A Huge Crowd of Excited Fans Fill Ocala Speedway

ZUBER, FL-  Fan Appreciation Night at the famed Ocala Speedway was certainly a night to remember.  Three divisions raced for inflated payouts while the fans got in for a reduced admission price, and the net result was a packed grandstand and pit area, plus plenty of exciting action.  In all over 100 cars raced in four divisions, with the Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks enduring five heats and two B-mains in order to set the field.  The Late Models and Hobby Stocks also took the green with full fields of cars, while a strong group of Gladiators rounded out the night.

The Amsoil V8 Thunder Stocks have been one of the strongest divisions at Ocala Speedway for two years running, and they turned out in force for this special night.  After heats and B- mains it was Augie Burttram and Jason Gamble who battled hard for the early lead, with Gamble ending up in front.  But Gamble would spin on his own on lap 8 and relinquish the lead to Burttram, who never looked back.  Chris Fontaine made his way to the second spot and finished there, while Jeff Stalnaker Jr overcame some early misfortunes to place third.  Ryan Lisak had a good night and managed a well deserved 4th place finish while Jonathan Appleby placed fifth.

Twenty-two Hobby Stocks took the green flag for their feature race with 4 more falling along the wayside through the earlier heat races.  Don Paugh found himself on the pole and then off again as a series of restarts were caused by separate mishaps in turn four of the opening lap.  Paugh ended up relegated to the rear, as did Grady Christian.  So as the green flew again it was Chad Scranton who led early on, but could not hold off a determined Kevin Durden.  But on lap 10 Durden would face a challenge from Dave Kinsey, who managed to wrestle away the lead and hold on for a victory.  Dave Kinsey got the win followed by Durden and then Alan McCafferty.  Grady Christian fought his way back to a fourth place finish while Chad Scranton ended up fifth.

While the earlier features were exciting, the late models turned up the excitement from great to extreme!  A huge battle developed up front between Johnny Collins and Jack Nosbisch, but while those two circled the track locked in side by side fight for first place, Jason Fitzgerald crept in and passed them both on the low side.  From that point it was all Fitzgerald as he dominated the race and stole away the win, with Johnny Collins claiming second place honors and Jack Nosbisch third.  Richard Ferry had a great showing in claiming the fourth place finish while Shane Williams settled for fifth.

After all of the excitement generated by the earlier divisions one might think the Gladiators would not be worth staying to see, and as usual a great number of fans got up and left after the Late Model race ended.  Even so, the Gladiators put on a great show with plenty of close racing and a lot of paint being traded. Harold Lewis had the car to beat, but Steve Cox dominated the race until Lewis could reel him in.  Steve Cox finished second, followed by Paul Hahn, Devin Walker, and Stephen Johnson.

The Late Models will return to Ocala Speedway on October 23 as the United Dirt Late Model Challenge Series comes to Zuber for the third time this season. 

Ocala Speedway Results for 10/9/09

Late Model ($2000 to win)

1- 7F Jason Fitzgerald
2- 5C Johnny Collins
3- 12 Jack Nosbisch
4- 17F Richard Ferry
5- 58 Shane Williams
6- 47 Tyler Ivey
7- 41 Travis Varnadore
8- 95 Steve Mathis
9- 0 Rich Pratt
10- 53 John Rankin
11- Z Tim Zackery
12- 18JO JO Nobles

13- 23M Lawton Minchew

14- 35 Christian Augspurger
15- 23VP VP Pipken
16- 14 Brian Scott
17- 311 Kenny Monahan

18- 24 Dennis Williams
19- 32 Phillip Cobb
20- 17J Joe Kump
21- 5W Mark Whitener
22- 23B Clay Bedenbaugh
23- 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr.
DNS- 33 Jeff Mathews
DNS- 56 Ivedent Lloyd Jr.

Hobby Stock ($1000 to win)

1- K3 Dave Kinsey
2- 35 Kevin Durden
3- 1 Alan McCafferty
4- 36 Grady Christian
5- 7 Chad Scranton
6- 83 Joe Boyd
7- 07 Donnie Reed
8- 04 Bubba Christian
9- 21 David Miller Jr.
10- 08 William Edwards
11- 81P Thomas Pratt
12- 11 Jody Wells
13- 23 Glenn Baum
14- 96J Scott Haas
15- 13 Randy Moody
16- 99 Danny Miller Sr.
17- 15 Don Paugh
18- 24 Marty Butcher
19- 81W Donald Woosley
20- 89 Trey Cameron
21- 65 Joey Brown
22- 37S Tyler Sistrum
DNS- XX Mike Eubanks

DNS- 37J Dean Jarvis
DNS- 18E Courtney Eubanks
DNS- 55 Heath Walker

V8 Thunder Stock ($1000 to win)

1- XX Augie Burttram
2- 47 Chris Fontaine
3- 9 Jeff Stalnaker Jr.
4- 07 Ryan Lisak
5- 69A Jonathan Appleby
6- 5W Sean Babcock
7- 01 Anthony Lignore
8- 96 Eddie Lake
9- 72 Terry Dunbar
10- 58 Larry Welter Jr.
11- 4H Cory Howard
12- 17 Jason Gamble

13- 3W Vaughn Woodall
14- 7E James Erickson
15- 36 Mike Dubbs
16- 44 Shane Nichols
17- 35 David Walls
18- 04 Jon Layerd
19- 3D Jessie Corbitt
20- 118 Chris Watson
21- 33D Donnie Dobbins
22- 17K Eddie Kilbury
23- 8 Mike Stalnaker
24- 19 Jacob Antis
25- 03 Curtis Clark

Gladiator

1- 88X Harold Lewis
2- 88 Steve Cox
3- 78 Paul Hahn
4- 55JR Devin Walker
5- 8 Stephen Johnson
6- 55 Darrell Veltman
7- 15 Mark Copeland
8- 10 Ann Moon
9- 82 Kyle Morse
10- 911 Chris Dosh
DNS- 77 Matthew Kramer
DNS- 98 Randy Anderson
DNS- 49 Larry Langston