It was cold and wet at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night for the hoped for season opener but the weatherman had other ideas. Despite the weather conditions and the forecast 32 TBARA super rockets made the trip in what was to be the first of a three day series in central Florida.
Defending champion David Steele led the large field of registrants along with every top shoe in the winged sprint car series plus some promising rookies. It was quite a disappointment when the races were called at 4:45 pm when the radar showed it wasn’t going to let up. It is just as well the races were called early because the rain continued on and off throughout the evening and nothing would have been accomplished by hanging in there except more disappointment.
The open wheel Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Thunder Stocks, and Figure 8’s will have to wait at least another week or more before they can work on garnering points towards the 2006 season championship. They will have a 35 week season to accomplish that in another very versatile year that is loaded with nine regular season divisions and every type of short track traveling series in the state.
The weatherman is promising better conditions for next weekend when the Late Models, Limited Sportsmen, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers take to the 3/8ths mile oval for their first point’s races of the year. Hopefully the weather crystal ball doesn’t change between now and then.
Open practice will be Thursday night, February 17th, this week. All drivers are reminded to register with the pit office as soon as possible so we can institute the new computerized registration system that will save you time and confusion on the lineups when you come to race each week. The only way to insure reserving your car number is to register and there will be no X numbers allowed compensating for duplicate numbers.
We are looking for a full field of cars, in all divisions, as we kick off our 51st racing season at Citrus County Speedway. Come early and stay late because it is going to be an exciting season with plenty of great competition and fan support.
Citrus County Speedway is located 2 miles south of Inverness on U.S. 41 at the Fairgrounds. Pit gates open at 2 pm, practice at 3, grandstand gates open at 4 and races take the green flag at 6 pm.
