(Inverness, Fl. 4/5/03) Week two of the Citrus County Speedway season restart saw the debut of the FAST Sprints at the 3/8ths mile asphalt circuit and the man to watch was Shane Butler, the youngest of the Butler family sprinters. Shane won his very first TBARA race at Citrus in his rookie year when the track was a tight quarter mile and the winged sprints were turning the track in the mid 12’s. Taking the wings off, racing with restricted 360 motors and the extended racecourse didn’t slow this young pilot down in the least. Launching his wingless rocket from the 8th starting position he chased down third starter Skeeter Falconer to take the point at the midpoint of the 30 lap main event. Fifteen cars took the green with four cautions closing the field up for the run for the flag. When the checkers flew, Butler was chased across the line by Falconer, Lee Cipray, Bill Pettijohn, and Kevin Cahill who led the race at one point before spinning out and having to recover the fifth spot from the tail end of the field in a late run for the front. Cahill and Butler won the qualifying heats.
In other action, Johnny Sanders set the pace for 24 of the 25 lap Sportsman main event before Johnny Gann turned up the horse power and dove underneath Sanders coming off turn two and took his second win in a row. Sanders had to settle for a second place finish after winning his heat race. Rookie Mike Bell held out for third followed by J.D. Goff who had to borrow Bell’s backup car after crashing in his heat run. Billy “O” Ostreicher worked his way from the back of the pack after causing a caution late in the race to salvage a fifth at the checkers. Mark Dominique returned for his first race of 2003 and took a win in his heat race and sixth in the feature.
Young Jo Jo Viverito got back on track and took the win in his Street Stock heat and managed to take a wire-to-wire win in their 25-lap feature run. Travis Nichols was looking at making it three in a row in his new ride worked his way from a 14th starting position to make a run at Viverito on the final lap but had to settle for a close second. Ernie Reed broke something in the heat race but was able to get it back out for the main. He came from the back end of the 14 car pack for a third place finish followed by Scott Guthman who was driving for Danny Cretty’s points in hopes of salvaging his top spot in the point race. Daniel Webster won the second heat going away but had to settle for a sixth place finish in the feature.
Robbie Yoakam scored his second Mini Stock win of the season with another week off from his Mini Stock series races. This is keeping Robbie away from his home track much of the time this year and will probably prevent him from being a factor in the point race. Rob Wheatley looked like he was on his way to his first win of the season when the green dropped but Yoakam came from the back of the pack to take over the point in lap 18 of their 25 lap feature. George Neumann held off point leader Chris Thornton in the race for third. Thornton had to make a mid race run from the back of the pack after bringing out the caution flag for a spin. Phillip Joyner scored a fifth place finish. Yoakam and Mark Sowell took the heat wins with Sowell dropping out of the main event early.
Sport Wilson came from his 13th starting spot while brother Wes moved from his 24th position to lead the Hobby Stock division in a one two finish. Curtis Neumann came through the traffic from 23rd to move into 2nd before Wes Wilson took that away from him and Neumann salvaged a solid third place finish over early leaders Dean Lawyer and Curtis Yoamans. Victor Stanley finished sixth after taking the win in the first heat. Sport Wilson won the second heat.
Tim Wilson took the win in the first race of the year back in February and has been struggling ever since to get his racer running like it did last year. He apparently found the right set up and power plant combination as he trashed the rest of the Thunder Stock field taking the checkered flag almost a lap ahead of runner up Robin Bauer. Bauer who said “this was going to be her last race,” which incidentally was her only race this season. Pat Quick came from the back of the pack and challenged Bauer several times for the position but had to settle for third over Lee Keller and Larry Triana. Wilson and Keller took the wins in their heats.
Citrus County Speedway Results 4/5/03 FAST Sprint Feature – 30 Laps - 15 Cars
1. Shane Butler #18x
2. Skeeter Falconer #6
3. Lee Cipray #0
4. Bill Pettijohn #6F
5. Kevin Cahill #87
6. Nick Manikis #1
7. Tommy Nichols #03
8. Jim Bradford #0
9. Joby Barrington #88
10.Dan Slatter #5X
11.Curtis Sutton #66
12.Shane Miller #5
13.J.J. Sutton #3
14.Bobby Gordon #29
15.Jeff Firestine #18
1st Heat Winner - Kevin Cahill #87
2nd Heat Winner – Shane Butler #18x
Sportsman Feature – 25 Laps – 12 Cars 1. Johnny Gann #9
2. Johnny Sanders #36
3. Mike Bell #17
4. J.D. Goff #17x(14)
5. Bill Ostreicher #0
1st Heat Winner – Johnny Sanders #36
2nd Heat Winner – Mark Dominique #7
Street Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 14 Cars 1. Joe Viverito #72
2. Travis Nichols #2
3. Ernie Reed #55
4. Scott Guthman #33x
5. Brett Flagg #59
1st Heat Winner – Joe Viverito #72
2nd Heat Winner – Daniel Webster #1
Mini Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 14 Cars 1. Robbie Yoakam #8x
2. Rob Wheatley #88
3. George Neumann #3
4. Chris Thornton #24
5. Phillip Joyner #86
1st Heat Winner – Mark Sowell #5
2nd Heat Winner – Robbie Yoakam #8x
Hobby Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 24 Cars 1. Sport Wilson #94
2. Wes Wilson #85
3. Curtis Neumann #01
4. Dean Lawyer #19
5. Curtis Yoamans #70
1st Heat Winner – Victor Stanley #26
2nd Heat Winner – Sport Wilson #94
Thunder Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 17 Cars 1. Tim Wilson #85
