IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 11, 2008 Neuman & Smith Share Citrus Twin 35 Modified Wins by Larry MacMillan The Mod Squad celebrated Mother’s Day weekend with twin 35 lap feature races and two of the local drivers put on quite a show for the mom and the fans. Kicking off the night of excitement the Open Wheel Modifieds time trialed in qualifying for the 1st of 2 feature races with 11 of the 12 cars turning fast laps within 7/10ths of a second of the fast time set by Robbie Cooper at 14.028. Curtis Neumann was going for his 4th fast qualifier time of the season and missed it by 2/100ths of a second at 14.048. Robbie Cooper pulled the 4 pill inverting the top 4 qualifiers putting former Modified Champion Kyle Bookmiller on the pole next to Billy Bechtelheimer and Neumann and Cooper filling in row two and Richie Smith and Tommy Schnader in row 3. When the green dropped Bechtelheimer and Bookmiller made a side by side run for turn one with Bechtelheimer pulling just ahead off turn two. This battle went on for a couple of laps before the field settled down to single file to find their line and get into racing mode. At the halfway point Curtis Neumann felt it was time to go to work and took the outside groove and then taking advantage of the inside line when the front runners moved outside to block his move to the point. It was all over but the battle for second after Neumann took the point in lap 19. When the checkers flew Robbie Cooper locked onto second followed by Richie Smith, Billy Bechtelheimer, Scott McDaniel and Doug Miller to round out the top five. After a 15 minute refueling and adjustment break in the infield they inverted the top 6 finishers and restarted all 12 cars for the second half of the twin 35’s. Doug Miller won the pole and the race for turn 1 and two and held but a caution came before the lap was completed with a crash in turn one. On the restart Miller won the race for the point again and held off the 11 remaining challengers for the first 8 laps before Richie Smith and Curtis Neumann were going for position and Curtis turned Smith around. On the restart Richie got his spot back and Neumann went to the rear of the field. Smith made the move for the point in lap 12 and from that point on he set the pace to the checkered flag with Curtis coming through traffic and was on his rear bumper at the finish line trying to make it two for two. He did get the hard charger award for the two races. Billy Bechtelheimer, Doug Miller and Kyle Bookmiller finished out the top five. It only took two laps for James Crawford to move from 5th to first in the Street Stock 20 lap feature and he put on a driving show that kept all the heavy hitters at bay for the remaining 18 laps despite a few caution laps in route to the winner’s circle. David Foster borrowed Hal Robertson’s car and came from 10th to put a challenge on for the final few laps but had to settle for second when it was all over. Also in the mix for the win was 12th starter Tommy Smith in his second outing for the season and locking down 3rd over Mike Loudy and Jason Murphree to round out the top five. Murphree gave Crawford a run for his money until the final two laps when a major traffic jam among the top five developed into a three and four wide run for the checkers. Crawford and Jason VanOchten took the heat wins. Sixteen Mini Stocks came loaded for bear in their 20 lap main and five of the scheduled front starters elected to go to the rear moving the heavy hitters up to the front of the pack for the green flag. Different picture but same results as Clint Foley duplicated his run from last week with his second consecutive win and 4th for the season, putting more cushion in his point lead. Don Faunce inherited the outside pole starting slot and led the field for 19 laps when up jumped super fast Foley to snatch the win on the final two turns. Kevin Harrod just couldn’t make the pass on Faunce in their side by side finish, settling for third followed Mike Lawhorn and defending champion Steve Griffin. Lawhorn and Faunce logged the heat wins. Twenty four Pure Stocks put on a super competitive show in their feature with all the big guns cocking and loading from the back end of the field and moving through all that traffic in three and four wide racing. Seventeenth starter Tim Wilson moved through traffic with relative ease and definitely got a jump on the rest of the heavy hitters during the early laps. It really got exciting in the final five laps with Bill Ryan finally shaking the slower