IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 4, 2007 ANOTHER WEEK OF SOLID COMPETITION AT OCALA By BJ Cavin A few showers passed over Ocala Speedway during the late afternoon hours on Friday, and while they may have dampened the track somewhat, they did not manage to dampen the enthusiasm of many race fans and drivers who were ready for racing. By the time the hot laps session began the showers were over, and a nearly perfect night for racing greeted the crowd. And the racers did not disappoint either, putting on a very competitive and exciting show for all of the fans. The Street Stocks had the honor of beginning the feature races for the evening and David Baxley had the honor of beginning the race on the pole. Baxley was driving a car he had purchased earlier in the week and wasted no time in attempting to prove it was the car to beat. Baxley jumped out in front and remained there, rebuffing challenges from David Foster until Pete Close fought his way from the last spot to the front of the field. Close began the race dead last, but by lap 6 climbed to the eighth position, then to the fourth spot by lap 9. Several cautions also worked in Close's favor, keeping the file bunched up and making it easier for him to overtake the cars in front. David Baxley fought hard when Close caught up to him, but two laps from the finish Pete Close made the pass for the win, relegating Baxley to a second place finish. David Foster also hung in there and went home with a third place finish. Some new drivers have found their way into the field of Thunder Stocks as the rookie division continues to give new drivers a place to learn the ropes. Guy Bacelo Jr. led the field to the green flag but was almost immediately overtaken by Wade Brown who dashed to the front followed by Donnie Buckner and Chris Watson. Brown had something to prove as he drove his way to a win while Buckner and Watson finished second and third respectively. Shelton Bowers hoped to do well this week, but found that sometimes things do not go as planned. Bowers' car expired during hot laps, but Leroy Donaldson stepped out of his machine and allowed Bowers to run for points. Instead of racing his way through the field as has been the case in recent weeks, William Edwards earned the pole for the Sportsman division feature race. Edwards relinquished the lead on lap 5 to a hard charging Matt Blum who went on to eventually win the race. Edwards came home in the second spot, while Tim Shull fought his way from deep in the field to a respectable third place finish. Last week the 4 Cylinder Stocks witnessed Brandon and Justyn Elwood racing to a virtual photo finish where Brandon was deemed the winner. This week those two drivers once again went head to head and put on quite a show, only this time around it was Justyn who went home with the first place hardware. Rick Kuhn started from the pole and hoped to race his way to a win, but it turned out that the two Elwood machines were too strong to beat so Kuhn wound up in the third spot. Pete Close battled his way from the back to the front in the Street Stock feature to begin the night. Brent Cooper began the V8 Pure Stock feature race from the rear and picked his way to the front in much the same fashion. Don Welter led the field to the green flag and managed to keep the lead for 6 laps before Larry Welter Sr. wrestled it away and Brent Cooper fought his way into the second place spot. From there Cooper went to work on the leader and moved out front on lap 10 and never looked back. Larry Welter Sr. took the second place spot while Jessie Corbett made his way to third place. Kyle Maynard was in very good shape as he began the late model feature race from the pole, but Scott Grosenbacher almost immediately stole the lead at the green flag. Once Grosenbacher was out in front he simply drove