by BJ Cavin- Ocala Speedway Media
OCALA, FL- Near perfect weather greeted racers and fans at the historic Ocala Speedway on Friday night, as “All Churches Night” featured five divisions of racing action, plus the fun and fellowship of Faster Pastor racing as well. Elvin Harper of Belleview Christian Church came to the southeast’s toughest 3/8ths mile as a first timer and beat Monty Grant of First Baptist Church Ocala to the checkers, thus becoming the reigning racing reverend for 2010. So far Faster Pastor races have spanned three years at Ocala Speedway, and has produced three different winners for three different churches.

But while the reverends were one of the draws to the track on Friday night, so were the Colortyme Modifieds as the $500 bounty remained in place on current points leader, Jeff Matthews. And for the second time in two weeks, a tough field of modifieds was there to take on the challenge, and when it was over “The Repo Man” had upped his score of losses this season at Ocala to three.

Kyle Bronson and Wayne Hammond were the odds on favorites to collect the bounty from the start as both have given Mathews fits in the past and were more than capable of doing it again. And as was the case two weeks ago, Mathews struggled with his set up on the night while Bronson nailed his, and it was Bronson who dominated the race while Mathews and Hammond kept it close in the top three. Kyle Bronson collected the $500 bounty, plus another $100 bonus from Astor Recycling, plus his normal payout for a Colortyme Modified feature win. Jeff Mathews held off Wayne Hammond to finish second, while fourth place went to Garret Stewart after a run that saw him running in front of both Mathews and Hammond at one point in the race. “Big Mac” Charlie MacNichols returned to America’s Dirt Track after a long absence and nabbed the fifth place spot.

Probably the wildest feature race of the night came from the Tee Pee Tire Hobby Stocks, which normally feature tough and exciting racing but hardly ever produce spectacular fireworks. But Friday night’s Hobby Stock Field was on a tear, and so were Danny Miller and “The Outlaw” Jody Wells. The first five laps of the race featured a heated battle between both racers that ended when an inside move by Miller sent him into the grass and one of the tractor tires on the inside of turn 1. Miller’s car almost went end over end, but settled on it’s top after performing an all but perfect pirouette on it’s nose as Dean Jarvis barely escaped by on the outside. Miller suffered an elbow injury that required some attention, but otherwise walked away for the spectacular crash.

And while the cleanup of the remains of Miller’s machine took place, Jody Wells ducked into the pit area to change a tire that was going down and was therefore relegated to the rear of the field for the restart. That put current points leader, Dean Jarvis, into the lead spot, and Wells knew that if he failed to clear traffic and get to Jarvis fast, the veteran racer would drive away form him. So when the green waved Wells shot inside of everyone in an attempt to gain position, but pushed high in turn 4 and into the teeth of the grid. That resulted in contact with at least two other cars, plus Wells slamming into the concrete of the frontstretch wall in the second thunderous hit in one lap, ending his night with a badly damaged race car on the dreaded hook.

So with Miller and Wells in pieces in the pits, one might think that Dean Jarvis might take control and go the distance. But on a night when attrition was becoming as important as anything else in the division, fans and racers should never assume anything. Just three laps from the finish Jarvis slowed as a tire began deflating and that opened the door for Ronald Lentz in second place and Tim Hughes in third. Lentz tried to pass Jarvis low as Jarvis attempted to go in the same direction to get out of harm’s way, and that allowwed Hughes to rocket around the top of turn 3 and into the lead. From there it was all Tim Hughes as he claimed the victory plus another $100 bonus from Astor Recycling, and Ronald Lentz settled for second place. Heath Walker hung on and grabbed the third spot while Tommy Ausburn ventured off of the pavement again and finished fourth. Dean Jarvis limped home on the flat tire and finished in the fifth spot.

The Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stocks are known for fender banging action at Ocala Speedway, and there was plenty of that to go around. Jesse Corbitt and Chris Fontaine were among the racers who were near the front when they were involved in altercations and were penalized to the rear, while others were forced to exit due to damage and call it a night. But while the liberal use of fenders and bumpers went on throughout most of the field, Scott Mooers shot to the lead and found that the going was much safer if one simply outruns all of the animosity behind them.