The highly competitive Southern Sportsman Series rolled into Citrus County Speedway Saturday night to do battle for 50 laps on the tight confines of the ｼ mile speedway. Twenty-onecars registered for the race, and looking through the list of drivers, this race had all the signs of a real shoot-out.
Patrick Thomas turned the track in a time of 14.899 seconds, to lead all qualifiers, followed by Craig Cuzzone with a lap of 14.963 seconds. After the top qualifiers cleared tech inspection, the draw for inversion of the starting line-up was held, and the field was set.
When the Sportsman racers took to the track for the 50 lap feature event, the 84 of Mike Pitts held the pole position, with the 12 of David Williamson on the outside of the front row. The second row was filled by the 20x of Steve O値one and the 55 of Richard Elkins. Following the front two rows were Aaron Williamson, James Wright III, Rick McMehan, Craig Cuzzone, Bart Weatherford, Brock Burns, and fast qualifier Patrick Thomas.
Winner of the last Southern Sportsman race, and 3rd fastest qualifier, Travis Nichols was relegated to 20th starting position, by series rule. When the green flag waved to start the feature, Pitts took the early lead followed by O値one, Williamson, Elkins and Wright. Lap 8 saw Wright move to the outside, and work his way around
McMehan and Elkins, and begin a move toward the front of the field. A brief caution on lap 9 allowed the field to bunch up, and begin the battles again. The restart was short lived, as caution was again on the track on lap 10. The caution was for the 75 car of Phillip Rook, as he pounded the turn 3 wall with enough force to break the concrete. Thankfully, the driver was able to walk away uninjured.
The field came to the green flag with Pitts still leading the way, with O鱈one, Wright, A.Williamson, and Elkins in the top 5 positions. Thomas had been making steady progress through the field, now in 6th while Nichols was still trying to get free and chase down the lead pack. Lap 13 saw Wright move under O値one for second position, and while O値one was on the high side of the track, the top 5 running order was changing every lap. Thomas drove around Elkins for 5th spot and then drove under Williamson to move into 4th. Lap 16 saw the caution for the 40 car of Burns, spinning in turn 4.
The field came to green with Pitts still out front, followed by Wright, O値one, Thomas, Williamson, and Elkins. Nichols had moved into 12th spot as he continued to work his way thru traffic to try and join the battle for the lead. Lap 18, Thomas moves by O値one for third and Starts to work on Wright for second spot. On lap 20 Thomas moved to the outside of Wright, and into second position, and lap 21 saw Thomas get by Pitts on the outside for the lead.
As the field got the half-way complete signal from the flagman, Thomas was starting to separate from the field, and Nichols had made it into the top ten. The action was furious through out the field, with some very competitive racing for position all around the track. Passes were being made on the inside lane, the outside lane, and on occasion, in the middle, where there was no lane. The fans were seeing some great Sportsman racing, and you could hear the cheers and boos over the roar of the racers. The race was slowed for several cautions for minor incidents. The 20x of O値one banged the front of his racer, avoiding a wreck, and had his hood partially raised, obscuring his view.
After running so well all evening, O値one was forced to slow, and eventually pit for repairs. Thomas continued to lead comfortably, while Nichols was steadily working his way toward the front. Lap 32 saw Bart Weatherford retire to the pit area with mechanical problems, while Nichols was still in pursuit of the front runners. Lap 34 had Nichols on the move, driving around Wright for third spot, and moving to the outside of Pitts to race for the second spot. Lap 37 saw the caution again for a spin, allowing the field to be tightened up once again. When the race went green again, Thomas opened a comfortable lead, while Pitts and Nichols, resumed their battle for second. Nichols tried high, he tried low, but Pitts was more than holding his own in this great battle. Nichols finally committed to the outside, and raced outside of Pitts for several laps, before finally completing the pass, taking over second, and trying to catch Thomas.
With only two laps remaining, the caution was displayed for the cars of Derrik Heath and Aaron Williamson, tangling in turn 2. As the field came to the green flag for the start of the 2 lap shoot-out, the 56 car of Wright failed to come up to speed, and entered the pit area.
On the last lap, the 42 of Steve Elder spun off the track on the front straight as Thomas came to the checkered flag in the Specialty Construction and Design entry, followed by Nichols in the Kyles Handyman Service entry, Pitts, Hal Vickery and Richard Elkins. After the race, at post race tech inspection, Pitts elected not to allow inspection of the required areas of his racer, and was disqualified.
