IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 24, 2007 Anderson and Neumann Win in Citrus Modified Twin 35’s By Larry MacMillan Citrus County Speedway featured the Open Wheel Modifieds in back to back 35 lap feature races with a 15 minute break between races. Twenty seven racers went on the clock to qualify for starting positions with Robbie Cooper coming up top gun turning a 14.310 second run on the 3/8ths mile oval. The top five all ran in the 14.3 second bracket. On the pill draw for the first race the top 6 were inverted putting Harold Cannon on the pole and Wayne Anderson on the outside pole. Anderson made short work of the rest of the field winning the drag race to turn one and set the pace from flag to flag. Robbie Cooper moved through traffic from his sixth starting spot to hold out for second when the checkers flew followed by 4th starter Alan McCafferty, 3rd starter Curtis Neumann and 5th starter Kurt Jett. Teddy Nelson moved from 12th to finish 6th followed by Tate Pierce, Lee Collins, David Baxley and Richie Smith. Anderson pulled the 8 pill to invert the top 8 finisher for race #2 and that put Lee Collins on the pole and Tate Pierce on the outside. Harold Cannon was the only car that didn’t start the second race out of the 27 cars registered to race. It was a knock down, drag out battle in the run for the front when the green flag flew with several caution flags in the first 5 laps. Finally they put together a long run with Lee Collins hanging onto the lead for the first 20 laps while the rest of the field fought for position in the middle of the pack. Teddy Nelson and Curtis Neumann put on one heck of a battle for second before Neumann got a run on Teddy for the pass to second. Curtis closed in on Collins and waited for the right moment to push on by for the point. Two more caution flags came out before they went for a green, white, checker finish with Neumann taking the win and Collins having to settle for second. Nelson held out for third followed by Tate Pierce and Hard Charger Wayne Jefferson who move from 19th to 5th at the finish line. Rounding out the top 10 were Kurt Jett, Robbie Cooper, Wayne Anderson, Eric Rudd and Alan McCafferty. The Twin 35’s were a prelude to a pair of 25 lap races at Ocala next Friday night and a $1000 bonus going to the driver that accumulates the most points over the four race series. Curtis Neumann heads into Ocala with the point lead after his win and fourth place run at Citrus. Robbie Cooper, Wayne Anderson, Kurt Jett and Teddy Nelson are definitely in the running for the bonus award. Mike Veltman was the dominant force in the Sportsman 20 lap feature wasting no time launching his point leading race car from 8th to the front before the halfway point and going on to win his 5th race of the year and putting a 33 point cushion in his point lead. Mike is on track to take his fourth championship in the division. Richie Smith gave Veltman a run for the flag and settled for second followed by Clint Foley who fell from second to 6th and came back to finish third after also scoring a heat win. Fred Tuski outran Ernie Reed for fourth place. D.J. Macklin took the win in the first heat. Defending Mini Stock champion George Neumann made short work of the ten car field in their 20 lap main event. Neumann logged his third win of the year over Dan Smith who had his best finish of the year. Point leader Steve Griffin held out for third over Clint Foley who was doing double duty in Sportsman and Mini Stocks. Kevin Harrod locked onto fifth place. Mark Powers was the car to beat after taking a very convincing win in the first heat but apparently was running too well when he lost an engine in the feature run. Clint Foley took the win in the second heat. Four Cylinder Bombers registered 21 cars with 20 taking the green for their 20 lap feature run. Apparent winner Robert Carter was D.Q.’d in post race inspection giving Jeff Eberly his 3rd win of the season after wining the first heat for his 4th of the year. Phil Edwards was coming on strong at the end of the race and came off with a second place finish over Patric Conner, point leader Travis Hoefler and John Kidwell. Phil Edwards also added his 4th heat win to his 2007 resume. Twenty Figure 8 cars took on the intersection 40 times that saw Paul Grynewicz come off the pole and lead the race for 18 of the 20 before he lost power and John Thomas made the pass for his first win of the season and become the 8th different winner in 8 races. Grynewicz held out for second ahead of Robbie Hage, Ken Crews and 16th starter Clifford Rousseau who put some cushion in his point lead over John Thomas by 6. Young Ricky Shahid took the point from the get-go when the green fell for the 16 car V8 Thunder Stock Rookie division and there was no stopping him right on to the checkers for his second win of the season. Richard Dinkins made his first visit to the speedway count with a second place finish over point leader Eddie Rosasco, runner up Chad Fairbanks and Tim Eisenhower. This was their 13th race of the year with 2 drivers moving up to Pure Stocks after taking 4 wins in the rookie division. Next week will feature the super fast TBARA Winged Sprint cars with 25 to 30 of these 800 horsepower rockets taking on the 3/8ths mile for the second time in 2007. Point leader Troy DeCaire will be leading the pack after taking the win at DeSoto Speedway this past weekend. Added to the program will be the Florida Pro Challenge, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers. Citrus County Speedway Results 6/23/07 Open Wheel Modified Twin 35 #1– 27 Cars 1. #61 Wayne Anderson – Wildwood 2. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson 3. #32 Alan McCafferty – 4. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness 5. # 9 Kurt Jett – Orange Park Open Wheel Modified Twin 35 #2 – 26 Cars 1. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness 2. #89 Lee Collins – Felda 3. #34 Teddy Nelson – Pinellas Park 4. #79 Tate Pierce 5. # 1 Wayne Jefferson – St. Petersburg Fast Qualifier – #98 Robbie Cooper – 14.310 Sec. Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 14 Cars 1. #94 Mike Veltman – Crystal River – 5th Win 2. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando 3. # 7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon 4. #71 Fred Tuski – Crystal River 5. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 1st Heat Winner - #14 D.J. Macklin – Tampa 2nd Heat Winner - # 7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 10 Cars 1. # 1 George Neumann – Inverness – 2nd Win 2. #82 Dan Smith – St. Petersburg 3. # 3 Steve Griffin – Inverness 4. # 7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon 5. #34 Kevin Harrod – Floral City Heat Winner - #29 Mark Powers – Hernando Four Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 21 Cars 1. #001 Jeff Eberly – Spring Hill – 4th Win 2. #21 Phil Edwards – Crystal River 3. #444 Patric Conner – Dunnellon 4. #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City 5. #92 John Kidwell – Ocala 1st Heat Winner - #001 Jeff Eberly 2nd Heat Winner - #21 Phil Edwards 3rd Heat Winner - #32 Jeremy Sharrone – Floral City Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #77 John Thomas – St. Petersburg – 1st Win 2. #40 Paul Grynewicz – Hudson 3. #74 Robbie Hage – St. Petersburg 4. #81 Ken Crews – Tampa 5. # 3 Clifford Rousseau – St. Petersburg V8 Thunder Stock Rookies – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. # 3 Ricky Shahid – Floral City – 2nd Win 2. #34 Richard Dinkins - Bushnell 3. #10 Eddie Rosasco – Spring Hill 4. #37 Chad Fairbanks – Spring Hill 5. #123 Tim Eisenhower - Homosassa Have an opinion on this story? 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