| TBARA Sprints Headline Citrus Race Card Saturday | by Larry MacMillan
Strap on your grandstand seat belts and get ready for the ride of your life as the rocket fast TBARA Sprint series comes back to Citrus County Speedway’s 3/8ths mile this weekend.
These super fast, open wheel, 750 horsepower rockets get the job done in the low 12 second bracket and are the fastest race cars to ever run at Citrus. So if it is “a need for speed” that has you up tight, you don’t want to miss this second appearance of the asphalt sprint cars this weekend.
Wayne Reutimann Jr. was the top shoe on opening night in February and has added several more wins to his resume since the beginning of the 2004 season. This young third generation driver wearing the famed #00 continues the long history of the Reutimann family that goes back 50 years with his grandfather, dad, uncle and cousin making their marks in racing history throughout the state and the country.
There is plenty of competition coming with him in the way of Leesburg’s Dude Teate, Wayne Reutimann Sr., David Steele, Doug Heveron, Stan, Shane and Keith Butler, Bo Hartley, Scott Adema and Wendy Mathis who was one of the only young women to run in the Little Indy in Anderson, Indiana over the Memorial Day weekend. The TBARA racers have more Little Indy champions than you can count over the years so you can be assured you are going to see one of the best Sprint Car series in the country right here at Citrus County Speedway.
The regular point season will continue with Joe Viverito defending his 65 point lead over James Hendrickson in the Super Stock division. Rounding out the top five are Stephen Anderson, Richie Smith and John Makula. There are 29 contenders in the race for the 2004 Crown.
Rookie Jim Curry continues to hold the lead in the Mini Stock division with Chris Hooker closing the gap with a second place finish in an attempt to regain the point lead he had earlier in the season. George Neumann continues to hold on to third with Mike Lawhorn and Richard Stroup in the top five plus 25 more racers in pursuit.
Tommy Smith had to come through traffic three times last week to pull off his fifth win of the season and continues to hold a 26 point lead over Bobby Taylor who has 10 top five finishes and has yet to get to Victory Lane. Three time winner Curtis Neumann has a 38 point lead over Neil Herne Jr. in the race for third while Dean Lawyer is just one point out of fourth in this 52 car division.
Rick Badessa moved into the Thunder Stock point lead after Lee Keller was DQ’d and suspended last week for un-sportsman like conduct. Jerry Hoover moved into second just 5 points behind Badessa with Keller holding out for third. This 49 car division is turning into a real dog fight for the crown. Rounding out the top five are Louie Cioe and John Sullivan.
The 4 Cylinder Bombers will round out the 6 division race card Saturday night. After seeing 8 cars show up last week there seems to be some possibilities of this division growing. Clark Pittsley has been the most consistent driver in the new class and has an overwhelming point lead after 10 weeks. John DeGeorge has apparently sold his car but holds out in second in the race for the crown. Harold Barup is third and another driver who has moved up to Mini Stocks, Jeff Pittsley, is fourth followed by last week’s winner Justin Durbin who has three wins for the season. There have been a total of 16 drivers in the division this season.
Citrus County Speedway is located 2 miles south of S.R. 44 on U.S. 41 at the Citrus County Fairgrounds in Inverness. The grandstand gates open at 4 and the first heat will take the green flag at 6 P.M.
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