IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

September 28, 2008 Kevin Harrod wins Citruss Mini Stock 50 & Richie Smith Takes Street Stock 50 by Larry MacMillan With the 2008 season winding down, 118 racers came to put on a terrific show for the fans and the battles for championship crowns really begin to come to a head. A pair of 50 lap features was the highlight of the night as the 27 Street Stocks made up their rainout from August and 31 Mini Stocks took the green flag for their regularly scheduled 50 lap special. Balancing out the full night of racing were the Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, 4 Cylinder Bombers and a wild Figure 8 Feature. Street Stocks kicked off the time trials with Mike Loudy turning a 16.116 second fast time for a $100 bonus from Ridge Line Tires. Then he promptly pulled the I-pill for a total 27 car inversion putting him to the rear for the start of the 50 lap feature. That didn’t deter his mission to get into the win column as he motored through the entire field taking the lead in lap 30. Pole sitter Bob Becker held off the entire field from the green flag to the 16th lap caution flag. On the restart, most of the heavy hitters had moved in on Becker and they swamped him in the run for the lead with several cars swapping the lead before Loudy moved in to set the pace to the checkered flag with multiple caution flags using up the time allotted bringing out the checkered flag in lap 42. The final 2 laps were on a restart after the final caution with Richie Smith, Bubba Martone and Tom Potts in pursuit of Loudy. Hold it, it ain’t over until the tech man speaks. After the motor tear down he spoke at about 11:30 and Loudy’s car was found to be running an illegal cam and machined heads on his motor for the D.Q. Mike lost the fast qualifier bonus, the Hard Charger bonus, the win purse and his points for the night. Michael Stalnaker picked up the $100 fast qualifier award for his 16.142 second run. Richie Smith inherited the win and the $50 Buffing Butterflies Cleaning service Hard Charger award. Rounding out the top five were Bubba Martone, Tom Potts, Doctor Mark Fallows and Jason Murphree. Kevin Harrod was the big gun in the Mini Stock 50 lapper taking the fast qualifier position with a 15.131 second run, and pulling the pill for a top 14 car inversion putting Wes Filyaw on the pole. Thirty one cars took the green flag with Filyaw winning the race to turn one and setting the pace for the first 24 laps in another race that saw numerous caution flags. Meanwhile Kevin Harrod worked his way from 14th to the point in lap 24 and it was catch me if you can from that point on to the checkered flag. Chris Hooker avoided several caution flag events and managed to pull off a 2nd place finish over Robbie Yoakam who gave him a run for his money. George Neumann lost his left front fender and driver door panel in a wreck on turn one due to being in the wrong place and the wrong time. Johnathan Camp made a great showing in one of his rare appearances. This was the largest field of Mini Stocks to make the show this season. The Open Wheel Modifieds put on a great show particularly in the final 5 laps in match race for the checkers between Robbie Cooper and Teddy Nelson. Cooper won the run for the point from the get go of their 30 lap feature while Nelson worked his way from 8th to second and a side by side run with Cooper when they got together putting both cars to the rear for the restart in lap 25. Sixth starter Doug Miller inherited the lead on the restart with Richie Smith nursing a sick race car into second place which put him into the point lead in the division. Curtis Neumann came into the night with the lead but lost power in the heat race and was unable to make repairs for the feature. He did make an appearance for the start in the 30 lapper but got minimum points for the night. Billy Bechtelheimer started third and managed to hold out for a third place finish over Mike Henderson and Robbie Cooper came back to finish fifth. Miller also logged a heat win and Smith added another 10 points to his lead with the win in the second heat. The Sportsman division came up short on car count again with only 12 cars set to take the green in the 25 lap feature night