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| Figure 8's and A Full Race Card at Citrus Saturday | by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 5/14/03) Mike Bresnahan brings the Super Late Models back to the Citrus County Speedway 3/8ths mile with a slim one-point lead over Jim Smith in the run for the 2003 Late Model Championship Crown. Daniel Keene Jr. is 41 points out of the lead with Ricky Carlton right up his tail pipe 42 points out of the lead. Billy Bechtelheimer has a gang of racers after his fifth place position and is definitely not out of the hunt for the championship. Herb Neumann is just two points out of fifth with Rex Struble ten points out and Dale Sanders 32 points behind Bechtelheimer. Late Models will run for the next two weeks in heats and 30 lap feature races.
Mike Veltman is looking in his rear view mirror at Bill Oesterreicher closing on his Sportsman lead. Johnny Gann slipped from the lead a couple of weeks ago but holds out in third just 54 points out of the top spot. Mike Bell continues to finish well and has a 14-point lead in the race for fourth over Johnny Sanders. J.D. Goff finally got into the top ten with his first feature win last week. They will go in heat and a 20-lap feature Saturday.
Street Stocks have another close race for the crown going with Ernie Reed just ten points up on Danny Cretty who is back on track after blowing a motor three weeks ago. Joe Viverito chalked up his third win of the season last week and is a definite threat to regain the point lead. Mickey Burns is showing some extra horsepower with several top five finishes and is due for a feature win. Travis Nichols has three feature wins under his belt and rounds out the top five. Daniel Webster and Owen Leigh are also threats to move into the top five with some strong runs in recent weeks. Street Stocks will go in heat and a 20-lap feature this weekend.
Thirty-five Mini Stocks are still chasing Chris Thornton for point’s supremacy and he comes into this week’s heat and feature action with a 43-point lead. Chris Hooker is putting the heat on and also looking back at Phillip Joyner who trails by just 17 points. Dustin DesChamp is still in the running just 11 points behind Joyner and is 23 points up on Rob Wheatley who is nursing a sick racecar and should be back this week.
Forty-four Hobby Stocks are in the point battle and sitting on top of the stack is Richie Smith with the slimmest lead that he has experienced over the past two years at this point in the season. Second year driver Curtis Neumann is giving him and the entire field all the heat they can stand and trails Smith by just eleven points. Despite not making it to Victory Lane, Dean Lawyer has a 90-point lead on three-time winner Sport Wilson who took the win last week. Alvin Williamson is still looking strong, holding out in fifth and still looking for his first win. After last week’s fiasco, Curtis Youmans will not be a factor in any racecar at Citrus for the balance of the year.
The lady in the orange #55 is still the queen of the Thunder Stocks. Pat Quick seems to be getting quicker every week with three wins. Lee Keller slipped around three-time winner Roy Blotz in the race for second. Blotz was taken out early last week and had some work to do on his racecar to make it back this weekend. Larry Triana is still battling with Louie Cioe in the race for fourth and will go head to head this weekend in their heats and 20-lap feature.
Rounding out the action packed card will be the Figure 8’s back for their second race of the season. Robbie Powell outran the 12 car intersection pilots on April 19th and is looking for a repeat over the top five in the division. Ronnie Schreifels, Tim Henault, Troy Davis, Ethan Nistok, Ken Crews, Fred Tuski, Mickey Burns, Robert Aaron, Gary Swing and James Nocella and others will be looking to spoil that back to back win streak.
Citrus County Speedway is located 2 miles south of Inverness on U.S. 41 at the Citrus County Fairgrounds next to the Inverness Airport. Pit gates open at 2 and grandstand gates open at 3 with the first heat taking the green flag at 6:30.
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