(Inverness, Fl. 10/20/01) One hundred thirty seven racecars kicked off the final four weeks of the regular season at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. All seven divisions had the fans on their feet on numerous occasions throughout the night as the point races get down to crunch time.
It was Rex Strubles night to howl, making two trips to Victory Lane. He kicked off the night with a heat win in the Sportsman action and then came back with his first win of the evening over point leader Mike Veltman, John Gann, Wayne Lewis and Alan Struble. Veltman added another heat win to his resume.
Struble then hopped into his WRC Late Model and preceded to put the hammer down for a flag to flag win over Billy Bechtelheimer who moved into second in the point race with his second place finish. Danny Johnson won out in the race for third over Perry Lovelady and Bruce Gaskins who round out the top five. Heat winners were Lovelady and Fred Stoner who didnt finish in the feature, along with Dale Sanders and Tim Sharrone.
Wes Wilson returned to the Street Stock scene, subbing for Dean Lawyer and took his first feature win in quite a few months after taking some time off from racing. James Green advanced six spots to make a late run at Wilson and locked on to a solid second place finish. Early leader Danny Cretty held out for third over hard charging Kathy Ray and point leader Travis Nichols. Heat wins went to Wilson and Kevin Roberts who was denied his third win in a row in the feature.
Rick Sirmons made the haul from St. Petersburg and launched his Mini Stock from the 20th starting spot taking the win from the rear bonus for his second win of the season. Ron Bartley set the pace from the green flag and held on until lap 14 of the caution flag shortened race that ended in lap fifteen. Rick Coleman drove to a third place finish subbing for his brother Frank Coleman adding some more cushion to the point lead for Frank. Mike Moore survived a couple of spins to salvage a fourth place finish over Mark Sowell who was also going for the win from the rear bonus. Heat wins went to Rob Wheatley and Rick Coleman.
After sharing the win with James Teague last week Brandon Johnson made it two in a row for his third Hobby Stock win of the season. J.D. Goff took over second in the point race with his second place finish after Roy Perkins crashed and finished 15th. Richie Smith came from the rear of the pack to finish third over Art Brueningsen and Tommy Smith. Heat wins went to Mark Wilkins and Tommy Smith.
Charlie Meyer took his second trip to the winners circle in Figure 8 action, being chased to the flag by Mike Veltman who had his best finish of the year. Point leader Bob Hage has just about put a lock on the championship crown with his third place finish over son Darryl Hage and Robert Aaron. Figure 8s have the week off next week and return for their final race on November 3rd.
The Teague family strikes again in Thunder Stock action with Jeff Teague taking his first win of the year and subbing for Gary Johnson who will get the points for the win. Doug Jensen, subbing for Dave Davis, lost the lead to Teague in lap 13 of the 15-lap feature race and held out for a second place finish. Melvin Farmer, Roy Blotz and Allen Turner round out the top five.
With only three weeks left in the regular season, race drivers will celebrate Halloween with Trick or Treat night and a Halloween Costume contest during intermission. Racing action will see the final race for the 911 Emergency Racers plus all the six regular divisions in heat and feature action.
Citrus County Speedway Results 10/20/01 Late Model Feature – 30 Laps – 15 Cars 1. # 3 Rex Struble Homosassa 2. # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer Dover 3. #96 Danny Johnson Crystal River 4. #68 Perry Lovelady Lakeland 5. #37 Bruce Gaskins Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #68 Perry Lovelady – Lakeland 2nd Heat Winner - #7 Fred Stoner – Hernando Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars 1. #69 Rex Struble Homosassa 2. #55 Mike Veltman Crystal River 3. # 9 John Gann Brooksville 4. #99 Wayne Lewis Zephyrhills 5. #93 Alan Struble Brooksville 1st Heat Winner - #69 Rex Struble – Homosassa 2nd Heat Winner - #55 Mike Veltman – Crystal River Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 19 Cars 1. #85 Wes Wilson Floral City 2. #53 James Green Inverness 3. #01 Danny Cretty Dunnellon 4. #63 Kathy Ray Floral City 5. # 2 Travis Nichols Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #85 Wes Wilson – Floral City 2nd Heat Winner - #31 Kevin Roberts – Inverness Mini Stock Feature – 15 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #61 Rick Sirmons St. Petersburg 2. #6x Ron Bartley Bushnell 3. #22 Rick Coleman Brooksville 4. #25 Mike Moore Brooksville 5. # 5 Mark Sowell Hernando 1st Heat Winner - #88 Rob Wheatley – Inverness 2nd Heat Winner - #22 Rick Coleman – Brooksville Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars 1. #88 Brandon Johnson Inverness 2. #14 J.D. Goff Brooksville 3. #42 Richie Smith Hernando 4. #35 Art Brueningsen Brooksville 5. #21 Tommy Smith Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #40 Mark Wilkins – Brooksville 2nd Heat Winner - #21 Tommy Smith – Floral City Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 14 Cars 1. #94 Charlie Meyer Pinellas Park 2. #55 Mike Veltman Crystal River 3. #78 Bob Hage St. Petersburg 4. # 8 Darryl Hage St. Petersburg 5. # 6 Robert Aaron Brooksville Thunder Stock Feature – 15 Laps – 21 Cars 1. #2x Jeff Teague 2. #31 Doug Jensen 3. #18 Melvin Farmer 4. # 3 Roy Blotz 5. # 4 Allen Turner
