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2001
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| One Hundred Fifty One Racers Take On Citrus | By Larry MacMillan
Herb Neumann Jr. came out for his first test to reclaim the Late Model championship and made it payoff with his first win of the season over a 23 car-starting field.
After a rain out in week three of the 2002 season, local race drivers were eager to get another crack at the new set up at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. Race teams came out 151 strong to see the final race before the annual three week Citrus County Fair Hiatus that will shut the track down until March 30th.
In the first three weeks of the season over 200 drivers have registered with the intent of participating in one or more of the six regular divisions and the Figure 8 limited schedule for this 47th year of action at what has become the Action Attraction of Central Florida.
With a $600 win purse on the line in the Street Stock 40 lap Special; twenty-three cars took the green in a real barnburner that saw only one caution flag. Sixth starting James Green Jr. wasted no time working his way through the front five to take the point and despite losing the position to David Kingsbury on one occasion, went on to claim the big prize in the first of several big payoff races for the division. Kingsbury held on for second over a very aggressive Kathy Ray, second week winner Danny Cretty, and fast qualifier Travis Nichols. Nichols put his car to the test for the first time this season and it look like a contender for another championship crown.
Herb Neumann Jr. came out for his first test to reclaim the Late Model championship and made it payoff with his first win of the season over a 23 car-starting field. Danny Johnson gave it all he had to offer but lost his second place finish in tech for an illegal carburetor. Raymond Lovelady worked his way from sixth to a second place finish after the Johnson D.Q. Scott Grossenbacher, out ran pole sitter Billy Bechtelheimer in the race for third while Al Lawrence claimed fifth place money. Tommy Schnader, Rex Struble and Mike Bresnahan took the wins in the heat races.
Chris Hooker took the Sportsman green flag from the pole and never looked back for his first win of the season. Newcomer Jimmy Thompson tried over and over again to reel Hooker in but had his hands full of Mike Veltman in the run for second The balance of the top five was David Dollar and Bill Oestreicher. Heat wins went to Hooker and Veltman who continues to maintain his top spot in his fourth attempt to win the championship crown.
Mark Sowell had his act together for the first 15 laps of the Mini Stock 20 lap main until Robbie Yoakam worked his way up from his 12th starting spot to take over the lead and his first win of the season. Ron Bartley locked in a solid third place run over Kevin Harrod and Rob Wheatley. Heat Wins went to Wayne Mathewson and Wheatley.
It appeared it was Tommy Smiths turn to go to the winners circle for his second time this season. The difference being that brother Richie wasnt the man he was racing against for the win. This time it was Brandon Johnson with Richie Smith taking third. Roy Perkins and Kreg Belcastro took a run at each other in the race for fourth. Daniel Webster took his first ever heat win Richie Smith took the second heat.
Eleven Figure 8s chased Robbie Hage for all 20 laps in the figure 8 race. Hage outran eighth starter Ken Crews to the checkers while Peanut Higgenbotham had his hands full of defending champion Bob Hage and Darryl Hage in the run for third, rounding out the tip 5 in that order.
With thirty-five Thunder Stocks making the show it was decided to run two feature races to take care of the crowd. Seventeen cars took the green in the first of two 10-lap feature races with Lee Keller taking the win and Shawn Conner following up after his heat win. Glenn Gordon, Jason White and Alice Jacobson rounded out the top five. Pat Quick was the quick one in the second feature and never was challenged for her second feature win in her career. Billy White, defending champion Stuart Madison, Rick Allen and Terry Sharrone took the top five spots in race two.
It's going to be a quiet three weeks at Citrus County Speedway for the Citrus County Fair Activities. Drivers will be antsy but have time to freshen up their race cars and finish up those cars that were in the process of being built during the off season. When the green flag flies again at Citrus County Speedway it will be for the Sunbelt Series 125 for the Super Late Models plus Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and the Thunder Stocks return for non stop action until November 16th, 2002.
Citrus County Speedway Results
Late Model Feature 30 Laps 23 Cars
1. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. Inverness
2. #96 Danny Johnson (Disqualified-Carburetor)
2. #17 Raymond Lovelady Lakeland
3. #09 Scott Grossenbacher
4. # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer Dover
5. #90 Al Lawrence Brooksville
1st Heat Winner #19 Tommy Schnader Pinellas Park
2nd Heat Winner # 3 Rex Struble Homosassa
3rd Heat Winner #3x Mike Bresnahan Homosassa
Sportsman Feature 20 Laps 13 Cars
1 # 3 Chris Hooker Inverness
2. #2 Jimmy Thompson Pinellas Park
3. #55 Mike Veltman Crystal River
4. #04 David Dollar Hernando
5. # 0 Bill Oestreicher Webster
1st Heat Winner - #3 Chris Hooker Inverness
2nd Heat Winner - #55 Mike Veltman Crystal River
Street Stock Feature 40 Laps 23 Cars
1. #53 James Green Inverness
2. #73 David Kingsbury Brooksville
3. #63 Kathy Ray Floral City
4. #01 Danny Cretty Dunnellon
5. # 2 Travis Nichols Inverness
Fast Qualifier #2 Travis Nichols 15.400 sec.
Second Fast Qualifier - #17 Mike Bell 15.527 sec.
Mini Stock Feature 20 Laps 23 Cars
1. #8x Robbie Yoakam Hernando
2. # 5 Mark Sowell Hernando
3. #6x Ron Bartley Bushnell
4. #34 Kevin Harrod Bushnell
5. #88 Rob Wheatley Inverness
1st Heat Winner - #1 Wayne Mathewson
2nd Heat Winner - #88 Rob Wheatley Inverness
Hobby Stock Feature 20 Laps 22 Cars
1. #21 Tommy Smith Floral City
2. #88 Brandon Johnson Inverness
3. #42 Richie Smith Hernando
4. #07 Roy Perkins Inverness
5. # 3 Kreg Belcastro Inverness
1st Heat Winner - #1 Daniel Webster Brooksville
2nd Heat Winner #42 Richie Smith Hernando
Figure 8 Feature 20 Laps 11 Cars
1. #74 Robbie Hage St. Petersburg
2. #81 Ken Crews Tampa
3. # 5 Peanut Higgenbotham Brooksville
4. #78 Bob Hage St. Petersburg
5. # 8 Darryl Hage St. Petersburg
Thunder Stock Feature #1 10 Laps - 17 Cars
1. #21 Lee Keller
2. #44 Shawn Conner
3. #63 Glenn Gordon
4. # 8 Jason White
5. #93 Alice Jacobson
1st Heat Winner - #44 Shawn Conner
Thunder Stock Feature #2 10 Laps 18 Cars
1. #55 Pat Quick
2. #17 Billy White
3. #2 Stuart Madison
4. #01 Rick Allen
5. #36 Terry Sharrone
2nd Heat Winner #55 Pat Quick
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