After a rainout last week hot weather, 126 hot racers and Doug Rose firing up the Green Mamba Jet car really made for hot racing and a wild night of fireworks at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. Seven divisions went to war as mid season approaches when starting and finishing the races in the top ten are most important as the point races are close in every division.
The Open Wheel Modifieds brought in a 14 car field and they spent the night chasing defending champion Kyle Bookmiller. Despite numerous caution flags for minor spins Bookmiller was able to move away from the competition on the restarts while Harold Cannon battled with the rest of the field to hold onto a second place finish. When the checkers flew Bookmiller logged his first win of the season followed by Harold Cannon, John Gerstner, Mike Wilson and Jimmy Houle rounding out the top five. Heat wins went to Teddy Nelson and Steven Harbuck.
Seventeen cars took the green flag when the Sportsman launched their race cars for the 11th time this season. The first ten laps saw two and three wide racing as the heavy hitters came from the middle and back of the pack in the run for the checkers. Richie Smith owns the third groove and made it work for him again as he took his 3rd win in the division. Fred Tuski moved from 6th to finish a distant second with D.J. Macklin on his rear bumper at the finish line. Tom Posavec got caught up in traffic on several occasions but managed to pull out a fourth place finish over Bobby Taylor who started in the scratch position. Smith also picked up his 5th heat win and Rusty Bremer picked up his first of the season.
Mini Stock point leader Steve Griffin apparently has recuperated well from knee surgery five weeks ago and it seems to put some extra heavy push in his throttle foot taking his second win in a row Saturday night. He moved from his 5th starting spot to the lead by the halfway point in the 20 lap main and Clint Foley was determined to pick up his 5th win of the season but just couldn’t make the pass on Griffin and settled for a nose to tail second place finish. Outside pole sitter Mike Lawhorn slipped back in the field and came back through in the late laps to salvage a third place finish. Young Mark Powers moved to the front of the field from his 4th starting spot early in the race, lost it in turn four and managed to come back through the field to finish fourth in front of Phillip Joyner. Powers and George Neumann took the heat wins.
Twenty Street Stocks took the green flag in their 20 lap main event and despite starting 17th Richie Smith made short work of the entire field using that third groove again, logging what appeared to be his 9th win of the season. That all changed when it was found that he had an altered lower control arm changing the suspension of his race car and that led to a D.Q. Runner up Curtis Flanagan inherited the win and the point lead in logging his third win of the season. Artie Hewitt held the early lead bringing his Silver Bullet from 9th to the point by lap 6 and managed to hold on for second after Smith and Flanagan passed him and the D.Q. moved him up from his third place finish. Thomas Peet also had the lead for a few laps and held out for third over 13th starter Tim Alexander and 10th starter Todd Downs. Wayne Heater, Tim Wilson and Artie Hewitt won their heats.
Twenty cars took the green in what turned out to be a wild Figure 8, 20 lap main event. Ken Crews jumped to the point when the green flew and led the race for 10 laps before Danny Hage forced him to the outside lane. Hage took the point and spent the last half of the race holding off Wayne Calkins in a borrowed race car. That’s the way the top two finished with Crews holding onto third in a fierce battle with Clifford Rousseau and Robbie Aaron rounding out the top five.
It was a 25 car traffic jam when the Pure Stocks took the green and many of the drivers couldn’t handle the patience factor it takes in waiting for the breaks. Experience showed the young guns what it takes to work your way through heavy traffic with Bobby Taylor coming from 22nd starting spot to take his 5th win in the division. Bill Ryan started 13th, took the lead away from James Henick and chased Taylor to the checkers. Henick, Victor Shahid and former Champion Steve Stinedurf locked onto the top five spots. Stinedurf, Ryan and Rick Shahid took the heat wins.
Since Steve Hise and John Drye showed dominance in the V8 Thunder Rookie Division the track has taken the liberty to take away the rookie status in the division and move them up to race for points in the Pure Stock division. Chad Markland joined Hise and Drye after taking his third consecutive win and fourth win of the season in the division. Kevin Carnes and Jody Pandy were D.Q’d in post race inspection for running illegal tires giving Tim Eisenhower 2nd, Chad Fairbanks 3rd, Cotee Clark 4th and Joe Floyd 5th. These drivers are not running for points or money. This is an opportunity for the new drivers to get experience and seat time.
When the racing was all over Doug Rose and the Green Mamba Jet Car took center stage and completed the show that was originally scheduled to go two weeks ago. When he hooked up his rebuilt Green Mamba to the car in the infield he lit up his jet car, hit the afterburner going through 50 gallons of fuel and literally blew the car down to a red glowing frame that looked more like the skeleton of a pickup truck. During the halftime show he put on he used another 30 gallons and singed a few eyebrows of the folks who made the mistake of sitting close to the front rows of the grandstands and making a hot night even hotter for the fans. No matter how many times you have seen Doug Rose it’s always an awesome show.
Next Saturday night will feature the Father’s Day Special with a 50 lap Pure Stock non points special, Super Late Models, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and the 4 Cylinder Bombers return after a week off.
Citrus County Speedway Results 6/9/07
Open Wheel Modified Feature – 30 Laps – 14 Cars
1. #03 Kyle Bookmiller – 1st Season Win 2. # 3 Harold Cannon 3. #20 John Gerstner 4. #79 Mike Wilson 5. #80 Jimmy Houle
1st Heat Winner - #34 Teddy Nelson
2nd Heat Winner - #09 Steven Harbuck
Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 17 Cars
1. #42 Richie Smith – 3rd Season Win 2. #71 Fred Tuski 3. #14 D.J. Macklin 4. #01 Tom Posavec 5. #66 Bobby Taylor
1st Heat Winner - #42 Richie Smith
2nd Heat Winner - #5 Rusty Bremer
Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 11 Cars
1. # 3 Steve Griffin – 3rd Season Win 2. # 7 Clint Foley 3. #44 Mike Lawhorn 4. #29 Mark Powers 5. #86 Phillip Joyner
1st Heat Winner - #29 Mark Powers
2nd Heat Winner - # 1 George Neumann
Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars
1. # 3 Curtis Flanagan – 3rd Season Win 2. # 9 Artie Hewitt 3. #85 Thomas Peet 4. #63 Tim Alexander 5. #00 Todd Downs
1st Heat Winner - #71 Wayne Heater
2nd Heat Winner - #97 Tim Wilson
3rd Heat Winner - # 9 Artie Hewitt
Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars
1. #11 Danny Hage – 1st Season Win 2. # 5 Wayne Calkins 3. #81 Ken Crews 4. # 3 Clifford Rousseau 5. # 6 Robbie Aaron
Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 25 Cars
1. #127 Bobby Taylor – 5th Season Win 2. #33 Bill Ryan 3. #71 James Henick 4. # 8 Victor Shahid 5. #0 Steve Stinedurf
1st Heat Winner - #0 Steve Stinedurf
2nd Heat Winner - #33 Bill Ryan
3rd Heat Winner - # 3 Rick Shahid
V8 Thunder Stock Rookie – 20 Laps – 15 Cars
1. #34 Chad Markland – 4th Season Win (Moves To Pure Stocks) 2. #73 Jeffery Eisenhower 3. #37 Chad Fairbanks 4. #39 Cotee Clark 5. #38 Joe Floyd
