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| Richie Smith Has His Way with Hobby Stock 40 Lapper | by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 05/18/02) Richie Smith kicked off the
night of racing at Citrus County Speedway with a fast
qualifying run after a one hour rain delay. The rain
was not enough to wash off the rubber on the track so
some good times were set by most of the 22 qualifiers.
The inverted start of 20 made for interesting racing
with the fast cars coming from the back of the pack.
Tommy Smith started l9th and moved to the point in the
first 15 laps of the 40 lap main event. Five laps later
brother Richie caught him and put up a side by side
battle for the lead for the next 10 laps before Tommy
gave out of steam and had to retire to the pits. From
that point on it was all over except the race for
second between Brandon Johnson, Curtis Neumann, Dean
Lawyer, Joe Rauner and Daniel Webster woh finished in
that order. Rouding out the top ten were Dustin Aaron,
Chris Cross, Roy Perkins and Mark Wilkins.
Late Models had their final test before the upcoming
Crystal Motor Car Co. "Powell Memorial 125" for an
unprecedented $10,000 to win purse and a total of
$36,000 begin paid out to the Late Models alone. Early
registrants show that some heavy hitters from all over
the southeast are making this race a priority for next
weekend. Friday night practice will be for Late Models
only with a Bar B Que open house for all who want to
attend. There will be a $10.00 admission fee which will
include the Bar B Que in the pits only. There will also
be a regular Thursday night practice session for all
divisions.
In Late Model action Saturday night it was Rex Struble
logging his first win of the season which will move him
from third to first in the race for the championship
crown. Herb Neumann, Jr. just couldn't find the horse
power to make the pass on Struble and had to settle for
second, two car lengths ahead of hard charging Jim Smith
who started 10th in the 20 car field. Raymond Lovelady
slipped from the top spot to second with his fourth
place finish and Kevin Bryant rounds out the top five.
For the second week in a row Mike Bresnahan had a DNF
and slipped to third in the point race. Danny Johnson,
sporting a new paint job, picked up the win in the first
heat while Bresnahan won in the second and Struble
picked up the win in the third heat.
"Iron" Mike Veltman continued his winning ways with win
number 5 Saturday night over a 12 car field. Terry
Cater led most of the way but gave up the lead in lap
18 followed by Johnny Sanders with his best finish of
the season. Bill Oestreicher outran George Newmann in
the run for fourth. Cater and Neumann logged the heat
wins.
Starting thirteenth and driving around some mishaps in
front of him, James Green, Jr. wound up in Victory Lane
for the second time this year and into a tie for the
point lead with Mike Bell. Danny Cretty finished second
in the 17 car, 20 lap feature race while Mike Bell held
on after overcoming two mishaps on the race track that
brought on caution flags. Kathy Ray started fourth and
slip back in fourth in the lineup and locking in a fourth
palce finish jsut ahead of Ernie Reed. Heat winner were
Kathy and Travis Nichols whose rear axel let go on his
run to the front in lap 15. The misfortune slipped him
to third in the point battle.
Point Leader Robbie Yoakam logged his fifth Mini Stock
win of the season from his llth starting spot. Sixteen
cars started with Chris Hooker taking his first ride in
a Mini and driving for car owner Max Seaman. Chris, who
graduates from High School this week, finished a solid
second ahead of Daniel Keene, Jr., Chris Thornton and
Lance Taylor. Heat wins went to Jimmy Bartley and Yoakam.
Thunder Stocks went in twin features and Natasha Teague
took her first win ever over Dale Shelton, Stuart Madison,
Terry Sharrone and Bruck Quick in feature #l with 16 cars
in the running. In feature #2 Michael Wilson found his
way through the traffic from his 8th starting spot to
take his first win ever after only racing in four races.
Robin Bauer lost out on her second place finish over a
protest in tech shower her to be running illegal heads.
Josh Teague inherited second over Todd Downs, Jerry
Hoover and pole sitter Shawn Conner.
Citrus County Speedway is getting ready for it's biggest
race in its 47 year history next week when hot shoes
from all over the southeast will go for a $10,000 to
win purse in the Crystal Motor Company "Powell Memorial
125". Second place pays $5,000, third $3,000, fourth
$2,000 and fifth $1,000. Time trials will start at 5 P.M
for approximately 50 Super Late Models. A consi will
probably have to run to finalize the starting lineup
and give the non-qualifiers an opportunity to race in
the big show and that will pay $l,000 to win. The balance
of the program will be an all feature lineup for Sportsman,
Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Thunder
Stocks.
Late Model Feature - 30 Laps - 20 Cars
1. #3 Rex Struble Homosassa
2. #98 Herb Newmann, Jr. Inverness
3. #9 Jim Smith Inverness
4. #17 Raymond Lovelady Lakeland
5. #54 Kevin Bryant Dade City
lst Heat Winner - #96 Danny Johnson - Crystal River
2nd Heat Winner - #3x Mike Bresnahan - Homosassa
3rd Heat Winner - #3 Rex Struble - Homosassa
Sportsman Feature - 20 Laps - 12 Cars
1. #55 Mike Veltman Crystal River
2. #l Terry Cater Inverness
3. #35 Johnny Sanders Homosassa
4. #0 Bill Oestreicher Webster
5. #96 George Neumann Inverness
lst Heat Winner - #l Terry Cater - Inverness
2nd Heat Winner - #96 George Neumann - Inverness
Street Stock Feature - 20 Laps - 17 Cars
1. #53 James Green, Jr. Inverness
2. #0l Danny Cretty Dunnellon
3. #17 Mike Bell Brooksville
4. #63 Kathy Ray Floral City
5. #55 Ernie Reed Lecanto
lst Heat Winner - #63 Kathy Ray - Floral City
2nd Heat Winner - #2 Travis Nichols - Inverness
Mini Stock Feature - 20 Laps - 16 Cars
1. #8x Robbie Yoakam Hernando
2. #lx Chris Hooker Inverness
3. #86b Daniel Keene, Jr. Land O Lakes
4. #24 Chris Thorton
5. #29 Lance Taylor Palm Harbor
lst Heat Winner - #6 Jimmy Bartley - Bushnell
2nd Heat Winner - #8x Robbie Yoakam - Hernando
Hobby Stock Feature - 40 Laps - 22 Cars
1. #42 Richie Smith Floral City
2. #88 Brandon Johnson Inverness
3. #0l Curtis Neumann Inverness
4. #19 Dean Lawyer Brookville
5. #14 Joe Rauner
Fast Qualifier - #42 Richie Smith 17.865 Seconds
Thunder Stock Feature #l - 20 Laps - 16 cars
1. #92 Natasha Teague
2. #51 Dale Shelton
3. #2 Stuart Madison
4. #36 Terry Sharrone
5. #47 Bruce Quick
Thunder Stock Feature #2 - 20 Laps - 15 cars
1. #39 Michael Wilson
2. #97 Robin Bauer
3. #20 Josh Teague
4. #27 Todd Downs
5. #30 Jerry Hoover
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