Sixteen year old Kory Abbott completed one of those "dream" weekends by charging to victory in the third round of the PBG 2006 Florida Legends Car Touring Series Saturday night at Citrus County Speedway. Brandon Thomson started the evening off by setting quick time among the 22 entries with a lap of 15.316 seconds with Abbott close behind at 13.382 and Matt Bowers third quick at 15.435.
Thomson pulled the "2" pill, meaning he and Abbott would swap starting spots on the front row while everyone else would line up by qualifying order for the 35 lap feature race.
It looked like it might be a repeat of both Citrus County races from last year in which neither race went the scheduled distance before time ran out as the track employs a "one minute per lap rule" to help them meet their 11PM curfew. That meant the drivers had to completed the 35 laps in 35 minutes or less.
Going down the back stretch on the opening lap, Matt Bowers and Andy Logan got together with Logan taking a wild slide backwards through the infield. Neither car was damaged though and a second attempt was made to start the race which was also for naught as several cars at the back of the starting grid tangled going into turn one with Spike Sabo and Austin Aguirre getting the worst of this one.
The third try was the charm as Abbott raced out to an early lead with Thomson right on his bumper. Thomson wasted little time getting by Abbott for the lead but Abbott stayed right with him and re-took the top position on lap seven.
Cation flew for the first time on lap 11 for Mike Verhaagh's spin in turn four. The restart saw Thomson continue to press Abbott for the top position as they pulled well in front of the rest of the field. Fourth running Andy Logan ran into problems on lap 23 as he tried to lap slower cars going into turn one. Logan ran into the infield trying to avoid the slower machines but still ended up planted on top of Tim Osterlund's car to bring out yellow flag number two. Both Logan and Osterlund retired from the event.
Once the green came out, Abbott and Thomson again pulled well out front with Abbott using lapped traffic to put some distance between himself and his rival.
Mike Verhaagh spun again, this time in turn two, to bring out the final caution on lap 32 setting up a three lap dash for cash between the two front runners.
Abbott held strong and took the win, giving him three feature victories for the weekend after winning back-to-back the night before at Orlando Speedworld.
Abbott's win means there have been three different winners in three races in the 2006 PBG tour so far this year.
Thomson, the winner at Orlando last month, was a close second with Bowers driving a great race to checker third. Steady Stuart Dutton was fourth ahead of teammate Chris McDonald with Paddy Rodenbeck sixth, Wesley McLeod seventh, and Jimmy Norman eighth. Bronson winner Chelsea Schillig ran as high as sixth, but could not get her car to work right after an incident in practice and faded to ninth at the finish ahead of Josh Williams in tenth.
The next race on the 2006 PBG Florida Legends Car schedule is slated for Saturday night, May 27th at Desoto Super Speedway near Brandenton.
OFFICIAL FINISH: CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY - 4/29/06:
1) Kory Abbott, Apopka #5 2) Brandon Thomson, St. Cloud #54 3) Matt Bowers, Mount Dora #84 4) Stuart Dutton, Tallahassee #32 5) Chris McDonald, Havana #94 6) Paddy Rodenbeck, Odessa #129 7) Wesley McLeod, Altamonte Springs #22 8) Jimmy Norman, Lake Mary #2 9) Chelsea Schillig, Apopka #75 10) Josh Williams, Port Charlotte #6 11) James Rodriguez, West Palm Beach #19 12) Mike Fazio, Davie #38 13) Mitch Verhaagh, Bonita Springs #9 14) Doug Hall, St. Petersburg Beach #55 15) Mike Verhaagh, Ft. Myers #7 16) Shaughn McCormick, Oviedo #34 17) Eric Eichelberger, West Palm Beach #47 18) Andy Logan, West Palm Beach #1FL 19) Tim Osterlund, Sebring #49 20) Bob Wilson, Beverly Hills #27W 21) Austin Aguirre, Tallahassee #59 22) Spike Sabo, Tampa #5X
Lap Leaders: Kory Abbott: 1-2 Brandon Thomson: 3-6 Abbott: 7-35 Top finisher/Pro Division: Abbott Top finisher/Semi-Pro Division: Bowers Top finisher/Masters Division: Rodriguez
