Tuesday, October 21, 2003 Final Points Shootout Saturday at Citrus County Speedway by Larry MacMillan A year’s work at Citrus County Speedway by the six weekly regular divisions comes to a head this Saturday night. Many of the division crowns are already locked in but some of the spots will come down to the final flag for top ten finishes on the season. Mathematically Mike Bresnahan has pretty well picked up another Late Model Crown unless he should elect to not show up for the final race or not be able to start Saturday night. This would open the door for Jim Smith to overtake the point leader with a tenth place finish. Smith moved from third to second even after a poor finish last week when runner up Ricky Carlton was a no show and just 34 points behind Bresnahan. Former champ Herb Neumann Jr. moved up to third with his third feature win last week. He may have to settle for third for the season while Carlton pretty well has a lock on fourth. Dale Sanders and Billy Bechtelheimer will round out the top six. Some repositioning could take place with Danny Johnson and Rex Struble going right down to the wire with Harold Cannon and Richie Smith still in the running to round out the top ten. A heat and feature win could give anyone of these drivers a maximum of 195 points for the night. Rookie Mike Bell has depended on consistency and strong finishes to put a lock on the Sportsman crown. Bill Oesterreicher is 144 points up on Bill Ryan in the race for second. Johnny Sanders should be able to hold on to fourth while Mike Veltman needs a good run to keep Kyle Bookmiller and Johnny Gann out of his fifth position. Stephen Anderson will work on holding J.D. Goff off with just 32 points separating them. David White is pretty well locked into his tenth place finish. Chris Hooker holds the edge in Mini Stock action but is still subject to Chris Thornton making up the 81 point deficit between them. Phillip Joyner holds out in third with three time champion George Neumann chasing him and looking back at Mike Lawhorn just 68 points behind in the race for fourth. Dustin DesChamps has a mathematical lock on sixth and Richard Stroup will end up in seventh. Rob Wheatley needs to show up to hold off Steve Griffin and Dan Smith could overtake him as they battle for ninth and tenth. The only thing that could keep Ernie Reed from being Street Stock King of the Hill is a no show for the final race. Danny Cretty, Joe Viverito, Mickey Burns and Daniel Webster are still in the running to improve their positions from third through fifth. Owen Leigh, James Hendrickson, Travis Nichols, Melvin Farmer and James Green look like they will round out the top ten in this 56 car division. Seventy six drivers have earned points in the Hobby Stock division and for the third year in a row Richie Smith has been the dominant force. He isn’t a shoe in quite yet with Curtis Neumann still within shooting distance with a 43 point deficit to make up. Dean Lawyer is a solid third over former champion Roy Perkins while Sport Wilson will need a decent finish to hold on to fifth over Alvin Williamson. Josh Teague, Troy Davis Glen Colyer and Tim Whitehead will probably go to the podium to take care of the top ten positions. Pat Quick could park it for the final night but it is doubtful she will give up the chance to win her Thunder Stock crown in a blaze of glory with a 15th feature win. Lee Keller gave it a good fight but it would appear he will have to settle for second in the point’s race. Louie Cioe and Larry Triana will take their battle for third right down to the final flag with only 31 points separating them. Tim Wilson could possibly improve his position if he could pull off a 7th win. Derek DeSomma and John Donahue will take it down to the final flag in the battle for 6th. Wayne Heater will have to work to keep Rick Badessa and Lynn Farmer off his neck for the final night of point racing. All divisions will be running heats and features to wrap up their official season. Two special race nights will wrap up the season with a Super Stock Saturday on November 1st featuring 50 lap Street Stock and Hobby Stock races plus 30 lap Mini Stock and Thunder Stock races and the Open Wheel Lites rounding out the race card. November 8th will close out the 2003 season with the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown Late Model 125. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!