IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

September 23, 2007 Doc Batson wins Citrus Street Stock 50 by Larry MacMillan Despite very threatening weather over the entire West Coast of Florida Citrus County Speedway was able to get the full program of 8 divisions in without a hitch. Street Stocks were the highlight of the evening as they blasted off for a 50 lap, non points, special. Late Models finally got a race in after a couple of rainouts that really spoiled their championship run for the season. Mini Cup cars were also there to get their season back on track and the Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and the V8 Thunder Stock Rookies topped off the excitement. Twenty of 21 Streets Stocks went on the clocks to open up the evening of action with Jeff Stalnaker turning a 16.191 to set the fast time in early qualifying only to see his brother Mike follow him with a 16.183. The balance of the field ran in the mid 16 and 17 second bracket before Richie Smith, the winningest driver at Citrus, came out as the next to last qualifier and turned a 16.105 second run. He pulled the 12 pill to invert the top 12 qualifiers to make an interesting starting order with the heavy hitters having a lot of traffic to deal with to get to the front. Tom Martone shot from the outside pole when the green flag flew with pole sitter Tim Nocella sliding into second followed by Artie Hewitt. The fast qualifiers all took to the outside lanes in pursuit of the leader and started picking off cars on each lap. Ninth starter and 4th fast qualifier Doc Batson borrowed daughter Crystal Batson’s car and he worked his way to the front in the first 15 laps. Chasing him were Mike Stalnaker, Richie Smith and Jeff Stalnaker all using that outside lane to get around traffic then it was a battle royal for position when Mike Stalnaker and Richie Smith worked their way around Doc Batson and got hooked up in a battle for the lead. The restart put Batson back in the lead for the final 15 laps of the race checking out on Jeff Stallnaker, Tom Martone, Mike Loudy, Tim Alexander and Mike Stallnaker who recovered from the earlier caution flag. When the checkers flew, that’s the way they finished but tech inspection saw Tom Martone take a disqualification for refusing to tear down and moved the rest of the field up to round out the top five. Rounding out the top 10 were Ernie Reed, Don Paugh, Tim Nocella, Jason VanOchten and Jon Buzinec. Only 14 Late Models made the trip with the threatening weather but it was quite a match race for the win in their 35 lap main event. Herb Neumann managed to outrun 5 time winner Mike Bresnahan in the race for the flag that ended with a green white checker finish. Daniel Webster took his new Bill Kart ride to a third place finish over Dale Sanders. Scott Grossenbacher got into a couple of caution flag scrapes that sent him back to the rear of the field twice but he managed to roll across the line in fifth. Webster and Jason Rendell took the heat wins. This was only the 8th race of the year for the Super Late Models at Citrus so their race for the championship has been very limited. Bresnahan maintains the lead by 12 point over Neumann with only two scheduled races left for the season. Sixteen Sportsmen went to war in their race for the 2007 championship chasing Fred Tuski for the crown. Mike Veltman started the night off with a heat win and then lined up in the 9th starting spot for their 20 lap feature run and proceeded to march to Victory Lane for the second week in a row and his 6th win of the season. Ernie Reed lost the lead to Veltman but managed to hold off 13th starter Fred Tuski in the race for second followed by point runner up Tom Posavec. Rounding out the top five was Dustin Aaron who outran Richie Smith in the run for the flag. Richie Smith won the second heat. --Advertisement-- Twelve cars took on the 3/8ths mile in the Mini Stock 20 lap main and Dan Smith started 3rd, locked onto the point from the green flag and never looked back for his first win of the season. Young Mark Powers mentioned he was in a slump after recovering from a crash several weeks ago, took the win in the first heat and chased Dan Smith to the checkers for a solid second place finish. Don Faunce had his best finish of the season winning out over point leader Steve Griffin in the race for third. George Neumann got pushed into the infield early in the race and was held up in traffic at the tail end of the pack but managed to finish fifth. Michael Lawhorn took another heat win but ran into problems in the feature that saw him with a 10th place finish. Steven Smith, the son of former champion J.D. Smith and brother of former champion Jim Smith took his first competitive Mini Stock ride for a sixth place finish. The 4 Cylinder Bombers came on 