A large crowd filled the grandstand at Ocala Speedway for another hot night of racing, and the heat was not limited to the night air. After being postponed by rain two weeks ago, the Street Stock Division was set to run their 50 lap, $1000 to win, feature event. And on top of that a Sportsman Division Feature was added to the schedule, making for a full night of excellent racing.
And it was the Sportsman cars that first took to the track for a 20 lap race with Greg Young on the pole. Young fought hard to protect his lead, but on lap 3 there was contact between Young and Tim Shull, and Young's car ended up facing the wrong way in turn 2 as a result. Young's car was unable to continue and left on the hook while Shull was penalized for causing the yellow flag. On the restart Gig Smith jumped into the lead as Shelton Bowers powered his car all the way to 3rd place, but fate struck again and both Smith and Bowers would eventually fall victim to cut tires. And on lap 10 it was Jim Higginbotham who spun exiting turn 4, hitting William Edwards' car and doing quite a bit of damage to both. Despite heavy body damage to the rear of the car, Edwards would soldier on to take the win, while Gig Smith would finish second and Harold Barup would finish third. And despite a last lap incident in turn 4, Jim Higginbotham would salvage a 4th place finish.
The Thunder Stock Division ran their last race of their rookie season and Chris Oliveri lead the race from the pole to the checkers. Scott Anderson would finish a respectable second place while Josh Brown raced to claim the third place trophy.
Karl Born won the pole for the 4 Cylinder Stock race and never looked back until the checkers flew. Born drove away from Brandon and Justyn Elwood, who spent more time battling each other than chasing down the leader. Brnadon would win the second place trophy while Justyn Elwood would settle for third place. Meanwhile Richard Kuhn made his way forward through the field to take home a 4th place finish after starting dead last.
The Street Stocks ran 50 laps around the speedway in an effort to determine a winner, but in the end that determination was made long after the race had ended. John Zurdeima led the field to the green flag but could not hold his lead for too long. Doc Batson had problems with a broken axle exiting turn 2 on the 4th lap, sending a tire bouncing off of several cars and causing a clean up on the backstretch, and by lap 6 Mike Wilson had taken the lead and looked hard to beat. But meanwhile Mike Stalnaker and Pete Close had raced from deep in the field to the front, and it was not long before they overtook Wilson. Pete Close passed Stalnaker for the lead on the 36th lap and never looked back despite some cautions and restarts, but in the end Close's car was denied the win in tech after the race, leaving Mike Stalnaker as the winner and sending Close home with a disqualification. Mike Wilson would end up in second place and Jeff Stalnaker Jr. would finish in the third spot. Don Strosahl and Rick Bass would round out the top five at the finish.
Tommy Roberts returned to Ocala Speedway to compete with the V8 Pure Stocks and he did not disappoint. Jessie Corbett started from the pole and managed to hold onto his lead for awhile, but Roberts proved to strong for him or any of the other racers on the track. Once Roberts made his way to the lead he was not to be denied and took the win. James Sullivan would run a strong race and finish in second place while Jessie Corbett would slip to third place as the checkers were waved.
The last feature race of the night saw Jermy Gerstner win the pole and lead the field to the green, but in turn 1 it was Scott Grossenbacher with a gutsy move to the outside that gave him the lead and dropped Gerstner back in the pack. Kurt Jett also had a very strong car and managed to finish second, while Daniel Webster battled from the rear to the third spot.
Next week Ocala Speedway welcomes the return of the Open Wheel Modified division to the racing schedule with a twin, 25 lap double feature event. The driver who can accumulate the most points at the modified double feature at Citrus County Speedway on the 23rd, and at Ocala Speedway on the 29th, will be awarded a $1000 bonus. Ocala Speedway will also wrap up the V8 Thunder Stock season with a championship race which rewards the winner with $500. And the Figure 8 Division will return to the track for more wild action at the crossing in the middle of the infield.
Ocala Speedway Results for 6/22/07
Street Stock (50 lap/$1000 to win)
1- 8 Mike Stalnaker 2- 44 Mike Wilson 3- 10 Jeff Stalnaker Jr. 4- 11 Don Strosahl Jr. 5- 39 Rick Bass 6- 4 David Foster 7- 83x Joe Boyd 8- 09 Karl Carr 9- 47 John Zurdema 10- 14 John Buzinec 11- 04 Jason Murphy 12- 6 Leonard Arnold 13- Jonathan Appleby 14- 58 Larry Welter Jr. 15- 2 Don Teague 16- 17 Shelby Mather 17- 81 Don Woosley 18- 3x Mark Trexler 19- 7 Doc Batson DQ (tech) 86 Pete Close Jr.
Sportsman
1- 08 William Edwards 2- 61 Gig Smith 3- 3 Harold Barup 4- 76 Jim Higginbotham 5- 11 Harold Edwards 6- 83 Mike Fortner 7- 02 Mike Bates 8- 32 Shelton Bowers 9- 23 Greg Young 10- 39 Rick Bass 11- 8R Tim Shull DNS- 14 DJ Macklin
V8 Thunder Stock
1- 00 Chris Oliveri 2- 07 Scott Anderson 3- 67 Josh Brown 4- 96 Jason Henry 5- 79 Wade Brown 6- 18w Chris Watson 7- 18B Shawn Bailey
4 Cylinder Stock
1- 06 Karl Born 2- 28 Brandon Elwood 3- 17 Justyn Elwood 4- 46 Richard Kuhn 5- 31 Tom Ellis 6- 43 Mike Taylor 7- 20 Kenny Maddox 8- 23 John Hagans 9- 97 Philip Smith
V8 Pure Stock
1- 44 Tommy Roberts 2- 14 James Sullivan 3- 3D Jessie Corbett 4- 57 Matt Schell 5- 28 Don Welter 6- 7E James Erickson 7- 18w Randy Glick 8- 96 Bruce Pernitza 9- 15 Terry Dunbar 10- 39 Gary Smith
Late Model
1- 09 Scott Grossenbacher 2- 9 Kurt Jett 3- 3 Daniel Webster 4- 70 Jeremy Gerstner 5- 47 Keith Zavrel 6- 11 Cody Pitts 7- 8 Tim Shull 8- 07 Frank Buchanan DNS- 21 James Smith
Next week: June 29th Dual 25 Lap Open Wheel Modified Features (with $1000 bonus) 30 Lap Thunder Stock Championship Race ($500 to win) Figure 8 Race 4 Cylinder Stock V8 Pure Stock Street Stock Sportsman
