(Inverness, Fl. 6/3/06) With threatening weather moving in on Citrus County Speedway Saturday night, 111 race teams made the trip anyway and fortunately only two brief showers interrupted one session of practice and part of qualifying, delaying the start of the show by about 30 minutes. The race card featured two traveling series with the Gulf Coast Modifieds making their second appearance of the season and the return of the Kids and Pro division of the Florida Mini Cup Series. Also on the race card were the Limited Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers. The fans that braved the weather got their money’s worth with lots of excitement on the 3/8ths mile oval.
Dwayne Dempsey in the Atex Transmission Open Wheeler topped the 24 car Gulf Coast Modified qualifying turning the fast lap in a 14.131 second run, followed up by Jimmy Houle with a 14.145. Dempsey pulled the 6 pill for the inversion putting point leader Lee Collins on the pole and Robbie Cooper on the outside pole for their 50 lap main. When the green flew Collins won the drag race through turns 1 and 2 and had his rear view mirror full of Cooper for the entire 50 laps. Collins put a little more cushion in his point lead with the win while Cooper spent the night trying to make it two wins in a row after winning in Ocala on Friday night. Dwayne Dempsey managed to move from his sixth starting spot to finish third with Mike Hinegardner staying in his tire tracks all the way to the checkers. Teddy Nelson moved from 16th to round out the top five, winning the “Hard Charger” honors.
Thomas Warnick kicked off the Florida Mini Cup night with the win in the junior’s heat race. When the green fell for their 20 lap main event Devin McLeod put his competition to sleep with almost a full lap on the rest of the field before the checkers put him in Victory Lane. Warnick had to settle for a distant second over Ray Black Jr. who was right on his rear bumper at the start/finish line. Daniel Miller watched Black go by on the final lap to hold out for fourth followed by Blake Orr to round out the top five. In the Pro Division Doug Smith doubled up with a win in the heat and a flag to flag win in the feature followed by Rick Blair, Francois Pelletier, Jason Schroeder and Tom Mellin.
Local races for championship crowns saw five new drivers make their first appearance in the Limited Sportsman division. Dusty Bremer had it all together contending with 19 starters. He went to the point right from the green flag and took his first win of the season with lots of pressure from Craig Robinson who moved from 11th to finish second in his second week at Citrus. Tom Posavec survived three incidents that weren’t his fault to finish third. Edward Allen continued to be consistent with a 4th place finish just ahead of Mike Veltman who also had to recover from several incidents that brought on caution flags. Heat wins went to Jeff Rook and Edward Allen.
Mini Stocks showed up 19 cars strong and a first lap crash took out last week’s winner Johnny Siner and one of Sunshine Speedway’s top hot shoes Marty Neikens. Point leader Clint Foley again proved he is the man to beat coming from 14th to make a 20th lap pass on Johnathon Camp for his second win of the season. Camp held out for second with three time champ George Neumann right on his heels at the checkers. After two weeks off Chris Hooker started 16th and worked his way up to fourth just ahead of early leader Jesse Henley. Mike Lawhorn and Rick Litka took the heat wins.
Louie Coie’s new Thunder Stock ride is proving to be a mystery in as much as despite taking his first win, has tech inspection baffled about the carburetor he inherited when he took over the ride. He was awarded the win over the 21 car field from his 7th starting spot but the final decision is still under investigation as to its legality. Richard Henick took the early lead and set the pace for most of the race until the final run for the flag in lap 20. He finished second ahead of Mike Dubbs, Tim Wilson and Jim Kruse. Heat winners were Coie, Henick and Matthew Schell.
Justin Durbin put his fifth notch in the winner’s column in some hot 20 lap 4 Cylinder Bomber action. It only took Justin 10 laps to move from 11th to the point battling with Tim Harrington for the lead at the halfway point. Harrington held out for second over last week’s winner who moved from 12th to third. Bobby Riley outran point runner up Kevin Stone in the run for fourth. Don Doucette and Harrington took the heat wins.
The local Late Models return to Citrus County Speedway next Saturday night with the Wild Figure 8’s back in intersection action. They will be backed up by the Limited Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and the traveling series Open Wheel Lites doing their thing. Citrus County Speedway is located 2 miles south of Inverness on U.S. 41 at the Citrus County Fairgrounds. Grandstand gates open at 4 and heat races take the green flag at 5:30 pm.
Citrus County Speedway Results 6/3/06
Gulf Coast Modified Feature – 50 Laps – 24 Cars
1. #89 Lee Collins – Immokalee – Point Leader
2. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson
3. # 6 Dwayne Dempsey – St. Petersburg
4. #1H Mike Hinegardner – Largo
5. #34 Teddy Nelson – Pinellas Park
6. # 8 Chris Escott – St. Petersburg
7. # 9 Danny Partelo – St. Petersburg
8. # 4 Blake Lehr – Titusville
9. #83x Perry Brown – Riverview
10.#6B Billy Bechtelheimer – Dover
Fast Qualifier - #6 Dwayne Dempsey – 14.131 Seconds
