| Reutimann Sr. Scores on 20 Car TBARA Field | by Larry MacMillan
Threatening weather again cost Citrus County Speedway car count and fan participation but the action was anything but wet featuring the third series appearance of the TBARA Sprint Cars.
Twenty-one cars registered and only one couldn’t make the field for the green flag 25 lap main. Shane Butler turned a 12.09 lap to out run the 9 car 1st heat race.
Keith Butler locked onto the win in the second heat with a 12.11 fast lap and Danny Martin Jr. turned a 12.10 on the 3/8ths mile asphalt to take the win in the third heat. Randy Woodall was the only racer unable to make the heat and feature run.
John Sambor and Danny Martin Jr. won the pole slots and when the green flew Martin took the point into turn one when the traffic jam behind him really got jammed up big time and sent Keith Butler airborne and tumbling off the one-two turn embankment into the pit area.
He walked away from the accident but his heat winning car was done for the night. On the restart, Martin took the point again and led for the first two laps before the second caution came out taking out two more cars.
Things settled down on the single file restart for lap 3 and it took 8th starter Wayne Reutimann Sr. one more lap to catch Danny Martin. Reutimann chased Martin for the next 13 laps before making the pass in lap 16. Shane Butler worked his way from the 11th starting spot to chase Reutimann to the flag.
Doug Heveron suffered an early mishap but managed to hold out for a third place finish followed by Martin and dirt track star Sport Allen to round out the top five. TBARA Sprints will make their final appearance of the year at Citrus on September 13 in the second leg of their North Central Florida weekend starting at Ocala Speedway on Friday the 12th.
Only nine cars took the green flag for the Sportsman 20 lap feature and the race for the lead from the start was a side by side battle between Bill Ryan and Mike Bell that ended with them making contact on turn one and two, ending the night for Ryan.
Johnny Sanders moved up to the pole position for the restart and took the point away from Bell from the green. Bell chased Sanders for five laps before Sanders slipped to the outside and Bell took advantage of the open door to take the point and went on to score his second win of the season. J.D. Goff held out for second over Bill Oesterreicher, John Chance and Johnny Sanders.
Mike Veltman and Kyle Bookmiller got caught up in a scrape that ultimately got Veltman disqualified and an escort to the pits. Heat winners were Goff and Chance.
Mini Stocks saw the battle for the point lead continue between Chris Hooker and Chris Thornton. Hooker came out top dog with his third win of the season with Thornton right on his rear bumper at the finish line.
With the bonus points for leading a lap and winning his heat it would appear that Hooker is back on top in the point race by thirteen points. Phillip Joyner ran third but was disqualified in tech when he was P & G’d for over sized pistons.
Early leader George Neumann inherited third followed by opening leader Dan Smith to round out the top five. Hooker and George Neumann took the heat wins.
Joe Viverito launched his #72 racer off the pole position for two restarts and blew the Street Stock field away for his fourth win of the season. When it was all over but the shouting he went to tech under protest and had to wait for several hours before he could truly log that one in the win column.
Ernie Reed had to settle for second ahead of Mike Bell, Travis Nichols and Mickey Burns. Viverito also picked up his heat win and Travis Nichols logged his 4th heat win of the season.
Hobby Stocks put on a wild show with 25 cars taking the green for their 20 lap main. Dean Lawyer started 24th and with some hard patient driving, a few caution flags and surviving getting pushed around a couple of times, managed to log his second win of the season and second in a row.
Roy Perkins managed to come through a late wreck that moved him from fifth to second when the checkers flew. First timer, Kyle Maynard held out for third over point runner up Curtis Neumann and Sport Wilson. Wilson got caught up in two caution flag situations and had to start in the rear of the pack on both restarts to salvage his fifth place finish.
Thunder Stock point leader Pat Quick was looking for her 9th win of the season but she got caught up in two mishaps that put her to the rear of the field on both restarts.
Point runner up Lee Keller came from the 18th starting position and pulled off his second win of the season over Rick Badessa, Pat Quick, Victor Shahid and Mike Dubbs. Badessa and Shawn Conner took the heat wins.
Next Saturday night the regular Late Models return to action in their point race along with the Sportsman, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks and Thunder Stocks. Big Foot will be putting on a Monster Truck half time show for the fans.
Citrus County Speedway Results 8/2/03
TBARA Sprint Car Feature – 25 Laps – 20 Cars
1. #99 Wayne Reutimann Sr.
2. #18 Shane Butler
3. #22 Doug Heveron
4. #00d Danny Martin Jr.
5. #88 Sport Allen
6. #00 Wayne Reutimann Jr.
7. #80 Wendy Mathis
8. #68 Ray Bragg
9. #51 Mark Gimmler
10.#29 Gary Gimmler
11.#16 Ben Fritz
12.#78 Tim Sharrone
13.#6F Skeeter Faulcorner
14.#33c John Sambor
15.# 3 Ricky Burnett
16.#32 Sonny Hartley
17.#96 Joey Aguilar
18.#11 Tra Pissott
19.#19 Keith Butler
20.#118 Stan Butler
21.#21 Randy Woodall – No Start
Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 9 Cars
1. #17 Mike Bell
2. #14 J.D. Goff
3. # 0 Bill Oesterreicher
4. #96 John Chance
5. #36 Johnny Sanders
1st Heat Winner - #14 J.D. Goff
2nd Heat Winner - #96 John Chance
Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps - 12 Cars
1. #72 Joe Viverito
2. #55 Ernie Reed
3. #17 Mike Bell
4. # 2 Travis Nichols
5. #22 Mickey Burns
1st Heat Winner - #72 Joe Viverito
2nd Heat Winner - # 2 Travis Nichols
Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 8 Cars
1. #1x Chris Hooker
2. #24 Chris Thornton
3. # 3 George Neumann
4. #72 Dan Smith
5. #13 Steve Griffin
1st Heat Winner - #1x Chris Hooker
2nd Heat Winner - # 3 George Neumann
Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 25 Cars
1. #19 Dean Lawyer
2. #07 Roy Perkins
3. #07x Kyle Maynard
4. #01 Curtis Neumann
5. #94 Sport Wilson
1st Heat Winner - #77b Travis Nichols
2nd Heat Winner - #94 Sport Wilson
Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 19 Cars
1. #21 Lee Keller
2. #88 Rick Badessa
3. #55 Pat Quick
4. # 8 Victor Shahid
5. #03 Mike Dubbs
1st Heat Winner – #44 Shawn Conner
2nd Heat Winner - #88 Rick Badessa
Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board!
<news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!
|
