From John Chance & Johnny Sanders
Sportsman point leader Ernie Reed can see his own reflection in the standing water in the infield during practice.
Mother Nature unleashed it’s fury on Citrus County Speedway early Saturday afternoon. Once the hour long torrential downpour had subsided, the speedway staff was left with what more resembled a lake, than a ¼ asphalt oval. The shear amount of rain that fell within that time period, filled the entire infield of the speedway, which left the water standing 3ft above the bottom groove of the speedway. Never wanting to say die, the speedway staff went to work right away, pumping water from the infield in and attempt to remove enough water to get the racing program in. Three local businesses provided the speedway with the necessary equipment to remove the water. If it were not for the generosity of Mike Scott Plumbing, A-Able Septic, and Advanced Waste Solutions Mother Nature would have claimed victory instead.
After 3 ½ hours of pumping, the speedway surface was finally ready for racing just past 8pm, which put the racing program 2 hours behind it’s normal start time. Because of the weather delay, the speedway opted to run a “features only” race card, which eliminated the qualifying heat races. All drivers starting positions were determined by a blind pill drawn, which put a mixture of fast cars in the back and front of every race.
17 Open Wheel Modfieds took the green for their 40 lap feature event. Dalton Nelson (94) would have lady luck on his side drawing the pole position, with Doug Miller (53) along side for the start. The beginning of the race saw Nelson and Miller battle for the top position, but just as the battle would heat up, several short cautions would cool down the action. Benefiting from the short cautions were a few drivers who had to start deeper in the field such as Richie Smith (42) and current point leader Bobby Ervien (88). Smith would make his way to the leaders at the half way mark in the race, and the 3 way battle for the lead was on. Smith jumped to the outside of Miller making the pass for 2nd, and then set his sights on Nelson for the lead. Smith would make the same move on Nelson, but couldn’t clear the hard charging Nelson. This duo raced side by side until the one of the nights scariest moments would bring out the red flag on lap 27. Steven Hise (2) would suffer a front suspension failure entering turn 1 at full speed. Hise’ car would hit the turn one wall at a high rate of speed, and clear the concrete retaining wall, coming to rest outside of the race track in turn one.
Richie Smith takes exciting open wheel modified win.
Hise was uninjured in the hard impact, which is a testament to his safety equipment. The same could not be said for his racing machine, which had to be remove on a flat bed wrecker. With the leaders running side by side when the caution came out, all eyes turned to the scoring tower to see who the leader would be on the restart. All scorers confirmed that Smith was indeed ahead of Nelson on the previous scored lap, which put him in front on the restart. Smith would rocket away on the restart and go on to take his division leading 4th feature win of the year. Nelson would hold out for 2nd in a side by side battle to the line with Miller, who came home 3rd.
13 Sportsman took a shot at finding their way to victory lane. Tom Posavec (01) and Cody Johnson (90) would bring the field to green from their front row starting positions. Posavec would jump out to the lead, but it was short lived, as Brett Jenkins (199) would make his way to the top spot only a few laps into the event. 6th place starter Richie Smith (4) would make his way to the front and challenge for the lead at the half way mark in the race. Smith would make and inside move off of turn 2 and take the lead. When Smith opened the door Brandon Morris (56) and Aaron Williamson (13) would follow him through the hole sending Jenkins back to the 4th position. Over the final 6 laps Smith and Morris put on the best race for the lead all night. Morris was looking for a hole, but couldn’t find enough power to drive by Smith on the bottom. As the two leaders came to take the 2 to go sign, Morris would execute a perfect timing move off of turn 2 and pull even with Smith into turn 3. As both drivers took the white flag, Smith had a slight lead on the outside at the stripe. Morris would complete the pass off of turn 2, and go on to take his division leading 3rd feature win of the season. Smith would come home 2nd with Williamson coming home 3rd. With the feature win, and some bad luck from point leader Ernie Reed (55), Morris has closed to within 4 points of Reed for the division points championship.
