IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

July 15, 2007 Bresnahan Rolls to 4th Citrus Late Model Win by Larry MacMillan Despite severe weather hammering Citrus County Saturday afternoon the Rain Gods turned it off at about 4:15 opening up a window to get the races in after a week off. Management called a meeting of the drivers and suggested an all feature program, adding 5 laps to the main event which worked out for 6 of the 8 divisions on the schedule. Late Models and the visiting Bandelaro racers did run heats for qualifying and the Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks ran 25 lap features. The visiting PBG Legends Series and Late Models ran 35 lap main events. V8 Thunder Stock Rookies ran for 20 and the Bandeleros ran for 15 laps. The fans definitely got their money’s worth. Sixteen Late Models took the green flag for their 35 lap main with Dale Sanders on the pole and winning the drag race to turn one over Danny Johnson for the lead which he held for 15 laps while the rest of the field battled for position. Mike Bresnahan took on point leader Daniel Webster for most of the 15 laps before he went to the outside lane and made the pass to the point and never looked back despite a few caution flags. When the checkers flew Bresnahan locked in his 4th win of the season. Webster held out for second while Herb Neumann put the pressure on for the spot but had to settle for a 3rd place finish while early leader Dale Sanders held off Keith Zavrel in the run for fourth. Heat winners were Scott Grossenbacher and Bresnahan. Seventeen Sportsmen showed up for their 25 lap main event and 8th starter Mike Veltman wasted no time working the second and third groove on his way to the front leaving the rest of the field in his tracks. Lots of position changes took place behind him and he went on to take the checkered flag for what appeared to be his 6th win of the season. A money protest and top and bottom tear down proved to find him illegal on the final part inspected in tech. This gave the win to 14th starter Richie Smith who seemed to be the only driver that had anything for Veltman. With the D.Q. Tom Posavec moved up to second followed by Clint Foley, Phillip Rook and Ernie Reed rounding out the top five. Twelve Mini Stocks took the green, tuning up for next week’s Mini Stock Challenge Series race. Kevin Harrod came off the pole and set a pretty heavy pace for 21 laps, being chased by Mike Lawhorn and point leader Steve Griffin. Meanwhile Johnathon Camp was working his way through traffic from his 11th starting spot and snatched the lead away from Harrod in lap 21. With just 4 laps left to the checkers it was all over with Harrod holding out for 2nd followed by Richie Powers who moved from 10th to third after recovering from a 1st lap spin. Steve Griffin held out for 4th over Dan Smith who comes in from St. Petersburg to run at Citrus every week. Street Stocks were as exciting as ever and when the checkered flag flew, 16th starter Richie Smith doubled up for the night and locked down his 11th win of the season in the division. At the halfway point of the season if he continues at this pace he will far exceed the most wins in one season by any driver over the 52 year history of the track. Tim Wilson shot to the front of the pack from the get go from his third starting spot and looked like he would be making that trip to Victory Lane until Richie caught him in lap 21. Wilson settled for a solid second followed by Johnny Zuidema, Curtis Flanagan and Jason VanOchten. Pure Stocks came 20 cars strong and as usual Bobby Taylor started at the end of the field and wasted no time working his groove and splitting the middle of a three wide race on his way to the front and his sixth trip to the Winner’s Circle. Bill Ryan gave him a race and may have had something for him at the end but he lost his overflow tank and an overheat problem slowed him down for the final three laps and just outran Steve Steindurf to the finish line for second. Ricky Henick outran Glen Colyer in the race for fourth. V8 Thunder Stocks started 14 cars with Ricky Shahid on the outside pole but he fell back to fifth after losing the race to turn one on the green flag to Chad Fairbanks. Shahid came back through traffic and was hot on Fairbanks heels at the