IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 4, 2007 Bresnahan Locks Citrus L.M. Championship With 7th Win by Larry MacMillan With just two races left in the 2007 season it was a battle of Championship and top ten point contenders Saturday night as 133 drivers and 7 divisions were on the schedule. The Late Models and 4 Cylinder Bombers were in their final race of the year and two 2007 champions were crowned when the night was over. The Street Stocks saw a 1 point showdown set for next Saturday night as the season comes to an end. Eighteen Late Model drivers continued their chase of Mike Bresnahan who has been on a roll in 2007 wrapping up his very successful year with his 7th feature win and 5 heat wins plus multiple top 5 finishes. Consistency has been his key to another Late Model Championship Crown coming off the season as the only multi feature winner over the 42 registered cars in the division for the year. Unfortunately they only got 10 of the 13 scheduled races in due to rainouts. Saturday night Bresnahan locked in his championship over runner up Herb Neumann Jr. who finished 18 points back and Daniel Webster who finished up 38 points out of the top spot in his new ride. The official finish Saturday night for their 35 lap feature was Bresnahan, Neumann, defending champion Scott Grossenbacher who finished 4th in the points race, Perry Lovelady who finished 8th in points, and Daniel Webster. Bresnahan, Neumann and Grossenbacher took the heat wins. Sixteen of the 58 Sportsman who have earned points took on Citrus County Speedway Saturday night and Mike Veltman marched from 10th to first when the checkers flew, logging his 8th win of the year. Johnny Zuidema locked onto the point when the green flag flew and held onto the lead for most of the race despite several caution flags on a very loose race track due to an earlier blown motor in another division. Veltman made the pass for the win and closed in on 2nd place in the point race. Zuidema held off the rest of the field for a second place finish. Point leader Fred Tuski marched from 12th to third at the finish line and is going to be tough to beat for the championship in next week’s finale with a 43 point lead over Tom Posavec who had to settle for a 12th place finish this week. J.T. Renau had to run the race in a borrowed race car but managed to come from the 16th spot to finish 4th followed by Sal DeFranco. Zuidema and Ernie Reed scored heat wins. Curtis Flanagan came into Saturday night’s race with a 1 point lead over Richie Smith with just two races left in their season. Twenty four cars took the green flag for what turned out to be a real barn burner with Flanagan starting 13th and Smith rolling out of the 18th starting slot. Johnny Zuidema took off from the pole and set the pace for 14 laps while Tim Alexander moved from 7th to battle for the lead when they crashed. Zuidema took the blame for the wreck and Alexander took the green for the run for the checkers. Meanwhile Flanagan and Smith marched through traffic in a match race for the flag with Richie coming out on top for his 15th win of the season. Tim Alexander scored a second place finish nosing out Curtis Flanagan for the spot. Rounding out the top five were Tim Wilson and Bobby Taylor. When the dust settled Richie Smith took over the point lead by 1 point over Curtis Flanagan for the big showdown next Saturday night for the Championship. Heat winners were Tim Alexander, Ernie Reed and Wayne Heater. --Advertisement-- Mini Stock Point leader Steve Griffin launched his racer to the point when the green flag dropped and set the pace all the way to lap 19 looking like he was going to log his 4th win of the season when he handgrenaded his motor taking him out of the running for the green, white, checkered flag finish. At that point Clint Foley had marched from his 9th starting spot to second and inherited his 9th feature win of the year just 2 points behind Mike Lawhorn in the race for 3rd over the 46 car division. Lawhorn settled for 2nd followed by Don Faunce, George Neumann who is 21 points behind Griffin for the championship, and Chris Allen rounding out the top five. Foley and Mark Powers scored the heat wins. The 4 Cylinder Bombers wrapped up their season with 55 racers earning points in the division for the year. Jeff Eberly came into the final race with a very comfortable lead in the division but he wasn’t finished racing for the win and launched from 8th to Victory Lane to celebrate his 6th win and first championship. Travis Hoefler chased him after losing the point lead in mid-season but had to settle for a third place finish behind Bobby Richardson in the