IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 9, 2009 Full Moon Craziness Strikes Ocala Speedway by BJ Cavin ZUBER, FL- The more superstitious race fans believe that when a full moon rises over a race track, that all sort of strange things can happen. If the racers and fans who attended the Friday night events at Ocala Speedway were not believers, then they were convinced as soon as the full moon rose big and orange over the billboards in turn two. Not only did the night bring races with insane action, but the drama and excitement moved from the track and under the tech shed as racing ended for the night. And those who celebrated wins on the front stretch may not have been able to celebrate for long, as the results of half of the night's feature races changed, and all sorts of upsets insued. Patrick Williams started from the pole and led the late models to the green flag, but it was J.O. Nobles who managed to steal the lead early on as Billy Costello raced to the third spot. But a four way pile up on the backstretch ended all of that for some of the leaders as Costello and Nobles tangled, as well as Mark Whitener and John Rankin and a separate collision. All four race cars were done for the night, with Billy Costello's machine looking like it could be done for some time to come. The restart saw Patrick Williams back in front, but the youngster Max Bennett was charging up to create havoc for Williams. After a short battle, Bennett took the lead and proceded to drive away from everyone, eventually lapping cars all the way up to the fourth position before the checkers flew. But Bennett's dominating performance resulted in a short lived celebration, because as soon as the winning car entered tech there were issues. In the end Max Bennett earned a DQ which gave the win to Chuck Chitty and second to Patrick Williams. Ivedent Lloyd Jr. again borrowed a race car for another round at Ocala, and drove this one to a third place finish, followed by Christian Augsberger for fourth place and Todd Alexander for fifth. Another strong field of Amsoil V8 Thunder Stock racers began their feature race with all sorts of position changes in the front of the pack, and by the time the fender banging came to order Chris Fontaine seemed to have things under control. That is, until Augie Butram got involved in the racing up front and went head to head with Fontaine for lap after lap. That battle highlighted the entire race, but it was Burtram who finally gained the upper hand and claimed the win. Fontaine held on for a second place finish, followed by a hard charging Jason Gamble who had to fight his way from last place to the front. David Walls and Terry Dunbar rounded out the top five. Full moon or not, the Hobby Stocks provided a multi lap, side by side free for all that began on lap 3 between David Kinsey and Bubba Christian and lasted until the final turn of the final lap. Kinsey and Christian went at it as hard as two drivers could without wrecking each other, thrilling the crowd with side by side action for lap after lap. Kinsey finally managed to get the advantage in the last two laps and take the lead from Christian, and in the final turn Bubba Christian drove in too hard and spun, costing him a second place finish. Heath Walker, Joe Boyd, and Donnie Reed, all passed Christian in that corner before Bubba recovered and finished fifth. But the prize for last lap excitement and dramatics went to the Gladiator division as a very determined Brandon Watson went from the back to the front more than once in a bid to get a win. Watson was also driven into the turn one wall by Eddie Lentz after the two had a unfortunate meeting earlier in the race, and earning Lentz a conduct DQ and a forced exit from competition. Watson drove away from that incident to again catch the race leader and figure into the final outcome. And on the final lap as Watson attacked race leader Dalton Strehle, there was contact between the two of them entering turn three. Watson spun sideways, yet quickly corrected and rocketed his car across the infield and into turn 4 to get to the start finish line first. Strehle was so shocked and surprised by the entire affair that he backed off of the gas, thus allowing the Watson to get in front of him. That spectacular finish left Strehle screaming foul on the front stretch as Watson sat in Victory Lane, and the crowd on their feet screaming their appreciation for what may have been the most exciting finish this season at Ocala Speedway. Yet the full moon was not finished wreaking havoc on the racing as tech issues erased all of what transpired on the final half lap. Both Brandon Watson and Dalton Strehle earned a DQ, which made Austin Gamble the eventual race winner. Rich Smith earned the second place trophy while Josh Hale went home with the third place hardware. Twelve year old Kody Fisher finished fourth, followed by Dennis White in fifth place. Friday, May 15th marks the first chance for the Sportsman cars to test the clay in beautiful downtown Zuber as the the $1000 to win Sportsman Invitational highlights another week of racing action. The Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks, Mini Stocks, and Gladiators, will be racing in addition to the Sportsman cars. Ocala Speedway results for 5/8/09 Late Model 1- 66 Chuck Chitty 2- 38 Patrick Williams 3- 115 Ivedent Lloyd Jr. 4- 35 Christian Ausberger 5- 0 Todd Alexander 6- 24 Dennis Williams 7- RP1 Bug Rose 8- 18 J.O. Nobles 9- 5W Mark Whitener 10- 53 John Rankin 11- 00 Billy Costello 12- 17 Richard Ferry 13- Z Tim Zackery DNS- 7F Jason Fitzgerald DQ- 27 Max Bennett V8 Thunder Stock 1- XX Augie Burtram 2- 47 Chris Fontaine 3- 17 Jason Gamble 4- 35W David Walls 5- 72 Terry Dunbar 6- 96 Eddie Lake 7- 3W Vaughn Woodall 8- 36 Mike Dubbs 9- 81 Courtney Eubanks 10- 28 Glenn Vincent 11- 66 Harold Erickson 12- 35B Mike Barr 13- 3D Jessie Corbitt 14- 5W Robin Martin 15- 13 James Edwards 16- 7E James Erickson 17- 40J Danny James 18- 12 Jerrid Bennett DNS- 15 Luke Sadler DNS- 14 James Sullivan Hobby Stock 1- XX David Kinsey 2- 55 Heath Walker 3- 83 Joe Boyd 4- 07 Donnie Reed 5- 04 Bubba Christian 6- 81 Donald Woosley 7- 44W John Ward 8- 81E Mike Eubanks Gladiator 1- 23 Austin Gamble 2- 57 Rich Smith 3- 12 Josh Hale 4- 83 Kody Fisher 5- 66D Dennis White 6- 78 Paul Hahn DNS- 69 Chris Neville DNS- 17 Kasey Miracle DQ- 96 Eddie Lentz DQ- 63 Brad Dover DQ- 66B Brandon Watson DQ- 42 Dalton Strehle Have an opinion on this story? 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