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| Late Models Back on Track at Citrus | by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 8/27/03) Mike Bresnahan heads up the regular Late Model field as the points battle continues for the next two weekends at Citrus County Speedway. Jim Smith is putting the heat on with three feature wins on his season resume and trails Bresnahan by just 26 points. Ricky Carlton is coming off his Florida Pro win and trails Smith by just 20 points in the tight three way run for the crown. Herb Neumann Jr. has been at the top and would like very much to retain the title just 129 points out of the top spot. Dale Sanders has Billy Bechtelheimer, Rex Struble, Daniel Keene Jr., Harold Cannon and Ritchie Smith chasing him for the 5th spot. Forty Super Late Models have earned Citrus County Speedway points during the first half of the season in regular racing action. None of the special races earned division points. There is a special 75 lap Late Model point’s race scheduled for October 11th for $3,000 to win.
The Sportsman division is in a rebuilding mode and rookie Mike Bell lost some ground to Bill Oesterreicher after last week’s engine failure. Oesterreicher managed to come back from three mishaps that sent him to the rear of the field to hold out for a fourth place finish over the 13 car field. Bill Ryan finished tenth and holds an 89 point lead over Johnny Sanders in the race for fourth in the division race for the crown.
Danny Cretty continues to lead the Street Stock division by a slim 12 points with Ernie Reed making his way closer to the top. Mickey Burns continues to run well and is still in the running trailing the leader by 89 points. Joe Viverito holds out in fourth over last week’s winner Daniel Webster. Travis Nichols is the big gun in the win column with six notches in the checkered flag staff. He was a no show last week and despite his wins he holds out in sixth.
Chris Hooker locked in his fourth win of the season last week and is pulling away from Chris Thornton who still holds second in the Mini Stock point’s race. Phillip Joyner continues to run strong and has a lock on third while Mike Lawhorn finished out of the top ten last week and lost some ground to George Neumann who led the most laps but had to settle for a second place finish when Hooker made the late race pass.
Sport Wilson is top shoe in the speedway win column after claiming his 9th win of the season in the Hobby Stock main last week. He is still 109 points out of the lead after Richie Smith pulled off a second place finish and picked up another 15 point cushion on runner up Curtis Neumann. Dean Lawyer is still putting some heat on Wilson in the race for third with a 44 point deficit to make up.
Tim Wilson holds out in fifth after his 5th win in the Thunder Stock feature last week. Pat Quick still holds the top spot by 110 points but Lee Keller continues to whittle away on her lead picking up 24 points after last week’s race. Louie Cioe continues to stay in the mix with his 9th top five finish of the season, followed by Larry Triana.
All six divisions should be running heats and features this Saturday night. Citrus County Speedway is located 2 miles south of S.R. 44 in Inverness on U.S. 41 at the Citrus County Fairgrounds right next to the Airport. The pit gates open at 3 and the grandstand gates open at 4 with a special $25 rate for two adults and two children under 12, so bring the family.
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