18 cars strong and Chris Harvey and Dan Haag had a major match race for the lead going on during the early laps. Haag spun out and that ended his run for the flag then Chris Harvey had to contend with Travis Hoefler and Jeff Eberly as they battled for position and the point lead. Hoefler apparently lost power in the final two laps leaving Eberly the opening to go around Harvey for his 5th win of the season. Harvey held out for second followed by Phil Edwards, Patric Conner and John DeGeorge. Hoefler managed a 6th place finish plus a heat win for the night. Dan Haag won the second heat. Pure Stocks had some heavy traffic to contend with, starting 27 cars and losing about 8 cars before the checkers flew. Mike Veltman continued his winning ways motoring his way from 17th to Victory Lane for the second week in a row. Rick Shahid started third and set the pace for most of the race only to fall to second when the checkers flew. Chad Markland outran John Drye in the race for third. Victor Shahid started 9th and finished fifth and added a heat win to his resume. Point leader Bill Ryan and Bobby Taylor took the other heat wins. It was Jesse Veltman following in the Veltman tradition with his second consecutive win in the V8 Thunder Stock Rookie division. Twenty cars watched him shoot from 7th to the lead and put the rest of the field to sleep before the checkers flew. Another new arrival on the Rookie scene is Ed Steinmann who gave Veltman some heat but had to settle for second followed by Mike Martin, Alex Wilder and Jeff Eisenhower. In Mini Cup action Devin McLeod took the win in both the heat and feature. Carlos Nando see-sawed with Brady Marshall in the race for second spot followed by Brenton Franklin and Mike Holt. Mini Cups will return on October 27th for Trick Or Treat night. Next Saturday night will see another 8 division race card featuring the Florida Pro Challenge Racers plus Open Wheel Modifieds, Figure 8’s, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers in action. Citrus County Speedway Results 9/22/07 Street Stock 50 Special – 21 Cars 1. #77 Doc James Batson – Inverness 2. #90 Jeff Stalnaker – Ocala 3. #21 Mike Loudy – Holiday 4. #63 Tim Alexander – Floral City 5. # 8 Mike Stalnaker – Ocala 6. #04 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 7. #15 Don Paugh – Homosassa 8. #22 Tim Nocella – Floral City 9. #99 Jason Van Ochten – Hudson 10. #114 John Buzinec - Belleview Fast Qualifier - #142 Richie Smith – Hernando – 16.105 Sec. Super Late Model Feature – 35 Laps – 14 Cars 1. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. – Inverness – 1st Season Win 2. #66 Mike Bresnahan – Lecanto 3. # 3 Daniel Webster – Brooksville 4. # 1 Dale Sanders – Lecanto 5. #09 Scott Grossenbacher – San Antonio 1st Heat Winner - #3 Daniel Webster 2nd Heat Winner - #94 Jason Rendell – Lakeland Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars 1. #94 Mike Veltman – Crystal River – 6th Season Win 2. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 3. #71 Fred Tuski – Crystal River 4. #01 Tom Posavec – Dunnellon 5. #98 Dustin Aaron – Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #94 Mike Veltman 2nd Heat Winner - #42 Richie Smith Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #82 Dan Smith – St. Petersburg – 1st Season Win 2. #29 Mark Powers – Hernando 3. # 2 Don Faunce – Hernando 4. # 3 Steve Griffin – Inverness 5. # 1 George Neumann – Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #44 Mike Lawhorn – Clermont 2nd Heat Winner - #29 Mark Powers 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #001 Jeff Eberly – Spring Hill – 5th Season Win 2. #00 Chris Harvey – Belleview 3. #21 Phil Edwards – Crystal River 4. #444 Patric Conner – Dunnellon 5. 122 John DeGeorge – Dunnellon 1st Heat Winner - #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City 2nd Heat Winner - #70 Dan Haag – Lecanto Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 27 Cars 1. #94 Mike Veltman – Crystal River – 2nd Season Win 2. # 3 Rick Shahid – Floral City 3. #134 Chad Markland – Inverness 4. #39 John Drye – Inverness 5. # 8 Victor Shahid – Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #8 Victor Shahid 2nd Heat Winner - #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell 3rd Heat Winner - #127 Bobby Taylor – Crystal River V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 20 Cars 1. #94 Jesse Veltman – Crystal River – 2nd Season Win 2. #60 Ed Steinmann – Homosassa 3. #76 Mike Martin – Citrus Springs 4. #14 Alex Wilder – Inverness 5. #73 Jeff Eisenhower – Homosassa Mini Cup Feature – 20 Laps – 9 Cars 1. #00 Devin McLeod 2. #16 Carlos Nando 3. #20 Brady Marshall 4. #11 Brenton Franklin 5. #24 Mike Holt Heat Winner - #00 Devin McLeod Have an opinion on this story? 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