ZUBER – Shane Williams played spoiler to Ivedent Lloyd’s homecoming, all while writing his name in Ocala Speedway history. Williams held off all challengers to win the $3000-to-win United Dirt Late Model feature, the first dirt race at Ocala since 1995.

“That was some great racing there with Ivedent,” Williams said in victory lane. “We just got better as the race went on.” 

Williams and Lloyd traded the lead back and forth during the middle stages of the 40-lap feature, but Williams pulled away when the two encountered lap traffic. Lloyd finished second with Mark Whitener, Jeff Matthews and Shan Smith rounding out the top five.

“I got a little tight at the end there, and we just killed the tires,” Lloyd said.

Smith led a full field of 26 late model stock cars to the green flag, but it didn’t take long for the caution flag to wave. On the opening lap, Bill Howard lost control of his car entering turn 3. Howard’s car spun across the track and into the path of the majority of the field. The crash took five cars out of the race.

Williams moved up early from his sixth starting position and took the lead from Smith on lap 8. But Lloyd battled his way to second by lap 13 and spent the next 10 laps stalking Williams for the lead.

After a caution for a stalled car, the two leaders battled side by side for another 10 laps. Lloyd passed Williams on the high side on lap 27, but Williams rallied back to take the lead on lap 29. He then pulled away as the leaders negotiated slower lap traffic.

The new Ocala Speedway surface faced a full night’s test for the first time and received mixed reviews from drivers afterward. But both Lloyd and Williams agreed the surface will improve as more races are run.

“The track came up pretty bad, but I’m sure that will be fixed,” Williams said. “I think this place will get better and better the more we race on it.”