Bomber finale. Phil Edwards closed out the season in a 4th place finish and third in points. John DeGeorge started 14th in the 16 car field and motored his way to a 5th place finish. Heat winners were Richardson and Hoefler. In Pure Stock action it would appear that Bill Ryan is another racer who won’t settle for an early championship and ride out the season on his laurels. He has been the dominant force all season long in a division that saw 88 drivers earn points. Ryan started 21st in a 28 car field a motored to his 7th win of the season and is untouchable for the 2007 Championship Crown. Glen Colyer led the best part of the race but lost out his second place finish in tech inspection. Victor Shahid inherited 2nd followed by Jesse Mullis who inherited third when Joe Rauner failed to respond to tech inspection for a possible 3rd place finish. Rick Shahid moved up to fourth followed by James Erickson. Heat wins went to Jesse Veltman who broke in the feature, Bobby Taylor and Steve Stinedurf. With one more race on the V8 Thunder Stock Schedule Eddie Rosasco started 15th and went on to win his 3rd of the year over a 21 car field. Arden Franklin started 18th and charged to a 2nd place finish behind early leader James Zuidema, Chuck Franklin and Anthony Martinez. This is the rookie division and they do not run for points. Out of 57 registered drivers 5 moved up to the Pure Stock division during the season. Chad Fairbanks would be the champion in the division if they were running for points with no wins on his resume. Citrus County Speedway will close out its’ 52nd season with a bang next Saturday. The super high speed TBARA Winged Sprints will run their final race of the season where they opened it. This should be a wild show in the shootout for their Championship. Added to the finale program will be the Figure 8’s, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, the Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stock Rookies and Women’s Powder Puff Race to close it all out. You don’t want to miss this one. --Advertisement-- Citrus County Speedway Results – 11/03/07 Super Late Model Feature – 35 Laps – 18 Cars 1. #66 Mike Bresnahan – Lecanto – 7th Season Win – 2007 Champion 2. #98 Herb Neumann Jr. – Inverness 3. #09 Scott Grossenbacher – San Antonio 4. # 7 Perry Lovelady – Lakeland 5. # 3 Daniel Webster – Brooksville 1st Heat Winner - #98 Herb Neumann Jr. 2nd Heat Winner - #09 Scott Grossenbacher 3rd Heat Winner - #66 Mike Bresnahan Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars 1. #94 Mike Veltman – Crystal River – 8th Season Win 2. #147 Johnny Zuidema – Homosassa 3. #71 Fred Tuski – Crystal River 4. #29 J.T. Reneau – Floral City 5. #50 Sal DeFranco – Brooksville 1st Heat Winner - #147 Johnny Zuidema 2nd Heat Winner - #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 24 Cars 1. #142 Richie Smith – Hernando - 15th Season Win 2. #63 Tim Alexander –Floral City 3. #3. Curtis Flanagan – Floral City 4. #93 Tim Wilson – Floral City 5. #66 Bobby Taylor – Crystal River 1st Heat Winner - #63 Tim Alexander 2nd Heat Winner - #04 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 3rd Heat Winner - #71 Wayne Heater – Homosassa Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 12 Cars 1. # 7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon – 9th Season Win 2. #44 Mike Lawhorn – Clermont 3. # 2 Don Faunce – Spring Hill 4. # 1 George Neumann – Inverness 5. #33 Chris Allen – Bushnell 1st Heat Winner - # 7 Clint Foley 2nd Heat Winner - #29 Mark Powers – Hernando 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars 1. #001 Jeff Eberly – Spring Hill – 6th Season Win – 2007 Champion 2. #22 Bobby Richardson – Lecanto 3. #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City 4. #21 Phil Edwards – Crystal River 5. #122 John DeGeorge – Dunnellon 1st Heat Winner - #22 Bobby Richardson 2nd Heat Winner - #20 Travis Hoefler Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 26 Cars 1. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell – 7th Season Win 2. # 8 Victor Shahid – Floral City 3. #99 Jesse Mullis – Beverly Hills 4. # 3 Rick Shahid – Floral City 5. #66 James Erickson – McIntosh 1st Heat Winner - #94 Jesse Veltman – Crystal River 2nd Heat Winner - #127 Bobby Taylor – Crystal River 3rd Heat Winner - # 0 Steven Stinedurf – Brooksville V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 21 Cars 1. #10 Eddie Rosasco – Spring Hill – 3rd Season Win 2. #171 Arden Franklin – Hernando 3. #47 James Zuidema – Brooksville 4. #71 Chuck Franklin – Hernando 5. # 7 Anthony Martinez – Spring Hill Have an opinion on this story? 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