(Inverness, Fl 8/17/03) It took two days to run but the fans got their money’s worth after a lap nine rain delay in the second leg of the Florida Pro Central Florida weekend. Thirty one Super Late Models time trialed on Saturday evening with local point leader Mike Bresnahan making a near record run on the 3/8ths mile at 13.557 seconds. Friday night winner Ricky Carlton pulled in second at 13.600 followed by Wayne Anderson turning a 13.637, Brock Oglesby at 13.666 and Rich Pratt stopping the clock at 13.702 making up the top five. Fourteen cars were taken from the top qualifiers for the 24 car field. The B Main took the top six plus four provisionals to make up the main event 100 laps.
Mike Faulk drew the pole position on the pill draw with Mike Fritz going to the outside of the front row and when the green flag flew, Faulk took the point for the first seven laps when a caution came out for a spin on turn two. The next two caution laps counted before a treacherous thunder storm dumped 3 inches of rain on the speedway bringing on the red flag. After waiting an hour for the rain to pass, it looked like it was settling for the rest of the night. The management got permission to pick up where we left off on Sunday afternoon so the race was postponed until 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Twenty three of the original 24 car starting field returned for the lap 10 restart on Sunday afternoon and Mike Faulk took the point and held on until the final 10 laps when Mike Fritz road right over his back end, got airborne and amazingly, both drivers were able to avoid the wreck waiting to happen. Fritz took the lead and went on to win the 100 lap race. Faulk tried to protest the way Fritz took the lead away from him to no avail and had to settle for second in a nose to tail finish James Powell III, Wayne Anderson and Patrick Williams rounding out the top five. Fourteen of the 23 starters finished the race with several a lap down due to caution flags they were involved in.
Prior to the rain delay, three regular races were run with Dean Lawyer winning his third Hobby Stock feature of the over the 26 car field. Curtis Neumann followed him through the traffic from the back end of the pack for a second place finish followed Richie Smith, Todd Downs and Roy Perkins.
Fifteen Street Stocks took the green flag in their 25 lap feature with James Green surviving all the bumping and grinding for his third win of his abbreviated season. Ernie Reed gave it all he had to take the top spot away from Green at the checkers but had to settle for second over Mickey Burns, Danny Cretty and Frank Buchanan to round out the top five. Only nine cars were able to finish.
Bill Ryan and Johnny Sanders took the green for the 25 lap Sportsman main from the front row with and 11 car field in pursuit. Ryan won the drag race for the first lap. It was another knock down drag out run for the lead that changed hands 5 times before rookie Mike Bell took the win to hold on to his point lead in the division. Last week’s winner showed that patience paid off again and held out for second after some of the front runners got into trouble and were sent to the rear of the pack or broke and wound up in the pits. John Gann, Bill Oesterreicher and John Chance took the balance of the top five spots.
Balancing out the show on Sunday afternoon was a 15 car Mini Stock 25 lap event that saw Phillip joiner come from the back of the pack and survive the hot, slippery race track for his third win of the season. Chris Thornton jockeyed back and forth from the lead to fifth and back to second at the finish after Chris Hooker faded from the lead to sixth. Clint Foley finished in a solid third ahead of returning Dustin DesChamps who has been recovering from an off track accident. Richard Stroup finished fifth for his first top five finish at Citrus.
Wrapping up the weekend of the unusual Sunday session were 21 Thunder Stocks in a 25 lap feature run. Lee Keller worked his way to the front in the first 10 laps while the rest of the field diced for position behind him. Tim Wilson worked his way from 20th to put the pressure on in the late laps and finally wrenched the lead away from Keller for his fifth win of the season. Pole sitter Larry Triana held out for third over Pat Quick who started from the rear of the field a couple of times. Rick Badessa moved from 13th to fifth when the checkered flag flew.
The Pro Modified Squad moves into Citrus next Saturday night plus the Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and the Thunder Stocks continue their point races.
