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Thunder Stocks Provide the Lightning At Ocala
by BJ Cavin
Frequent thunderstorms peppered Marion County all afternoon with torrential
downpours, thunder, and lightning, but at Ocala Speedway the racing gods were in
charge. Almost no rain at all fell at the track and a solid crowd gathered in the
grandstands for what turned out to be an excellent night of racing. Thanks to a
previous rainout the V8 Thunder Stock Division had not had the chance to race for
their division championship, but on this night a champion would emerge. The
championship race marked the end of the line for some drivers in Ocala
Speedway's rookie division as those drivers will now race with the V8 Pure Stocks,
while others who might need more time to develop their skills will continue to race
with the Thunder Stocks indefinitely.
Guy Bacelo Jr. won the pole and led the Thunder Stock cars to the green flag, but
he was quickly overtaken by Scott Anderson before the first lap could be
completed. And while Anderson dictated the pace, many cars took turns behind
him switching places in a constant battle for position. Josh Brown fought his was
through the field to take the second position, but made a mistake on lap 18 that
sent him spinning in turn four and allowed Chris Oliveri to move into second place.
Oliveri then made his own blunder that opened the door for Jason Henry who
charged past in to second place. Scott Anderson held on for the win while Jason
Henry finished second and Chris Oliveri finished in the third spot. Scott Anderson
was a little emotional after his big win, saying that he and his wife had been
through a lot recently and that they were very thankful for this good fortune to
come their way. Anderson also thanked his friend, Jeremy Gertsner, who had
helped him along the way.
The Sportsman racers were surprised when they were given new decals to put on
their race cars thanks to Diamond H Racing, the new Sportsman Division sponsor.
And the first feature race under the new sponsorship offered quite a show for the
fans. Greg Young started on the pole and appeared to have the race well in hand
before he suddenly spun out on lap 8 and ended up parked in the middle of turn 4
while everyone else attempted to dodge him. From that point Tim Shull took
command of the race and held off all challengers until the end in order to take the
win. Meanwhile the crowd was awed by Shelton Bowers as he clawed his way
through the field to eventually finish in second place after starting deep in traffic.
Jim Higginbotham finished in the third spot while managing to hold off a hard
charging Rick Bass until the end.
Justyn Elwood found himself starting the 4 Cylinder Stock feature race from deep in
the field, but persistence and a refusal to give up left him in the right place when a
few doors were accidentally left open. He patiently worked his way forward until he
stole the show with a heart stopping pass in turn 4 that put him into the lead on lap
13. Rick Kuhn started on the pole and led most of the race before Justyn Elwood
made the pass and held on to win, while Kuhn settled for second and Karl Born
fought his way forward to claim the third place trophy.
Brent Cooper is used to being in the front when he races, but for the first time he
found himself on the pole in front of 17 Street Stocks instead of his usual
competitors in the V8 Pure Stock Division. After racing had ended Cooper was
heard saying that the Street Stocks were quite fast compared to what he was used
to, but Cooper's car held on to lead most of the race. In the end it was Mike
Stalnaker, the defending Street Stock Champion, who passed Cooper for the lead
on lap 17 and raced to the win. Brent Cooper ended his first Street Stock race in
second place while Pete Close charged from the back to the front to wind up third.
Matt Schell won the pole for the V8 Pure Stock feature and looked like he was
going to drive away from the field, but a caution flag on lap 8 would erase his lead
and set up Tommy Roberts' pass to the front spot on lap 10. Roberts had started
the race in the rear because he missed the heat race, but in the end he went to the
front and collected the first place hardware. Schell raced his way to a second
place finish while Jessie Corbett fought his way to the third spot.
Thanks to a rainout two weeks ago the Open Wheel Modified cars had missed out
on their twin 25 lap feature races and the possibility of collecting a $1000 bonus for
accumulating the most points between the two modified races at Citrus County
Speedway and the two races scheduled for Ocala Speedway. Those races
postponed by rain will be made up in two weeks on July 27th, so this week's feature
race turned into a tune up for that event. Johnnie Newsome lead the field to the
green flag, but quickly felt heat from both Alan McCafferty and Robbie Cooper who
were close behind. And on lap 13 it was McCafferty who found a kink in
Newsome's defenses and managed to wrestle the lead away, while Robbie Cooper
and Mike Stalnaker took advantage of the situation and sent Newsome to 4th place
in virtually no time flat. Alan McCafferty took the win and Robbie Cooper claimed
the second place prize, while Mike Stalnaker finished in the third spot.
Nine cars hit the track to race the Figure 8 course and Larry Welter Jr. led his
father through all of the event. The field quickly spread out after the green flag
dropped and that meant almost instant problems in the crossroads as some cars
slowed and dodged each other. Larry Welter Jr led from flag to flag to take the
win while Larry Welter Sr. spun on the final lap and slipped to a 5th place finish.
Justin Durbin was far from intimidated about starting deep in the field and he
gradually worked his way to the front to take the second spot. Rick Hart drove like
a man possessed and finished third.
Track officials deemed that the boat and trailer race should run the kidney bean
course through the infield, and also that each boat and trailer should remain intact
in order to finish the race. With that decided only one car earned a disqualification
for losing their boat while the rest of the field put on quite a show. The biggest
battle was between husband and wife, as Larry Welter Jr. and Katie Welter
demonstrated their competitive sides and raced each other hard, but clean. Larry
Welter Sr. took the win convincingly while the other competitors battled for second
spot. Don Welter emerged as the second place finisher while Larry Welter Jr.
wound up the third place.
The final event of the night was the School Bus Figure 8 race, featuring many of
the same drivers plus some others, but this time they were strapped into big and
bulky school buses. As in the earlier figure 8 race, the field quickly spread out and
close calls in the X were quite common. And with so many big buses trying to
occupy so little space, some were forced out onto the infield grass where they
found the drainage channels to be a challenge and a definite eye opener. David
Foster took the brunt of the bad hops through the drainage area, with his bus
bouncing completely off the ground more than once during the race. All 8 buses
managed to race to the checkers with Larry Welter Jr. taking home the win,
followed by his dad, Larry Welter Sr. And Eric Gellman charged from deep in the
field to collect a third place finish.
Next week the Goodyear Challenge Series will visit Ocala Speedway to take on the
toughest 3/8ths mile in the southeast. They will be joined by Ocala's own 4
Cylinder Stocks, V8 Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, and Sportsman cars. And in
addition the kids will get another chance to test their skill on Ocala Speedway as
Kids' Bike Races return for the intermission entertainment
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