IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 20, 2008 Sprints Highlight Citrus County Action By Larry MacMillan (Inverness, Fl. 4/19/08) - The Central Florida Wingless Sprints showed up at Citrus County Speedway 22 cars strong and put on quite a show for the fans. In 3 heats and a 30 lap feature they saw just about every situation possible arising from multi car crashes to roll overs and high speed competition. The first green flag fell on the first heat and a three car crash cropped up on turn one that wiped out the front suspension of Lil Jimmy Alvis #21 and taking the other two cars into the infield. Four out of seven cars ran into problems in the second heat getting DNF’s and the third heat went flag to flag without incident. It was the feature race that really showed what they could do with 20 of 22 cars making it for the green but only 8 were left when the checkers flew. Darrin Miller and Dakotah Stephens took the point on the first two laps of their 30 lap feature while Troy DeCaire marched from his 13th starting spot to take the lead in lap 3. Stephens managed to hang onto DeCaire through lap 7 when Dude Teate moved into 2nd being chased by Stephens and David Steele. Shane Butler got caught up in a three wide traffic jam in lap 9 that left him climbing the one turn wall and putting two cars into the infield that brought on a caution. On the restart David Steele made the pass on Stephens and then the traffic jam turned into a three car crash at the start finish line that had Stephens upside down against the wall when they were just completing lap 13. Back to lap 12 on the restart and it was a three car dual with Dude Teate on the point and setting the pace for DeCaire, Steele, Jimmy Alvis, Mickey Kempgens, Shane Miller, Darin Miller and Lil Jimmy Alvis the only 8 cars to finish in the lead lap. Heat wins went the Stan Butler, Dude Teate and Jimmy Alvis. --Advertisement-- The local drivers kicked off the night of excitement with the Sportsman making up their rained out feature from the 5th of April. It was a no brainer for Bobby Ervien when the green flag flew as he flashed into the lead on lap one and never looked back leaving Tom Posavec, Ernie Reed, Clint Foley and Mike Veltman to battle it out for position, finishing in that order. The regular feature saw Clint Foley come back after doing some work on his race car in between races and locked onto the point for his 1st win of the season paired with his 3rd heat win. Mike Veltman moved from the back end of the field settling for a 2nd place finish well behind Foley. Tom Posavec stayed in the mix out running Ernie Reed in the race for 3rd followed by Jo Jo Viverito who also won the 2nd heat race. Seventeen Street Stocks took the green in their 20 lap main with Jason Murphree wasting no time moving around Kenny May and John Buzinec who dueled for the lead for 3 laps before giving way to Murphree who set the pace all the way to the checkers for his first feature win of the season and his second heat win. Tim Alexander logged another top five finish with his run from 9th to 2nd over Tim Quick who launched from 16th to 3rd in search of his fourth feature win of the season. Frank Stromquist continues to run strong staying in the top five throughout the race out running Doc James Batson in the run for fourth. Stromquist also won the second heat. It took three heats to qualify the 25 car 4 Cylinder Bomber field with 14 year old Brandon Watson showing that he and his VW Rabbit are for real, taking the win in the first heat and rolling from 4th to Victory Lane for his second win of the young season. When the jockeying for position was all over Mike Ogren moved from 8th to 2nd when the checkers flew. Chris Harvey lost out on his 3rd place finish in post race inspection putting John DeGeorge in that slot over Melissa Hunley and Patric Conner. Ogren took the win in the 2nd heat and DeGeorge logged his first heat win in the third heat. Post race inspection knocked off the top three finishers in the Pure Stock finish. Twenty Four cars took the green flag for their 20 lap