Luck, Dominance, Despair and Disappointment Decide Super Late Model Race at Citrus
by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 4/26/03) Richie Smith and Dale Sanders drew the pole positions for the Late Model feature but transmission problems took Richie out of the running and a sick racecar put Sanders in a position to elect to start from the rear of the 17-car field. When the green fell Daniel Keene Jr. and Jim Smith made a drag race for the point for two laps before Smith locked in on the spot and set the pace for 29 laps with Keene on his rear bumper the whole way. Once clear of traffic, Smith had the race pretty well in hand and looked like he was on his way to his second win of the season. Meanwhile, ninth starter Mike Bresnahan, 10th starter Herb Neumann Jr., eleventh starter Ricky Carlton and sixteenth starter Wayne Anderson were working their way towards the front with only two caution flags to help them to move into contention.
The second caution brought on despair for the leader when Daniel Keene took out the leader on turn four while heading for the checkered flag which sent Keene to the rear of the field for the green-white, checkered flag restart. Going into turn one and two, Smith had a right rear tire go down which just about put him in the wall on turn two. This brought out the caution one more time and left Smith with the biggest disappointment of the race. Attrition moved Herb Neumann Jr. to the point and the winner’s circle for his first victory of the year. Point leader Mike Bresnahan held on to his point lead with a second place finish and is still looking for his first regular race win of the year. Last week’s winner Ricky Carlton had to settle for a third place finish just ahead of Wayne Anderson who made a quick turnaround from a rained out Hialeah race to arrive just in time for the feature run. Harold Cannon took fifth in the thirty lap main event.
Mike Veltman powered his way back into the Sportsman point lead to nail his second win of the season. Rookie Mike Bell gave him a run for his money in the early going before Veltman powered away from the rest of the field, proving that he still has something left in his quest for a fifth consecutive championship crown. Johnny Gann came into the race with a three-point lead over Veltman and had to settle for a third. Bill Ryan held out for fourth over Bill Oesterreicher to round out the top five. Sportsman will have the week off next Saturday.
Dustin Aaron finally got his new ride dialed in and led a flag to flag, non stop, Street Stock win for his first in career win in his new division. Fifteenth starter Travis Nichols was looking for win number four in his new ride but had to settle for a close second at the checkers. Danny Cretty threatened Aaron early on but fell back to third for the finish over Owen Leigh and hard charger Mickey Burns.
Five new Mini Stock drivers made up the 22-car field in preparation for their “Mini Stock Showdown” next week. Second year driver Dustin DesChamp out of Tampa started seventh, moved to the front early and showed the whole field, in the one caution flag race, how to go to Victory Lane. This was Dustin’s second career win. Chris Hooker managed to seesaw his way into a second place finish from his ninth starting spot. George Neumann took home third money. A newcomer and 22nd starter Kevin Macy worked his way to fourth at the checkers followed by Robbie Storer who was driving for point leader Chris Thornton.
Hobby Stocks saw 19 cars take the green flag with Roy Perkins taking the point for the first few laps. 12th starter Wes Wilson wasted no time overtaking Perkins and setting the pace right to the checkers for his third win of the season. Perkins held off 16th starter Sport Wilson in the run for second. A first time driver David Chastain from Ocala flexed his horsepower and talent to pick up fourth over Troy Davis to round out the top five.
Fans who left early missed a barn burner in the Thunder Stock 20 lap main event. Fifteen cars were three and four deep throughout most of the race, vying for position. The top five finishers found a fourth groove in a three-groove racetrack from the rear of the pack. Eleventh starter Tim Wilson found his way to the front early to set the pace to the checkers for his second win of the year. Pat Quick started 13th to hold on to her point lead with a second place finish right on Wilson’s rear bumper. Lee Keller came from 14th to hold off last week’s winner Roy Blots, who started 15th in the run for third. Louie Cioe started fifth and finished fifth after some major battles throughout the race.
Next Saturday night will see the “Mini Stock Challenge”, which is a traveling series, making its first visit to the 3/8ths mile. Mini Stockers should be coming in from all over central Florida to qualify in time trials for this big one. Late Models, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Thunder Stocks will round out the race program in heat and feature action. Sportsman will be taking the week off.
