Kinsey Takes Race Two of the Pepsi Six Pack

by BJ Cavin

As a beautiful afternoon faded into a pleasant evening just north of Ocala, fans began arriving early for what turned out to be an exceptional night of action at the famed Ocala Speedway. The second race in the Pepsi Six Pack Hobby Stock Challenge drew a large field of cars, and they were joined by solid fields in the Open Wheel Modified, V8 Thunder Stock, and Mini Stock Divisions.

Michael Stalnaker led the field from the pole position to take the green flag and a huge mass of Hobby Stocks accelerated into turn one. Almost immediately it was apparent that the 58 of David Kinsey was the car to beat as he rocketed into the lead, followed by Grady Christian as Michael Stalnaker slipped to third place. But a multi car tangle in turn three slowed things down on lap 2.

The race was plagued by minor cautions which kept the leaders bunched up and did not allow anyone to distance themselves from the competition, but throughout it all the 50 machine of David Kinsey managed to hold off all challengers. Kinsey took home a $1000 first place prize followed by a hard charging David Miller Jr. for the second spot. Grady Christian would finish third while Sean Daugherty and Jeff Stalnaker Sr. rounded out the top five.

Keith Briggs felt he had something to prove as the Mini Stock division began their feature race. Briggs’ previous appearance at Ocala Speedway ended a lap down and with a badly damaged front end, so he quickly made a concerted charge to the front. By the time a caution flag waved on lap 2 for a spin in turn 2, Briggs had wrapped up second place and was working on the race leader. Cole Ridenhour was also heading forward through the field and was battling the P4 of Benita Allman for second place.

Briggs wrestled the lead away on lap 3 and never looked back, while Cole Ridenhour raced his way to the second place finish. Benita Allman in the P4 settled for the third place finish while Perry Allman and Paul Combast rounded out the top five.

A solid field of Open Wheel Modifieds greeted the fans with some of the wildest racing action of the night. Alex Boemer would snatch the early lead and attempt to hold it, but in the end the 32 of Roger Crouse steadily moved forward and stole the lead on lap 22. This was yet another race where cautions bunched up the field and never allowed any car to open up a large lead, and with everyone in striking distance Jeff Matthews in the 33 car could only hold off Crouse for so long before Crouse sealed the deal. Crouse collected the win, followed by Matthews and John Bradley. Dave Barber and Ron Soltis earned fourth and fifth place finishes.

While cautions delayed the rest of the divisions from getting finished with their feature races, the yellow flag kept the V8 Thunder Stocks from getting started. In all it took four attempts before the first lap went into the books, with the pole sitter, Terry Dunbar, spinning on his own twice in front of the entire field in turn 2. Dunbar escaped without too much damage the first time, but his second stint facing the wrong way in front of the field saw him take a few licks and have to go to the pits. Yet another failed start to the race saw a multi vehicle incident in turn 4 that ended the night for the 4E of Harold Erickson and damaged Todd Roberts’ car. Roberts would be able to continue despite a hard collision with the wall and at least two other cars.

Curtis Clark would move to the front and steal the lead briefly before the 12 of Jerrid Bennett would execute a double pass to move from third to first in less than half a lap. A caution would slow things again just before a medical emergency in the main grandstand would force a red flag and stop the race. After a delay the race would restart with Bennett in charge with Todd Roberts following. Also moving forward was the 66 of James Sealy, and on lap 14 he would take over the second spot.

Bennett would finish first, but troubles in tech would erase what looked like a strong win. With Bennett’s DQ, James Sealy assumed the win and Todd Roberts ascended into the second spot with Curtis Clark hanging in for third place. Kevin Durden would end up with the fourth place finish and James Sullivan would recover from his own spin and excursion through the infield to come home fifth.