away, leaving Kyle Maynard, Cody Pitts, and Daniel Webster, to settle who would finish second and third. Cody Pitts fought hard and made every effort to find a passing lane, but Maybard managed to hold him off and finish second, while Pitts finished third. --Advertisement-- The Fast Mini Cup Series set out the prove that size does not matter as the All Star Kids division hit the track for a 10 lap feature. Cindarae Irish jumped out to an early lead but lost it in turn 2 as she spun out. Unfortunately for her the spin and resulting excursion through the grass caused mechanical woes and her night ended watching the race from the infield. From that point on the race belonged to Daniel Miller, who checked out on the rest of the field and sailed to a convincing win. Nick Hernandez salvaged a second place finish while Aaron Irish came home in third place. The Fast Mini Cup Pro division fielded 8 cars in their feature event with Jerry Parker leading from the pole. By lap 6 it was Jason Schoader who passed the leader and pulled away to collect a win, while Joel Ashburn raced into second place and Zach Zylo Hoyt wrapped up the top three. The night of racing was capped off by a couple of novelty events to entertain the fans. A Kidney Bean race was run with Larry Welter Sr. starting from the pole, but for the second time in the night it was Brent Cooper who stole the show. By the third lap cooper had overtaken the leader and was well on his way to a convincing win followed by Joey Durbin and Larry Welter Sr. Following the Kidney Bean race the ladies took to the track in borrowed race cars for a Powder Puff event. It might not have been the fastest race of the night but it was quite entertaining to say the least. Ocala Speedway will be welcoming the open wheel modified cars back for some racing action next week, plus the usual list of regular divisions. And topping off the night will be another School Bus Figure 8 race. Ocala Speedway Results for 8/3/07 Sportsman 1- 1 Matt Blum 2- 08 William Edwards 3- 8R Tim Shull 4- 8M John Mamph 5- 23 Greg Young 6- 76 Jim Higginbotham 7- 61 Bill Stalnaker 8- 02 Mike Bates 9- 11 Harold Edwards 10- 29 Shelton Bowers DNS- 32 Leroy Donaldson DNF- 39 Rick Bass DNF- 9 Don Milam V8 Thunder Stock 1- 79 Wade Brown 2- 98 Donnie Buckner 3- 18W Chris Watson 4- 25 Guy Bacelo Jr. 5- 69 Allen Hall 6- 00 Michael Valdez 7- 07 Shawn Bailey DNS- 96 Jason Henry 4 Cylinder Stock 1- 17 Justyn Elwood 2- 28 Brandon Elwood 3- 46 Rick Kuhn 4- 02 John Layerd 5- 23 John Hagans DNS- 43 Mike Taylor Street Stock 1- 86 Pete Close Jr. 2- 1 David Baxley 3- 4 David Foster 4- 17 Shelby Mather 5- 39 Rick Bass 6- 97 Brent Cooper 7- 48 Justin Durbin 8- 81 Donald Woosley 9- 09 Carl Carr 10- 91 Hall Robertson 11- 6 Leonard Arnold 12- 12G Steve Grindstaff 13- 14 John Buzinec 14- 3X Mark Trexler 15- 69 Tommy Ausburn 16- 65 Shane Nichols V8 Pure Stock 1- 97 Brent Cooper 2- 85 Larry Welter Jr. 3- 3D Jessie Corbett 4- 67 Josh Brown 5- 28 Don Welter 6- 14 James Sullivan 7- 15 Terry Dunbar 8- 82 Aaron Welter 9- 07 Scotty Anderson 10- 18W Randy Glick 11- 69 Don Milam DNS- 10 Greg Powell DNS- 96 Bruce Pernitza Late Model 1- 09 Scott Grosenbacher 2- 127 Kyle Maynard 3- 11 Cody Pitts 4- 3 Daniel Webster 5- 8 Tim Shull 6- 47 Keith Zavrel 7- 70 Jeremy Gerstner 8- 44S Matt Snodgrass 9- 44A Tony Altiere --Advertisement-- Fast Mini Cup All Stars 1- 00 Daniel Miller 2- 8 Nick Hernandez 3- 08 Aaron Irish 4- 55 Jordan Martin 5- 05 Cindarae Irish Fast Mini Cup Pro 1- 45 Jason Schroader 2- 25 Joel Ashton 3- 67 Zach Zylo Hoyt (Incomplete Results) Kidney Bean Race 1- 97 Brent Cooper 2- 48 Joey Durbin 3- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 4- 82 Aaron Welter 5- 13 Rick Hart 6- 28 Don Welter 7- 15 Terry Dunbar 8- 67 Josh Brown Have an opinion on this story? 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