halfway point and then fell back again to fifth. He continued working the outside groove while Fairbanks set the pace for the first 18 laps, then Shahid put the hammer down and took his third win of the season. Fairbanks held out for second over Mike Martin, Josh Long and pole sitter James Zuidema. The PBG Florida Legends Touring Series brought in 16 cars for a 35 lap series point race and Kory Abbot from Apopka continued his winning ways taking the lead in lap 25 of the 35 lap main event. Brandon Thomson led most of the race until he got caught up in slow traffic with about a half lap lead. He and Doug Hall got tangled on turn 1 and 2 putting them both into the infield and ending the night for Thomson. Kory Abbot took the lead for the restart and continued onto the checkered flag for the win over Chelsea Schillig who stayed on his rear bumper all the way to the checkers. Jimmy Norman held out for third over Josh Williams and Shaugan (sp) McCormick. Wrapping up the evening were the Bandelaros with a 9 car field and the Salem, N.C. Bassett family were the dominant force with Ronnie Basset winning the heat and feature race. A driver by the name of Critter from Casselberry Florida took the second spot over Dillon Bassett, and Shawn Hooven from Orlando and Donovan Ponder out of Orlando rounding out the top five in their 15 lap feature run. One of the drivers from Florida came through the back gate stating they had been driving all night after racing in Ohio on Friday night. Now that is a devoted racer. Next Friday night Citrus County Speedway will welcome the drivers and fans with an Appreciation Bar B Q during the open practice session. Drivers and fans are encouraged to come and bring a covered dish or desert to add to the get together so we can all share in your favorite dish. Saturday night will see the Mini Stock Challenge Series, Southern Sportsman Series plus the local Open Wheel Modifieds, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and the Wild and Fantastic Pro Figure 8’s. Citrus County Speedway Results 7/14/07 Late Model Feature – 35 Laps – 16 Cars 1. #66 Mike Bresnahan – Lecanto - 4th Season Win 2. #3 Daniel Webster - Brooksville 3. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. - Inverness 4. # 1 Dale Sanders - Lecanto 5. #47 Keith Zavrel -Brooksville 1st Heat Winner - #09 Scott Grossenbacher 2nd Heat Winnr - #66 Mike Bresnahan Sportsman Feature – 25 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #42 Richie Smith – - Hernando - 4th Season Win 2. #01 Tom Posavec - Dunnellon 3. # 7 Clint Foley - Dunnellon 4. #97 Phillip Rook - Inverness 5. #55 Ernie Reed - Lecanto No Heat Races Mini Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #13 Johnathon Camp – Beverly Hills – 2nd Season Win 2. #34 Kevin Harrod – Floral City 3. #84 Richie Powers – Hernando 4. # 3 Steve Griffin – Inverness 5. #82 Dan Smith – St. Petersburg No Heat Races Street Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 19 Cars 1. #142 Richie Smith – Hernando – 11th Season Win 2. #93 Tim Wilson – Floral City 3. #47 Johnny Zuidema – Floral City 4. # 3 Curtis Flanagan – Floral City 5. #99 Jason VanOchten – Hudson No Heat Races Pure Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #127 Bobby Taylor – Crystal River – 6th Season Win 2. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell 3. # 0 Steve Steindurf – Brooksville 4. #61 Ricky Henick – Inverness 5. #44 Glen Colyer – Homosassa No Heat Races V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 14 Cars 1. # 3 Ricky Shahid – Floral City – 3rd Season Win 2. #37 Chad Fairbanks – Spring Hill 3. #76 Mike Martin - ? 4. #00 Josh Long – Ocklawaha 5. #47 James Zuidema – Brooksville No Heat Races PBG Legends Series Feature – 35 Laps – 16 Cars 1. # 5 Kory Abbott – Apopka 2. #75 Chelsea Schillig – Apopka 3. # 2 Jimmy Norman – Lake Mary 4. # 6 Josh Williams – Punta Gorda 5. #34 Shaugan McCormick – Orlando 6. #19 James Rodriquez – West Palm 7. #56 Tony Sansom – Orlando 8. # 7 Mike Verhaugh – Ft. Meyers 9. #38 Mike Fazio – Miami Bandelaros Feature – 15 Laps – 9 Cars 1. #04 Ronnie Bassett – Winston Salem, N.C. 2. #12 Critter ? – Casselbery 3. #44 Dillon Bassett – Winston Salem, N.C. 4. #27 Shawn Hooven – Orlando 5. # 8 Donovan Ponder - Orlando Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!