IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

July 20, 2008 Robbie Cooper Scores 3rd Citrus Modified Win by Larry MacMillan (Inverness, Fl. 7/19/08) The Open Wheel Modifieds are back full strength at Citrus County Speedway and put on quite a show in their 17 car 35 lap feature. The evening got off to quite a rough start for point leader Curtis Neumann when Tony Carreno’s motor blew in the hot lap session of the first heat taking Neumann into the wall on turn 1. Carreno was done for the night and Neumann made an attempt at putting his front end back together but it just wasn’t enough to be competitive in the feature. Jeremy Gerstner went on to take a flag to flag win in the first heat. Teddy Nelson locked down the second heat from the pole. Sixteen cars lined up for the feature shoot out with Scott McDaniels taking his first ride at Citrus from the pole but his lead was short lived with Teddy Nelson and John Gerstner in hot pursuit. Nelson won the race to the point with Jeremy in his tire tracks followed by Doug Miller, Adam May, Eric Rudd and Robbie Cooper. Several caution flags kept the field pretty tight over the balance of the race with 10th starter Robbie Cooper charging to the front in the final laps for the win. Teddy Nelson held off Jeremy Gerstner in the race for second. They were followed by Doug Miller and Adam May to round out the top five An eleven car Sportsman field took the green flag for their 20 lap main event and trouble hit Tim Wilson in the his first race in the division early suffering front end damage in a crash that ended his night in the first lap. It took three restarts to get this one going and when it did Bobby Ervien shot to the front from his 3rd starting spot and led it all the way to the checkers. He was called for jumping one spot on the restart which led to a two spot penalty when the checkers flew putting him back to third. Richie Smith inherited the win followed by Tom Posavec, Bobby Ervien, pole sitter Bobby Miller and Todd Kelly in his second run at Citrus. Ervien and JoJo Viverito took the heat wins. Bobby Ervien experienced an oil fire during the practice session that burnt some of his electrical system and he was a doubtful starter much less a potential winner in the race. Twelve racers took the green flag in the Street Stock Feature and this one turned out to be a real barn burner. Lots of lead changes in the early stages of the race before Tommy Smith made his way from 6th to the point and took home his second win of the season. Team mate Jason Murphree charged from 7th to finish well back in 2nd at the checkers holding off Kyle Peters, Dr. Mark Fallows and Frank Stromquist who survived a couple of hard hits during the race. Heat winners were Smith and Murphree. John Baranauskas became the only three time winner in an exciting Figure 8, 20 lap main. John came off the pole to take the point and was chased all the way to the checkers by former Champions Robbie Aaron and Darryl Hage. Point leader Joey Catterelli started 9th and picked off all but the three front runners in his run for what would have been his third win of the year. Joey is famous for pulling off a last lap run to the flag for the win but it wasn’t meant to be on this Saturday night. Rounding out the top five was another former Figure 8 Champion Ron Schreifels. Twenty Four 4 Cylinder Bombers came out for the car wars and Travis Hoefler was the man to beat on this Saturday night. He charged from 6th to the front of the pack in lap 5 and no one gave him any troubles from that point on despite several caution flags. Young Brandon Watson see sawed in the front five and managed to make his way to a second place finish ahead of 7th starter Patric Conner. Defending champion Jeff Eberly moved from 13th to fourth just ahead of his son Chris who started in 15th spot. Heat winners were Patric Conner, Nathan Florian and point leader Richard Kuhn. Pure Stocks came to race in great numbers with 30 of 31 registrants taking the green flag. Defending champion Bill Ryan survived an early spin that caused a complete restart then charged from his12th starting spot to lead the field to his 6th win of the season after taking his 6th heat win. Despite all the success he is still second in the points’ race. Richie Smith took a rare ride in the division, started 29th and used his experience to charge to a second place finish. Victor Shahid stayed in the top five for most of the race and settled for 3rd ahead of Ricky Henick and Curtis Flanagan. Mike Hinde, Flanagan and Ryan took the heat wins. Twenty two V8 Thunder Stock Rookies rounded out the 128 car count for the night at Citrus and new comer Cody Stickler smoked the entire field with his first win in the division. Jon Brown finished second but lost the spot by not going to tech for post race giving the 2nd place finish to Austin Roberts who is looking for one more win in the division before he moves up to the Pure Stock division. Josh Long in the M00 car drove his way from 7th to 3rd at the checkers. Derek Gray and Drew Matissek rounded out the top five to wrap up another exciting night at Citrus County Speedway. Next week will see the return of the Super Late Models, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers and our first look at the DeSoto Champ Kart Series. It will also $1.00 Beer night for the fans on the grandstand side of the track. Citrus County Speedway Results 7/19/08 Open Wheel Modified Feature – 35 Laps – 17 Cars 1. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson – 3rd Season Win 2. #34 Teddy Nelson – Pinellas Park 3. #27 Jeremy Gerstner – Tampa 4. #53 Doug Miller – Largo 5. #37 Adam May - ? 1st Heat Winner - #27 Jeremy Gerstner 2nd Heat Winner - #34 Teddy Nelson Sportsman Feature – 20 Laps – 11 Cars 1. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando – 1st Season Win 2. #01 Tom Posavec – Dunnellon 3. #88 Bobby Ervien – St. Petersburg 4. #27 Bobby Miller – 5. # 8 Todd Kelly – New Port Richey 1st Heat Winner - #88 Bobby Ervien 2nd Heat Winner - #72 JoJo Viverito – Inverness Street Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars 1. #93 Tommy Smith – Hernando – 2nd Season Win 2. #95 Jason Murphree – Homosassa 3. #33 Kyle Peters – 4. #007 Mark Fallows – Crystal River 5. #57 Frank Stromquist – Lecanto 1st Heat Winner - #93 Tommy Smith 2nd Heat Winner – #95 Jason Murphree Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 11 Cars 1. #27 John Baranauskas – St. Petersburg – 3rd Season Win 2. # 6 Robert Aaron – Brooksville 3. # 8 Darryl Hage – St. Petersburg 4. #15 Joey Catterelli – Pinellas Park 5. #64 Ron Schreifels – Hernando 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps -24 Cars 1. #20 Travis Hoefler – Floral City – 1st Season Win 2. #66 Brandon Watson – Dunnellon 3. #444 Patric Conner – Dunnellon 4. #01 Jeff Eberly – Spring Hill 5. #56 Chris Eberly – Spring Hill 1st Heat Winner - #444 Patric Conner 2nd Heat Winner - #26 Nathan Florian – Homosassa 3rd Heat Winner - #Richard Kuhn – Ocala Pure Stock Feature – 20 Laps – 31 Cars 1. #33 Bill Ryan – Bushnell – 6th Season Win 2. #93 Richie Smith – Hernando 3. #88 Victor Shahid – Floral City 4. #60 Rick Henick – Inverness 5. #35 Curtis Flanagan – Floral City 1st Heat Winner - #142 Mike Hinde – Hernando 2nd Heat Winner - #35 Curtis Flanagan 3rd Heat Winner - #33 Bill Ryan V8 Thunder Stock Rookie Feature – 20 Laps – 22 Cars 1. #99 Cody Stickler – 1st Season Win 2. #31 Austin Roberts – Inverness 3. #00 Josh Long – Inverness 4. #89 Derek Gray – Lakeland 5. #68 Drew Matissek – New Port Richey Have an opinion on this story? 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