Eight divisions and 141 racers provided lots of excitement in a race card that was headlined by Doug Rose and his Green Mamba Jet car, one of the greatest drag racers in the history of the sport. All eight divisions got their races in but all the fans got to see of Doug Rose was a preview of his restored 40 year old show dragster when he brought out the car for a couple of speed runs and after burner blasts during intermission.
The 11 o’clock curfew came when the final race of the night ended just before the cut off time and forced the main event of the night to be postponed until June 9th. Fans were given free tickets to the June 9th show before they left the speedway to hopefully overcome the disappointment they experienced due to the curfew cutoff by the Sheriff’s deputies who had no alternative but to enforce the curfew.
Richie Smith has more than proven he is the man to beat in the Street Stock Division and now he is making a dent in the Sportsman division as well. Richie sailed from his 17th starting position to his 8th win in the Street Stock 20 car, 20 lap main event and is putting a lock on the early lead in the run for the Championship in the division.
The only driver that had anything for him was point’s runner up Curtis Flanagan who just couldn’t catch him on the final restart. Phillip Rook drove from his 12th starting spot to finish third being chased by Tony Trancucci to pick up his first top 5 finish of the year. Rounding out the top five was Johnny Zuidema III. Tim Wilson, Wayne Heater and Curtis Flanagan took the heat wins.
Seventeen cars took the green flag for the Sportsman feature with Smith on the outside pole and it was all over but the shouting from the get go as Richie launched his #42 racer to the point and dared anyone to make the pass on his way to his second win of the evening.
Mike Veltman came from his 11th starting spot to reel Smith in but didn’t have enough to take the win. Veltman survived a tear down in post race inspection to hold out for second followed by Ernie Reed, Tom Posavic and Rusty Bremer. Veltman and Smith shared the heat wins.
The Mod Squad raced in split 15 lappers that were brought on by the blown motor of young David Davis that left oil all over the track at the halfway point. After the clean up it just wasn’t in good shape to continue with the high speed racers so the Pure Stocks ran their feature to get the track back into acceptable conditions.
On the restart the final 15 laps were filled with controversial driving and some official decisions that were questioned by the drivers which required a driver meeting after the race. Only 14 cars took the green flag and the end result was Harold Cannon taking a flag to flag win over Adam May, Kyle Bookmiller, Curtis Neumann and Jimmy Houle. Heat winners were Mitch Korzenski and Teddy Nelson.
Mini Stocks saw Steve Griffin come off knee surgery two weeks ago and clean the 8 car field’s clock for his second win of the season. Clint Foley wasted no time coming from 7th to get in the mix and pulled off a second place finish over pole sitter Mike Lawhorn, Dan Smith and George Neumann who had the early lead before he apparently ran into mechanical problems late in the race. Griffin also took the win in the heat race.
The 4 Cylinder Bombers continue to bring on heavy fields and post race inspection rearranged the finishing order in their 20 lap feature. Apparent winner Brandon Elwood was D.Q.’d giving the win to Phil Edwards. Anthony LaPoint moved from 10th to third when the checkers flew but went to last in tech for illegal equipment on his racer. Point leader Travis Hoefler inherited a second place finish over early leader Dan Haag. Joshua Fairchild and Patric Conner moved up two spots to round out the top five at the pay window. Heat winners were Patric Conner, Joshua Fairchild and Dan Haag.
Tech took the win away from the apparent Pure Stock winner Glen Colyer for illegal shocks. Bill Ryan logged his 3rd win of the season by virtue of the D.Q. Steve Stinedurf took a last lap run from fifth to what eventually turned out to be a second place finish over Victor Shahid, Kyle Peters and Louie Coie. Stinedurf inherited the 1st heat win by virtue of Colyer’s D.Q. Kyle Peters won the second heat and John Drye, who moved up from V8 Thunder Rookies this week took the win in the third heat.
Fifteen V8 Thunder Rookies took the green flag and the field was cut in half before the race was over. Chad Markland logged his third win of the season and may be the next rookie who is forced to move up. Josh long picked up second for his second top five finish. Eddie Rosasco nailed down third over Bryan Villeneuve, and Dustin Pandy who took his first top five finish.
Twenty two Figure 8’s put on a terrific show and hopefully made up for some of the disappointment of Doug Rose being postponed. Robbie Aaron started on the pole and took a flag to flag win in his new racer for his first win of the year for the former 3 time champion. Robbie has had a tough time finishing.
Clifford Rousseau survived an early crash that put him up on the turn three wall but came back to take a solid second place finish. Jason Witfoth finished third but lost the spot in post race inspection. Charlie Meyer moved into third followed by John Thomas and Curtis Youmans rounding out the top five.
Next Saturday night the action continues at Citrus County Speedway with the Super Late Models returning to open the month of June. Joining them will be the Sportsmen, Mini Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stock Rookies and Florida Open Wheel Lites in another full race card. Doug Rose and the Green Mamba Jet will return to Citrus on Saturday, June 9th.
Citrus County Speedway Results 5/26/07
Modified Feature – 30 Laps – 14 Cars 1. # 3 Harold Cannon – 1st Season Win 2. #37 Adam May 3. #03 Kyle Bookmiller 4. #01 Curtis Neumann 5. #80 Jimmy Houle 1st Heat Winner - #83 Mitch Korzenski 2nd Heat Winner – Teddy Nelson
Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #42 Richie Smith – 2nd Season Win 2. #94 Mike Veltman 3. #55 Ernie Reed 4. #01 Tom Posavic 5. # 5 Rusty Bremer 1st Heat Winner - #94 Mike Veltman 2nd Heat Winner - #42 Richie Smith
Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #142 Richie Smith – 8th Season Win 2. # 3 Curtis Flanagan 3. #75 Phillip Rook 4. #05 Tony Trancucci 5. #47 Johnny Zuidema III 1st Heat Winner - #93 Tim Wilson 2nd Heat Winner – #71Wayne Heater 3rd Heat Winner - #3 Curtis Flanagan
Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 8 Cars 1. # 3 Steve Griffin – 2nd Season Win 2. # 7 Clint Foley 3. #44 Mike Lawhorn 4. #82 Dan Smith 5. #1 George Neumann Heat Winner - #3 Steve Griffin
