IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

October 26, 2008 Richie Smith Crowned 2008 Citrus Open Wheel Modified Champion by Larry MacMillan (Inverness, Fl. 10/25/08) Richie Smith has driven just about every division running a Citrus County Speedway this season but his primary ride has been the #42 Open Wheel Modified with one thought in mind and that was to win the championship. He spent most of the season chasing Curtis Neumann and finally caught him when Neumann was unable to start due to a mechanical breakdown September 27th. Smith forged to the top of the point’s ladder by 85 points with a second place finish in that race. Despite the fact that Richie only needed to start this final race of the season to capture the crown he made quite a race out of Saturday nights 35 lap finale. Neumann charged to the front early in the race and set the pace all the way to the checkered flag to take his 7th win of the season. Meanwhile Smith made his way through traffic from his 11th starting spot and pushed up to third before getting caught up in a caution flag spin going for second in a match race with Teddy Nelson that sent him to the rear of the field. When the checkered flag came out Nelson held out for second followed by Robbie Cooper, Adam May and Richie moved through all that tail end traffic to capture a fifth place finish and the 2008 Modified Championship Crown. Heat winners were Neumann, Doug Miller and Richie Smith. Sportsman brought in a 15 car field for their next to last race of the season and a Championship run that is still not a lock. Bobby Ervien closed the gap by 4 points on Tom Posavec with his 7th feature win of the season. Ernie Reed launched from his 9th spot to hold out for a second place finish followed by point leader Tom Posavec who goes into the final race of the year next week with an 18 point lead over Ervien. T.J. Chambers and Dustin Aaron rounded out the top five. Heat winners were Ervien and Posavec. The Sportsman division wraps up their season next Saturday night with a 50 lap special and the crowning of the 2008 Champion. Tommy Smith was the dominant force in the Street Stock division for the second week in a row taking both his heat and feature wins and moving from 10th to 9th in their points’ race. Team mate Jason Murphree was in pursuit most of the way putting some more cushion in his second spot in the points’ race using team mate Tim Quick’s car. Frank Stromquist moved from 9th for a solid 3rd place finish. Brent Cooper came from his 13th starting spot to finish just in front of 2008 Street Stock Champion Tim Quick who borrowed Richie Smith’s Street Stock that hasn’t seen a whole lot of action after taking last years’ championship. Second heat winner was Tim Quick. George Neumann made short work of the front 7 drivers on his way to his 6th win of the season. Johnathan Camp was the only driver who had anything for Neumann in the final laps of the race and had to settle for a second place finish from his 13th starting spot. Kevin Harrod finished 3rd from his 10th starting spot and pretty much has a lock on the 2008 Championship with just one race left in the season finale on November 8th. Chris Harvey held out for a 4th place finish just ahead of point runner up Mike Lawhorn. With only 13 cars in the field there were no heats run. Twenty two cars made for an exciting 4 Cylinder Bomber race and top shoe at the checkered flag was 10th starter Shawn Evans who logged his 4th win of the season. Anthony LaPoint started right beside Evans and followed him through traffic to hold out for a second place finish. Brandon Watson was out to make it three in a row but couldn’t pull it off, settling for third and was chased across the start finish line by Bobby Richardson and Nathan Florian. Heat wins went to Bryson Ward and point leader Richard Kuhn who pretty much has a lock on the 2008 Championship with a 103 point lead over defending champion Jeff Eberly. The Bomber division will race in the final two race nights of the season. Fifteen Figure 8 racers took on the intersection 40 times and the race got started off with point runner up Darryl Hage hitting the water barrels hard on turn one of the Figure 8 track. He swapped out his destroyed car with his brother Robbie to get back for the restart. When the green flag flew Rick Shahid led the first lap with Charlie Meyer and T.J. Sharrone getting caught up in a wreck on turn 4. Meyer was done for the night and Sharrone only got one more partial lap in on the restart before he had to retire. Clifford Rousseau and Joey Catterelli battled for the balance of the 20 lap main with Rousseau scoring his 2nd win of the season and Catterelli putting some more cushion on his point lead going into their final race on November 8th. John Baranauskas out ran Robbie Aaron in the run for third. Wayne Calkins came off his win of last week with a solid fifth place run. Eight Mini Cup Cars made their last visit to Citrus Saturday night and Bobby Rogers was the man to beat coming from 8th to the winner’s circle in their 20 lap feature event. Rick Fiore, Carlos Pinto, Mike Holt and Corey White took the top five spots. Brady Marshall won the 8 lap heat race. With only two weeks left in the 2008 season every driver looking for a top ten spot in the points’ race knows that starting and finishing that last race of the season is important. The Sportsman will wrap up their season next Saturday night in a 50 lap special. The Super Late Models run their final race of the season also. The Mini Stocks, Pure Stock, V8 Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers have 2 races left in their season. Next week is also “Dare to Win” night giving those drivers who have not won a race eligible to run in a special race. Citrus County Speedway Results 10/25/08 Open Wheel Modified Feature – 35 laps – 19 Cars 1. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness – 7th Season Win 2. #34 Teddy Nelson – Pinellas Park 3. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson 4. #37 Adam May – Lutz 5. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando – 2008 Modified Champion 1st Heat Winner – #01 Curtis Neumann 2nd Heat Winner - #53 Doug Miller – Largo 3rd Heat Winner - #42 Richie Smith Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 15 Cars 1. #88 Bobby Ervien – St. Petersburg – 7th Season Win 2. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 3. #01 Tom Posavec – Dunnellon 4. #57 T.J. Chambers - ? 5. #98 Dustin Aaron – Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #01 Tom Posavec 2nd Heat Winner - #88 Bobby Ervien Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #93 Tommy Smith – Hernando – 5th Season Win 2. #95 Jason Murphree – Homosassa – Drove #97 3. #57 Frank Stromquist – Lecanto 4. #197 Brent Cooper – Dunnellon 5. #97 Tim Quick – Lecanto – Drove #42 1st Heat Winner - #93 Tommy Smith 2nd Heat Winner - #97 Tim Quick Mini Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 13 Cars 1. # 1 George Neumann – Inverness – 6th Season Win 2. #13 Johnathan Camp – Beverly Hills 3. #34 Kevin Harrod – Floral City 4. #51 Chris Harvey – Belleview 5. #44 Mike Lawhorn – Claremont No Heats Run 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 22 Cars 1. #46 Shawn Evans – Williston – 4th Season Win 2. #88 Anthony LaPoint – Zephyrhills 3. #66 Brandon Watson – Dunnellon 4. #22 Bobby Richardson – Lecanto 5. #26 Nathan Florian – Homosassa 1st Heat Winner - # 4 Bryson Ward – Crystal River 2nd Heat Winner - #47 Richard Kuhn – Ocala Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 15 Cars 1. # 3 Clifford Rousseau – St. Petersburg – 2nd Season Win 2. #15 Joey Catterelli – Pinellas Park 3. #27 John Baranauskas – St. Petersburg 4. # 6 Robert Aaron – Brooksville 5. #14 Wayne Calkins – St. Petersburg Florida Mini Cup Feature- 20 Laps – 8 Cars 1. #12 Bobby Rogers 2. #60 Rick Fiore 3. #48 Carlos Pinto 4. #24 Mike Holt 5. #77 Corey White Have an opinion on this story? 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