Travis Nichols Wins Citrus 50 Lap Street Stock Special
by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 04/19/03) The fans and kids got their money’s worth of excitement and Easter Bunny surprises at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. All six divisions put on a spectacular show with tight finishes in each feature race. The about 250 kids 12 and under were vying for their share of the 44, driver donated, Easter baskets that the Easter Bunny passed out to the lucky ticket holders and providing 700 plastic Easter eggs for the big egg hunt behind the grandstands. Twelve of the children got special prizes for finding the gold, silver and special eggs that had gift tags inside.
Street stocks ran the headliner in a 50-lap feature run that saw 22 cars qualify in time trials. Travis Nichols proved to be the man to beat with a fast qualifying time but weighed in too light passing $100 bonus from MBR Chassis and Development to Daniel Webster. Nichols got the 22nd starting position due t the time trial disqualification, which proved to be no hill for a climber. The lead changed several times before Ernie Reed picked up the point in lap seven. There were only two caution flags and one red flag brought on by James Hendrickson blowing a motor on the front straight, putting him into the wall at the flagger’s stand and then Brad Lyon T-boned him hard in the passenger door, driving Hendrickson another 50 feet down the track. Both drivers got their bell rung but after a trip to the emergency room they were released, sore but with no major injuries.
On the restart, there were ten cars up front in a match race for the checkers with Reed on the point for 21 laps before Travis Nichols caught him on lap thirty and made the pass. This was his third win of the season. Reed was unable to reel in the leader and had his hands full keeping Mickey Burns, Joe Viverito, Melvin Farmer, Brett Flagg, Scott Guthman, J.T. Renau, Fred Tuski, and Mike Bell off his rear bumper. They finished in that order for the first big race for the locals in 2003. Nichols and Reed led for 21 laps of the 50 lapper.
Figure 8’s made their first appearance of six scheduled races in 2003 with a 16 car field keeping the intersection busy for all 20 laps. Robbie Powell came off the pole and outran former five-time champion Robert Aaron to the point. Traffic got spread out quickly and Powell was fortunate enough to thread the needle just ahead of Aaron at the criss cross when James Nocella got hit hard in the right rear by Aaron, ending the night for both of them. Powell continued to set the pace right to the checkers in the 20-lap run. Former Figure 8 Champion Ron Schreifels worked his way from tenth to second but didn’t have enough to make the pass on Powell despite having several opportunities to take a shot at him. Tim Henault, Curtis Youmans, Troy Davis and Ethan Nistok were the only survivors in the field and finished in that order.
Eighteen cars took the green for the Late Model 30 lap main and for much of the race 3’s were wild. The #03 Harold Cannon, the #3 Ricky Carlton and the #3x Mike Bresnahan swapped positions for most of the race. Bresnahan worked his way up from 8th at the green flag and worked the outside groove to third for a final 10 lap run to the checkers. Harold Cannon opened the door for Carlton and Bresnahan in lap twenty and then it was a shotgun run for the checkers in a side by side battle with Carlton putting Bresnahan behind him in the final lap off turn three for his second win of the season. Cannon held on for third over Kevin Bryant and last week’s winner Daniel Keene to round out the top five. Carlton and Billy Bechtelheimer took the heat wins.
Stephen Anderson took a flag to flag win over the 13-car Sportsman division. Scott Hendrickson had his best finish of the season with a second place run over Chris Cross, Johnny Gann and Kyle Bookmiller. Anderson also won his heat with Johnny Gann picking up the win the second heat.
Scratch starter Richie Smith got back on track in a side-by-side finish with Sport Wilson in Hobby Stock action. Smith wasted no time coming through the 20-car traffic to take the point at lap 10 of the 20 lap main. Wilson put the pressure on in the final five laps but just couldn’t make the pass to hold out for second. Dean Lawyer, Curtis Neumann, Erica Wilson (subbing for husband Wes), Tim Whitehead, Alvin Williamson, Troy Davis, Jeff Sharp and Chris Cater followed in a ten-car nose to tail finish at the checkers. Neumann and Josh Teague won their heats.
Roy Blotz was sent to the rear three times for aggressive moves on his way to the front and still outran Lee Keller and 14 other starters for his third Thunder Stock win. Keller held on for second while Pat Quick made two trips from the rear of the field to pick up a close third place finish over early leader Mike Dubbs and Larry Triana. Blotz had the fans on their feet for the night’s final checkered flag. Blotz and Jerry Hover won the heat races.
Citrus County Speedway Results 4/19/03 Late Model Feature – 30 Laps - 18 Cars
1. # 3 Ricky Carlton
2. #3X Mike Bresnahan
3. #03 Harold Cannon
4. #54 Kevin Bryant
5. #5K Daniel Keene Jr.
1st Heat Winner - #3 Ricky Carlton
2nd Heat Winner - #6 Billy Bechtelheimer
Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars 1. #48 Stephen Anderson
2. #21 Scott Hendrickson
3. # 3 Chris Cross
4. # 9 Johnny Gann
5. #03 Kyle Bookmiller
1st Heat Winner - #48 Stephen Anderson
2nd Heat Winner - #9 Johnny Gann
Street Stock Feature – 50 Laps – 22 Cars 1. #2 Travis Nichols
2. #55 Ernie Reed
3. #22 Mickey Burns
4. #72 Joe Viverito
5. #69 Melvin Farmer
Fast Qualifier – Daniel Webster – 15:382 Secs.
Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #42 Richie Smith
2. #94 Sport Wilson
3. #19 Dean Lawyer
4. #01 Curtis Neumann
5. #85 Erica Wilson
1st Heat Winner - #20 Josh Teague
2nd Heat Winner – 01 Curtis Neumann
Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars 1. # 3 Roy Blotz