only. Clint Foley seems to finally have his new car set up and it was all over but the celebration in Victory Lane from the green flag as he picked up his 5th win of the season in a flag to flag run. Ernie Reed won the match race with point leader Tom Posavec for a 2nd place finish after Tom and Bobby Ervien had a run in that sent Ervien to the rear for the restart. Fred Tuski made his first start of the year and finished fourth ahead of another late season return of Phillip Rook in a brand new race car. The Sportsman division only has three races left in the season to decide their 2008 champion and will wrap it up on November 1st with a 50 lap special. The 4 Cylinder Bombers had an exciting 23 car 20 lap main that kept the fans on the edge of their seats right to the finish line. It was a side by side match race for the win by Mike Ogren who motored from 15th to challenge 9th starter Nathan Florian in the final laps. Florian put away his third win of the season with Ogren right on his rear bumper at the checkers. Point leader Richard Kuhn continues his top five finishes from 14th to 3rd followed by Phil Edwards and Bryton Prevatt. Heat wins went to Brandon Watson and Mike Ogren. Thirteen Figure 8’s went to war in the intersection and it was a battle royal in the early going. Ten laps into the 20 lap main Neil Herne plugged up the intersection off turn four waiting for traffic to come through when early leader Cliff Rousseau had to go right and Joey Catterelli had to go left in the dirt to get around the lapped racer. Catterelli came out of that move with the lead and went on to score his 3rd win of the season. Cliff out dueled Darryl Hage in the run for second while Robbie Aaron managed to stay in the game over John Baranauskas to round out the top five. The Figure 8’s will be back for a 50 lap race on October 11th for the Fall Fiasco night honoring retiring racer Bob Hage for his contribution to Figure 8 racing over the years. Next Saturday night will feature the Super Late Models, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks, V8 Thunder Stock Rookies, 4 Cylinder Bombers, Florida Open Wheel Lites and the Outlaw Mini Modifieds. Citrus County Speedway Results 9/27/08 Street Stock Feature – 50 Laps – 27 Cars – 42 Laps Run 1. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando – 1st Season Win in Division 2. #98 Bubba Martone – Dunnellon 3. # 3 Tom Potts - ? 4. #007 Dr. Mark Fallows – Crystal River 5. #95 Jason Murphree – Homosassa 6. #15 Don Paugh – Homosassa 7. #69 Tommy Ausburn - ? 8. #57 Frank Stromquist – Lecanto 9. #114 John Buzinec – Belleview 10.#17 Bob Becker – Homosassa Fast Qualifier - # 8 Mike Stallnaker – Ocala – 16.142 Hard Charger – #42 Richie Smith Mini Stock Feature – 50 Laps – 31 Cars 1. #34 Kevin Harrod – Floral City – 5 Season Wins 2. #6 Chris Hooker – Inverness 3. #29 Robbie Yoakam – Hernando 4. #1 George Neumann – Inverness 5. #13 Jonathan Camp – Beverly Hills 6. #05 Rick Sermons – St. Petersburg 7. #9 Mark Powers – Hernando 8. #2 Jim Smith – Inverness 9. #51 Chris Harvey – Belleview 10.#09 Todd Haught – Eustis Fast Qualifier – #34 Kevin Harrod – 15.131 Open Wheel Modified Feature – 30 Laps – 12 Cars 1. #53 Doug Miller – Largo – 2nd Season Win 2. #42 Richie Smith – Hernando 3. # 6 Billy Bechtelheimer – Dover 4. #18 Mike Henderson – Jessup 5. #98 Robbie Cooper – Bronson 1st Heat Winner - #53 Doug Miller 2nd Heat Winner - #42 Richie Smith Sportsman Feature – 25 Laps – 12 Cars 1. # 7 Clint Foley – Dunnellon – 5th Season Win 2. #55 Ernie Reed – Lecanto 3. #01 Tom Posavec – Dunnellon 4. #71 Fred Tuski – Crystal River 5. #97 Phillip Rook – Inverness No Heats Run 4 Cylinder Bomber Feature – 20 Laps – 23 Cars 1. #26 Nathan Florian – Homosassa – 3rd Season Win 2. #13 Mike Ogren – Spring Hill 3. #47 Richard Kuhn – Ocala 4. #21 Phil Edwards – Crystal River 5. #33 Bryton Prevatt – Center Hill 1st Heat Winner - #66 Brandon Watson – Dunnellon 2nd Heat Winner - #13 Mike Ogren Figure 8 Feature – 20 Laps – 13 Cars 1. #15 Joey Catterelli – Pinellas Park 2. # 3 Cliff Rousseau – St. Petersburg 3. #8 Darryl Hage – St. Petersburg 4. #6 Robert Aaron – Brooksville 5. #27 John Baranauskas – St. Petersburg Have an opinion on this story? 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