The racers of the Southern Sportsman Series were glad to see the bright sunny skies Saturday afternoon at Citrus County Speedway. In town for a 50 lap feature race, 20 drivers signed in to compete in this re-scheduled race.
Patrick Thomas, in the Specialty Construction entry, set fast qualifying time with a lap of 14.925 seconds. Scarcely a tic behind was Richard Elkins Jr, in the Elkins Repair Service entry, with a lap of 14.945 seconds. After the top qualifiers cleared tech inspection, Thomas pulled a 7 for the inversion, placing Ronnie Heard Jr. and Aaron Williamson on the front row.
Heard and Williamson led the field onto the track for the 50 lap feature, followed by Tommy Conquest, Richie Smith, Craig Cuzzone, Elkins, Thomas, Mark Peterson, Bart Weatherford, and Steve Gainey filling the top ten starting positions. The drivers were anxious to get this race started, and it showed.
The first attempt was waved off, due to some starting just a bit to early. Attempt #2 resulted in a red flag situation, with a nasty crash in turn 3. Arthur Conquest ended up on top of the wall, David Williamson ended up hard against the wall, with several other cars involved. All the drivers were uninjured, but the race cars didn’t fare so well. Conquest and Williamson were both done for the night,along with Craig Cuzzone.
As the field was being lined up for the restart, the car of Mike Soukup had mechanical issues and was done for the evening. The came to the green flag one more time, but attrition was still a big factor, as Steve Gainey also had engine problems and exited to the pit area. As the race finally got underway, Heard powered to the lead followed closely by Williamson, Conquest, Smith and Thomas.
In the early stages of the race, Thomas was making some serious moves toward the front, in his pursuit of the leader. By lap 15 Thomas had moved into 3rd position, and was looking to move up. By lap 20 the front three were close enough to read each others lips.
The halfway point had all three working hard, and looking to force an error by the others. Lap 27 had Thomas drive under Williamson entering turn 1, looking to take the spot. Williamson was not ready to give the position away, and the cars traded a little paint before they exited turn 2. Thomas was able to take the position, with Williamson working hard to take it back.
Meanwhile, the racing in the rest of the field was exciting as well. At one point, the 42 of Smith, in 5th spot got into the rear of the 72 of Tommy Conquest, and had him very out of shape. Smith did the sportsman like thing, and backed off, letting Conquest get the car back in control, and then they went back to hard racing.
Lap 35 had Thomas working Heard for all he was worth. Thomas managed to drive under Heard in turn 1, but Heard wasn’t giving up. The two raced side by side into turn three, and out of turn 4. Continuing side by side into turn 1, the cars made contact, resulting in Thomas flattening a tire, and pulling off the track, ending a great run.
A late race caution brought the field together for a dash for the finish. With a great deal of rubbing and swapping paint, the race wound down toward the final laps, with Heard still in the lead, and receiving a lot of pressure from Richie Smith. Smith made a last ditch charge, but was unable to get by the hard charging Heard, who had driven a smart and consistent race. After the top finishers cleared tech, the results were declared official.
Final Results Southern Sportsman Series Citrus County Speedway
