Compliments of Johnny Sanders and John Chance
Mother Nature blessed us with some much needed rainfall in the Central Florida area for much of the day Saturday. Early afternoon rain showers had many of the states race tracks huddled around radar images trying to find a way to get their racing programs in. Desoto Speedway, New Smyrna Speedway, and Volusia Speedway park all fell victim to the rain and were forced to cancel their shows. But once again, the friendliest track in the south found a way to get it done.
Practice started right on time, but a 5pm rain shower sent the track crew scrambling to dry the track for the 6 pm start time. After pumping water from the infield, and with the help of the racers to get the track dry, racing started only 8 minutes late. Because of the chance of rain, several drivers and fans chose to play it safe and stay indoors. This resulted in a few short classes and a less than capacity crowd.
It was a good thing the speedway was damp, because the fireworks between the drivers on Saturday night, would have started a forest fire. 11 Sportsman cars took the green for their 25 lap feature event. Tom Posavec (01) brought the field to the green with Cody Johnson (90) along side. It wouldn’t take long for the fireworks to fly, a lap 2 incident between Richie Smith (4) and Patrick Mennenga (16), would provide one of the nights most talked about moments. Smith and Mennenga raced hard for the first 2 laps, making contact several times, and finally it ended, with both cars in a tangled mess in the turn 3 wall. Both drivers were very unhappy with each other, which resulted in Mennenga diving across the roof of Smith’s car, and tackling Smith while he was exiting his racer. Both drivers exchanged punches for a brief moment, before being separated by track officials. Both cars were done for the night, and Mennenga was ordered to leave the track immediately, suspended, and fined for initiating the physical confrontation.
Once back to racing, Lance Dubach (77) made short work of Posavec for the lead, and pulled out to a substantial lead from his 3rd starting position. 5th starter Cody Stickler (99) made his way through the field and set his sights on the leader Daubach.
Stickler could not make any ground on the leader, until a lap 21 caution for debris would bring him right to the leaders bumper. Daubach would jump back out to a small lead and looked to be headed to his first feature win of the year. But a bonsai move on the inside of Daubach, by Stickler in turn three, sent both cars spinning coming to take the white flag. Stickler would take blame for the incident, but Daubach’s racer suffered steering damage in the incident, which sent him to the pits on the hook. The 199 of Brett Jenkins suddenly found himself now the leader with 2 laps to go on the restart. Jenkins would take off on the restart and go on to take his first feature win of the season. Following him to the stripe were points leader Ernie Reed (55) in 2nd and last weeks winner Brandon Morris (56) in 3rd. Richie Smith and Cody Stickler were your heat race winners.
Point leader Bobby Ervien took advantage of the 3 row inversion to start on the pole for the 17 car Open Wheel Modified 40 lap feature. Ervien had the car to beat, and consistently pulled away from the field on 4 separate restarts. Behind him though, fireworks were flying again.
6th starter Richie Smith (42) waged a heated battle with Herb Neumann Jr (01) for the second position. Smith tried both the high and low groove, only to have the door slammed in his face each time. Finally Smith found the traction and room he needed to make the move on the 5 time Super Late Model champion Neumann, driving around the outside for 2nd. After Neumann fell back to 3rd, he was under heavy pressure from Timmy Moore (57). Moore is a regular at Desoto Speedway, but with his home track raining out early in the day, he and his crew thrashed to switch the set up on his racer to come to Citrus. All the work would pay off, as Moore would find his way past Neumann for 3rd. Ervien took the wire to wire victory, followed by the hard charging Smith in 2nd, and Moore in 3rd. Smith and Neumann were heat race winners.
8 Street Stocks made quick work of their 20 lap feature running all 20laps caution free. Kyle Peters (53) launched from his outside front row starting position to take his 3rd feature win of the year. Behind Peters, Curtis Flanagan (3) and Kenny May (10) had a hard fought battle for 2nd, with Flanagan coming out on top and extending his point lead. Tim Wilson (85) took the heat win.
