Jefferson Tops 24 Car Mod Squad at Citrus County Speedway | by Larry MacMillan
Twenty four UPM modifieds made a run at the clocks to qualify for the Citrus County Speedway Modified 100 and top gun on the clocks was Wayne Jefferson with a 13.810 second run.
This may have been a preview of what was to come in the 100 lap main event. Lee Collins, Steve Gainey, Kevin Durdin and Alan McCafferty all ran in the 13 second bracket to make up the top five in qualifying.
Dade City’s Mike Wilson won the pole with Kevin Durdin, taking the outside of the front row when the green flag dropped. Durdin went to the point with pole sitter Wilson falling in behind him for the first few laps before he got into trouble that put him in the pits and to the tail end of the field for the restart.
Jefferson picked up the second spot on the restart and followed Durdin for 74 laps before Durdin slipped to the top of the track of turn four, opening the door for Jefferson to make the pass on turn one with sparks flying when they made contact on the pass. Despite two more caution flags Jefferson maintained a pace that was to tough to overcome right down to the checkered flag. Durdin closed late in the race but was unable to make the pass to hold out for second over 8th starter Dwayne Dempsey, Alan McCafferty, Steve Gainey, Lee Collins Jerry Symons, Joe Federico, John Gerstner and Chris Fadling rounding out the top ten. Fourteen cars were still running at the end of 100 laps.
The Sportsman division saw 12 cars take the green flag with Stephen Anderson picking up his 3rd feature win of the season holding the lead for all 25 laps. Johnny Sanders held off a lot of heat from Kyle Bookmiller to win a second place finish while Kyle Bookmiller locked on to third over Bill Oesterreicher who survived three mishaps which put him to the rear of the field for all three restarts. New comer Kyle Maynard held out for fifth. Point leader Mike Bell lost some ground with a DNF when he lost an engine at the mid point in the race.
Twenty Three Hobby Stocks took the green flag to kick off the evening of all feature racing. Josh Teague came off the pole and wound up in a three car pile up on turn one which damaged his racer and sent him to the pits for repairs. After the restart, it only took 8 laps for fourteenth starter Sport Wilson to make it to the point and from there on to the checkers Richie Smith, Travis Nichols, Dean Lawyer and Curtis Neumann spent the rest of the evening trying to reel him in. Wilson became the top driver in all divisions logging his 9th win of the season.
Daniel Webster had the hot hand for the 18 car Street Stock division. He launched his #1 from the 3rd starting spot to the point in the first lap and never gave up the lead despite numerous attempts from runner up Jo Jo Viverito, third place finisher Ernie Reed, Frank Buchanan and Danny Cretty to take advantage of his lack of experience that proved to be his demise just a week ago when he was in the same position. This was the second year driver’s second career win and burned up a couple of tires trying to do a burn out. His Dad Glen Webster had a few words for the young driver when it was all over.
Mini Stock point leader Chris Hooker put some cushion in his point lead over Chris Thornton after scoring his fourth win of the season in their 25 lap main. Hooker had to chase pole sitter George Neumann for 15 laps before it all came together for him. Neumann held off Steve Griffin for a second place finish while Griffin was busy jockeying with Dustin DesChamps and Chris Thornton to round out the top five.
Tim Wilson made it two in a row and number five for the season as he came from the back end of the 20 car Thunder Stock field for the win. Larry Triana came from fourth to second on the final run for the checkers to out run Shawn Conner, Louie Coie, and Wayne Heater to round out the top five. Point runner up Lee Keller was able to pull off a sixth place finish after a run in with point leader Pat Quick that sent both cars to the rear. Quick had her second finish out of the top five for the season with a 14th place finish.
Citrus County Speedway gets back to a regular schedule of heat and feature action over the next two weeks with the return of the Late Models, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Thunder Stocks.
Citrus County Speedway Results 8/23/03
UPM Modified Feature – 100 Laps – 24 Cars
1. #1 Wayne Jefferson St. Petersburg
2. #0 Kevin Durdin Archer
3. # 6 Dwyane Dempsey St. Petersburg
4. #32x Alan McCafferty Clermont
5. #01 Steve Gainey Bradenton
6. #89 Lee Collins Felda
7. #66 Jerry Symons New Smyrna
8. #26 Joe Federico Lakeland
9. #77 John Gerstner Tampa
10.#29 Chris Fadling Dade City
11.#70 Jeremy Gerstner Tampa
12.#07 Larry Martin Gainesville
13.#06 Greg Nordstrom Glen St. Mary
14.#71 Mathew Fetterhoff Riverview
15.#57 Jim Slynn Orlando
16.#19 Mike Johnson Tallahassee
17.#32 Red Vann Lutz
18.#21 Joe Winchell Davie
19.#79 Mike Wilson Dade City
20.#72 John Grimm Seffner
21.# 2 Skip Honaker Titusville
22.#99 Raymond Vann Wesley Chapel
23.#14 Mike Bennet High Springs
24.#96 Robert Ray Floral City
Fast Quaifier: #1 Wayne Jefferson – St. Petersburg
Sportsman Feature – 25 Laps – 13 Cars
1. #48 Stephen Anderson
2. #36 Johnny Sanders
3. #03 Kyle Bookmiller
4. # 0 Bill Oesterreicher
5. #27 Kyle Maynard
Street Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 18 Cars
1. # 1 Daniel Webster
2. #72 Joe Viverito
3. #55 Ernie Reed
4. #07 Frank Buchanan
5. #01 Danny Cretty
Hobby Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 23 Cars
1. #94 Sport Wilson
2. #42 Richie Smith
3. #4E Travis Nichols
4. #19 Dean Lawyer
5. #01 Danny Cretty
Mini Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 14 Cars
1. #1X Chris Hooker
2. # 3 George Neumann
3. #13 Steve Griffin
4. #51 Dustin DesChamps
5. #24 Chris Thornton
Thunder Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 19 Cars
1. #85 Tim Wilson
2. # 1 Larry Triana
3. #44 Shaun Conner
4. #88x Louie Cioe
5. #71 Wayne Heater
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