Full House and 134 Race Cars Restart Citrus Co. Speedway Season
Inverness, Fl.- Race starved fans and racers got back in the groove Saturday night after a three week hiatus at Citrus County Speedway for the county fair activities. One hundred thirty four race hungry drivers and crews filled the pits, joining the memorial parade for Andy Hennessey before racing action got underway.

Herb Neumann Jr. topped the LaPearle Memorials, 20-car Late Model starting field that was paired down to 7 finishers in the 5-caution flag race. Neumann had not raced at Citrus for the past several years and suffered a wreck on his return on March 4th. That incident almost discouraged his car owner from returning to the speedway again. A first lap wreck took out defending champion Danny Johnson and pole sitter Tate Pierce while racing for the point in turn three. Pierce’s car just didn’t turn left on turn three taking them both into the wall. Mike Bresnahan recovered from an early race mishap, which sent him to the rear of the field to lock down a second place finish in front of Robert Elting, Jimmy Wear and Brad Atkins. Perry Lovelady and Neumann took the wins in the heats.

David Dollar launched his Sportsman rocket out of the 7th starting spot and captured his second feature win of the season over a 13 car starting field. Tom Jones took his silver bullet back to the front after an early encounter to salvage a second place finish over Rex Struble, Travis Nichols and Mike Holm. Defending champion Mike Veltman took the win in the first heat but had his second DNF of the young season after an early race crash. Struble took the win in the second heat.

The Wilson gang did another number on the 28-car Street Stock division. It was Sport Wilson’s turn to go to Victory Lane with Wes and Harley Sr. rounding out the top three again in round three of the early season. Brothers Sport and Wes, and Dad Harley took the wins in the three heat races and now each have a notch in the win column. Robbie Yoakam and Ernie Reed, Jr. round out the top five.

Two-time Mini Stock Champion, George Neumann got back in the win column for the first time in the 2000 season over a 14-car field, taking the green. Mark Sowell chased Neumann for the entire 20 laps but didn’t have enough to make the pass, finishing second over the Coleman son and father team of John and Frank. First heat winner Mike Moore finished fifth. Rick Coleman took the win in the second heat but took a hard hit into the turn two fence that ended his night in the feature race.

Chris Hooker celebrated his 16th birthday by making it two for three Hobby Stock features and locking in his third heat win of the young season. Defending champion Roy Perkins outran Jeff Sharp, Jim Peters and J.D. Goff in the run for second. The race saw numerous caution flags that cut 10 laps off the feature due to time running out. J.D. Goff took the win in the second heat.

Gary Swing made it two in a row in Figure 8 action. Scott Knight put the pressure on all the way in the 20-lap intersection action but had to settle for second over defending champion Robert Aaron, former champ Ron Schreifels and Ken Crews. Figure 8’s are scheduled to go again on April 15th.

Stuart Madison smoked the 20-car Street Legal Junker division in their 15-lap show finale.

Saturday night will see the return of Late Models, Limited Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Street Legal Junkers for race number four of the 2000 racing season.


Citrus County Speedway Results for 04/01/00
LaPearle Memorials Late Model Feature – 30 Laps – 20 Cars
1. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. Inverness
2. #31 Mike Bresnahan Lecanto
3. #27 Robert Elting Wesley Chapel
4. #1X Jimmy Ware Ocala
5. #25 Brad Atkins Summerfield
1st Heat Winner – Perry Lovelady – Lakeland
2nd Heat Winner – Herb Neumann Jr. – Inverness

Limited Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars
1. #04 David Dollar Hernando
2. #60 Tom Jones Inverness
3. #69 Rex Struble Homosassa
4. #2X Travis Nichols Inverness
5. # 3 Mike Holm Inverness
1st Heat Winner - #55 Mike Veltman – Crystal River
2nd Heat Winner - #69 Rex Struble – Homosassa

Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 28 Cars
1. #94 Sport Wilson Floral City
2. #20 Wes Wilson Floral City
3. #85 Harley Wilson Sr. Floral City
4. #44 Robbie Yoakam Hernando
5. #55 Ernie Reed Jr. Inverness
1st Heat Winner - #94 Sport Wilson
2nd Heat Winner - #20 Wes Wilson
3rd Heat Winner - #85 Harley Wilson

Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 14 Cars
1. # 1 George Neumann Inverness
2. # 5 Mark Sowell Hernando
3. #21 John Coleman Brooksville
4. # 0 Frank Coleman Brooksville
5. #25 Mike Moore Brooksville
1st Heat Winner - #25 Mike Moore
2nd Heat Winner - #20 Rick Coleman – Ridge Manor

Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 29 Cars
1. #24 Chris Hooker Floral City
2. #07 Roy Perkins Inverness
3. #48 Jeff Sharp
4. #27 Jim Peters Floral City
5. #14 J.D. Goff Ridge Manor
1st Heat Winner - #24 Chris Hooker
2nd Heat Winner – #14 J.D. Goff

Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 10 Cars
1. #22 Gary Swing Floral City
2. #34 Scott Knight Floral City
3. # 6 Robert Aaron Brooksville
4. # 7 Ron Schreifels Inverness
5. #81 Ken Crews Tampa

Street Legal Junkers – 15 Laps – 13 Cars
1. # 2 Stuart Madison
2. #18 Shaun Kipp
3. #88 Rick Bedessa

by Larry MacMillan


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