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| Super Late Models Compete in Citrus Twin 50's Saturday | by Larry MacMillan
(Inverness, Fl. 7/20/04) Race fans will get double the action and excitement when the Super Late Models take on Citrus County Speedway’s 3/8ths mile, two and three groove racing complex, in a pair of 50 lap feature races. Time trials will kick off the night for qualifying in the first race while finishing order will set the lineup for the second feature race.
Herb Neumann Jr. was the most recent winner two weeks ago moving him up to third in the point race. John Chance moved into the point lead when Wayne Anderson couldn’t defend his lead due to other commitments. Rex Struble moved up to second, followed by Neumann, Daniel Webster and Danny Johnson. Webster and Johnson are the only two drivers in the top five who haven’t found Victory Lane so far in the abbreviated first half of the season for the division. Anderson slipped from the top spot to sixth in the running but with more races added to the schedule for the second half of the season you can bank on things heating up. With the possibility of taking home a pair of wins this weekend, the field is expected to pick up and some new names being added to the list of competitors.
The Open Wheel Lites have been added to the regular program for the Saturday night action. These 5/8th scale, open wheel 30’s and 40’s coupes and sedans put on a terrific show. In three outings for 2004 at Citrus, there have been three different winners out of the largest field of 17 cars from all over the state. Ron Towles picked up the win in their May race followed by Rick Lundeen who is three for three in second place and is due for a win. James Biglin, Nick Shadid and Billy Geise took the balance of the top five in their last outing.
Super Stocks will be chasing point leader Joe Viverito this weekend. He holds the point lead with 7 top five and 2 top ten finishes but has yet to find Victory Lane except for the 4 heat wins he has on his resume. Stephen Anderson, Richie Smith and Ernie Reed moved up a spot on the point ladder after James Hendrickson lost his second place finish in post race inspection. Ernie Reed took his third win of the season over the 19 car field last week but may be out of town this week.
Jim Curry is still top Mini Stock shoe and picked up 7 points on runner up George Neumann after a second place finish last week. Neumann finished right behind him while Chris Hooker is seeing a come back with his fourth feature win last week. Jason Reynolds is finding consistency is in his favor, holding onto fourth in the point’s race with only six top 10 finishes but making every race for the year and finishing most of them. Richard Stroup has been running well and holds out in fifth but was a no show last week and lost some ground to the leaders.
Hobby Stocks continue to chase Tommy Smith for the championship crown. Bobby Taylor is giving him very little breathing room in the race for the top spot just 2 points off the pace. Dean Lawyer is pumped after taking his fourth win of the season last week and moved up to third in the race. Neil Herne slipped one spot to fourth after a tough finish in his last outing. Bill Ryan has a pretty good lock on fifth on the merits of his second place finish last week. This race continues to heat up with an average of 25 cars per week in the hunt.
Jerry Hoover picked up a little cushion in the Thunder Stock point ladder after making it two wins in a row and fourth for the season last week. Rick Badessa had to settle for sixth last week in the 19 car field but has a solid lock on second. The race for third is really heating up between Steve Stinedurf and Louie Cioe with only 9 points separating them. Lee Keller remains in fifth after holding the point lead for most of the first half of the season. He lost some ground to Victor Shahid after he was a no show last week.
4 Cylinder Bombers will be chasing Clark Pittsley for the rest of the season. Rusty Adams slipped by 5 time winner Justin Durbin in the race for second when Durbin was a no show last week. Rick Fort holds out in fourth, taking the former Durbin #2 to the winner’s circle last week. John DeGeorge continues to slide down the ladder since he hasn’t raced for the past several weeks.
Late Models will not only be racing Twin 50’s this weekend but preparing for the Florida Pro 100 scheduled for next week. Car count should be way up at Citrus County Speedway this weekend with 7 divisions on the race card.
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