feature race and Tom Potts wasted no time jumping from 4th to the point to set the pace all the way to the checkered flag and it all turned out for naught. Potts was D.Q.’d for the second time this season and looses all his points gained and starts from scratch if he continues to run at Citrus this season. Bill Ryan was looking for his 6th win of the season and would have had it if he hadn’t also fallen to tech inspection for problems with the heads in his racer. Tim Wilson would have picked up his third win of the season by virtue of the D.Q. but he was caught for an illegal cam shaft and he was D.Q.’d also. Jesse Veltman inherited his third win of the season by virtue of the D.Q.’s. Rounding out the top five, all moving up three spots from their original finish were Glen Colyer, Todd Brown, J.D. Goff and Ricky Henick. Heat wins went to John Drye, J.D. Goff and Jesse Veltman. It was a 17 car crash fest for the V8 Thunder Stock Rookies with new comer James Peters coming from 15th to make his way to the winner’s circle for his first win of the season over Lawrence Wilder, Cotee Clark, Randy Werstein and Josh Long in the MOO Car. Next Saturday night will see the Stars Truck Series make their first appearance at Citrus County Speedway. Late Models have been added to the schedule to run a make up for their rained out feature on April 5th. Mini Stocks will also run a make up race plus their regularly scheduled heat and feature action. Sportsman, Street Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers run in heat and feature action and the wild and crazy Figure 8’s will be doing their Intersection Magic for a 20 lap feature. Citrus County Speedway Results – 4/19/08 Central Florida Wingless Sprint Feature – 30 Laps – 22 Cars 1. # 0 Dude Teate – Leesburg 2. #68 Troy DeCaire – Tampa 3. #91 David Steele – Tampa 4. #87 Jim Alvis – Seffner 5. #0Z Mickey Kempgens - ? 6. #78 Shane Miller - ? 7. #21m Darrin Miller - ? 8. #21 Lil Jimmy Alvis – Seffner 1st Heat Winner – #18 Stan Butler – Bushnell 2nd Heat Winner - # 0 Dude Teate 3rd Heat Winner - #87 Jim Alvis Sportsman Makeup Feature – 20 Laps – 9 Cars 1. #88 Bobby Ervien – St. Petersburg – 2nd Season Win 2. #01 Tom Posavec - Dunnellon 3. #55 Ernie Reed - Lecanto 4. #56 Clint Foley - Dunnellon 5. #155 Mike Veltman – Crystal River Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 11 Cars 1. # 56 Clint Foley – Dunnellon – 1st Season Win 2. #155 Mike Veltman – Crystal River 3. #01 Tom Posavec – Dunnellon 4. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 5. #72 JoJo Viverito – Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #56 Clint Foley 2nd Heat Winner - #72 JoJo Viverito Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #95 Jason Murphree – Homosassa – 1st Season Win 2. #63 Tim Alexander – Floral City 3. #97 Tim Quick - Lecanto 4. #57 Frank Stromquist –Lecanto 5. # 7 Doc James Batson – Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #95 Jason Murphree 2nd Heat Winner - #57 Frank Stromquist 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 25 Cars 1. #66 Brandon Watson – Dunnellon – 2nd Season Win 2. #13 Mike Ogren – Spring Hill 3. #122 John DeGeorge – Dunnellon 4. #18 Melissa Hunley – Ocala 5. #444 Patric Conner – Dunnellon 1st Heat Winner - #66 Brandon Watson 2nd Heat Winner – #13 Mike Ogren 3rd Heat Winner - #122 John DeGeorge Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 24 Cars 1. #55 Jesse Veltman – Crystal River – 2nd Season Win 2. #44 Glen Colyer – Homosassa 3. #57 Todd Brown – Lake Panasoffkee 4. #116 J.D. Goff – Brooksville 5. #60 Rick Henick – Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #39 John Drye – Inverness 2nd Heat Winner - #116 J.D. Goff 3rd Heat Winner - #55 Jesse Veltman V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 17 Cars 1. # 5 James Peters - ? – 1st Season Win 2. #28 Lawrence Wilder – Inverness 3. #39 Cotee Clark – New Port Richey 4. # 9 Randy Werstein - ? 5. #00 Josh Long – Inverness Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on The Real Racin USA Florida Fan Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!