17 Super Late Models were lead to the green with Dale Sanders (1) and Scott Grossenbacher (09) on the front row. Grossenbacher would take control of the top spot from his outside front row starting position just two laps in to the race. Sanders would settle into second, with Herb Neumann Jr (98) moving quickly to third. The first of three cautions would fly at lap 5 for contact between Drew Brannon (82) and George Gorham Jr (10). Gorham would go for a spin, but Brannon would take blame for the incident, and tag the rear for the restart. Grossenbacher paced the field on the restart, while Neumann went to work on Sanders for 2nd at the drop of the green. Neumann would find his way by Sanders for 2nd, and set his sights on the leader. Lap 10 saw the nights second caution for a three car incident in turn three. Amanda Ferguson (7) made and aggressive inside three wide pass attempt on the entry to the corner. All three drivers quickly ran out of room, sending fiberglass flying. When the dust settled, Andy Anderson (97) had gone for a spin, and Ferguson was missing almost all of her right side body work. Once back to green, Neumann was putting the pressure on the leader Grossenbacher. The leader was leaving the bottom lane open, which produced several tense side by side racing moments. The 3rd and final caution came at lap 15 for debris from Ferguson’s damaged body, and slowed the field for the final time. When the green came back out, the top two picked right back up where they left off. Neumann would make several inside pass attempts, only to see Grossenbacher drive right back by off the outside of turn 2. The longest green flag run of the night now had the leaders in heavy lapped traffic. Lap 30 proved to be the most important lap of the night for Neumann. Entering turn one, Grossenbacher slowed for a lapped car on the outside, and Neumann timed him perfectly on the exit of turn two. Neumann would finally make the inside pass stick and go to the lead. Neumann would go on to take his 4th feature win of 2012, with Grossenbacher coming home second, and Sanders holding out for third. The points battle in this division is going to come down to the wire. Randy Anderson (4) leads Grossenbacher by only 2 points, with Neumann in third only 8 points back. The Super Late Models only have 2 regular points night left this season, so this ones going to be a barn burner. Heat race winners were Todd Brown (23) and Gorham Jr.
11 Modified Mini Stocks treated the fans to one of the most exciting finishes of the night. Robbie Storer (9) would move to the lead early in the 20 lap event from his 3rd starting position. 4th place starter Jessey Henley (3) would also move quickly to 2nd , driving the Curry Roofing number 3. Henley looked to have the faster car, but couldn’t find a way around Storer. The top two would continue to battle till lap 14, when the nights only caution would fly for a spin by Chris Snow (29). Storer lead on the restart, with Henley right in his tire tracks. With only 6 laps remaining, you could see the intensity ramp up at the front of the field. Henley was trying the inside and outside with no success, and Storer wasn’t slipping a tire. As the leaders came to take the two to go sign, Henley took to the inside of the leader off of turn 4, making contact with Storer, and sending the leader sliding up the track. Henley would complete the pass entering turn one, but now had to wait for Storer to return the favor on the final lap. Henley would survive the last lap, and go on to take the victory in his first race of the 2012 season. Storer would come home second, and expressed his displeasure with Henley’s driving tactics in his victory lane interview. James Ellis (98) came home third after his horrific crash just two weeks ago. Heat race winners were Ellis and Storer.
9 Street Stocks saw Curtis Flanagan (3) move by J D Goff (16) for the lead at lap 3 and never look back. Flanagan would take the victory by almost a full straight-a-way over point leader Bubba Martone (98). Dora Thorne (48) would race hard to make her way towards the front, making a pass on Bill Ryan (33) for the third position with only three laps remaining. The race was tame, and ran the entire 20 laps with out a caution flag, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t drama. The drama came in the form of a post race technical protest where the winner Flanagan, protested the engine of 2nd place Martone. Martone enjoys a pretty healthy point lead in the division, and seems to be headed towards the championship with only 7 races left in the season. After hours of tearing down Martone’s engine, he was found to have illegal connecting rods in his motor. This meant that he lost all points and money for Saturday nights events, and has severely changed the complexion of the division points standings. The new point leader is Dora Thorne, who now has a has a 22 point lead over Martone, instead of an 82 point deficit. Martone is now second 22 points behind, with Flanagan in third 45 points out of the lead. This turn of events should make for some exciting racing over the coming weeks. Flanagan was also your heat race winner.
9 Mini Stocks were paced early by outside pole sitter Kevin Knox (77). Behind him Shannon Kennedy (20) and Jeremy Sharrone (32) battled for 2nd, with Sharrone finally wrestling away the runner up spot. Knox was way out front and cruising to a victory until a lap 14 caution for the stalled car of Carson Taylor (60) slowed the field. Under the caution, the leaders car developed a small fire under the hood, which the track safety crew quickly extinguished. Knox restarted his car, but the fire started again and was contained. Knox would see his string of bad luck continue, as his car was pushed to the pits, and retired for the night. This handed the lead over to Sharrone, who cruised to an unchallenged victory over the final 6 laps. Kennedy came home second, with Jessey Mallory (50) running third. Kennedy was your heat race winner.
A nice 12 car field of Dwarf cars saw Bo Bass (14) take the victory over Darren Bass (25) in second, and John Bailey (17) in third. A few early race incidents took out front runners, Todd Brown, Stan Butler, and Chris McClelland.
This Saturday night is the return of truck racing to Citrus County Speedway! The Florida United Promoters Truck Series is making their 2nd visit of the season, after their first action packed 50 lap event in May. You get two 50 lap races this week as the Pure Stocks will also be running a 50 lap feature! These extra distance races bring the cars out of the woodwork, this ones sure to have a strong field. Joining them will be the Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Hornets, and Legends. Gates open at 4pm, qualifying will start at 5:30, and the first race will take the green flag at 6:30 sharp.