Sunday, September 28, 2003 Pratt Survives Contact with Johnson to Win Citrus L.M. 75 by Larry MacMillan (Inverness, Fl., 9/28/03)- Nineteen Super Late Models qualified for the Citrus County Speedway 75 lap special in quest of the $3,000 win purse and an opportunity to run for speedway points Saturday night. Mike Bresnahan kicked off the night with fast qualifying time to pick up the $100 bonus with a 13.497 second run followed by Ricky Carlton with a 13.537. The top ten were inverted for the start of the main event putting Hubert Simons on the pole and Danny Johnson on the outside of the front row. When the green dropped Danny Johnson won the drag race to turn one and held off all challengers for the majority of the race. Several caution flags marred the major battle for position with the most extended coming when Billy Bechtelheimer blew a brand new motor on the back straight and leaving fluid through turn four before coming to a stop facing traffic. Fortunately some sharp driving kept everyone out of trouble. On each of the restarts, second running Rich Pratt made moves on Johnson to take the point but was unsuccessful in making a pass until lap 65 when it appeared Johnson’s tires were beginning to go away on him. The pair was side by side at the start finish line going into lap 66 when Johnson tried to salvage his lead in turn one, the two got together on turn two ending the night for Johnson who was stopped cold on turn two. Again the entire field missed Johnson’s parked racer just off the turn in the low groove. On the restart for the final nine laps it was Rich Pratt on the point taking the fourteen finishers to the checkers for the $3,000 win. Jim Smith came out of his fifth starting spot to pick up the $1,500 second place money. Herb Neumann Jr. pulled up in third after surviving an early spin that sent him to the rear of the field. Mike Bresnahan and Ricky Carlton managed to recover from an early contact spin that sent them to the rear of the field to take home fourth and fifth place money respectively. It was the Terry Cater show in the Sportsman division, taking the James Cross machine to a flag to flag win over the 9 car field. Stephen Anderson was a distant second followed by Mike Veltman who was racing for Bill Oesterreicher’s points. Point leader Mike Bell held out for fourth over Kyle Bookmiller. The heat win went to Bookmiller who again cashed in on mistakes by the field in front of him. Cater added to the just under $1,000 the race fans donated to help Donna Cross in her fight against cancer. Donna is the wife of the winning car owner. Ernie Reed came back off a DNF that took him out of the point lead last week to dominate over the Street Stock division, taking both his heat win and the feature win, moving him back to the front in the point race. Travis Nichols climbed through the heavy traffic to take a second place finish. Jo Jo Viverito, Mickey Burns and Melvin Farmer locked in on the balance of the top five. Mike Bell took the win in the second heat. Dean Lawyer overcame a lot of heat from Wes Wilson and Richie Smith for his third win of the 2003 Hobby Stock season. Wilson held out for second over point leader Richie Smith. Curtis Neumann continued his top five finish streak for the 17th time and added his third heat win to his resume with a fourth place finish over Victor Stanley. Wes Wilson took the win in the first heat. Steve Griffin held off some heavy heat from the Mini Stock field to take his second trip to Victory Lane for the season. Griffin is back after his near fatal automobile accident two years ago. Dustin DesChamps also recovering from an off track accident gave Griffin all he could handle in the final laps of the Mini Stock main and had to settle for second just ahead of point leader Chris Hooker, Phillip Joyner and last week’s George Neumann. Griffin also won the only heat race in the short field of cars. Pat Quick threaded her way through the 23 car Thunder Stock field to take the checkers for her 12th win of the season in a close run for the line with Tim Wilson. Early leader Derek DeSomma held out for a third place finish over Lee Keller and Louie Coie. Wilson and Rex Mullis took the heat wins. All six divisions will run in a regular program next Saturday night with just four more weeks left in the all important points race. Racing action will continue for the 2003 season until November 8th with just six weeks left. Citrus County Speedway Results 9/27/03 Late Model Special Feature – 75 Laps – 19 Cars 1. # 0 Rich Pratt 2. #32 Jim Smith 3. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. 4. #3x Mike Bresnahan 5. #3 Ricky Carlton 6. #90 Jimmy Thompson 7. #88 Brock Oglesby 8. #47 Keith Zavrel 9. # 1 Dale Sanders 10.#68 Perry Lovelady 11.#90x Paul Combast 12.#96 Danny Johnson 13.#08 Robert Yoho 14#30 Cyrus Robinson 15.#74 Hubert Simmons -DNF 16.#09 Scott Grossenbacher – DNF 17.#42 Richie Smith - DNF 18.# 6 Billy Bechtelheimer - DNF 19.#5x Ronnie Campbell – Did Not Start Fast Qualifier - #3x Mike Bresnahan – 13.497 Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 9 Cars 1. # 3 Terry Cater 2. #48 Stephen Anderson 3. #55 Mike Veltman 4. #17 Mike Bell 5. #03 Kyle Bookmiller Heat Winner - #03 Kyle Bookmiller Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars 1. #55 Ernie Reed 2. # 2 Travis Nichols 3. #72 Joe Viverito 4. #22 Mickey Bruns 5. #69 Mel Farmer 1st Heat Winner - #55 Ernie Reed 2nd Heat Winner - #17 Mike Bell Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 10 Cars 1. #13 Steve Griffin 2. #51 Dustin DesChamps 3. #1x Chris Hooker 4. #86 Phillip Joyner 5. # 3 George Neumann Heat Winner - #13 Steve Griffin Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 19 Cars 1. #19 Dean Lawyer 2. #4E Wes Wilson 3. #42 Richie Smith 4. #01 Curtis Neumann 5. #26 Victor Stanley 1st Heat Winner - #4E Wes Wilson 2nd Heat Winner – 01 Curtis Neumann Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 23 Cars 1. #55 Pat Quick – Win #12 2. #85 Tim Wilson 3. #99 Derek DeSomma 4. #21 Lee Keller 5. #88x Louie Cioe 1st Heat Winner - #85 Tim Wilson 2nd Heat Winner - #13 Rex Mullis Have an opinion on this story? 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