IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 23, 2005 FSCR Herb Newmann Jr. tops Late Model race at Citrus by Larry MacMillan Defending Champion Herb Neumann Jr. spent his entire Saturday in the world of speed starting off with a trip to Daytona for the Busch race, trying to beat the crowd for the mad dash back to Citrus County Speedway for the first Late Model race of 2005. Had it not been for a pre race accident, he may not have made it back in time for the season opener. Young Jamie King had a major Late Model crash in a warm up session when his throttle stuck down the back straight putting him into and over the third turn wall in a barrel roll that left him upside down after crashing into an aluminum storage building outside the speedway. He was taken to Citrus Memorial Hospital for a check up and x-rays and was released with bruises and muscle aches from his seat belt harness which probably saved him from further injury. His car was striped of all the body work and totaled. Heat winners Danny Johnson and Scott Grossenbacher won the pole for the 30 lap feature with Johnson taking the early lead for the first 10 laps. Scott Grossenbacher locked onto Johnson for 8 laps before giving up the spot to Chris Hooker who kept on coming to take the lead away from Johnson in lap 11. Johnson was hung out to dry when he got together with Raymond Lovelady causing major damage to the whole front end of Johnson’s car. Meanwhile Neumann worked his way through traffic to take the lead away for Hooker in lap 22 and his first win in defense of his 2004 Championship crown. Hooker out ran Scott Grossenbacher for second while Raymond Lovelady locked onto a fourth place finish wearing body parts of Johnson’s racer for the final 15 laps in his right front wheel well. 2004 Rookie of the Year Daniel Webster held out for fifth over Eddie King, Gary Grubbs, Richard Brinson, Donnie Griffin and Robbie Smith in the 17 car starting field. Seventeen of 19 Super Street Stocks took the green for their first point’s race of the 2005 season. Ernie Reed locked onto the point from the get go with James Green glued to his rear bumper all the way to the checkered flag. Stephen Anderson, Bob Masciarelli and Richie Smith took the balance of the top five spots. Heat wins went to Reed and Doc James Batson who did not start in the feature race. Chris Hooker topped off his Late Model run by taking a flag to flag win in the Mini Stock feature over a 22 car field. Only 19 cars started and when the green flag dropped Hooker managed to leave Ronnie Larson to battle the rest of the field in the race for second. Mike Lawhorn moved from 6th to finish third over 12th starter Don Faunce and 8th starter Johnny Siner. Hooker and Mickey Kempgens took the heat wins. Thirty Hobby Stocks registered but only 25 were able to take the green flag for their stop and go 20 lap feature. Eight caution flags marred by mechanical failure and minor accidents slowed the race down but Tommy Smith took advantage of the caution flags to move from the back of the pack to Victory Lane in his second consecutive win. Corky Miley and Curtis Flanagan got into an early caution flag racing for position that sent them to the rear of the field and Miley managed to work his way back up to second when the checkers flew. Bill Ryan moved from 25th to finish third over Doc James Batson and Larry Triana finished fifth. Heat winners were Corky Miley, Tim Anderson and Curtis Flanagan. Wayne Heater won his heat and parlayed his pole position into his first win of the season over a 20 car Thunder Stock field with a flag to flag ride to the Winner’s Circle. Steven Stinedurf worked his way from 19th to second being chased by last week’s winner and 20th starter Gary Johnson. Big Dave Ross won his heat and locked down fourth over Fred Henick. Four Cylinder Bombers are again getting a slow start with new comer John Crichton winning the heat and the feature over a 7 car field. Last week’s winner Donald Guy outran another new comer Norman Dismuke in the race for third. Rounding out the top five were Kevin Stone and Tim Herrington. Week three of the 50th Anniversary celebration will feature the Super Fast Pro Modified 100 plus the Sportsman who will be bringing in some of the Southern Sportsman Series runners to test and tune for their race at Citrus on March 5th. Added to the program will be Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks, 4 cylinder Bombers and the first Figure 8 point’s race of 2005. Citrus County Speedway Results 2/19/05 Late Model Feature – 30 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. 2. #81 Chris Hooker 3. #09 Scott Grossenbacher 4. #17 Raymond Lovelady 5. #1X Daniel Webster 1st Heat Winner - #96 Danny Johnson 2nd Heat Winner - #09 Scott Grossenbacher Super Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 19 Cars 1. #55 Ernie Reed 2. #53 James Green 3. #48 Stephen Anderson 4. #72X Bob Masciarelli 5. #41 Richie Smith 1st Heat Winner - #55 Ernie Reed 2nd Heat Winner - #B4 Doc James Batson Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 22 Cars 1. #1X Chris Hooker 2. #89 Ronnie Larson 3. #44 Michael Lawhorn 4. # 2 Don Faunce 5. #01 Johnny Siner 1st Heat Winner - #1X Chris Hooker 2nd Heat Winner - #9X Mickey Kempgens Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 30 Cars 1. #42 Tommy Smith – 2nd Feature Win 2. #55 Corky Miley 3. #33 Bill Ryan 4. #77 Doc James Batson 5. # 1 Larry Triana 1st Heat Winner - #55 Corky Miley 2nd Heat Winner - #11 Tim Anderson 3rd Heat Winner - #3X Curtis Flanagan Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #71 Wayne Heater 2. #0X Steven Stinedurf 3. #40 Gary Johnson 4. #33 Dave Ross 5. #60 Fred Henick 1st Heat Winner - #71 Wayne Heater 2nd Heat Winner - #33 Dave Ross 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 15 Laps – 7 Cars 1. #41 John Crichton 2. #33 Donald Guy 3. #11 Norman Dismuke 4. #98 Kevin Stone 5. #82 Tim Herrington Heat Winner - #41 John Crichton Have an opinion on this story? 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