Cold Night - Hot Racing for Citrus Winter Spectacular III
By Larry MacMillan
It would appear that many of Florida's race drivers haven't had enough Saturday night action despite the 2005 regular racing season coming to an end.
Fans were enthusiastic too as Citrus County Speedway put on a post season Spectacular III featuring 80 race cars in 4 divisions in pure racing specials plus Figure 8 School Buses, Boat Trailer race, a Chicane race, Mini Modified race and a Monster Truck car crushing.
Thirty one Modifieds came from all over the state to take on Citrus' 3/8ths mile oval. Ralph Bowman turned fast time and pulled the 16 pill for the inversion start.
All 31 cars started with Jimmy Wagner on the pole and Robbie Cooper taking the outside. A first lap traffic jam on turn one brought on a complete restart then the green came on for five laps with Cooper taking the point.
Lost of racing action all around the track with 31 fast modifieds
Wayne Jefferson came from fourth to take the lead after 15 laps and several caution flags that ate up 15 of the first 50 laps. Most of the heavy hitters saved the best for the final all green flag 50 coming from the middle of the pack.
They couldn't catch Jefferson who led the most laps and picked up the $2,000 win purse. It was a battle royal in the race for second with Tommy Schnader coming from the back of the field due to an early miscue to hold off 18th starter Teddy Nelson, Robbie Cooper and Dwayne Dempsey to round out the top five.
Jimmy Wagner, Kyle Bookmiller, Rich Pratt, Jeremy Gerstner and Adam May finished in the top ten with 18 of the 31 starters finishing.
Hobby Stocks saw 104 contenders for the 2005 championship. Curtis Flanagan showed the 30 car, 50 lap special field why he won the crown with another impressive win. Super Stock champion Bobby Taylor reworked his racer to qualify for the Hobby Stock division and came through traffic with Flanagan from his 10th starting spot but didn't have anything for Flanagan in the run for the flag. Doc James Batson chased Taylor to the flag for a third place finish. Herb Hoefler had to go to the rear of the field on one restart and managed to come back through traffic to outrun Michael Stallnaker in the race for fourth. Bobby Taylor took fast qualifying time honors.
Fourteen Mini Stocks went in another 50 lap special and Clint Foley was top shoe and took home the $500 win purse from his 5th starting spot. Jason Rendell and Kevin Harrod battled right to the flag in the race for second with Rendell coming out on top. Ronnie Hicks outran Don Faunce in the race for fourth. Rick Sirmons was fast qualifier but ran into an early crash with Harrod that took him out of the race for 20 of the 50 laps.
A late addition to the race card was the Mini Modified division that saw only 5 cars in the show. Doug Hopper came from the back of the pack to blitz the field for the win in their 20 lap race. Tom Meyer, Frankie Hurst, Charlie Lee and Rick Voisey finished in that order.
Nineteen School Buses were divided into two races. Former Late Model and Bomber Champion Mike Bresnahan drove the figure 8 track like a pro and led from flag to flag in the 20 lap special. Ten buses were running three deep through the intersection and on the turns and Chris Hooker used all the asphalt and the infield he could find to make passes on slower traffic in an effort to catch his brother in law but had to settle for second. Josh Hamilton took his short wheel base bus to a third place finish. Neil Darling finished fourth still in the lead lap. Michael Gamache took fifth, one lap down.
Nine buses went for 20 laps in the second race with Citrus' flag man Brent Fults taking his short wheel base bus for a flag to flag win over Craig Doughman. Dave Sulduski, Dwayne Fults and Larry Triana took the top five spots with no major crashes in either race. Several buses got up on two wheels and it looked like the "The Joey Chitwood Thrill Show" in some cases.
The Welter family came for the Boat Trailer race but got a bonus when a 20 lap Chicane race was added to the schedule. So before hooking up the boat trailers 10 cars took on the road course with Larry Sr., Larry Jr. and Aaron Welter finishing in the top three spots. Larry Triana was the busiest man at the speedway entering four different races Saturday night and finished 4th in the Chicane race. He also ran the Hobby Stock 50, the School Bus race and the Boat Trailer Race. Jim Kruse rounded out the top five.
Wrapping up the night of action was the 8 car Boat Trailer race that saw only 2 cars finish. It turned out to be a Chicane Demolition Derby with Larry Welter Jr. taking the point on the green flag, staying out of trouble and winning the 15 lap special finale. Larry Triana pulled off a second place finish minus his boat. Don Welter third, Tim Sharrone and Richard Henick rounding out the top five despite not finishing the race.
Citrus County Speedway wraps up its 50th Anniversary Celebration with the Annual Awards Banquet on Friday night at the Citrus County Auditorium. The banquet will be catered with Chris Molling entertaining as DJ and of course awards and trophies for the most versatile and competitive season in the history of Florida's second oldest operating short track.
Citrus County Speedway Winter Spectacular Results 12/10/05
Open Wheel Modified Feature - 100 Laps - 31 Cars
1. # 1 Wayne Jefferson - $2,000
2. #19 Tommy Schnader - $1,000
3. #34 Teddy Nelson - $750
4. #98X Robbie Cooper - $600
5. #6x Dwayne Dempsey - $550
6. #17 Jimmy Wagner - $500
7. #03 Kyle Bookmiller - $450
8. #4x Rich Pratt - $350
9. #28 Jeremy Gerstner - $300
10.#37 Adam May - $250
Mini Stock Feature - 50 Laps - 14 Cars
1. #7c Clint Foley - $500
2. #91 Jason Rendell
3. #8x Kevin Harrod
4. #8h Ronnie Hicks
5. # 2 Don Faunce
Hobby Stock Feature - 50 Laps - 30 Cars
1. #3x Curtis Flanagan - $400
2. #66 Bobby Taylor
3. #77 James Batson
4. #22 Herb Hoefler
5. # 8 Michael Stallnaker
Mini Modified Feature - 20 Laps - 5 Cars
1. #15 Doug Hopper
2. # 4 Tom Meyer
3. # 6 Frankie Hurst
4. #33 Charlie Lee
5. #69 Rick Voisey
School Bus Figure 8 #1 Feature - 20 Laps - 10 Buses
1. # 7 Mike Bresnahan
2. #1x Chris Hooker
3. #7b Josh Hamilton
4. #701 Neil Darling
5. 96 Michael Gamache
School Bus Figure 8 #2 Feature - 20 Laps - 9 Buses
It would appear that many of Florida's race drivers haven't had enough Saturday night action despite the 2005 regular racing season coming to an end. 
