(Inverness, Fl. 5/24/03) Speed was the highlight of week 12 at Citrus County Speedway and the fans got their share of action while the flagger, Brent Fults, only had to bring out the caution flag no more than six times for the whole evening during six feature races. A race program that kicked off to a slow start at 6 was all done by 9:30 with non-stop feature races in three of the six divisions.
Herb Neumann Jr. won the pole in the Super Late Model 30-lap feature race and when the green dropped, all he saw in his rear view mirror from start to finish were the rest of the field battling for position. Jim Smith followed in Neumann’s tracks right to the checkers while Daniel Keene Jr. worked his way from seventh to third at the finish line. Mike Bresnahan attempting to salvage his point lead held out for fourth while point runner up Ricky Carlton charged from 12th to a fifth place finish when the checkered flag flew. Neumann and Richie Smith won the heat races. Smith had to pull out of the feature while running third on the only restart late in the race.
The closest finish of the night came in the Sportsman 20-lap main event. Thirteen cars took the green flag with eleven finishing. Bill Ryan came off the pole and got into trouble after leading six laps then the heavy hitters turned up the heat. Billy “O” Oesterreicher got by Chris Cross, Johnny Sanders and Mike Bell to take the lead by lap 10. Last week’s winner and point leader Mike Veltman managed to move into contention in the final five laps. Oesterreicher slipped on turn three and Veltman moved to the low side and put the hammer down on the final lap. At the final bell it was a side-by-side run with Billy “O” and Magic Mike going for the flag. When the camera clicked it was Billy “O” by inches to win the shoot out. Michael Bell held out for third over 13th starter J.D. Goff and Johnny Gann rounding out the top five. Heat winners were Bill Ryan and J.D. Goff.
Second year driver Daniel Webster made some noise in the Street Stock main launching his #1 WRC machine from third to the point on the start of their 20 lap main and played the rabbit in the race from flag to flag for his first win of the season. Mike Bell worked his way through traffic from 7th to second when the checkers dropped. Ernie Reed moved back into the point lead with his third place finish. Newcomer Charles Hornbeak locked in a very impressive fourth from his 11th starting spot and Jo Jo Viverito continues to run strong, finishing fifth over the 15-car field. Webster and Viverito captured the heat wins.
Mini Stock point leader Chris Thornton continued on a hot pace in the non-stop 20 lap feature to capture his second win of the season, outrunning Phillip Joyner Jr., Chris Hooker, George Neumann and Rob Wheatley. Thornton also won his heat joined by Dustin DesChamp who took his third heat win of the season.
It took two restarts on the Hobby Stock feature but it didn’t change a thing with Wes Wilson jumping to the point from the get go. Wes has had nothing but bad luck from the beginning of the season with mechanical problems haunting him. He led the entire race but had the race gone another two laps it would have been a different story. Leaving Victory Lane he lost another transmission. The surprise of the race was David Chastain who started 17th in the 24-car field and came home for a second place finish. Dean Lawyer was competitive from the green flag and salvaged a third over Richie Smith and point leader Curtis Neumann. Heat winners were Tim Whitehead, Smith and Sport Wilson.
Pat Quick was again the quickest of the 15-car Hobby Stock field. Starting dead last she came through traffic in the third lane all the way to the front and led the way to her fifth feature win and third heat win of her very successful run for the crown. She is just blitzing the divisions with a very comfortable point lead after 12 weeks of racing. Rick Badessa locked on to second over Lee Keller, Louie Cioe, and Wayne Heater. Badessa took the first heat win.
The Pro Modifieds return to highlight next week’s race card as the Late Models take the week off to prepare for the first and second leg of the Powell Memorial at Ocala and Citrus County Speedway on Friday and Saturday night, June 6th and 7th. There will be a $5,000 win purse on the line in that 150 lap Super Late Model Special.
