IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 4, 2004 FSCR Seven Divisions Open Citrus 49th Points Season by Larry MacMillan Citrus County Speedway turned up the horsepower as their 49th racing season officially got underway. Modifieds, Sportsman and Figure 8’s kicked off the season with special races accented by a wild 28 car Hobby Stock field, Mini Stocks, Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers. John Grimm and Chris Fadling took the wins in the Modified heat races. Eleven of the 12 racers that made the show took the green flag and put the pressure on pole sitter Harold Cannon for the entire 30 laps. Billy Bechtelheimer put the pressure on the leader for the first 20 laps but after the third caution flag lost power and had to put it in the pits scoring an 8th place finish with his DNF. The two heat winners battled to the checkers for second with Chris Fadling outrunning John Grimm to lock in the spot. Rick Hall and Mickie Kempgens rounded out the top five finishers. Richie Smith picked up the ride in the James Cross Sportsman racing machine and topped the 13 qualifiers in time trials. The top six were inverted for the 40 lap feature with Mark Dominique taking the early point and holding off the late charge of Richie Smith until lap 35. Stephen Anderson was also in the mix early in the race picking up the lead for a lap or two before he lost it in turn two. He managed to come through traffic in the final 10 laps from the back end of the field to salvage a third place finish behind Smith and Dominique. David White was scheduled to start on the pole but elected to start in the rear. He showed some power and patience as he took the checkers in fourth ahead of Dwight Pinner. This was a Great opening for the limited Sportsman schedule for 2004. Chris Hooker raced his 2003 Mini Stock Championship car elsewhere during the March break with three wins in three weeks. He was definitely the man to beat in the 2004 point’s race opener. Steve Griffin started the night with the heat win and winning the pole starting position. He lost the drag race to turn one when the green flag flew and despite giving it all he had he was forced to watch Hooker lead all 20 laps, picking up where he left off in 2004, for his forth feature win in four races. David Curry ran solo in third and finished a half lap behind Hooker to lock in third at the checkers. Richard Stroup outran Jim Curry for the fourth. It was the “Curtis Neumann” show when 26 of 28 Hobby Stockers took the green flag for their 20 lap main event. Neumann shared the heat wins with Todd Downs and Tommy Smith. Neumann won the race to the first turn over outside pole sitter Todd Downs and third starter Tommy Smith. From there on to the checkers it was catch me if you can as the entire field looked at the back end of Neumann’s racer. Tommy Smith spent most of the race trying to reel Neumann in to no avail and had to settle for second over Bobby Taylor, Dean Lawyer and Todd Downs. Steven Stinedurf had a twin win to open up his 2004 Thunder Stock season, winning his heat and taking a flag to flag win in the 20 lap feature. Seventeen of the 18 registrants took the green flag and Stinedurf smoked the entire field. Glen Colyer, Sr., Lee Keller and Jarrod Kessler put on a 20 lap show swapping positions on numerous occasions with Colyer holding out for second followed by Keller and Kessler. Rick Badessa held off the rest of the pack to round out the top five. Kessler won the second heat. Figure 8’s had a tough time getting started but once they did it was “Katie Bar the Door.” Former champion Gary Swing took the point early with Ken Crews and another former champion Ron Schreifels in pursuit. Gary Swing held the lead for 8 laps before he got loose on turn two and fell back three spots. Schreifels made the move to the lead in the traffic jam that developed with Swings mishap and it was all Schreifels’ show from that point on. Ken Crews was able to hold out for second over Swing, Steve Thomas and Neil Herne to round out the top five. The 4 Cylinder Bombers are suffering the normal new division growing pains. Only four cars made the show and only 3 finished. The front two, Jeff Pittsley and John DeGeorge, put on a pretty good show for 18 laps before DeGeorge lost it on turn two. Clark Pittsley was running a distant third and picked up second while DeGeorge recovered for the 1, 2, 3 finish. Jamie White made an early run at the front on lap two and had to shut it down after making contact with the two front runners. The new division is expected to grow weekly as new cars are still in the garage getting race ready. Week two of the 2004 point season will see the return of the Late Models in Twin 50 lap features, each paying $1,500 to win. Add the Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers to the card and you have another exciting racing program at Citrus County Speedway’s 49th Stock Car season. Citrus County Speedway Results 4/3/04 Modified Feature – 30 Laps – 11 Cars 1. # 3 Harold Cannon 2. #29 Chris Fadling 3. #72 John Grimm 4. #15 Rick Hall 5. # 2 Mickie Kmepgens 1st Heat Winner - #72 John Grimm 2nd Heat Winner - #29 Chris Fadling Sportsman Feature – 40 Laps – 13 Cars 1. # 3 Richie Smith 2. # 7 Mark Dominique 3. #48 Stephen Anderson 4. # 6 David White 5. #40 Dwight Pinner Fast Qualifier - # 3 Richie Smith 14:688 Seconds Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 10 Cars 1. #1X Chris Hooker 2. #3 Steve Griffin 3. #00 David Curry 4. #95 Richard Stroup 5. #20 Jim Curry Heat Winner - # 3 Steve Griffin Hobby Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 28 Cars 1. #01 Curtis Neumann 2. #42 Tommy Smith 3. #66 Bobby Taylor 4. #19 Dean Lawyer 5. #00 Todd Downs 1st Heat Winner - #01 Curtis Neumann 2nd Heat Winner - #00 Todd Downs 3rd Heat Winner - #42 Tommy Smith Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars 1. #0X Steven Stinedurf 2. #4X Glen Colyer Sr. 3. #21 Lee Keller 4. #10 Jared Kessler 5. #88 Rick Badessa 1st Heat Winner - #0X Steven Stinedurf 2nd Heat Winner - #10 Jared Kessler Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #64 Ron Schreifels 2. #81 Ken Crews 3. #98 Gary Swing 4. # 1 Steve Thomas 5. #83 Neil Herne 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 4 Cars 1. #20 Jeff Pittsley 2. #64 Clark Pittsley 3. #22 John DeGeorge 4. # 7 Jamie White Have an opinion on this story? 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