"I'm
noticing a turn of the tide on racing Web sites like Florida's
Karnac.com, the gathering place for the most dedicated race
fans in the state." -Orlando Sentinel
An almost perfect night for racing greeted fans and competitors alike at Florida's oldest speedway on Friday night, and the big story was not so much what was going on but who was participating in it.
Wayne Anderson had his new dirt late model at the track and ready to attack the Ocala Speedway clay, and the fans cheered as he drove onto the track for hot laps. But unfortunately for Anderson and the fans, his night was an extremely short one.
The 84 machine ended up backed into the turn 2 wall during hot laps and left with the rear end visibly shifted, plus some rear end body damage, thus ending Anderson's dirt debut before it even got started.
Even without the star attraction the late model division featured some impressive names. Ivedent Lloyd returned to Ocala Speedway on the night, as did Shane Williams, J.O. Nobles, Roger Crouse, Mike Bresnahan, and John Rankin.
Wayne Shugart led the field to the green flag to begin the 25 lap event, and as the flag waved it was Shugart, Chris Day, and Mike Bresnahan who held the top three. But by lap 3 there were cars going three wide over and over as several cars battled for positions throughout the field.
Mike Bresnahan jumped into the lead on lap 7 as Ivedent Lloyd moved rapidly into the frontrunners along with Shane Williams and Rich Pratt. Ivedent Lloyd stole the lead on lap 11 with Williams close behind, but Williams lost it and spun in turn 4, bringing out the first caution of the race.
On the restart Rich Pratt hit the gas and blasted into the third spot, with Lloyd and Bresnahan leading the way. Following another caution on lap 15, Pratt would race side by side with Bresnahan for the second spot, with Pratt finally winning that battle on lap 19.
Ivedent Lloyd in the 21 car would take the win followed by Rich Pratt and Mike Bresnahan. John Rankin would follow in the fourth spot and J.O Nobles would grab fifth place.
The hobby stocks were using this week to gear up for the next race in the Pepsi Six Pack Challenge, which is just one week away, and 24 of them found themselves in a very rough and tough battle for the prize in this week's feature.
A multi car fracas in turn 2 erupted just after the green flag waved forcing a complete restart, and the second time around it was Tim Hughes who jumped out to the early lead. But by lap 3 it became apparent that the 21 of David Miller Jr was going to be tough to beat. Miller had already made his way to second place and had set his sights on the leader. Other tough contenders were the 36 of Grady Christian and the 12 of Justin Durbin who obviously were on the move to the front.
Contact between three cars caused a caution on lap 3, and more contact resulted in another spin and caution on lap 5. Grady Christian took advantage of two good restarts to make his way to the lead, but would slide up the track in turn 4 on lap 9, allowing David Miller Jr, Justin Durbin, and Wally Schneider, to pass him by. Durbin would develop problems on lap 13 and make an early exit, and David Kinsey would move up and join the battle up front.
At the end it was the 21 of David Miller that captured the first place trophy, followed by Wally Schneider and Grady Christian for second and third places. David Kinsey would race his way to a fourth place finish and would be followed by Marlon Durbin for the fifth spot.
The V8 Thunder Stocks are made up of an interesting mix of former dirt drivers and some who have far more experience racing on something other than pavement. Twenty four thunder stocks would start the race almost immediately one would fall victim to the front stretch wall. James Erickson smacked the wall hard as he completed his first lap, and would attempt to continue, but debris from his damaged car on the front stretch brought out an early caution. Erickson would go to the pits as the race was restarted, and the 66 of James Sealy would climb into the lead.
James Sealy would maintain his lead despite all sorts of mishaps on virtually every lap. A multi car incident broke out on lap 5, and collisions and spins caused cautions on laps 6 and 7. Meanwhile Doc Batson was making strides toward the front and began to challenge Sealy's dominance, and after some side by side action Batson's 21 machine wrestled the lead away. James Sullivan would have an unfortunate meeting with the backstretch wall on lap 13, and since the timer on the race had expired the checkered falgs would wave under caution to end the race. Doc Batson would get the win with James Sealy following in the second spot. Donald Winne would end up in the third spot followed by Michael Fish and Todd Roberts for fourth and fifth.
With three races run and three cars numbered 21 taking wins, one would naturally think that the 21 car would also win the gladiator feature race as well. But since there was no 21 in the gladiator division the 20 of Casey "SpongeBob" Feaster would have to do. Earlier in the night during heat racing a collision between the 19 of Shawn Peters and the spinning 78 of Paul Hahn would cause the fans to gasp as Hahn's machine rolled in turn 2. Hahn would walk away but his racer was definitely done, most likely for good. The 19 would survive the ordeal and make it into the feature race and finish fourth overall, while Casey Feaster would go home with the first place hardware. Brian Chisolm would follow Feaster for second and Greg Bryson would finish third.
Friday, April 25th, is the second race in the Pepsi Six Pack Hobby Stock Challenge Series, with another $1000 payout waiting for the winner. The open wheel modifieds will return, as will the thunder stocks, mini stocks, and the gladiators.
V8 Thunder Stock 1- 21 Doc Batson 2- 66 James Sealy 3- 3X Donald Winne 4- 4X Michael Fish 5- 44 Todd Roberts 6- 72 Terry Dunbar 7- 69B Jacky Bennett 8- 1 Marlon Durbin 9- 40 Curtis Clark 10- 69 James Dees 11- 81 Courtney Eubanks 12- 56 John West 13- 12 Jerrid Bennett 14- 7C Jason Coston 15- 14 James Sullivan 16- 5W Vaughn Woodall 17- 59 Roy Taylor 18- 17 Mariah Berry 19- 69 Jonathan Appleby 20- 13 Timothy Gigon 21- 40 Homer Bryant 22- 04 Jon Layerd 23- 4E Harold Erickson 24- 60 James Tater Stalnaker
Late Model 1- 21 Ivedent Lloyd 2- 0 Rich Pratt 3- 66 Mike Bresnahan 4- 53 John Rankin 5- 18 J.O. Nobles 6- XXX1 Shane Williams 7- 16 Wayne Shugart 8- 88 Paul George 9- 8 Chris Day 10- J17 Joe Kemp 11- 32 Roger Crouse 12- 24 Dennis Williams 13- 61 Eddie Rosier 14- 56 Richard Appleby 15- 12 David Moherg 16- 84 Wayne Anderson
Hobby Stock 1- 21 David Miller Jr. 2- 57 Wally Schneider 3- 36 Grady Christian 4- 58 David Kinsey 5- 72 Marlon Durbin 6- 55 Joey Durbin 7- 99 Daniel Miller Jr. 8- 23 Glenn Baum 9- XXX Bubba Waldron 10- XX Russell Post 11- 00T Eddie Tovet 12- 04 Bubba Christian 13- 54 Tim Hughes 14- 81 Donald Woosley 15- 8 Michael Stalnaker 16- 12 Justin Durbin 17- 08 William Edwards 18- 02 Michael Bates 19- 2JR Shelton Kinser 20- 9 Jeff Stalnaker Jr. 21- 00D Chris Doane 22- 15 Donald Paugh 23- 7E James Erickson 24- 10 Jeff Stalnaker Sr.
