Wednesday, April 30, 2003 Florida Mini Stocks Challenge Citrus County Speedway by Larry MacMillan (Inverness, Fl. 4/30/03) The Florida Mini Stocks will move their series to Citrus County Speedway’s 3/8ths mile bullring for the first time since their inception and it should be one wild race with Florida’s best in attendance. Our own Robbie Yoakam is one of the outstanding Mini Stock drivers in the series along with drivers like Rick Sirmons and Richard Kelly Jr., all whom may have an advantage over some of the other hot shoes since they have run here on numerous occasions. Six new names were added to the driver list last week with Kevin Macy making his way from the back end of the 22 car field to finish fourth, followed by another new comer Robbie Storer. Darren Jackson, Marty Nikens, Pedie Allison, and David Carlbert all came to try us on for this week’s 50 lap main event. Add our own heavy hitters and young guns like Dustin DesChamps, Chris Hooker, George Neumann, Rob Wheatley, Mark Sowell, Phillip Joyner and our own point leader Chris Thornton to the other hot rods that will be making the trip and their should be quite a turn out for time trials to qualify for the limited starting positions. Time trials are scheduled to start at 5:15. Added to the race card will be the Late Models, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and Thunder Stocks in heat and feature action. Sportsman will have the night off. Mike Bresnahan continues to hold the point lead over Jim Smith who lost a real heart breaker last week, having led 29 laps only to be taken out on the run for the flag and then having a right rear tire go down on the restart. Ricky Carlton holds out in third followed by Daniel Keene Jr. and defending champion Rex Struble in the Super Late Model division that has seen 31 drivers earn points in their first four races of an 18-race schedule for the year. Ernie Reed is on top of the Street Stocks in a division that has seen five different leaders and 30 competitors in the first eight weeks of 2003. Danny Cretty, Joe Viverito, Mickey Burns and Travis Nichols round out the top five. Mickey Burns is the only driver in the top five that hasn’t made the trip to Victory Lane but has five top five finishes and one top ten plus two heat wins. Richie smith extended his point lead to 31 over young gun Curtis Neumann in the battle for the Hobby Stock championship crown. Smith is the only driver sporting a win out of the top five with three checkered flags to his credit. Neumann has a 45-point lead over Dean Lawyer who is only four points up on Tim Whitehead and 17 points up on Alvin Williamson. Thirty-nine cars have earned points in the race for the crown in the Hobby Stock Division. Pat Quick continues to hold off the twenty-seven car Thunder Stock division with a pair of feature wins, five top fives and one top ten on her resume. She has built a 57-point cushion over Roy Blotz who held the top spot for the first few weeks of the season. Lee Keller continues to be a threat and is 101 points up on Larry Triana in the race for third. Louie Cioe rounds out the top five with four other drivers within shooting distance of his position. Sportsman have this week off and will be back at it next week with Mike Veltman leading the parade by nineteen points over Johnny Gann. Billy “O” Oesterreicher continues to put the pressure on in third and has rookie Mike Bell and Johnny Sanders chasing him for that position to round out the top five. Next Saturday the Late Models take the night off to make room for the Fast Trucks. A special Mother’s Day activity is planned to honor all the moms that bring their children to the speedway. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!