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| Florida Pro Weekend in Double Venue Show | by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 34452) Florida’s Super Late Model Hot Shoes will take on two different venues this weekend with a Friday and Saturday night show in North Central Florida. The Lake City based Florida Pro Series is making a double header out the weekend and wrapping up the twin bill at Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. The heavy hitters come into the 3/8ths mile with no practice time and survivors of Friday night’s race in Ocala will only have Saturday afternoon to practice and set up unless they come down for the Thursday night regular practice session.
Jay Middleton leads in the point race for the series followed by rookie Michael Faulk. Doyle Boatwright is third with one feature win under his belt. David Froehlich holds out in fourth followed by Brian Finney who is sporting one of four feature wins in the series. Rounding out the top ten in the points chase are Steve Lamb, one time winner Wayne Anderson, David Hodges, Jr., Rich Pratt and Jeff Scofield. Some of the locals will certainly get in on the action to add to this outstanding lineup of Florida’s best.
Mike Bell put some more cushion in his Sportsman point lead after his third place finish last week. Bill Oesterreicher slipped with a DNF and lost 18 points to Bill Ryan in the race for second. Mike Veltman continues to slide in the standings as his second week of his four week suspension comes up this weekend. Rounding out the top five is Johnny Sanders. And the run for the crown continues this Saturday.
Danny Cretty gained a 7 point cushion in his Street Stock point lead with a second place finish in both his heat and the feature, plus 5 bonus points for leading the race. Ernie Reed had to settle for a fourth place finish and Mickey Burns picked up 7 points on Reed in the race for second. Travis Nichols is closing on the top spot with his 6th win of the season plus a heat win and 10 bonus points for leading most laps and lading the race. Joe Viverito suffered a DNF and slipped a spot in the chase for the crown. Another good turn out is expected to run this Saturday.
The Mini Stocks need to rebuild their division. Chris Hooker has held the lead in the point race for two weeks in a row with his nearest competition dropping out of the race last week with overheat problems. Phillip Joyner holds out in third after a strong showing against eventual winner Steve Griffin who pulled off a win in his fourth outing after a near fatal automobile accident kept him out of action for almost 2 years. Mike Lawhorn is being chased by George Neumann and that battle continues this weekend as well.
Hobby Stocks continue to chase Richie Smith in the point race and he has made a good showing over the past two weeks. Curtis Neumann lost 12 points to the leader after last week’s finish that featured 20 cars. Sport Wilson picked up his 8th win of the season and holds a solid third in the point race. Dean Lawyer and Roy Perkins are in the battle for fourth which continues this weekend.
Pat Quick put some distance on Lee Keller in the race for the Thunder Stock Crown with a third place finish last week. She is looking for win number nine this week. Louie Cioe had to settle for a fourth place finish after leading in the early going. John Donahue lost some ground but still holds out in fourth over Larry Triana who broke his race car and was unable to start the feature.
Pit Gates open at noon and grandstand gates open at 4 p.m. Florida Pro qualifying time trials are scheduled to start at 5:30 with the first race of the evening looking at the green flag at 6. Citrus County Speedway is located 2 miles south of S.R. 44 in Inverness on U.S. 41 at the Citrus County Fairgrounds or fly in at the Inverness Airport which is right across the street from the Speedway.
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