12 Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks rumbled to the green for their 20 lap feature. Carl Peters (39) would make his 3rd place starting position pay off, running away with the race for his 3rd feature win of the year. Following Peters home were Steve Hise (43) in 2nd and Sherri Makula (27) in 3rd.
12 Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks worked all night to catch Jeff Eberly (01) after he started from the pole position. Eberly would jump out to a big lead, but a lap 17 caution would bring the cars of Ashlee Williamson (84) and Nathan Florian (65) to his bumper for the restart. Eberly would prove to be too strong and go on to take his 7th feature win of the year, which is 5 more than his closest competitor. Williamson would come home 2nd with Florian in 3rd. Point leader Jeremy Sharrone (32) would suffer a mechanical failure in a borrowed car Saturday night, which caused the points lead to change hands again this week. Kevin Stone (98) would take over the points lead once again on the merits of his 5th place finish.
11 Pro Figure 8 cars challenged the intersection for their 20 lap feature. With the heavy rains, the infield of the track was still very damp, which made for some slippery racing conditions. In the end, Thomas Peet (85) would prove he had the skill needed to conquer the slippery surface, and go on to take his 1st feature win of the season in the pro division. Pressuring Peet for the whole race and coming home 2nd was Robbie Powell (25) and Wayne Calkins (14) in 3rd. Point leader Joey Catarelli suffered a flat tire, which now handed the points lead back over to Wayne Calkins.
5 Inter-County Recycling Hornets took the green for their 15 lap feature. Lap 1 saw the nights other scary moment, as the 71 car of first time driver Christopher Hunt hit the turn 1 wall wide open. His racer then went over the retaining wall and came to rest in the grass behind turn 2. The new driver was ok, but his mother decided that would be the beginning and end of his racing career after the accident. Kane Dixon (15) would go on to take another victory followed by Daryl Veltman (55) in 2nd.
This week sees the return of the Super Late Models for their 35 lap feature. Along with the Super Late Models will be the Street Stocks, Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks, Street Stock/Pure Stock figure 8’s, and the Mini Cup cars. Gates open at 4 pm and the races start at 6pm. Please check the track website at www.citruscountyspeedway.com for complete details, or call the speedway office at 352-729-9339. See you at the race!
| Open Wheel Mods | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 42 | Richie Smith | Hernando | 1 |
| 94 | Dalton Nelson | Pinellas Park | 2 |
| 53 | Doug Miller | Largo | 3 |
| 31 | Jeff Sloan | Crystal River | 4 |
| 88 | Bobby Ervien | St. Pete | 5 |
| 6 | Billy Bechtelheimer | Dover | 6 |
| 0 | Troy Robinson | Wesley Chapel | 7 |
| 98 | Robbie Cooper | Bronson | 8 |
| 00 | Josh Todd | Polk City | 9 |
| 70 | Jeremy Gerstner | Wesley Chapel | 10 |
| 43 | Gator Hise | Inverness | 11 |
| 25 | (Johnny) L. J. Grimm | Seffner | 12 |
| 99 | Patrick Williams | Archer | 13 |
| 13 | Jon Ditges | Orlando | 14 |
