February 15, 2005 T.B.A.R.A Headlines Citrus County Speedway Opener By Larry MacMillan Citrus County Speedway celebrated its 50th Anniversary with chilly weather, bundled up fans and some hot track action on the 3/8ths mile oval. For the past three years, the TBARA Sprint cars opened their 2005 traveling series where they ended it in 2004 with a 33 car field that vied for the 24 starting positions. Three heats qualified the top 18 cars and a 12 lap consi race balanced out the 24 car starting field with Jim Alvis, Ray Bragg, Brian Taylor, Charles Ladner, Frank Neill and Ray Bolin rounding out the final six that won starting positions for their 30 lap feature run. Heat winners were Dude Teate, David Steele, and Wayne Reutimann Jr. Bo Hartley won the pole but just as the race was about to hot lap before the start he developed a fuel leak, bathing his fire suit fuel, that put him in the infield for the night reducing the starting field to 23 cars. Hank Lower moved to the pole, taking the point for the first 10 laps before David Steele in the Black Streak #91 moved from sixth to first where he stayed for the final 20 laps despite several caution flags on route to the 2005 season opening win. Unofficially, David broke into the 11 second bracket with an 11.94 second run, in traffic, as he left the rest of the 15 cars still running when the checkers flew in his dust. Hank Lower managed to hold off Doug Heverons charge from his 12th starting spot in the race for second while Dude Teate finished fourth over Troy DeCaire. Rounding out the top 10 were Keith Butler, Mark Gimmler, Gary Gimmler, Doug Berryman and Brian Taylor. Billy Bechtelheimer came back to Citrus with a vengeance in defense of his 2004 Modified Crown taking off from his outside pole slot and setting the pace for all 25 laps of their main event. Robert Ray gave it all he had but couldnt reel in Billy B and held off Richie Smith, Ronny Campbell and Jimmy Wagner for the final five laps to the checkers. Multiple caution flags tightened the field up on numerous occasions changing the top 10 runners through out the race. Heat wins went to Tommy Schnader and Billy Bechtelheimer. Tommy Smith let a 26 car Hobby Stock field know that he is serious about coming up to the top of the points ladder this year outrunning Doc. James Batson for the season opener checkered flag. Bill Ryan had his work cut out for him from his 17th starting spot for a third place finish followed by Alvin Williamson and Don Paugh. Heat winners were Tommy Smith, Curtis Flanagan and Tim Anderson. Gary Johnson launched his Thunder Stock off the pole and set the pace from the green flag to the checkers holding off outside pole sitter Steven Stinedurf for the entire 20 laps. Lee Keller moved from the back of the 24 car field to lock in a third place finish with Mike Loudy and D.J. Macklin in tow. Heat wins went to Johnson, Stinedurf and Mark Wilkins. Donald Guy took the heat win and a flag to flag win over the 5 car 4 Cylinder Bomber field followed by Kevin Stone, Tim Harrington, Brandon Elwood and Jesse Mullis. The second week of the 50th Anniversary season will feature the Late Models, Mini Cup Cars, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers. Citrus has 3 more races scheduled before the annual 3 week Citrus County Fair Hiatus. The Sunbelt Series Super Late Model 125 will close out the first four weeks of the season on March 5th and will re-fire the season on Saturday April the 2nd. Citrus County Speedway Results 2/12/05 TBARA 2005 Season Opener – 33 Cars – 30 Laps 1. #91 David Steele -30 Laps – Unofficial Fast Lap 11.94 Seconds 2. #37 Hank Lower 3. #22 Doug Heveron 4. # 0 Dude Teate 5. #118 Troy DeCaire 6. #19 Keith Butler 7. #51 Mark Gimmler 8. #29 Gary Gimmler 9. #1R Doug Berryman 10.#99NY Brian Taylor 11.#14 Charles Ladner – 29 Laps 12.# 4 Troy Underwood 13.#60 Doug Wimpe 14.#00 Wayne Reutimann Jr. 15.#88 Frank Neill – 28 Laps 16.# 2 Scott Adema – 16 Laps 17.#18 Shane Butler 18.#99 Wayne Reutimann Sr. 19.#29T Jim Alvis – 13 Laps 20.#66 Ray Bragg – 10 Laps 21.#42 Sport Allen – 3 Laps 22.#96 Ray Bolin 23.#99K Jeff Van Deusen – 0 Laps 24.#3X Bo Harley – DNS – Fuel Leak Modified Feature – 25 Laps – 19 Cars 1. # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer 2. #96 Robert Ray 3. #42 Richie Smith 4. #112 Ronny Campbell 5. #17 Jimmy Wagner 6. # 1 Mike Hinegardner 7. #19 Tommy Schnader 8. #23 Butch Bassett 9. #10 Jared Kessler 10.#77x Bryan Rogers 1st Heat Winner – #19 Tommy Schnader 2nd Heat Winner – # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 26 Cars 1. #42 Tommy Smith 2. #77 James Doc Batson 3. #33 Bill Ryan 4. #09 Alvin Williamson 5. #15 Don Paugh 1st Heat Winner - #42 Tommy Smith 2nd Heat Winner - #3x Curtis Flanagan 3rd Heat Winner - #11 Tim Anderson Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 24 Cars 1. #40 Gary Johnson 2. #0X Steven Stinedurf 3. #21 Lee Keller 4. #80 Mike Loudy 5. #14 J.J. Macklin 1st Heat Winner - #40 Gary Johnson 2nd Heat Winner - #0X Steven Stinedurf 3rd Heat Winner - #10 Mark Wilkins 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 15 Laps – 5 Cars 1. #33 Donald Guy – Heat Winner 2. #98 Kevin Stone 3. #82 Tim Harrington 4. #28 Brandon Elwood 5. #99 Jesse Mullis Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!