IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

September 12, 2009 Shane Williams Notches Another Ocala Win by BJ Cavin ZUBER, FL- For the first time in months, Ocala Speedway was spared heavy rains throughout the week leading up to a Friday night of racing, and that resulted in a totally different sort of racing surface greeting drivers and crews. After two weeks of racing on a wet clay, racers enjoyed racing on a well prepared and fast track, and that led to exciting action. And in addition to the racing, drivers and track staff took time out to participate and a special tribute to our local heroes, such as fire, rescue, and law enforcement personnel, and to honor and recognize active military men and women and veterans. An early melee in turn four shook up the Late Model division by removing two contenders from the action. Philip Cobb and Christian Augspurger finished first and second in their heat race and looked to have the cars to beat, but both were collected as one car spun leaving no where for them to go. With them leaving via the hook, the door opened for Shane Williams to take control and keep it. Williams had to fight off a determined J.O. Nobles in order to get the victory, and following Nobles was an equally fast Joe Kump in third place. Tim Zackery came home fourth while Kyle Owen battled to the fifth spot. After a stern warning in the driver's meeting early on, there was far less beating and banging during the V8 Thunder Stock feature race but a lot of close action instead. Curtis Clark took the early lead, only to see Jason Gamble come flying forward and wrestle it away. But Gamble's lead was short lived as Clark re-took his first place position and fiercely defended it from a hard charging Harold Erickson. Curtis Clark notched the victory as Erickson settled for second. James Edwards fought his way to the third spot while Eddie Kilbury Jr and David Walls rounded out the top five. Calvin Christian won the pole and led the Mini Stocks to the green flag, but it was Johnny Zackery who had the early lead before relinquishing it to Dan Kerr on the first lap. Meanwhile Paul Combast was busy working his way toward the front after starting deep in the field, and Keith Briggs returned to the Mini Stock ranks and began shaking things up in the top five. Dan Kerr proved to be more than anyone could handle as he registered a win, and Johnny Zackery followed to place second. Paul Combast battled up to the third spot before the checkers waved, and Keith Briggs earned a respectable fourth place finish in the new 19T. Calvin Christian struggled on the night, yet fought to a fifth place finish. By the time that the Gladiators were finished heat racing it looked like that Mike Lane was unstoppable, and yet despite leading almost the entire feature race, Lane was surprised by Eddie Lentz in the final laps as Lentz made the pass and stole the lead. Lane refused to give up and fought hard, but got a bit overzealous in turn four and spun Lentz, resulting in a trip to the rear for Lane and return to the lead for Lentz. At the restart Lentz remained strong and grabbed a win, as Devin Walker pulled his own last second ambush on Austin Gamble to squeak past for second place. Gamble settled for third as Mike Lane battled back to the fourth place spot, and Paul Hahn drove a borrowed car to fifth. Next Friday, September 18th, Ocala Speedway welcomes the Open Wheel Modifieds back to beautiful downtown Zuber for the Annual Fall Brawl. The race pays $1500 to the winner and normally draws an excellent field of top mods from all over Florida and south Georgia. The Hobby Stocks will be back after a week off, and the Mini Stocks will be stoked for more action after an excellent outing this week. The Gladiators will round out the divisions racing with the mods. Ocala Speedway Results for 9/11/09 Late Models 1- 58 Shane Williams 2- 18 JO Nobles 3- J17 Joe Kump 4- Z Tim Zackery 5- 11 Kyle Owen 6- 93 Travis Saunders 7- 49 Justin Tilton 8- 23VP VP Pipken 9- RP1 Bug Rose 10- 72P Len Parrish 11- 9W Jimmy Waldrop 12- 32 Philip Cobb 13- 35 Christian Augsburger V8 Thunder Stock 1- 03 Curtis Clark 2- 66 Harold Erickson 3- 13 James Edwards 4- 17K Eddie Kilbury Jr. 5- 35 David Walls 6- 58 Larry Welter Jr. 7- 69 Jonathan Appleby 8- 17 Jason Gamble 9- 36 Mike Dubbs 10- 56B Richard Appleby 11- 28 Glen Vincent 12- 99 David Antis 13- 01 Anthony Lignore 14- 118 Chris Watson 15- 3W Vaughn Woodall 16- 72 Terry Dunbar 17- 65 Dan Geer 18- 114 John Thorpe 19- 96 Eddie Lake 20- 5W Sean Babcock 21- 3D Jessie Corbitt 22- 81 Courtney Eubanks DNS- 7E James Erickson DNS- 89 Ken Asbell Jr. Mini Stock 1- 73 Dan Kerr 2- 11Z Johnny Zackery 3- 19C Paul Combast 4- 19T Keith Briggs 5- 63 Calvin Christian 6- 44 Greg Bonynge 7- 3D Dean Kinsey 8- 40M David Miller 9- 75 Nick Kerr 10- 9B Sean Babcock 11- 21 Ray Etheridge Gladiator 1- 96 Eddie Lentz 2- 55JR Devin Walker 3- 69 Austin Gamble 4- 911 Mike Lane 5- 10 Paul Hahn 6- 39 Danny Lunn 7- 82 Kyle Morris DNS- 78 Ann Moon DNS- 77 Matthew Krammer Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!