For the third consecutive week rain has been a factor in the racing schedule at Citrus County Speedway causing a cancellation of half the twin Modified 35 lap features and postponing the Thunder Stock feature to a future date.
Many fans remained patient as the rains began just as the second Modified feature got lined up and ready to go. It appeared that the Fairgrounds and downtown Inverness was the only place the rain decided to park in Citrus County.
Twenty five Modifieds kicked off the evening on the clocks qualifying and young Curtis Neumann was the fast qualifier with a 14.020 second lap on the 3/8ths mile asphalt oval. Robbie Cooper followed closely with a 14.118, Billy Bechtelheimer 14.169, Teddy Nelson at 14.174 and Harold Cannon 14.205 finishing out the top five.
Neumann pulled the #8 pill for the starting inversion putting Lee Collins on the pole and Mike Wilson on the outside pole. Lee Collins won the race to turn 1 when the green flew and held the lead for several laps before Harold Cannon made his move from his third starting spot to the point and set the pace.
Teddy Nelson made his move through traffic from his fifth starting spot to chase Cannon all the way to the checkers finishing a solid second with fifth starter Robbie Cooper holding our for third. Rounding out the top ten were Lee Collins, Mike Wilson, Butch Bassett, Buddy Kessler, Adam May, John Godwin and Doug Miller. The drivers had a 20 minute time frame to make any adjustments and refuel their car in the infield.
Harold Cannon pulled the #10 pill inverting the top ten putting Doug Miller on the pole for the second half of the twin 35 s but after getting lined up and ready to go the rain put a stop to the race. Time constraints after a 30 minute delay for the rain and drying out the track cancelled the race with no available make up date to try it again. The Hobby Stocks and track equipment helped dry the track out to get one more feature in before the curfew shut it down for the night. The race didn t get the green flag until 10:40 allowing 20 minutes to get their feature race in and hopefully allowing the Modifieds to get back out in time to run their second race.
That was not to be. The Hobbies approached the damp track with caution and Alvin Williamson took off from the pole position to set the pace all the way to the checkers. Fourteenth starter Tim Alexander managed to work his way through traffic to chase Williamson to the finish line followed by 13th starter John Makula, 21st starter Curtis Flanagan and Sonny VanOchten who was in a four lap battle with Williamson for the early lead.
Heat winners were Williamson, Flanagan and Jay Witfoth. With 25 racers in the hunt for the Limited Sportsman 20 lap main event it proved to be a rough one with many cautions coming out for individual battles that rearranged the restarting lineup on several occasions. Third starter Chris Cross remained patient while J.T. Renau and Glen Flemming battled for the point for several laps before both brought on a caution flag. From that restart the rest of the field chased Chris to his second win of the season. Craig Robinson worked the outside groove from his 9th starting spot to hold out for a second place finish over Phillip Rook, Maloy Kelly and Jim Altobelli. Heat wins went to Cross, Edward Allen and Rusty Bremer.
Nineteen 4 Cylinder Bombers made the first feature of the night with Neal Durbin taking the win in the first heat from the pole and Jon Doucette picking up the second heat win. Neal took off from the pole in their 20 lap main and looked like he was going to run away with the race only to see several caution flags come out closing up the field. Meanwhile Justin Durbin and Marlon Durbin were working their way through traffic to the point it looked like it was going to be a Durbin, Durbin, and Durbin finish. Marlon got caught up in a mid race caution sending him to the rear of the field but Justin continued to move forward and made the pass on Neal in the final 2 laps to take his 11th feature win of the season.
Neal Durbin held on for second followed by Phil Edwards, Kevin Stone and Jon Doucette. There will be no practice session this week due to the Southern Night Southern Rock concert at the speedway on Friday night. The race card on Saturday night will feature the Late Models, Limited Sportsman, Mini Stock, Hobby Stocks, Citrus County Speedway Results 9/16/06 Modified Twin 35 s - 1st Race 25 Cars 1. #3 Harold Cannon 1st Season Win 2. #34 Teddy Nelson 3. #198 Robbie Cooper 4. #89 Lee Collins 5. #79 Mike Wilson 6. #23X Butch Bassett 7. #28 Buddy Kessler 8. #37 Adam May 9. #22 John Godwin 10.#53 Doug Miller Fast Qualifier - #01 Curtis Neumann 14.020 Seconds Modified Twin 35 s 2nd Race - 25 Cars Cancelled Due to Rainout Limited Sportsman Feature 20 Laps 25 Cars 1. #3 Chris Cross 2nd Season Win 2. #175 Craig Robinson 3. #97 Phillip Rook 4. #92 Maloy Kelly 5. #76 Jim Altobelli 6. #66 Bobby Taylor 7. #29 J.T. Renau 8. # 5 Rusty Bremer 9. #98 Dustin Aaron 10.#81 A.J. Isbister 1st Heat Winner - #3 Chris Cross 2nd Heat Winner - #23 Edward Allen 3rd Heat Winner - #5 Rusty Bremer Hobby Stock Feature 20 Laps 25 Cars 1. #09 Alvin Williamson 1st Season Win 2. #63 Tim Alexander 3. #27 John Makula 4. #33 Curtis Flanagan 5. #99 Sonny VanOchten 6. #9 Artie Hewitt 7. #66 Bobby Taylor 8. #15 Don Paugh 9. #44 Robert Capps 10.#97 Tim Quick 1st Heat Winner - #09 Alvin Williamson 2nd Heat Winner - #4 Jay Witfoth 3rd Heat Winner - #33 Curtis Flanagan 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature 20 Laps 19 Cars 1. #12 Justin Durbin 11th Season Win 2. #055 Neal Durbin 3. #21 Phil Edwards 4. #98 Kevin Stone 5. # 5 Jon Doucette 6. # 1 Marlon Durbin 7. #44 Patric Conner 8. #01 Bobby Riley 9. #001 Jeff Eberly 10.#22 Bobby Richardson 1st Heat Winner - #055 Neal Durbin 2nd Heat Winner - # 1 Marlin Durbin