9 Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks came to the green with Happy Florian (65) pacing the field. Florian’s lead would be short lived as point leader David Walls (35) would take his new ride to the top spot. Tyler Stickler (9) would battle for 2nd with Michael Martin (76) briefly, before setting his sights on the leader. Walls would prove to tough to beat in his new ride, taking his second feature win of the year, and extending his large points lead. Stickler would come home 2nd with Martin in 3rd, who also took the heat race victory.
11 Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks challenged each other for their 20 lap feature. Lap 1 saw caution for a hard wreck on the backstretch as Kenneth Watkins (35) and Shannon Kennedy (46) both ended up in the wall. Kennedy was done for the night, and Watkins continued with heavy front end damage. Chris Snow (29) jumped out to the early lead from his pole position, and looked to be poised for a feature win. Behind him Sonya Heater (71), Jeremy Sharrone (32), and Jeff Eberly (01) were mixing it up for the 2nd position. Snow’s night started to head south when he developed an engine miss, which allowed the trio behind to close in. The top 4 cars would wage and exciting battle with Eberly making a 3 wide inside move for the lead with only 2 laps remaining. Eberly would go on to take his 6th feature win of the year, with Sharrone coming home 2nd, and Snow holding on for 3rd with his sick power plant. Sharrone and Kevin Stone (98) would take the heat wins.
11 Pro Figure 8’s tested their skills at dodging cars in the intersection for their 20 lap feature. Robbie Powell (25) would jump out to the early lead with point contender Joey Catarelli (6) giving chase in 2nd. The race saw several cautions which slowed the action, as well as a few black flags for rough driving. Powell and Catarelli battled for the top position all the way to the end. On the final lap, just yards from the finish line, the 2 leaders would make contact and spin. By rule, both drivers were scored at the end of the lead lap for being involved in a last lap incident. This would benefit the 27 of Neil Herne who was running a very strong 3rd position. Herne had just purchased the car early in the week, and spent all week thrashing to get it race ready. All the hard work would pay off with his 1st feature win of the year. Wayne Calkins (14) would come home 2nd and Charlie Meyer Sr (94) would come home 3rd after the dust had settled.
Citrus County Speedway will be closed this Saturday night in observance of the July 4th holiday weekend. But racing will crank back up on July 9th with the Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks, Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks, Pro figure 8’s, and the Outlaw Modified Mini’s. This will be almost the same program the speedway ran this past weekend, so several of the battles will pick right back up where they left off. Everyone have a safe and happy 4th, see you at the races!
| CITRUS COUNTY | |||
| SPEEDWAY | |||
| Race Finishes for: | |||
| June 25, 2011 | |||
| Open Wheeled Modifieds | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 88 | Bobby Ervien | St. Pete | 1 |
| 42 | Richie Smith | Hernando | 2 |
| 57 | Tim Moore | St. Pete | 3 |
| 01 | Herb Neumann Jr. | Inverness | 4 |
