IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 19, 2007 Teddy Nelson continues to Lead Citrus Modified Action by Larry MacMillan (Inverness, Fl. 8/18/07) Eight divisions provided plenty of action in the Saturday night showdown at Citrus County Speedway. The fans got more action than they expected with 146 racers taking on the 3/8ths mile at Florida’s premier short track. Teddy Nelson won the outside pole position for the 15 car Open Wheel Modified 30 lap main and took command of the race from the get go. Unfortunately he had to make the move again when Kyle Bookmiller, going after the second spot, got into the wall and spun down towards the infield causing, a chain reaction, 8 car crash on the front straight just beyond the start finish line. When the smoke cleared Adam May’s car was on top of Bobby Taylor with Ricky Coffin and Jay Coleman in that knot while Mike Stalnaker, Robbie Cooper and Kyle Bookmiller were knotted up beside them. James Houle was the 8th car in the mess but he went into the infield unscathed. On the restart there were only 9 cars able to take the green and again Nelson took the point and left the rest of the racers behind to battle for position. Nelson built up a pretty good lead before Curtis Neumann made his way into second and gave it his all to catch Nelson in the final lap. In the run for the flag Neumann made his way into the low groove and missed taking the win by a half car length to Teddy Nelson who put some more cushion in his point lead and recorded his third win of the season. Doug Miller outran Ritchie Smith and Harold Cannon in the run for third. Nelson and Neumann shared the heat wins. Fred Tuski popped to the top of the Sportsman leader board picking up his second win in three races. Tuski set the pace early and left the rest of the 12 car field to battle it out for second. Mike Veltman closed the gap late in the race after getting held up in traffic in the early stages but it wasn’t enough when the checkers flew. Johnny Zuidema came off the pole to set the early pace but slipped back to fifth before recovering and holding out in the race for third over Tom Posavec and Ernie Reed. Posavec fell from the top spot by 2 points despite his third place finish. Heat winners were Tuski and D.J. Macklin. Twenty of the 23 registered Street Stocks made their 20 lap main and Curtis Flanagan wasted no time coming through traffic from his 10th starting spot to take the lead and his 4th win of the season. Tim Alexander set the early pace and held out for a second place finish over Ritchie Smith who was caught up in traffic from his 16th starting position and going for his 14th win that will have to wait another week. Curtis continues to lead the point’s battle with Richie in hot pursuit just 28 points off the pace. Wrapping up the top 5 were Mike Stalnaker and Todd Downs. Flanagan, Smith and Downs added heat wins to their resume. George Neumann took the green flag from the outside pole when the Mini Stocks got the go sign but a first lap crash took out first timer Mitch Webb who found out the hard way that when you strap into a race car you really tighten down on those seat belts or they are going to hurt you. On the restart Neumann put the hammer down and never looked back, logging his fourth win of the season being chased by point leader Steve Griffin who settled for a solid second place finish. Robbie Yoakam came out for his first point race of the season and came from 11th to finish third over Johnny Siner who was the first driver to respect the new turn around rule voluntarily saving Griffins spot by admitting it was his fault for the spin. Mark Powers is still trying to dial in his race car after a wreck he was in several weeks ago and he salvaged a fifth place finish after spinning out early in the race. Heat wins went to Siner and Neumann. Congratulations to Clint Foley and his wife on the birth of their 7 lb. 13 oz. baby boy at 7:50 last night while this race was running and of course he missed the race for that event. Bill Ryan continues his defense of the point lead in the Pure Stock Division scoring his 6th win of the season over the 26 car field from his 16th starting spot. Mike Veltman is making noise in the division after fielding a car that is driven by his nephew in the V8 Thunder Stock Rookie division. Veltman had the lead for a few laps before Ryan caught him and made the pass for the win. Veltman settled for a heat win and a solid second place finish over pole sitter Victor Shahid. Eddie