Mather quickly blew past him and led to the finish. Mather's closest competitor was a hard charging Pete Close who settled for second place, while Doc Batson raced to a third place finish.
Aaron Welter won the pole for the V8 Pure Stock Feature, but it was Brent Cooper who had the car to beat. Cooper quickly wrestled the lead from Welter and lead to the finish, while Welter gave chase but settled for the second place trophy.
The race featured plenty of hard racing, especially from James Erickson as he made his way from the back to near the front. But Erickson would have an on track run in with Matt Schell as Erickson attempted to pass him for third place, and after some bumping and paint exchanges Erickson was sent packing for bad behavior.
Matt Schell would continue to race his way to earn the third place trophy behind Cooper and Welter.
After weeks and weeks of not being able to race thanks to scheduling problems and bad weather, the Open Wheel Modifieds dusted off the cobwebs and returned to Ocala Speedway in force. And the drivers were even further excited by the news that they would have twin feature races on June 29th, only two weeks away.
Robbie Cooper found himself on the pole and wasted no time in proving that he was the man to beat. Cooper put his car out front by getting excellent starts and distancing himself from the competition, while everyone else tried to race for the second spot.
It was Kurt Jett who appeared to have the best chance of catching Cooper, but in the end he would take home the second place trophy while Jeremy Gerstner had a respectable third place finish. David Baxley, Troy Robinson, and Alan McCaferty, all would be in the hunt in the end, but could not break into the top three.
The last two times that the TBARA Winged Sprints appeared at Ocala Speedway they raced green to checkers without a caution. The third time was NOT the charm, as right off the bat several cars had contact and the caution flew to pick up a few pieces.
That forced a complete restart as Charlie Ladner led the field to the green, but Tommy Nichols quickly jumped in front and seemed to be ready to dominate the race. But on lap 10 things somehow came unglued as D.J. Hoelzle's car spun into the infield and a host of problems arose for a couple of other cars.
Both Nichols and Larry Jay Brazil Jr. developed mechanical woes that forced them to bow out, and Brian Gingras assumed the lead at that point. Gingras was not to be denied as he maintained that lead to take the win, but he was followed closely in the end by a hard charging Troy DeCaire who probably could have passed him had there been a couple more laps in the race.
Stan Butler, who won the last TBARA race at Ocala, made his way to a third place finish, and Ben Fritz and Michael Smith came home 4th and 5th, respectively.
Ten V8 Thunder Stock racers took the green flag behind Scott Anderson, and before the race was over quite a few of them had seen Chris Oliveri as he sped past on his way to the front.
But in the end Oliveri became a little too anxious to win and ended up racing Scott Anderson a bit too hard, eventually leading to both racers being sent to the rear. From that point it was Jason Henry who took control, managing to stave off a hungry Josh Brown and go home with the first place trohpy. Josh Brown settled for the second spot while Curtis Clark Jr. raced to a third place finish.
The night ended with a Figure 8 race where one car dominated, but the rest of the field put on quite a show. Larry Welter Jr, went from the green to the checkers and built a ridiculously huge lead in the process, but behind him there was all sorts of turmoil and hard nosed racing. Several dents, bent hoods, and busted bumpers later, Marlon Durbin emerged to take the second place spot while Justin Durbin finished third.
Along the way Justin Durbin managed to rear end Rick Hart as Hart slowed for another car, sending Hart on a wild ride through the grass. Hart never managed to recover from the hit and raced to a sixth place finish, while Eric Gellman took a similar excursion and ended up doing donuts in the grass rather than racing to the finish.
Next week the kids get a chance to climb into a race car and take a low speed tour of Ocala Speedway, plus another Street Car Challenge is planned for intermission.
The Late Models will be back for their first feature race since the Powell Memorial, and the big event will be the 50 lap, $1000 to win, Street Stock Feature.
TBARA Winged Sprints
1- 99 Brian Gingras 2- 68 Troy DeCaire 3- 18 Stan Butler 4- 16 Ben Fritz 5- 9x Michael Smith 6- 51 Mark Gimmler 7- 66 Kip Beard 8- 19 Keith Butler 9- 52 Joey Aguilar 10- 29 Gary Gimmler 11- 0 Dude Teate 12- 10 Matt Mercer 13- 80 Wendy Mathis 14- 47 Richard Waddell 15- 14 Shane Butler 16- 15 DJ Hoelzle 17- 11t TJ Winegardner 18- 55 Tommy Nichols 19- 21B Larry Jay Brazil Jr. 20- 33 David Slawiak 21- 75 Curtis Sutton 22- 39 Charlie Ladner DNS- 1 Steven Bradley
4 Cylinder Stock
1- 46 Rick Kuhn 2- 1 Mike Ogelsby 3- 28 Brandon Elwood 4- 06 Karl Born 5- 12 Justin Durbin 6- 17 Justyn Elwood 7- 43 Michael Taylor 8- 97 Jacob Leeson 9- 23 John Hagans 10- 31 Tom Ellis
Street Stock
1- 17 Shelby Mather 2- 86 Pete Close Jr. 3- 8 Doc Batson 4- 65 Shane Nichols 5- 1 Marlon Durbin 6- 39 Rick Bass 7- 11 Don Strosahl Jr. 8- 12 Justin Durbin 9- 4 David Foster 10- 67 Norm Brown 11- 09 Carl Carr 12- 14 John Buzinec 13- Don Woosley 14- 13 Jonathon Appleby 15- 6 Leonard Arnold 16- 3x Mark Trexler 17- 48 Joey Durbin DNS- 9 Jeff Stalnaker
V8 Pure Stock
1- 97 Brent Cooper 2- 28 Aaron Welter 3- 57 Matt Schell 4- 21 Curtis Clark 5- 82 Jim Kruse 6- 3D Jessie Corbett 7- 2 John Pettit 8- 42 Steve Visneski 9- 14 James Sullivan 10- 15 Terry Dunbar 11- 96 Bruce Pernitza 12- 18 Randy Glick 13- 91 Hall Robertson 14- 00 Jacob Antis DQ (conduct) 66 James Erickson
Open Wheel Modified
1- 98c Robbie Cooper 2- 9B Kurt Jett 3- 70 Jeremy Gerstner 4- 1 David Baxley 5- 0 Troy Robinson 6- 32 Alan McCaferty 7- 8 Mike Stalnaker 8- 01 Curtis Neumann 9- 17 Jimmy Wagner 10- 79 Mike Wilson 11- 31 Johnny Newsome 12- 13 Kevyn Terry 13- 27 Eric Sauer 14- 98y Mark Rider 15- 20 David Castello 16- 15 Don Stosahl Jr. 17- 50 Mike Batten 18- 9w Mikey Wright DNS- 06 Brian Hutchenson
V8 Thunder Stock 1- 96 Jason Henry 2- 67 Josh Brown 3- 21 Curtis Clark Jr. 4- 07 Scott Anderson 5- 79 Wade Brown 6- 18w Chris Watson 7- 00w Chris Oliveri 8- 00B Michael Valdez 9- 25 Guy Bacelo Jr. 10- 18B Shawn Bailey
Figure 8 1- 58 Larry Welter Jr. 2- 1 Marlon Durbin 3- 12 Justin Durbin 4- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 5- 28 Aaron Welter 6- 13 Rick Hart 7- 53 Eric Gellman 8- 14 John Buzinec 9- 07 Scott Anderson
Next week, 5/22/07
50 lap, $1000 to win, Street Stock Feature Race Kid's Race Car Rides Street Car Challenge Races Late Model 4 Cylinder Stock Thunder Stock V8 Pure Stock