| 70 | Jeremy Gerstner | Wesley Chapel | 5 |
| 61 | Tony Carreno | Lutz | 6 |
| 19 | Tommy Schnader | Largo | 7 |
| 00 | Josh Todd | Polk City | 8 |
| 25 | (Johnny) L. J. Grimm | Seffner | 9 |
| 53 | Doug Miller | Largo | 10 |
| 10 | Mike Birk | Pinellas Park | 11 |
| 94 | Dalton Nelson | Pinellas Park | 12 |
| 8 | Michael Stalnaker | Ocala | 13 |
| 3 | Ricky Coffin | Lutz | 14 |
| 6 | Billy Bechtelheimer | Dover | 15 |
| 98 | Robbie Cooper | Bronson | 16 |
| Sportsman | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 199 | Brett Jenkins | Lakeland | 1 |
| 55 | Ernie Reed | Crystal River | 2 |
| 56 | Brandon Morris | Mulberry | 3 |
| 01 | Tom Posavec | Dunnellon | 4 |
| 90 | Cody Johnson | Ocala | 5 |
| 99 | Cody Stickler | Pinellas Park | 6 |
| 771 | Lance Daubach | Plant City | 7 |
| 57 | T.J. Chambers | Brooksville | 8 |
| 8 | Marvin Davis | Alachua | 9 |
| 4 | Richie Smith | Hernando | 10 |
| 161 | Patrick Mennenga | Ocala | 11 |
| Street Stocks | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 53 | Kyle Peters | Ferndale | 1 |
| 3 | Curtis Flanagan | Inverness | 2 |
| 10 | Kenny May | Spring Hill | 3 |
| 85 | Tim Wilson | Floral City | 4 |
| 68 | Austin Hughes | Hernando | 5 |
| 98 | Tom Bubba Martone | Floral City | 6 |
| 33 | Bill Ryan | Bushnell | 7 |
| 48 | Dora Thorne | Floral City | 8 |
| 4 | Jay Witfoth | Beverly Hills | 9 |
| Pure Stocks | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 35 | David Walls | Summerfield | 1 |
| 9 | Tyler Stickler | Pinellas Park | 2 |
| 76 | Michael Martin | Citrus Springs | 3 |
| 39 | Carl Peters | Winter Garden | 4 |
| 30 | Tom McKay | Loxahatchee | 5 |
| 65 | Happy Florian | Lecanto | 6 |
| 20 | Chris Ickes | Brooksville | 7 |
| 44 | Glen Colyer | Homosassa | 8 |
| 91 | Jeffery Byer | Jacksonville | 9 |
| Mini Stocks | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 01 | Jeff Eberly | Spring Hill | 1 |
| 32 | Jeremy Sharrone | Floral City | 2 |
| 29 | Chris Snow | Inverness | 3 |
| 71 | Sonya Heater | Homosassa | 4 |
| 43 | Shawn Jenkins | Lakeland | 5 |
| 98 | Kevin Stone | Dade City | 6 |
| 50 | Jessey Mallory | Summerfield | 7 |
| 35 | Kenneth Watkins | Summerfield | 8 |
| 77 | Kevin Knox | Wesley Chapel | 9 |
| 13 | Rick Heath | Inverness | 10 |
| 46 | Shannon Kennedy | Summerfield | 11 |
| 11 | Travis Daniels | Ocala | 12 |
| 22 | Bobby Richardson | Lecanto | 13 |
| PRO Figure Eights | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 27 | Neil Herne | Homosassa | 1 |
| 14 | Wayne Calkins | St. Pete | 2 |
| 94 | Charlie Meyer | Pinellas Park | 3 |
| 49 | Jared Meyer | Largo | 4 |
| 86 | Justin Meyer | Largo | 5 |
| 6 | Joey Catarelli | Pinellas Park | 6 |
| 25 | Robbie Powell | St. Pete | 7 |
| 85 | Thomas Peet | Floral City | 8 |
| 3 | Cliff Rousseau | St. Pete | 9 |
| 83 | Charles Herne | Homosassa | 10 |
| 01 | Mason Love | Pinellas Park | 11 |
| South East Champ Kart Series | Feature | ||
| Car-# | Drivers Name | Home Town | Winner |
| 31 | Rusty Chancy | Palm Bay | 1 |
| 8 | Doug Schmidt | St. Pete | 2 |
| 13 | Romay Venta | Tampa | 3 |
| 33 | Mitchell Stevens | 4 | |
| 98 | Scott Halley | Orlando | 5 |
| 66 | David Harp | Clearwater | 6 |
| 75 | Jimmy Pope | Brandon | 7 |
| 77 | Phil Harp | Largo | 8 |
| 2x | Duane Coze | 9 | |
| 38 | Trevor Wilson | 10 | |
| 43 | Harold Roberts | Tampa | 11 |