(Inverness, Fl. 7/22/06) Questionable weather threatened Citrus County Speedway’s racing action Saturday night and may have discouraged some fans and drivers but the drivers came out in force to put on a five division show that put some drivers in Victory Lane for the first time. One disappointment came when the Mini Modifieds cancelled on their appearance making for an all local points show with 104 race cars.
A twenty two car super Modified field saw rookie David Davis take his first trip to Victory lane ever in the 3rd heat. Tommy Schnader and Teddy Nelson locked in the first and second heat.
Twenty of the 22 registered racers took the green flag with pole sitter Stephen Harbuck setting the early pace. Bobby Blake locked on and took the lead four laps into the race. Meanwhile ninth starter Teddy Nelson was working his way through traffic, hooking up to Blake’s rear bumper with the help of several caution flags.
When Nelson took the lead away from Blake on a restart he checked out on the field and the rest of the field chased the pair to the checkered flag. Jimmy Wagner held off twelfth starter Billy Bechtelheimer in the race for third.
Tommy Schnader came out of eighth to lock in fifth place. Balancing out the top ten were Kyle Bookmiller, Doug Miller, Stephen Harbuck, Mitch Korzenski and Harold Cannon.
Limited Sportsmen came out 24 cars strong and put on a great show that saw Mike Veltman get back into winning form from his tenth starting spot. He had an ill handling car in the heat having to settle for third but apparently they made the adjustments to help him hook up in the second groove that put him into the lead by the halfway point.
Pat Hunt gave him a run for his money before giving up the lead but held out for a second place finish. Steve Olone started 8th and stayed with the front runners for the whole race despite getting spun early to salvage third ahead of 20th starter Travis Nichols and Scott Hendrickson. Heat wins went to Curtis Youmans, D.J. Macklin and Tom Posavec.
Twenty two Hobby Stocks came out for a regular 20 lap practice run for their 50 lap special scheduled for next week. Tony Trancucci set the early pace from the pole being chased by Artie Hewitt.
Meanwhile back in the pack Curtis Flanagan used the outside groove moving from eleventh through the pack to take the point in lap 13 and went on to take his first win of the season. John Makula outran Sheldon Kinser in the race for second while John Zuidema III battled with Alvin Williamson and won the race for fourth. Heat winners were Makula, Flanagan and Don Teague.
It was a 25 car field that saw the green flag fly in the Thunder Stock 20 lap main and 12th starter Tim Wilson picking his way through several crashes and the traffic to log his third win of the season. Mac Kersey started 8th and was in the lead when Wilson snatched it away from him in the final five laps.
Kersey had to settle for second ahead of Randy Spicer who held the lead for several laps before giving way to Kersey. Gary Johnson moved from 16 to fourth ahead of early leader Victor Shahid. Lady driver Erin Ray took her very first heat win ever and shared the winner’s circle with Randy Spicer and Carmine Castoria.
Justin Durbin looked like he was on his way to win number 9 in the 4 Cylinder Bomber division but his hopes were dashed in a three car wreck that began with his dad Neal losing a wheel and collecting Justin and Jon Doucette in lap three of their 20 lap feature.
Travis Hoefler came off the outside pole and with the pressure off went on to win his very first feature race. Kevin Stone, Phil Edwards, Sonya Heater and John DeGeorge rounded out the top five. Heat wins went to Hoefler and Dustin Durbin.
Next Saturday will see the PBG Legends come to Citrus with a full local race card featuring a 50 Lap Special for the Hobby Stocks plus the Late Models, Limited Sportsmen, Mini Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and the wild Figure 8’s.