traffic from his 16th starting spot but ran out of laps and settled for a second place finish. Richie Smith moved from 18th to 3rd in the final few laps but was denied his second win in a row with a 3rd place finish over early leader Victor Shahid and Dustin Swearingen . Smith, Ryan and Wilson were top shoes in the three heats. A most unusual start had the crowd on their feet for the Figure 8 feature. As the green flag dropped it got four wide in turn four heading for the straight with Neal Herne on the outside, running out of room and driving right up on top of the wall. The car stopped just before running into the tower that is for private spectators on what is normally turn one. The race car was parked on top of the wall and it took a front end loader and a wrecker about 20 minutes to get the car off the wall and the chunk of wall that was taken out back in place so they could go back to racing. Neal walked away from the unusual wreck but the car was done for the night. When the green did finally fly Clifford Rousseau blasted to the front of the pack and set the pace for Victory Lane from flag to flag. Robbie Aaron was celebrating his 50th birthday and the knowledge that he will become a grandfather for the first time with what appeared to be a second place finish only to see it fade in the final laps when Joey Catterelli made that familiar final lap move to lock down second. Robbie settled for third followed by Wayne Calkins and Darryl Hage rounding out the top five spots. Nineteen cars jumped into the V8 Thunder Stock fray with pretty much the same results as last week’s race. Mike Hinde drove in his second race ever and came from 14th to first for his second win in two weeks. With one more win the rookie won’t be a rookie any longer and will move up with the big boys in the Pure Stocks. Michael Martin moved from 12th to 2nd at the finish line followed by 13th starter Drew Matissek, Austin Roberts and Lawrence Wilder. Next Saturday night look for the return of the Super Late Models, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and the V8 Thunder Stock Rookies. Added to the show will be the ½ scale NASCAR replicas in the Mini Cup series, who always put on a great show. Citrus County Speedway results 5/09/08 Open Wheel Modified Twin 35’s – 1st Feature – 12 Cars 1. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness – 3rd Season Win 2. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson – Fast Qualifier – 14.028 Secs. 3. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando 4. #6 Billy Bechtelheimer – Dover 5. #19s Scott McDaniel – Port Charlotte 2nd Feature – 12 Cars 1. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando – 1st Season Win 2. #01 Curtis Neumann – Inverness – Hard Charger Award 3. # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer – Dover 4. #53 Doug Miller – Largo 5. #03 Kyle Bookmiller – Valrico Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 15 Cars 1. #34 James Crawford – Ocala – 1st Season Win 2. # 4 David Foster – Wildwood 3. #93 Tommy Smith – Floral City 4. #21 Mike Loudy – Brooksville 5. #95 Jason Murphree – Homosassa 1st Heat Winner - #34 James Crawford 2nd Heat Winner – #99 Jason VanOchten Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 16 Cars 1. #7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon – 4th Season Win 2. # 2 Don Faunce – Spring Hill 3. #34 Kevin Harrod – Floral City 4. #44 Michael Lawhorn – Clermont 5. # 3 Steve Griffin – Inverness 1st Heat Winner - #44 Mike Lawhorn 2nd Heat Winner - # 2 Don Faunce Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 24 Cars 1. #93 Tim Wilson – Floral City – 3rd Season Win 2. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell 3. #142 Richie Smith – Hernando 4. #88 Victor Shahid – Floral City 5. #11 Dustin Swearingen – Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #142 Richie Smith 2nd Heat Winner - #33 Bill Ryan 3rd Heat Winner - #93 Tim Wilson Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 11 Cars 1. # 3 Cliff Rousseau – St. Petersburg – 1st Season Win 2. #15 Joey Catterelli – Pinellas Park 3. # 6 Robert Aaron – Brooksville 4. #14 Wayne Calkins – St. Petersburg 5. # 8 Darryl Hage – St. Petersburg V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 11 Cars 1. #142 Mike Hinde – Hernando – 2nd Season Win 2. #76 Michael Martin – Citrus Springs 3. #68 Drew Matissek – New Port Richey 4. #31 Austin Roberts – Inverness 5. #28 Lawrence Wilder – Inverness Have an opinion on this story? 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