IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 7, 2006 Four First Season Winners at Citrus Saturday By Larry MacMillan Modifieds make it four wide at Citrus County. Despite threatening weather and several rain delays Citrus County Speedway drew 107 local drivers in 5 divisions and an additional 42 Pro and Kids FAST Trucks and FAST Late Models for a wild Saturday night at the races. The original race card called for 354 laps of racing by the 8 divisions but that had to be altered due to the rain delays but the whole show got in and saw four new local drivers make it to Victory Lane for the first time in the process. Modified hot shoe Teddy Nelson looked like he was on his way to his 4th win of the season as he launched off the outside poll position and won the drag race to turn one with Curtis Neumann on three different restarts due to accidents in the first lap. Once they got going the green stayed on until lap 10 when a caution came out with Nelson in the lead and Curtis Neumann on his rear bumper then the red flag came out due to a rain delay. Forty five minutes later 17 of the 21 starters came back out to finish the race and went non stop until Brandon Pitts ignored the move over flag causing a traffic jam on turn four and putting Neumann in the lead in the four wide run for the line. Pitts spun out on turn one bringing out the final caution on lap 27 and Curtis Neumann took his first Modified win under caution due to time constraints. Nelson held on for second followed by Harold Cannon, Kyle Bookmiller and Jimmy Wagner. Point leader Billy Bechtelheimer was taken out early in the race getting together with Chris Wentworth on the back chute catching the wall and wiping out the whole right side of his racer. He promises to have his racer back together in time for their next race on August 19th. Heat wins went to Neumann, Tommy Schnader and Doug Miller. Modifieds were the only division to run heats. The rest of the race card was features only. In Sportsman action Chris Cross came off the outside pole to take the point when the green flag flew and set the pace for the 24 car starting field from flag to flag and claimed his first feature win of the season. They too saw quite a few caution flags in their rough and tumble race. Adam Joyner stayed in the front three taking the checkered flag in second only to lose the spot with an illegal manifold in post race inspection. This moved Aaron Williamson into second with Dusty Bremer, Ernie Reed and Edward Allen locking onto the top five in their 25 Lap feature. Rikk McMehann was launched over the turn one wall into the pit area on lap two but was able to drive back to his pit under his own power. A blown engine caused a long clean up and unfortunately this race ended short of the full 25 laps scheduled. When the green fell on the Mini Stock feature it was all over but the shouting as Clint Foley came off the outside pole and set the pace for 27 laps when the only caution flag came out when Mike Lawhorn blew an engine. Foley went on to win his third victory of the season. James Ellis locked onto Foley for the entire 25 laps for a second place finish. Chris Hooker made some moves from his 15th starting spot to get the hard charger honors of the division for a third spot followed by Kevin Harrod and Johnny Siner. Twenty seven Thunder Stocks took the green flag and the outside poll seemed to be the place to start for all the divisions for the night as Erin Ray came off that slot and set the pace in another caution flag filled race. On each restart she was able to pull away from her closest competitor and in another race that ran out of time she took the checkered flag for her first win at Citrus. Mike Dubbs celebrated his birthday with a second place finish just ahead of another lady driver Megan Spicer in her 3rd week out in her new car. Rick Shahid and another birthday celebrant Jim Kruse rounded out the top five. Another lady driver took her first win in the 4 Cylinder Bomber, 20 lap feature. Ashley Williamson had her hands full in the final laps holding off the charges of Chris Allen who came from 15th to finish a close second just ahead of 8 time winner Justin Durbin. Last week’s winner Marlon Durbin moved from his 13th starting position to fourth just ahead of Jon Doucette. Due to the rain delays the FAST Truck, FAST Kids and FAST Late Model series had to alter their scheduled features. FAST Kids saw local driver and point leader John Kidwell set the early pace in the 25 lap main. Kidwell set the pace for the first half of the race but gave way to Brian Blum and Anthony Campi following them to the checkers for a third place finish. Rounding out the top five were Casey Caudill and Michael Cenzi. Ironically all the top five are at the top of the point’s race. The Fast Late Models were cut back from 100 to 50 laps for their main and Dustin Dunn came off the pole to take a flag to flag win. Sean Bass moved through the field from 12th to second after having a side by side battle with point leader Cody Pitts who got into Bass in a race for third. Pitts sent to the rear and Bass retained his spot on the restart and got around Steve Smith for a second place finish. Michael Seeright and Spencer Taylor locked onto the balance of the top five spots. Eighteen Pro Fast Trucks took the green flag for their cut back 50 lap main and 3rd starter Travis Roland put some cushion into his point lead taking the win over Gary Foxworth who had a battle royal with pole sitter Joe Coulter in the race for second. Danny Anderson worked his way from sixth to fourth over Al Neumann. Just as the race ended at 11 pm the bottom dropped out for the third rain of the evening making the homebound trek a tough one for the out of towners. Next Saturday night will be the “Back to School Bash” at Citrus featuring a 50 lap 4 Cylinder Bomber feature plus the Late Models, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and the return of the fantastic Figure 8’s. Bring the family and let the kids vent after their return to the school year. Citrus County Speedway Results 8/5/06 Open Wheel Modifieds – 30 Laps – 21 Cars 1. #01 Curtis Neumann – 1st Division Win 2. #34 Teddy Nelson 3. # 3 Harold Cannon 4. #03 Kyle Bookmiller 5. #17 Jimmy Wagner 1st Heat Winner - #01 Curtis Neumann 2nd Heat Winner - #19 Tommy Schnader 3rd Heat Winner - #53 Doug Miller Limited Sportsman Feature – 25 Laps – 24 Cars 1. # 3 Chris Cross – 1st Division Win 2. #113 Aaron Williamson 3. # 7 Dusty Bremer 4. #55 Ernie Reed 5. #23 Edward Allen No Heat Races Mini Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 17 Cars 1. # 7 Clint Foley – 3rd Season Win 2. #98 James Ellis 3. # 6 Chris Hooker 4. #34 Kevin Harrod 5. #01 Johnny Siner No Heat Races Thunder Stock Feature – 25 Laps – 27 Cars 1. # 2 Erin Ray – 1st Division Win 2. #36 Mike Dubbs 3. #83 Megan Spicer 4. #13 Rick Shahid 5. #82 Jim Kruse No Heat Races 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars 1. #84 Ashlee Williamson – 1st Division Win 2. #01 Chris Allen 3. #12 Justin Durbin 4. # 1 Marlon Durbin 5. # 5 Jon Doucette No Heat Races FAST Truck Kids Feature – 25 Laps – 12 Trucks 1, #31 Brian Blum 2. #81 Anthony Campi 3. #7ny John Kidwell 4. #33 Casey Caudill 5. #92 Michael Cenzi FAST Late Model Feature – 50 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #59 Dustin Dunn 2. #20 Sean Bass 3. #28 Steve Smith 4. #8 Michael Seeright 5. #46 Spencer Taylor FAST Pro Trucks – 50 Laps – 18 Trucks 1. #01 Travis Roland 2. #25 Gary Foxworth 3. # 2 Joe Coulter 4. #50 Danny Anderson 5. # 4 Al Neumann Have an opinion on this story? 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