The last race of the night saw four Gladiators go at each other, but for the 14 of Blair Brown the night was extremely short. She would go to the pits before completion of the first lap. Justin Byrd was in the 19 for his first race in something bigger than a go cart and did quite well earning a second place finish. But for a second week it was Casey Feaster who inherited the lead when the 3X of Greg Bonyage ducked into the pits with problems, and Feaster would drive his way to another impressive win.

Next week the auto racing is temporarily suspended as monster trucks invade Ocala Speedway. Grave Digger, Stone Crusher, and War Wizard, are among the monster trucks expected for this event, with four shows scheduled for the weekend. Tickets are available through ticketmaster, or by purchasing them at Wishful Thinking Western World in Ocala. There are also tickets available for sale through the main office at Ocala Speedway. Shows are at 7:30PM on Friday and Saturday, and at 2PM on Saturday and Sunday.

Ocala Speedway Results for 4/25/08

Pepsi Six Pack Hobby Stock Challenge Series
Race Two

1- 58 Craig Berry
2- 21 David Miller Jr.
3- 36 Grady Christian
4- XX Sean Daugherty
5- 10 Jeff Stalnaker Sr.
6- 99 Daniel Miller Jr.
7- 57 Wally Schneider
8- 55W Walker Heath
9- 81 Jerry Avery
10- 20 Matthew Holbrook
11- 12 Justin Durbin
13- 08 William Edwards
14- 23 Glenn Baum
15- 37 Dean Jarvis
16- 55 Bobbie Anderson
17- 0 George Richards
18- 8 Michael Stalnaker
19- 56 Kevin Durden
20- 77 Mark Maresca
21- XXX Bubba Waldron
22- 2JR Sheldon Kinser
23- 63 Anthony Lignore
24- 15 Donald Paugh
25- 72 Marlon Durbin
26- 02 Michael Bates
27- 00T Eddie Tovet
28- 04 Bubba Christian
29- 9 Jeff Stalnaker Jr.
30- 95 Steve Mooers

Open Wheel Modified

1- 32 Roger Crouse
2- 33 Jeff Matthews
3- 27 John Bradley
4- 56 Dave Barber Jr.
5- 61 Ronald Soltis
6- 49 Justin Tilton
7- Z Tim Zackery
8- F90 Alan Thomas
9- 88 Don Rollison
10- 79 Tom Macaluso
11- 8B Richard Dickinson
12- 32H Chad Hadlick
13- 7 Joe Willis
14- 74 Jacob Buie
15- 75C Charles O’Neill
16- 23VP Doodle Pipkin
17- 3 Alex Boemer
18- 11 Chuck Gustafson Jr.
19- 8 Rick Scott
20 X John Gamble
21- 11N Ronnie Newsome
22- 41 Candy Scardo
23- 94 Jeff Bagent

Mini Stock

1- 19T Keith Briggs
2- 25 Cole Ridenhour
3- P4 Benita Allman
4- 3 Perry Allman
5- 86 Paul Combast
6- 02 Jon Layerd
7- 3B Nancy McDaniel
8- 59 William Stalnaker
9- 119Z Johnny Zachary
10- KD1 Terry Cady
11- 1 Tim Lehew
12- 23 Ray Ethridge
13- 22R Rodney Wright
14- 30 Dalton Strehle
15- 40N David Miller

V8 Thunder Stock

1- 66 James Sealey
2- 44 Todd Roberts
3- 40C Kevin Durden
4- 14 James Sullivan Jr.
5- 3X Donald Winne
6- 69 Eddie Durden
7- 15 Luke Sadler
8- 17 Craig Berry
9- 81 Mike Eubanks
10- 13 Timothy Gigon
11- 40 Homer Bryant
12- 70 Geoff Danielson
13- 21 Justin Morgan
14- 60 James Stalnaker
15- 59 Roy Taylor
16- S66 James Erickson
17- 69A Jonathan Appleby
18- 72 Terry Dunbar
19- 1 Raymond Wheeler
20- 1MD Marlon Durbin
21- 4E Harold Erickson
22- 19 Richard McGuire
DQ- 12 Jerrid Bennett