Brisk winds and cold temperatures couldnt keep 40 Enduro Cars away from the Dunkin Donut Citrus County Speedway 3rd Annual Enduro 200.
Starting positions were not really all that much of an advantage to the drivers for the 50 mile 2 hour race that saw only four caution red flags.

Local drivers Don Teague and Herb Neumann Jr. took the green flag from the front row and Teague set the pace for the first 10 laps, giving way to the pressure from Neumann Jr. at that point. Neumann saw an early mishap cost him the lead, doing a 360 on turn two at about lap 20. Neumann lost five spots on the spin and set out to recapture the lead, which was retaken by Don Teague. Also in the running was Wes Wilson and last years winner Robert Ray. Other early contenders for the top spot were Larry Nevels, Tom Jones and Ron McCreary.

At the half way mark it was a two-way battle between Neumann and Wilson swapping the position on a half dozen occasions. In the final 50 laps Neumann took over the lead for good and Wilson appeared to fade only to run into another battle with Robert Ray for the second spot. Robert Ray took over that position with only 25 laps to go.

When the checker flag flew Neumann had lapped the entire field except for the second running car and he was closing on Robert Ray at the flag. Knowing he had the $10,000 win purse waiting for him after tech inspection he put on a show of donuts and figure 8 spins on the front straight for the crowd.

After a thorough tech inspection of the top three cars the finish was made official after all passed with flying colors unlike last years end result. They had to go to the fourth running car before getting the winner and he was a lap down at the end of the race. Neumann lost out on that inspection and was ready for them this year.

The official finish was Herb Neumann Jr. taking home the $10,000 winners purse. The balance of the field was 2nd Robert Ray, 3rd Wes Wilson, 4th Kathy Ray, 5th Steve Summers, 6th David Gould, 7th Glen Waas, 8thJeff Harris, 9th Keith Philmon and 10th Ed Street. Sixteen cars finished the race.

Only ten cars went for the $800 win purse in the demolition derby. John Shutt held out for 20 minutes with an aggressive drive that was climaxed by 2 hard hits on runner up Leslie DeVary that left DeVarys gas tank in the rear seat of his 4-door sedan. Ralph Merchy held out for 3rd place money.

Citrus County Speedway will be inactive until February 24th for the 2001 season opener. Plans are being made to modify the track surface a bit to set up a second and third groove that will allow for passing on the outside grooves. New rules are out and available at the pit office for all divisions. Regular divisions will remain the same with just slight modifications to the rules. Lots of new fan bonus programs are being put in place and there will be a 1987 Monte Carlo Super Sport raffled off this year that is all set up for the road and looks like a racecar. The winner will be announced at the end of the year and the car will be in service for all special occasions such as parades and be used to travel for official track business.

by:Larry MacMillan

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