IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 11, 2005 FSCR Banner Night At Citrus Saturday By Larry MacMillan The second week of restarting the 50th season at Citrus County Speedway brought in 153 race cars that saw two drivers take a pair of feature wins in three divisions. It also brought in the largest field of Figure 8 cars that Citrus has seen in quite awhile, putting on quite a finale for the 7 divisions that took on the popular 3/8ths mile. A Thunder Stock Double Feature attracted New York resident Ted Taylor to make the trip to Citrus County Speedway to lock horns with a 26 and 23 car starting field. He made the trip worth while coming from the back of the pack on both occasions to take a pair of checkered flags for his effort. Taylor was just the whipped cream topping to a banner night of action at the super 3/8ths mile race track celebrating 50 years of racing. In the makeup race Taylor was chased to the finish line by Mike Loudy who lost the lead in the final lap and the race by half a car length. Steven Stinedurf, Gary Johnson and D.J. Macklin were in the top five. The second feature had Wayne Heater on Taylor’s rear bumper at the flag followed by Gary Johnson, Steven Stinedurf and Mike Loudy. It was also a big night for “Doc” James Batson who put together a pair of back to back wins in the Hobby Stock and Sportsman Divisions. Thirty seven Hobby Stocks qualified in three heat races and an 18 car, 10 lap B-Main. Batson started 9th in the 24 car Hobby Stock 20 lap main and battled with Corky Miley right to the flag, followed by Tim Anderson, John Zuidema and Tim Whitehead. Batson, Miley and Todd Downs took the heat wins while Mike Wedlick won the Consi. Batson came right back in the Sportsmen 20 lap main launching his racer out of the 4th starting spot in the 21 car field taking the point when pole sitter Robert Pilkinton’s mount ran into mechanical problems ending his night. Batson took the checkers ahead of Mike Bell, Bobby Taylor, Johnny Sanders and Bob Mascarelli to log his second win of the night. Heat wins went to Pilkinton, Bell and Mike Veltman. Twenty one Modifieds took the green flag and after several caution flags 6th starter Tommy Schnader made the pass on the inside of pole sitter Andrew Alderman taking his first win of the season over Butch Bassett and Robert Ray who recovered from a five car wreck at the flagger’s stand. Point leader Billy Bechtelheimer made his way from 15th to finish 4th over 10th starter Jimmy Wagner. Heat wins went to Schnader, Bassett and Ray. Thirteen Mini Stocks took the green for their 20 lap feature run and William Prevatt and Don Faunce battled it out in the first few laps before Faunce took the point and the win over Prevatt and Johnny Sinner. Chris Hooker salvaged a fourth place finish after recovering from miscue in the run for the lead that sent him to the rear of the pack late in the race. Paul Combast logged a fifth place finish. Heat wins went to Prevatt and George Neumann. New comer James Pate came out top shoe over the 12 car 4 Cylinder Bomber division in their 15 lap main event. John Crichton, Donald Guy, Gary Guy and Norman Dismuke locked in the top five spots. Crichton and Gary Guy won the heat races. Twenty three Figure 8’s put on quite a show and the pros ran into trouble with the rookies early when some of the early leaders were taken out by the slower cars at the intersection. One incident took out three cars in a five car collision. When the mayhem settled down and the pros took over it was smooth sailing for James Poole who took his first, ever Citrus County Speedway Feature. The Hage Family had three cars in the race with Darrel and Bob Hage running second and third when the checkers flew. Clifford Rousseau and two time Citrus Champion Ronnie Schreifels battled to a fourth and fifth place finish respectively. Figure 8’s will be back again next week plus the Late Models are out in their first point race of the 2005 season. Mini Cup cars, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers round out an 8 division race card for week seven of the this 36 race schedule for 2005. Citrus County Speedway Results – 4/9/05 Modified Feature – 30 Laps – 21 Cars 1. #19 Tommy Schnader 2. #23 Butch Bassett 3. #96 Robert Ray 4. # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer 5. #17 Jimmy Wagner 1st Heat Winner - #19 Tommy Schnader 2nd Heat Winner – #23 Butch Bassett 3rd Heat Winner - #96 Robert Ray Sportsmen Feature – 20 Laps – 21 Cars 1. #B4 James Doc Batson 2. #17 Mike Bell 3. #66 Bobby Taylor 4. #36 Johnny Sanders 5. #72 Bob Mascarelli 1st Heat Winner - #0X Robert Pilkinton 2nd Heat Winner – #17 Mike Bell 3rd Heat Winner - #55 Mike Veltman Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars 1, # 2 Don Faunce 2. #10 William Prevatt 3. #01 Johnny Siner 4. #1X Chris Hooker 5. #90 Paul Combast 1st Heat Winner - #10 William Prevatt 2nd Heat Winner - # 1 George Neumann Hobby Stock Feature 0 20 Laps – 24 Cars – 37 Registered 1. #77 James Doc Batson 2. #55 Corky Miley 3. #11 Tim Anderson 4. #47 John Zuidema 5. #35 Tim Whitehead 1st Heat Winner - #55 Corky Miley 2nd Heat Winner - #77 James Batson 3rd Heat Winner - #00 Todd Downs B- Main Winner - #96 Mike Wedlick Thunder Stock Feature Make up 4/2 – 20 Laps – 26 Cars 1. #77 Ted Taylor 2. #80 Mike Loudy 3. #0X Steven Stinedurf 4. #40 Gary Johnson 5. #14 D.J. Macklin 1st Heat Winner – #85 Tim Wilson 2nd Heat Winner - #40 Gary Johnson Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 23 Cars 1. #77 Ted Taylor 2. #71 Wayne Heater 3. #40 Gary Johnson 4. #0X Steven Stinedurf 5. #80 Mike Loudy 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 15 Laps -12 Cars 1. #55 James Pate 2. #41 John Crichton 3. #33 Donald Guy 4. #32 Gary Guy 5. #11 Norman Dismuke 1st Heat Winner - #41 John Crichton 2nd Heat Winner - #32 Gary Guy Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 23 Cars 1. # 5 James Poole 2. # 8 Darrel Hage 3. #52 Bob Hage 4. # 3 Clifford Rousseau 5. #64 Ron Schreifels Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!