Thomson zips to Eagle Buick/GMC Invitational win at Citrus County
by Dave Westerman
St. Cloud's Brandon Thomson used lapped traffic to his advantage as he took the win Saturday night in the Eagle Buick/GMC Truck Invitational race for Legends Cars at Citrus County Speedway.
Despite the event being a non-points race, 14 Legends Cars rolled into the track only to be greeted by a short but intense late afternoon rain shower that canceled the scheduled qualifying session. The starting field for the 35 lap race was then set by PBG Tour points putting current PBG Tour leader Kory Abbott of Apopka on the pole.
Abbott quickly took over the top spot at the drop of the green with Brandon Thomson running strong and nearly making a pass before the caution flag flew at the end of lap two for Tim McCormick who had spun in turn two.
Abbott had things going his way on the restart as he pulled away from Thomson and the rest of the field until the second and final caution flag of the race came out on lap 12 as Gary Verdier looped his car in turn two. Abbott continued to set the pace but ran into heavy lapped traffic during lap 23. Approaching three lapped machines going into turn three, Abbott chose the high line and found himself immediately blocked. Thomson chose the low line and streaked into the lead by several car lengths before Abbott could clear the back markers. From that point, Thomson maintained a comfortable advantage to the checker taking the Overall and Pro Division win in front of Pro drivers Abbott and Stuart Dutton. Mike Verhaagh came across the line fourth but took first place money in the Masters (over 40) Division as fellow "old guys" Jimmy Rodriguez and Doug Hall were fifth and sixth.
Shaughn McCormick came home seventh but that was good for first place in the Semi-Pro class for drivers with limited experience. Mitch Verhaagh, Darrell Vance and RussThomson rounded out the top five with the remainder of the finishing field being Bob Wilson, Verdier, Tim McCormick and Josh Antley.
