IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 28, 2008 Figure 8 Races Alive and Kicking and Citrus County Speedway By Phil Schryver Joey Catterelli - Winner PHOTO COURTESY of THE CAR SHOT PHOTO SHOP(813) 788-3899 Inverness, Fl. - Almost every week, no matter what track you go to on the west coast of Florida, you will hear someone mention how they miss Sunshine Speedway. Well, the main event each week that everyone remembers about Sunshine Speedway was the wild and crazy figure 8 races. This weekend was my first opportunity to visit Citrus County Speedway, which I found to be a very friendly track with lots of great racing action. This was also the first time I was able to experience a figure 8 race since Sunshine closed down. Many of the figure 8 drivers at Citrus are the same one’s that raced at Sunshine. Some familiar names include the Hage family, including Darryl, Robbie, and Bob. Charlie Meyer is also there, who told me he has never had power steering in his car, but might soon, Wayne Calkins is also a regular, Cliff Rousseau with the black 3 car, and the current point’s leader Joey Cattereli. Mike Van Ochton has even made an appearance out there this year. The race itself was as action packed as ever. They run 20 laps, or 40 times through the x, and the hearts start pounding in the stands, even on the first lap. The #83 of Neil Herne, the only truck in the field, started on the pole. On his outside was the #11 of Bob Hage. On the drop of the green, the #11 took off ahead of the pack, while the #27 of John Baranauskas, and the #83 of Herne battled door to door for 2nd. On lap 3, the #83 ended up spinning out over in turn 2 of the track, putting him about half a lap down by the time he got restarted. This made for some close calls through the x as early as lap 4. The #6 of Robert Aaron had also gotten about a half of lap down and was braving the x at full steam, almost crashing into the leaders. By lap 8, there were figure 8 cars at every corner of the track, with lots of dust and smoke lingering in the x to make it even more exciting for the fans. By lap 14, the leaders had to deal with trying to pass the lapped traffic. The #74 of Robbie Hage was holding on to the lead, while the #15 of Cattereli, and the #14 of Calkins were nipping at his heals. The #6 of Aaron was trying to stay on the lead lap out in front of the #74. On lap 18, the #15 of Cattereli was able to take the lead away from the #74 and bring home the win. Citrus County Speedway is located right on Route 41, just north of Brooksville at the Citrus County Fair Grounds. RESULTS 1 15 Joey Cattereli 2 8 Darryl Hage 3 74 Robbie Hage 4 3 Clifford Rousseau 5 27 John Baranauskas 6 94 Charlie Meyer 7 11 Bob Hage 8 83 Neil Herne 9 14 Wayne Calkins 10 59 T.J. Sharrone 11 6 Robert Aaron Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on The Real Racin USA Florida Fan Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!