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| Smith Outruns 22 Citrus Late Models | by Larry MacMillan
Inverness, Fla 9/28/02 - Action, action everywhere Saturday
night at Citrus County Speedway. Seven divisions made for
a full night of racing and not a threat of bad weather
anywhere for the first time in 8 weeks. One hundred twenty
two cars came to race and that's what they did, with
winning on everybody's mind.
Jim Smith was a man on a mission and with a good starting
position on the outside pole he put it together for his
second win of the season, moved up to second and pulled
to within 72 points of the point's leader. Pole sitter
Billy Bechlelheimer put all the pressure he could muster on
Smith right to the f the charges of point leader Rex
Struble for all 30 laps for a third place finish. Raymond
Lovelady slipped to third in the point race behind Jim
Smith with his fifth place finish over the 22-car field.
Herb Heumann, Jr., Bechtelheimer and Struble locked in the
heat wins.
Chris Cross won the drag race to turn one when the green
flag flew in the Sportsman 20 lap main but was only able
to hold on to the point for six laps when he lost it trying
to hold on to the spot with a spin in turn one and two.
J.D. Goff took over the spot on the restart. Bill
Oestreicher backed up and regrouped after a run in with
Buddy Kessler early in the race. He came from the back
end of the field put pressure on Goff in the final two laps
for a second place finish and his 19th top five finish
of the year. Johnny Sanders, recovering from a broken leg
for his second week back in the car when he operates
with hand controls took advantage of mistakes in front of
him and avoiding some wrecks, finished third ahead of
point leader Mike Veltman who really wasn't on his game
Saturday night. George Neumann came from the back end
of the 14-car field to avoid the mayhem that took place
in front of him to pick up a second place finish. Heat
wins went to Goff and Tate Pierce.
A short eleven-car field did not detract from the action
in the Street Stock action. Kathy Ray flexed her horse
power in her heat for her second win and came off the
pole position to let the rest of the field know she meant
business on this Saturday night in an attempt to win her
second feature of the season. She set the pace in the
first six laps of their 20 lap main event when the motor
went sour on her dropping her out of the race early and
finishing tenth overall. Mike Bell powered his way from
seventh to the front for the win but that was not
official until a tear down of his motor on a protest that
turned out to be "A O.K.". Bell pulled to within 44
points of second place finisher Travis Nichols in the race
for the Street Stock crown. Ernie Reed continues his
comeback in his new ride that put him in third at the
checkers over James Green and Danny Cretty to round out
the top five. Travis Nichols helped his point lead with
a heat win.
Mark Sowell is back and running strong. The Mini Stock
driver that returned to his home track right after mid
season showed the 15 car field the way to Victory Lane
Saturday from his fifth starting spot. A twentieth lap
mishap changed the finishing order from what it appeared
it would be, denied Robbie Yoakam of his 11th win of the
season and put young 15 year old Dustin DesChamps in second
just in front of another younger gun Phillip Joyner, Jr.,
Jay McKenzie and Robbie was able to salvage a fifth place
finish. Ray Miller and Rob Wheatley picked up the heat
wins and finished well back in the field in the feature
with mechanical problems.
Twenty-one Hobby Stocks took the green and it was a solid 20
laps of drivers dicing for position from start to finish.
Tenth starter Roy Perkins knocked off the front nine by lap
15 and went on to win his third race of the year. Sport
Wilson came from eighth to second finding the second groove
to his liking and sometimes having use the third groove to
make his way around the traffic. Early leader and first
heat winner Dustin Aaron fought off the contenders for his
lead position as long as he could and had to settle for
third. Glen Colyer started ninth and hung on for a fourth
place finish in front of Dean Lawyer who had been a
contender for the lead in the early going but fell back as
far as 8th before recovering for his fifth place finish.
Steve Thomas won the second heat but finished sixteenth
in the feature.
In a fourteen car battle royal, Rex Mullis came off the
outside pole in Thunder Stock 1 to hold off Shawn
Conner for the win. Butch Patz locked on to third over
Tim Wilson who recovered after he took a bite out of the
wall early in the race. Lee Keller slipped from third to
fifth at the flag in the seesaw battle for the front five.
