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| Let The Racing Resume @ Citrus | by Larry MacMillan
Inverness, Fl. 09/22/01) After the tragic events of two weeks ago racing and sporting events took a back seat to the concerns of the nation. Most racers and fans were ready to take out the frustrations of these events on the sport they love and Saturday night, they got a bit over eager.
One hundred forty two cars came to race or take out their frustrations in the demolition derby. There was even a junk car with Osama Bin Ladens face painted on it that fans could take a sledgehammer to after making a donation to the victims fund that will be sent to New York.
Twenty-two Late Models took the green flag in their 30 lap main event that was decided in tech after apparent winner Tate Pierce weighed in too light. Newcomer Jared Allison inherited the win over point leader Herb Neumann Jr., Dale Sanders, Billy Bechtelheimer and Tim Sharrone. Heat wins went to Danny Johnson, Billy Bechtelheimer and Tex Struble.
It took four restarts to get the Sportsman first lap in the books and 8 of the sixteen starters were already in the pits suffering damages from multiple wrecks. Mike Veltman inherited the pole position and set the pace all the way to the checkered flag in the race that was shortened to 15 laps due to the multiple caution flags and time consumed. Rex Struble survived three crashes but was able to salvage a second place finish over Chris Hooker, Wayne Lewis and Alan Struble. Heat winners were Hooker and John Gann.
After borrowing a racecar for the past four outings, Mike Bell was back in his own Street Stock racer and had it working like a champ. Bell outran the 22-car starting field for his fifth win of the season. Don Teague was able to hold off Dean Lawyer, Victor Stanley and Ernie Reed in the run for second. Bell and Reed took the heat wins.
Rick Sirmons proved that an illegal flywheel wasnt the reason for winning Mini Stock races. After the D.Q. in the 50 lap memorial race several weeks ago he came from his 19th starting position to lock on to the win Saturday night over a 21-car starting field. Mark Sowell out powered Frank Coleman, Robbie Yoakam and Rob Wheatley in the run for second. Sowell and Ron Bartley won their heat races.
Rookie Eric Sharrone picked up his second feature win over a 22-car Hobby Stock division. J.D. Goff picked up some points in his run for the crown with a second place run over Roy Perkins, Richey Smith and Holly Hand. Heat winners were James Lord and Richie Smith. Thunders Stock came out 23 strong and it was John Donahues night to howl, picking up his fourth feature win of the season. Doug Jensen gave up the lead do Donahue in lap 8 of the ten lap run and settled for second over Gary Johnson, Jeff Teague and Rick Badessa.
In the Country Fox/Citrus 95 Demolition Derby, 16 cars fought for 20 minutes and it was survival of the fittest. Two last big hits by Mark Dwayne on Butch DeVary brought out the checkered flag on the final event of the evening. Dwayne was wearing truck tires on his mount and was disqualified giving the $600 win purse to DeVary. Ron Hughes was runner up with Ross Munchie taking third place money.
Diesel Dave and his co-pilot John Kemp out ran Simon Taylor and his co-pilot Jackie Hohman in the Country Fox/Citrus 95 Bag Race. The co-pilots were selected from pre-registered fans in the grandstand. And the Kids Bicycle Races saw 6-year-old Travis Sharrone take the win in the 6 and under division. Nine-year-old Travis Hoefler picked up the win in the 7-9 group and 10-year-old Jennifer Brown was the winner in the 10 and older group.
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