| 2 | Steven Hise | Inverness | 15 |
| 19 | Tommy Schnader | Largo | 16 |
| 01 | Herb Neumann Jr. | Inverness | 17 |
| Sportsmen | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 56 | Brandon Morris | Mulberry | 1 |
| 4 | Richie Smith | Hernando | 2 |
| 13 | Aaron Williamson | Lakeland | 3 |
| 199 | Brett Jenkins | Lakeland | 4 |
| 99 | Cody Stickler | Pinellas Park | 5 |
| 11 | Mark Nelson | Clearwater | 6 |
| 01 | Tom Posavec | Dunnellon | 7 |
| 55 | Ernie Reed | Crystal River | 8 |
| 73 | Mark Peterson | Sarasota | 9 |
| 17 | Mike Bell | Brooksville | 10 |
| 90 | Cody Johnson | Ocala | 11 |
| 34 | Kevin Harrod | Floral City | 12 |
| 83 | Dennise Neighbor Sr. | Clearwater | 13 |
| 12 | David Williamson | Mulberry | 14 |
| Pure Stocks | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 39 | Carl Peters | Winter Garden | 1 |
| 43 | Steve Hise | Inverness | 2 |
| 27 | Sheri Makula | New Port Richey | 3 |
| 35 | David Walls | Summerfield | 4 |
| 65 | Happy Florian | Lecanto | 5 |
| 36 | Michael Dubbs | Bushnell | 6 |
| 30 | Tom McKay | Loxahatchee | 7 |
| 13 | William Stanbury | Inverness | 8 |
| 20 | Chris Ickes | Brooksville | 9 |
| 15 | Levi Roberts | Inverness | 10 |
| 72 | Karlin Ray | Floral City | 11 |
| 44 | Glen Colyer | Homosassa | 12 |
| Mini Stocks | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 01 | Jeff Eberly | Spring Hill | 1 |
| 84 | Ashlee Williamson | Mulberry | 2 |
| 65 | Nathan Florian | Clearwater | 3 |
| 46 | Shannon Kennedy | Summerfield | 4 |
| 98 | Kevin Stone | Dade City | 5 |
| 43 | Shawn Jenkins | Lakeland | 6 |
| 29 | Chris Snow | Inverness | 7 |
| 71 | Sonya Heater | Homosassa | 8 |
| 50 | Jessey Mallory | Summerfield | 9 |
| 79 | Doug Burgess | Lake City | 10 |
| 88 | Lenard Fussell | Dade City | 11 |
| 43 | Jeremy Sharrone | Floral City | 12 |
| Hornet Division | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 15 | Kane (Franklin) Dixon | Inverness | 1 |
| 55 | Daryl Veltman | Crystal River | 2 |
| 71 | Christopher Hunt | North Carolina | 3 |
| 151 | Matthew Street | Lakeland | 4 |
| PRO F8’s | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 85 | Thomas Peet | Floral City | 1 |
| 25 | Robbie Powell | St. Pete | 2 |
| 14 | Wayne Calkins | St. Pete | 3 |
| 01 | Mason Love | Pinellas Park | 4 |
| 94 | Charlie Meyer | Pinellas Park | 5 |
| 38 | Benny Harris | Spring Hill | 6 |
| 86 | Justin Meyer | Largo | 7 |
| 83 | Charles Herne | Homosassa | 8 |
| 3 | Cliff Rousseau | St. Pete | 9 |
| 6 | Joey Catarelli | Pinellas Park | 10 |
| 27 | Neil Herne | Homosassa | 11 |
| Cars Of Yesterday | |||
| Mods Class | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 38 | Steve Parrish | Okeechobee | 1 |
| 1 | Dave Ridder | St. Pete | 2 |
| 400 | Tim Brush | Dayton, Ohio | 3 |
| Cars Of Yesterday | |||
| Stock/Sportsman | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 11 | Donny Dychesne | Lithia | 1 |
| 31 | Tom McDonald | Clearwater | 2 |
| x | Steve Mattingly | Pinellas Park | 3 |
| 03 | John Paradis | Dunedin | 4 |
| 6 | Dennis Copenhagen | Pinellas Park | 5 |
| 39 | Robert Campbell | Zepherhills | 6 |
| 57 | Charles Mixon | Clearwater | 7 |
TOP TEN POINTS ALL CLASSES
| Super Late Models | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 98 | Herb Neumann Jr. | 533 |