Robert Jordan launched his car out of his seventh starting
spot to snatch the lead from Stuart Madison denying him his
fifth win of his defending championship season. Dale
Shelton was in a group of five going for the lead in the
final laps and out maneuvered rookie Bobby Taylor who was
going for his third win in a row from the back of the
thirteen car starting field. Taylor took his very first
two wins in his first two races of his career. Point leader
Josh Teague held out for fifth but maintains his lead.
Robert Jordon moved back into second in the point race
dropping Madison back to third. Butch Patz, Rick Badessa
and Rex Mullis took the heat wins.
Steve Thomas was the rabbit for the entire 20 laps in the
monthly figure 8 challenge that has been restored at
Citrus County Speedway. Tweove, mostly local, cars took
the green with Mark Wilkins right on Thomas's rear bumper
most of the way. The hard charger had to be former champ
Ron Scchreifels who is just getting back into Figure 8
racing after a five year lay off. He came from the tail
end of the field to end up in third place followed by
Victor Stanley who is getting back into the groove after
laying off for a couple of years. Travis Nichols managed
a solid fifth place finish followed by former champ Robert
Aaron who spun out in the early laps.
The asphalt pounding, 750 horsepower, winged Sprint Cars
take on the new 3/8th mile layout at Citrus County
Speedway for the first time and with more room to work on
the backstretch they could possibly surpass their mid
12 second runs that they were able to run on the l/4 mile
in previous years. Late Models will have the week off
but the Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks
and Thunder Stocks will add to what will certainly be an
exciting race card at the Action Attraction, Citrus County
Speedway.
Citrus County Speedway Results 9/28/02
Late Model Feature - 30 laps 22 Cars
1. #9 Jim Smith
2. #6 Billy Bechtelheimer
3. #22 Herb Hoefler
4. #3 Rex Struble
5. #17 Raymond Loveland
lst Heat Winner #98 Herb Neumann, Jr.
2nd Heat Winner #6 Billy Bechtelheimer
3rd Heat Winner #3 Rex Struble
Sportsman Feature - 20 laps 14 cars
1. #14 J.D. Goff
2. #0 Bill Oestreicher
3. #36 Johnny Sanders
4. #55 Mike Veltman
5. #96 George Neumann
lst Heat Winner #14 J.D. Goff
2nd Heat Winner #81 Tate Pierce
Street Stock Feature - 20 laps 11 cars
1. #17 Mike Bell
2. #2 Travis Nichols
3. #55 Ernie Reed
4. #53 James Green, Jr.
5. #01 Danny Cretty
lst Heat Winner #63 Kathy Ray
2nd Heat Winner #2 Travis Nichols
Mini Stock Feature - 20 laps 15 cars
1. #5 Mark Sowell
2. #51 Dustin DesChamps
3. #86 Phillip Joyner, Jr.
4. #lx Jay McKenzie
5. #8 Robbie Yoakam
lst Heat Winner #63 Ray Miller
2nd Heat Winner #88 Rob Wheatley
Hobby Stock Feature - 20 laps 21 cars
1. #07 Roy Perkins
2. #22 Sport Wilson
3. #98 Dustin Aaron
4. #44 Glen Colyer Sr.
5. #19 Dean Lawyer
lst Heat Winner #98 Dustin Aaron
2nd Heat Winner #28x Steve Thomas
Thunder Stock lst feature - 14 cars
1. #13 Rex Mullis
2. #44 Shawn Conner
3. #23 Butch Patz
4. #85 Tim Wilson
5. #21 Lee Keller
lst Heat Winner #23 Butch Patz
2nd Heat Winner #88 Rick Badessa
3rd Heat Winner #13 Rex Mullis
Figure 8 Feature - 20 laps 12 cars
1. #l Steve Thomas
2. #98 Mark Wilkins
3. #64 Ron Schreifels
4. #26 Victor Stanley
5. #9x Travis Nichols
6. #6 Robert Aaron
7. #29 J.T. Renau
8. #5 Peanut Higgenbotham
9. #00 Dwayne Futts
10. #73 Curtis Youmans
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