| Wednesday, December 11, 2002 | |
by Lawrence K. MacMillan
INVERNESS, Fla. (Dec. 6, 2002) - The 2002 season was cut short by rain but over three hundred drivers, pit crew members, families and fans came to honor the 60 top ten drivers in the six regular divisions that put on quite a show through out the season at Citrus County Speedway at the 12th annual Women’s Racing Club Awards Banquet held Friday, December 6, 2002 at the Crystal River National Guard Armory. Over 340 different drivers tried on the 3/8th mile and earned points for the year.
Fan’s favorite awards went to Late Model Champion Rex Struble over 66 competitors. The Sportsman Champion Mike Veltman who dominated the 32 drivers in the division. Street Stock Champion Mike Bell won the honors against the 43 drivers he battled with all season. Hobby Stock Champion Richie Smith picked up 14 wins to impress the fans over 74 drivers for his second championship in a row and Mini Stock Champion Robbie Yoakam dominated the 54 drivers in the division. The only winner of this award who didn’t finish in the top ten was Thunder Stock rookie Michael Wilson. He was competing against a 71-car field.
Rookie of the Year honors went to fourteen-year-old Late Model driver Brock Oglesby. J.D. Goff picked up the Sportsman rookie award. It was Joe Viverito in Street Stocks and 16-year-old Dustin DesChamp in Mini Stocks. Hobby Stock winner was Daniel Webster and Lee Keller took the honors in the Thunder Stock division.
Top ten in Late Models were Rex Struble, Jim Smith, Raymond Lovelady, Billy Bechtelheimer, Herb Hoefler, Mike Bresnahan, Dale Sanders, Danny Johnson, Herb Neumann Jr. and Perry Lovelady. Four of the Top Ten were former champions Hoefler, Bresnahan, Johnson and Neumann Jr, the defending champion.
Mike Veltman was top gun in the Sportsman division for the fourth year in a row. Bill Oestreicher held off the balance of the top ten consisting of Mark Dominique, Terry Cater, George Neumann, J.D. Goff, Buddy Kessler, David White, Johnny Sanders and Kyle Bookmiller.
It was a nip and tuck battle right down to the final race with Michael Bell coming out on top over defending champ Travis Nichols. Some more tight races for position were encountered with Ernie Reed taking third over Danny Cretty. Kathy Ray let the guys know she was in the mix with a fifth place finish and came to the banquet with a tenth place finish in the Ocala Speedway Enduro 150 after her husband Robert won the $10,000 to win race. James Green held out for sixth and was unable to attend the banquet waiting for the arrival a new son. Rounding out the top ten were Joe Viverito, Scott Hendrickson, James Hendrickson and Owen Leigh.
Robbie Yoakam rocked through the Mini Stock season as he came back on a full time basis after taking a year off and taking time off for some big money races in Mini and Late Model series. Rob Wheatley spent the year holding off young gun Phillip Joyner Jr., Jay McKenzie, Dustin DesChamp, Ron Bartley, Jacob Garver, Jimmy Bartley, Lance Taylor and Mike Lawhorn.
Richie Smith put together 14 wins for his second Hobby Stock championship over his brother Tommy Smith. Roy Perkins held off the rookie of the year Daniel Webster for third. Rounding out the top ten were Tim Whitehead, Dean Lawyer, Dustin Aaron, Brandon Johnson, Glen Colyer Sr. and Curtis Neumann.
Stuart Madison was another repeat champion but this year he put together five feature wins to winning his crown. Last year he never made it to Victory Lane. Josh Teague lost out in the final week of racing for second over Robert Jordan, Lee Keller, Dale Shelton, Todd Downs, Robin Bauer, Shawn Conner, Tim Wilson and Rick Badessa.
2002 is over and now it is time to think about 2003. A warm up for the kick off to the new season will come up this weekend as the first of two preseason Winter Spectaculars, featuring the Late Models in a 125 lap feature for $5,000 to win and a Mini Stock 75 lap special for $1,200 to win. Add 25 lap features for the Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and the Thunder Stocks plus the rained out “Powder Puff Derby” and you have a full day racing excitement during the off-season. There will be a full practice night on Friday night December 13th from 5 until 10 p.m. Late Model and Mini Stock competitors are invited to leave their rigs overnight with full security on site all night.
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