IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 17, 2008 Seven Divisions in Citrus Speedweeks Special by Larry MacMillan It was a 7 division race card wrapping up Citrus County Speedway’s contribution to the Florida Speedweeks short track specials. One hundred twenty seven racers went into the car wars Saturday night and each division had close finishes to keep the fans on their feet much of the evening. Modifieds have elected to run time trials for qualifying and Curtis Neumann followed his first race win with a blazing 13.955 to take the Jimmy Cope Race Car/Flagship R.V. $100 bonus money for fast time. He was the only 13 second run out of the 11 racers in the field. On the pill draw Robbie Cooper won the pole position and outran Kyle Bookmiller to turn 1 & 2 and set the pace to the checkered flag in their 40 lap main event. Meanwhile, Neumann moved around Bookmiller and Tommy Schnader in pursuit of his second win in a row but had to settle for second at the finish line. Schnader back for his first race after a crash the year before last kept out of the race car last year settled for a solid third place finish just ahead of Richie Smith who came from ninth to fourth. Kyle Bookmiller locked onto a 5th place finish in his first race of the year. In week two of the Sportsman season, 12 cars made the field with Clint Foley taking the win in the first heat and Tom Posavec taking the second heat run. Foley took the green flag off the pole position and locked horns with Ernie Reed for a side by side battle that went on for quite a few laps before Foley took the point. Magic Mike Veltman worked the outside groove making passes of at least one car on each lap before battling with the front 2 for the lead. The magic worked by lap 15 and Mike took his second win in a row in search of his 7th championship crown and his 8th win out of his last 90 races. Ernie Reed made the pass on Foley for a second place finish while Foley had to settle for third followed by 5th starter Bobby Ervien and 8 starter Shelton Bowers rounding out the top five. Doc James Batson made the outside pole work for him and locked on to the point and left the rest of the 18 car field in his dust for a flag to flag win in their Street Stock 20 lap main. The race for second place became the one to watch with Tim Quick coming off his first week win with a run from 14th and driving through several battles for position by 3rd place finisher David Foster, 4th place finisher Jason Murphree and Mike Loudy who jockeyed back and forth from third to finish 5th. David Foster took the 1st heat win and Doc Batson also took the win in the second heat in his first point race of the year. The Four Cylinder Bombers put on quite a show with Dan Haag coming off the pole and setting the pace for the first half of the race before defending 2007 champion Jeff Eberly put the hammer down and moved from fifth to Victory Lane for his first win on the season. John DeGeorge came from 16th when the green flag flew to finish second. The man that was really on the move was Travis Hoefler who made his way from 20th to third when the checkers flew. Hoefler will be doing double duty this season with a Mini Stock and Bomber racing next week. After a second place finish in week 1 of the season Richard Kuhn sits on top of the point standings inheriting his 4th place finish after Dan Haag suffered a D.Q. in post race inspection. Rounding out the top 5 was Josh Fairchild. Heat winners were Hoefler, Eberly and Patric Conner. Twenty seven cars made up the Pure Stock field and saw Todd Brown, Victor Shahid, in a borrowed car, and unbeatable Bill Ryan taking the heat wins. When the green flag flew for their main event “Wild” Bill Ryan drove his new ride through tons of traffic from his 24th starting spot right to the front in short order and his 3rd consecutive win for the early season. Jesse Veltman made his way from 18th to second followed by 21st starter Aaron Welter. Eric Sharrone and Victor Shahid finished in that order to round out the top five. It was a wild ride for the 14 car Figure 8 field. Robert Aaron took off from the pole and set the early pace before Joe Ringheisen lost a left rear wheel on his way off turn 2 into the intersection. Joe didn’t make it through the intersection but somehow the wheel did without hitting any of the oncoming traffic. Aaron maintained the point on the restart but lost power after several laps and T.J. Sharrone took the point with an inside pass going into turn three. Sharrone got caught up in a battle with Darryl Hage and as the laps wound down 7th starter Joey Catterelli took over the lead in the final couple of laps and locked down his first win of the early season. T.J. Sharrone held out for second followed by Robbie Hage, Clifford Rousseau and Darryl Hage rounding out the top five. Seventeen rookies in the V8 Thunder Stock division got into a crash fest that turned the scheduled 20 lap race into a shortened 15 lap run. Dustin Swearingen is quickly making his way to moving up to the Pure Stocks with his second win in their 3rd week of the season. Lady racer Jamie Shahid stayed in the top five for the entire race and wound up with a second place finish. Cotee Clark gave all he had at the finish but had to settle for third followed by Alexander Wilder and Lawrence Wilder. Next Saturday night will feature the Super Late Models in twin 50 lap back to back features. Added to the program will be the Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers. This will mark the end of the season openers as the track will be closed for the next 4 Saturday nights to make room for the annual Citrus County Fair Break. The speedway will reopen with a bang on March 29th with Figure 8 School Bus races, Boat Trailer Race, and the point season will restart for the Open Wheel Modifieds, Figure 8’s, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and V8 Thunder Stocks. Citrus County Speedway Results 2/16/08 Open Wheel Modified Feature – 40 Laps – 11 Cars 1. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson – 1st Season Win 2. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness 3. #19 Tommy Schnader – Largo 4. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando 5. #03 Kyle Bookmiller – Valrico Fast Qualifier Time - #01 Curtis Neumann – 13.955 Secs. Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #155 Mike Veltman – Crystal River – 2nd Season Win 2. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 3. #56 Clint Foley – Dunnellon 4. #88 Bobby Ervein - ? 5. #32 Sheldon Bowers – Ocala 1st Heat Winner - #56 Clint Foley 2nd Heat Winner – #01 Tom Posavec Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 18 Cars 1. # 7 Doc James Batson – Inverness – 1st Season Win 2. #97 Tim Quick – Lecanto 3. #41 David Foster – Wildwood 4. #95 Jason Murphree – Homosassa 5. #21 Mike Loudy – Holiday 1st Heat Winner - #41 David Foster 2nd Heat Winner - # 7 Doc James Batson 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 28 Cars 1. #01 Jeff Eberly – Spring Hill – 1st Season Win 2. #122 John DeGeorge – Dunnellon 3. #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City 4. #47 Richard Kuhn – Ocala 5. # 6 Josh Fairchild – Crystal River 1st Heat Winner - #20 Travis Hoefler 2nd Heat Winner - #01 Jeff Eberly 3rd Heat Winner - #444 Patric Conner – Dunnellon Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 27 Cars 1. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell – 3rd Season Win 2. #55 Jesse Veltman – Crystal River 3. #80 Aaron Welter – Sorento 4. #59 Eric Sharrone – Floral City 5. # 8 Victor Shahid – Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #157 Toddy Brown – Lake Panasoffkee 2nd Heat Winner - #8 Victor Shahid 3rd Heat Winner - #33 Bill Ryan Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 14 Cars 1. #15 Joey Catterelli – Pinellas Park – 1st Season Win 2. #59 T.J. Sharrone – Floral City 3. #74 Robbie Hage – St. Petersburg 4. # 3 Cliff Rouseau – St. Petersburg 5. # 8 Darryl Hage – St. Petersburg V8 Thunder Stock Feature – 20 Laps (15) – 17 Cars 1. #11 Dustin Swearingen - ? – 2nd Season Win 2. # 3 Jamie Shahid – Floral City 3. #39 Cotee Clark – New Port Richey 4. #14 Alexander Wilder – Inverness 5. #28 Lawrence Wilder – Inverness Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!