After one day off to patch up their equipment and try and ease the ruffled feathers between some of the various drivers, the traveling circus of the Lucas Oil Late Model series moved on to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala for the first of two nights of Lucas Oil points racing that will wrap up Lucas' portion of Florida Speed Weeks.
The rains on Sunday that wiped out the Modified show at Lake City also visited this facility located on the North side of Ocala as there was plenty of mud to be found everywhere, making both the pits and spectator parking a bit of a challenge. Some of the pit parking is on black top but for those not among the "chosen few", it was necessary to do some fancy parking to get their big rigs sandwiched in the restricted and quite small area that is the pits at Bubba. As for the spectators, if you didn't have a handicapped sticker or plate that gave you prime parking, it was up to your imagination to try and find a space not likely to produce a landslide and plant your vehicle there.
As mentioned above, the pit area was crammed with race cars as the forty nine that signed in to race was one of the largest fields of Lucas Late Models to ever race at Bubba, where by the way, Lucas was making their first appearance in several years, having been rained out and off Bubba's schedule the last couple of years.
Three new entries not at East Bay joined the field on Monday including Michigan's Chris Nash, Florida's Clay Harris and Jimmy Sharpe Jr from Georgia. Ross Robinson gritted his teeth and returned from back issues and the rest of the Lucas regulars were all on hand. Bobby Pierce was spotted working on his race car in a parking lot several miles from the track and was the last to appear as he apparently needed hard ground to work on his car and by the time he got to the track all that was left was a muddy driveway.
While the rains had made some things unhandy, I think it was hugely beneficial to the race track. A quick look at upon arrival and you could see that it had plenty of moisture in it and the water truck was still adding more liquid. They didn't make it a muddy mess but it was plenty wet and when we later had by far the best track of the last seven race nights I hope that some track prep people paid attention to that. Quite frankly, I thought East Bay was rather disappointing this year and for me it seemed the basic problem was that they just didn't have enough water in the racing surface and every night it would dry out quickly, producing one lane and often rubbered up racing while at the same time dusting out the fans.
And it was quickly apparent on Monday night that neither would be the case at Bubba. While it was very fast on the inside line early, when that dried out just a bit, a heathy cushion developed and instantly there was multi groove and exciting racing action. And not a hint of dust either, although to be fair it must be said that the twenty mile per hour winds blowing West to East certainly would have taken any dust around and blown it quickly to the East Coast and away from us. And while the surface had grip, it was also smoother than the "Track by the Bay" had been at any time during the week there.
Unfortunately for all, it was a brutal night weather wise for racing. Even us from the North would have complained if this was the kind of weather we were having to deal with for the opener at Memphis, Beatrice, Humboldt or any of the Northern openers. It was cold and the wind was howling. And the cold down here seems to be of the damp and penetrating variety for those of you who haven't been subjected to it. It seems to bite right through you. So I felt sorry for whoever was footing the bill for this event as it was by far the smallest crowd I have ever seen for a Lucas event and much fewer people were on hand than for the last race I was at here. Excellent seats were available right up to race time and the "walk up" crowd was small indeed. I think the vast majority of spectators on hand were those from the North following the series with few locals on hand to watch.
I give all the credit in the world to the Lucas Oil officials on hand for responding to the conditions as they were and running off a very quick program. Granted, with only one class in action and with the car count they had, the program only had seven events but there are certainly some tracks and sanctioning bodies that still would have made this a many hour marathon. Fortunately, Lucas was not one of them. After they called the cars out for hot laps, there was never a break of more than a very few minutes and that was between the last B Feature and the main and they tore through the entire program and were able to complete the entire show in less than two hours, something that was deeply appreciated by all those in attendance. But not only was it quick, it was also by far the best Late Model show I have seen since I hit Florida.
With fast qualifier Kyle Bronson only one one thousandth of a second quicker than two other drivers, you knew that the competition level would be high. And the uniquely shaped Bubba Raceway Park, with its dog leg on the back chute and both corners being total different in radius, it makes for interesting racing, especially when it is wet enough to support a high side cushion. The track that races the most like Bubba was the old Tri Oval Speedway in Fountain City Wisconsin before Bob Timm took over the place and turned it into a true oval as opposed to the three cornered track it was previously.
Twenty eight cars started the forty lap main event after the preliminary events weeded down the field. Brian Shirley would lead the opening laps but it wasn't long before Brandon Sheppard, Devin Moran, Hudson O'Neal and Bobby Pierce found the high side and all bets were off as they were racing all over the track in some very interesting action. Jonathan Davenport was also on the move as positions shuffled constantly and Davenport soon found himself with a tenuous lead.
Before the race I off handedly said to my traveling partner this week that I was picking Ricky Thornton Jr from the tenth spot and damned it that wasn't just the way it worked out, although my selection of him had little to do with his win.
Thornton Jr got a huge break on a restart when leader Davenport stalled his car with both Sheppard and Jimmy Owens running into him and all three had to go to the back. Previous to that, Sheppard seemed to be the fastest car on the track. Thornton Jr, who had carefully worked his way up through the field, then inherited the lead but he had to work very hard to maintain that top spot. O'Neal was all over him, trying to get by and then on a late restart, Mike Marlar drove to the top side of the track in turn one to take over second and then, inexplicably, went back to the bottom instead of pressing the advantage he seemed to have on the top side.
Marlar did try the top side on the last lap but it was a little too late for that and Thornton Jr held on for a great win for his team. Earlier, following one of the restarts, Pierce was flying forward using the cushion and it appeared like he would drive by anybody But the curious nature of race tracks and perhaps even more the tires that are used, after another yellow that advantage went away and despite still pounding the cushion, Pierce had the "reverse rotors" on and barely held on for a top ten finish.
With the show done very early, we were back in Orlando by just after 10 pm and very grateful and happy because we knew we had seen an excellent show, run just the way it should have been and providing maximum entertainment value and all at the same time not forcing us to spend any extra time sitting out in the cold. Kudos to all involved. Unfortunately however, conditions aren't supposed to be any better for Tuesday night so it looks like I will be wearing the "long johns" for the second straight night in Florida, a concept that I am having great difficulty wrapping my head around. That's just not the way its supposed to be!
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