Davis ran in the top five throughout the race and locked onto 4th over Steven Stinedurf. Glen Colyer added another heat win to his resume and Rick Ray took the win in the third heat. Travis Hoefler moved closer to the 4 Cylinder Bomber Crown by taking his second win of the season in the division and now trails Jeff Eberly by just 5 points. Peter Nelson had the early lead until Hoefler made his way through traffic to drop him to second when the checkers flew. Post race inspection took that spot away from Nelson for running illegal springs and sway bar. That moved John DeGeorge into second over Brett Jenkins, Jeff Eberly and Bobby Richardson. Heat winners were Eberly and Hoefler. It was a wild 23 car Figure 8 run from start to finish. The first crash came in the first lap when Paul Grynewicz and Bill Ringheisen got together on turn 3 putting Ringheisen over the wall and Grynewicz on the wall. On the restart it was Bobby Towe making his way from 9th to the point and leading it the rest of the way home despite several more red flags. When the smoke cleared Towe became the 10th different winner of the season. Daryl Hage picked up second with Curtis Youmans on his rear bumper at the finish and the top spot in the points race by 10 points over Daryl. Joey Catterelli made his way from 15th to fourth followed by Robbie Hage when the flag flew. Eighteen V8 Thunder Stock Rookies joined the chase in their 20 lap main event with Richard Dinkins picking up his second win in a row in only his third race. Mike Martin locked down second being chased by Cotee Clark who lost his third place finish in tech. Josh Long moved up to third due to the D.Q. followed by Tim Eisenhower and Jesse Veltman. Next Saturday night the Super Late Models return to the lineup accompanied by the Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stock Rookies and 4 Cylinder Bombers. --Advertisement-- Citrus County Speedway Results 8/18/07 Open Wheel Modified Feature – 30 Laps - 15 Cars 1. #34 Teddy Nelson – Pinellas Park – 3rd Season Win 2. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness 3. #53 Doug Miller – Largo 4. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando 5. # 3 Harold Cannon – Valrico 1st Heat Winner - #34 Teddy Nelson 2nd Heat Winner - #01 Curtis Neumann Sportsman Feature – 12 Cars – 20 Laps 1. #71 Fred Tuski – Crystal River – 2nd Season Win 2. #94 Mike Veltman – Crystal River 3. #147 Johnny Zuidema III – Homosassa 4. #01 Tom Posavic – Dunnellon 5. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 1st Heat Winner - #71 Fred Tuski 2nd Heat Winner - #14 D.J. Macklin – Tampa Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 23 Cars 1. # 3 Curtis Flanagan – Floral City – 4th Season Win 2. #63 Tim Alexander - Floral City 3. #142 Richie Smith – Hernando 4. # 8 Mike Stallnaker – Ocala 5. #00 Todd Downs – Homosassa 1st Heat Winner - #3 Curtis Flanagan 2nd Heat Winner - #142 Richie Smith 3rd Heat Winner - #00 Todd Downs Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #1 George Neumann – Inverness – 4th Season Win 2. #3 Steve Griffin – Inverness 3. #8 Robbie Yoakam – Hernando 4. #01 Johnny Siner – Homosassa 5. #29 Mark Powers – Hernando 1st Heat Winner - #01 Johnny Siner 2nd Heat Winner - # 1 George Neumann Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 26 Cars 1. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell – 6th Season Win 2. #94 Mike Veltman – Crystal River 3. # 8 Victor Shahid – Floral City 4. #119 Eddie Davis – Polk City 5. # 0 Steve Stinedurf – Brooksville 1st Heat Winner - #44 Glen Colyer – Homosassa 2nd Heat Winner - #94 Mike Veltman 3rd Heat Winner - #19 Rick Ray – Floral City 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City – 2nd Season Winner 2. #122 John DeGeorge – Dunnellon 3. #89 Brett Jenkins – Lakeland 4. #001 Jeff Eberly – Spring Hill 5. #22 Bobby Richardson – Lecanto 1st Heat Winner - #001 Jeff Eberly 2nd Heat Winner - #20 Travis Hoefler Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 23 Cars 1. #65 Bobby Towe – St. Petersburg – 1st Season Win 2. # 8 Daryl Hage – St. Petersburg 3. #27 Curtis Youmans – Floral City 4. #15 Joey Catterelli – Pinellas Park 5. #74 Robbie Hage – St. Petersburg V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars 1. #34 Richard Dinkins – Bushnell – 2nd Season Win 2. #76 Mike Martin – Inverness 3. #00 Josh Long – Inverness 4. #123 Tim Eisenhower – Homosassa 5. #94 Jesse Veltman – Crystal River Have an opinion on this story? 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