The Citrus County Speedway “Fall Fiasco” was, to say the least an exciting, fan pleasing success featuring and Enduro 150 for a $5,000 win purse, Figure 8, 50 lap special for $1,000 to win, Pro and Rookie Figure 8 School Bus Races, a Boat Trailer Race and culminating in a 30 minute Demolition Derby.
The fans got more than their money’s worth with as much excitement as the standing room only crowd could want.
The 50 lap Figure 8 special kicked off the evening of wild action with a 15 cars taking the green flag for 100 trips through the intersection where timing is everything with traffic moving in two directions. That timing proved to change the end result in the final 10 laps when the 8th running car misjudged the leaders run for the criss cross well ahead of the rest of the field.
Darryl Hage came off the outside pole and set the pace for the first 25 laps when a caution came out for a wreck in the intersection.
Seventh starter Joey Catterelli worked his way through traffic to lock onto the leader’s rear bumper followed by Robbie Hage, Wayne Calkins, and Robbie Aaron in a nose to tail freight train. The rest of the field got spread out and made it a scary trip through the intersection for the leaders. Several accidents occurred in the interim and on the restart at lap 25, Catterelli starting making his moves on Darryl Hage. Darryl started fading around lap 30.
Catterelli and the rest of the field made their charge for the final 20 laps with Catterelli leaving the rest of the field behind by a half lap before lap 40 changed the whole picture when John Thomas got t-boned in the driver door by the leader taking them both out of action. Both drivers walked away from the accident but their race cars needed help getting back to the pits. Wayne Calkins chased new leader Robbie Hage for five laps before he managed to make his way to the point and into Victory Lane for the win. Robbie Hage held out for second over a hard charging Clifford Rousseau, Danny Hage and Darryl Hage rounding out the top five. Only 8 cars finished the race.
Thirty four racers took on the 150 lap Enduro race and Bill Ryan wasted no time taking the point from his 3rd starting spot. Ryan lapped the entire field by lap 15 and looked like he was going to run away with the race with very few interruptions.
A red flag came out after 66 laps and the restart added the chicane to the oval so the drivers had a left hand turn off turn two to the intersection of the Figure 8 track and then a right turn out to turn three and back left on the oval. This made for more excitement and allowed some of the lapped cars to make up their lap.
Everyone was keeping their eye on Robert Ray who started 18th and was a lap down on the restart. Robert charged to 3rd place, still a lap down, then to second then catching Ryan to on lap himself. He still had to come through all that traffic to catch Ryan in the run for the lead. Another red flag came out after 100 laps and the field went in reverse direction for the final 50 laps.
That’s where Robert turned up the boost and took the point away from Bill Ryan and lapped the entire field before the checkers came out for his win. The final finish wasn’t decided until the night was over, all score cards were checked and tech inspection was complete. Bill Ryan held out for second and $2,000 followed by lapped cars Jay Seykora, Steven Hise and Eric Sharrone rounding out the top five.
Two of the School Bus drivers spent the intermission giving the kids rides for about 20 minutes through the Figure 8 course and then the Pro School Bus Figure 8’s got down to business putting on one heck of a show with 18 buses going two and three wide around the turns and sometimes four wide through the intersection. This one had the crowd on their feet for all 20 laps and the ooohs and aaaahs when the traffic jammed up the intersection were unbelievable.
When the checkers flew 18th starter Michael Gamache drove through all that traffic, took the lead in lap 18 made his way to Victory Lane. Dwayne Fults, Figure 8 winner Wayne Calkins, Travis Nichols and Brent Fults locked in the top five spots.
Then the Rookies put ten busses on the track for a 20 lap run and one scary moment changed the whole picture when it was all over. James Armstrong’s bus stalled in the intersection causing mass confusion and two racers made contact putting John Drye up on two wheels and just short of rolling the bus. On the restart Phillip Perry locked onto the lead and it was all over for the rest of the field as he never looked back until the checkers flew. Holding out for second was Ryan O’Neal, Justin Cretty, Jay Seykora and Gene Gamache.
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Next up, it was the 13 car, Boat Trailer Race that saw mass destruction from the get go. Several cars lost their boats on the first lap and then trailers started coming on attached. They raced the oval and the chicane for 20 laps and when the smoke cleared the track was littered with boats, trailers and car parts with only 5 of the starters finishing with something in tow. Taking the win was Michael Gamache for his second of the night. Curtis Youmans had his boat and trailer still in tact until he came off turn four for the checkers his trailer hit the wall, came off the trailer and his trailer came off the hitch at the start finish line but he still held out for second. Don Welter finished third followed by Larry Triana who dragged an upside down trailer from lap 2 right down to the finish line. Larry Welter Sr. locked down 5th place.
Fifteen competitors took the green flag for the Demo Derby and the crashing and banging went on for about 20 minutes with Jason White in the 8 Ball probably the most active driver in the field. Jeremy Graves and Steven Rib got in some pretty good hits on the rest of the field as well but when all was said a done it wound up in the most unusual finish in Demo Derby history. The three drivers went at each other for about 5 minutes before two of them got locked up and couldn’t break lose. Jason White went for one final hit on the two cars that were locked up and he wound up getting locked up with Rib and Graves. For the first time the top three split the entire purse in a three way tie.
It’s back to serious business next Saturday night at Citrus County Speedway as the Super Late Models go at it in back to back Twin 50 lap feature races. Resuming their race for the points’ Championship, the Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers turn up the heat with only four weeks left in the season. The V8 Thunder Stock Rookies will be running double features in a make up for their rainout on September 29th.
Citrus County Speedway “Fall Fiasco” Results 10/13/07 Figure 8 Feature – 50 Laps – 15 Cars