| 09 | Scott Grossenbacher | 516 |
| 10 | Talon Craft | 490 |
| 70 | Jeremy Gerstner | 478 |
| 82 | Danny Maddox | 468 |
| 27 | Cody Lane | 421 |
| 47 | Keith Zavrel | 369 |
| 50 | Perry Lovelady | 367 |
| 97 | Andy Anderson | 338 |
| 14 | Randy Plantz | 335 |
| Open Wheeled Modifieds | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 88 | Bobby Ervien | 990 |
| 53 | Doug Miller | 978 |
| 42 | Richie Smith | 973 |
| 98 | Robbie Cooper | 958 |
| 70 | Jeremy Gerstner | 945 |
| 6 | Billy Bechtelheimer | 908 |
| 94 | Dalton Nelson | 838 |
| 25 | (Johnny) L. J. Grimm | 831 |
| 3 | Ricky Coffin | 621 |
| 8 | Michael Stalnaker | 607 |
| Mod. Mini Stocks | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 33 | Chris Allen | 834 |
| 7 | Clint Foley | 829 |
| 18 | Jesse Henley | 827 |
| 44 | Michael Lawhorn | 695 |
| 24 | Phil Edwards | 656 |
| 47 | Richard Kuhn | 619 |
| 98 | James Ellis | 586 |
| 26 | Nathan Florian | 567 |
| 2 | Jeremy Gerstner | 382 |
| 13 | Richard Heath | 368 |
| Sportsman | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 55 | Ernie Reed | 1172 |
| 56 | Brandon Morris | 1168 |
| 99 | Cody Stickler | 1161 |
| 13 | Aaron Williamson | 1050 |
| 01 | Tom Posavec | 972 |
| 83 | Dennise Neighbor Sr. | 860 |
| 4 | Richie Smith | 795 |
| 51 | Christopher Harvey | 709 |
| 199 | Brett Jenkins | 673 |
| 12 | David Williamson | 603 |
| Street Stocks | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 3 | Curtis Flanagan | 1577 |
| 33 | Bill Ryan | 1475 |
| 98 | Tom Bubba Martone | 1460 |
| 10 | Kenny May | 1390 |
| 68 | Austin Hughes | 1322 |
| 26 | Bradley Lyon | 1061 |
| 53 | Kyle Peters | 1043 |
| 85 | Tim Wilson | 961 |
| 27 | John Makula | 789 |
| 55 | Jesse Veltman | 788 |
| Pure Stocks | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 35 | David Walls | 1824 |
| 44 | Glen Colyer | 1619 |
| 65 | Happy Florian | 1314 |
| 9 | Tyler Stickler | 1309 |
| 27 | Sheri Makula | 1289 |
| 15 | Levi Roberts | 1208 |
| 39 | Carl Peters | 1208 |
| 20 | Chris Ickes | 1143 |
| 17 | Nicholas Malverty | 962 |
| 7 | Arden Franklin | 773 |
| Mini Stocks | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 98 | Kevin Stone | 1575 |
| 71 | Sonya Heater | 1571 |
| 43 | Jeremy Sharrone | 1565 |
| 29 | Chris Snow | 1354 |
| 50 | Jessey Mallory | 1212 |
| 35 | Kenneth Watkins | 1199 |
| 43 | Shawn Jenkins | 1095 |
| 46 | Shannon Kennedy | 1072 |
| 84 | Ashlee Williamson | 1040 |
| 01 | Jeff Eberly | 852 |
| PRO FIGURE-8s | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 14 | Wayne Calkins | 1132 |
| 6 | Joey Catarelli | 1124 |
| 94 | Charlie Meyer | 1076 |
| 27 | Neil Herne | 1006 |
| 25 | Robbie Powell | 984 |
| 3 | Cliff Rousseau | 980 |
| 85 | Thomas Peet | 876 |
| 01 | Mason Love | 764 |
| 86 | Justin Meyer | 530 |
| 59 | T. J. Sharrone | 448 |
| PS/SS FIG-8s | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | YTD Points |
| 62 | Eric Sharrone | 590 |
| 6 | Ronnie Schrefiels | 576 |
| 35 | Thomas Peet | 536 |
| 71 | Neil Herne | 522 |
| 82 | Jimmy Kruse | 442 |
| 89 | Charles Herne | 360 |
| 81 | Wallace (Gator) Jones | 354 |
| 33 | David Ross | 346 |
| 00 | Del Beckner | 338 |
| 1 | Larry Triana | 338 |