Firestine Makes It Two in a Row at Citrus FASTRUCK Special
by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 5/10/03) Jeff Firestine has got to like Citrus County Speedway. Firestine won his first FAST Truck race of the season at Citrus on March 1st and has run into misfortune by not finishing a race since that win. Twenty-one trucks took the green flag for their 50 lap main event Saturday night. With Firestine on the pole and setting the early pace, ten laps into the race he was relegated back to fourth when Paul Grynewicz Sr. took the point with Tommy King in hot pursuit. King took Grynewicz out of the picture when they connected, sending King to the rear and Grynewicz to the pits to replace a flat tire. This moved Firestine back into the lead for the restart and from that point on to the checkered flag Jeff fought off all contenders to take his second win of the 2003 season and again it was at Citrus County Speedway. .
Jimmy Gills kicked off the night with fast qualifying time of 14.991 seconds, which put him in the 10th starting spot. Tommy King was the only other driver to get into the 14’s with a 14.997 on the 3/8ths mile putting him in the 9th starting spot after the inverted top ten lineup. After five caution flags the checkered flag flew with 13 trucks in the lead lap and Firestine going to Victory Lane followed by “Hard Charger” Tim Shaffnier who started 19th. Marty Wolf finished third followed by Tommy King who moved from the back of the pack back into fourth taking out Wolf after they crossed the finish line. Gary Foxworth held out for fifth when the dust settled.
FAST Trucks will be back on July 26th and a new date was set for October 25th if their schedule will allow it, replacing the previously scheduled FAST Sprints.
In other action, J.D. Goff saw his racecar ride on a rail as he smoked the fourteen car Sportsman field, taking his first win of the season. Mark Dominique just didn’t have enough to reel Goff in and Mike Veltman couldn’t make the pass on Dominique. Billy “O” Oesterreicker won the battle with pole sitter Johnny Sanders, who was working with a new motor and a repaired transmission, to win the race for fourth. Heat winners were Goff and Scott Hendrickson.
Jo Jo Viverito had his act together and locked on to the Street Stock lead early in his run for his third win of the season. This young gun has been at the top of the point ladder on two occasions this season and is shooting to retake the spot at a moments notice. He now shares the most wins with runner-up Travis Nichols who out ran Ernie Reed, Danny Cretty and Mickey Burns to round out the top five. Viverito and Owen Leigh took the heat wins.
After last week’s 30 car Mini Stock Challenge they saw the field cut by 2/3rds for their 20 lap main. Phillip Joyner took the point for the early going before Dan Smith worked his way around him after surviving an early spin when Smith and Chris Hooker connected. Hooker got sent to the rear and Smith held on to second, making the charge to the front on the restart. It was all over except the Victory Lane party, from that point on, as Smith chalked up his first win of the season. Phillip Joyner salvaged second while point leader Chris Thornton moved from sixth to third at the flag. Mark Sowell and Jay McKenzie round out the top five. Dan Smith and George Neumann took the heat wins
Twenty cars took the green for the Hobby Stock feature and Sport Wilson, who started 18th, used the outside groove in three deep traffic to move to the front in the final laps of their 20 lap main event for his third win of the year. Curtis Neumann started 19th and charged to the front to out run point leader and defending two-time champion Richie Smith for a second place finish. Seventeenth starter Dean Lawyer managed to finish just ahead of John Eliason in the run for fourth. So the heavy hitters made the run from the rear of the pack to make this one of the most exciting races of the evening. Glen Colyer and Wes Wilson picked up the heat wins.
As a grand finale to the evening the Thunder Stocks who went non-stop last week had a demolition derby in the round for the first three laps of their 20 lap main. Eighteen cars took the green flag with three caution flags before they finished lap 2. At that point, six of the starters were done for the night to include point runner up Roy Blotz. By the end of lap three the field had been cut in half with nine cars taking the green for the restart. Surprisingly, all nine finished after two more cautions to wind up the night. Timmy Wilson took his third win of the season followed by newcomer Jarred Kessler, Lee Keller, Pat Quick and Louie Cioe. Heat wins went to Victor Shahid Jr. and Tim Wilson.
Next Saturday night the race card will be filled up with the return of the Figure 8’s, the Late Models, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Thunder Stocks. There will be twelve heats and seven feature races for a total of 206 laps of racing excitement.
Citrus County Speedway Results 5/10/03 FAST Truck Series Feature – 50 Laps – 21 Trucks
1. #93 Jeff Firestine Nokomis
2. #29 Tim Shaffnier Ft. Lauderdale
3. #9 Marty Wolf Edgewater
4. #16 Tommy King Bartow
5. #25 Gary Foxworth Lutz
6. # 1 Bobby Owens Orlando
7. #56 James Wright III Auburndale
8. #18 Wendell Bristol Auburndale
9. #78 Graham McCorvey Gibsonton
10.#32 Bill Stacey Unknown
Fast Qualifier - #5 Jimmy Gills – Sarasota – 14.991 Seconds
2nd Fast Qualifier - #16 Tommy King – Bartow – 14.997 Seconds
