Citrus County Speedway fans filed the stands for 6 divisions of racing on Saturday night. By the end of the night, many probably left the speedway wondering what had happened in many of the races. An usual night of carnage and destruction plagued a few of the classes, and left the fans on the edge of their seats.
17 Super Late Models were brought to the green flag with Todd Brown (23) and Randy Anderson (4) on the front row for their 35 lap feature. Anderson would jump out to the early lead from his outside front row starting position before a lap 2 caution would slow the field. Anderson would lead on the restart with Brown in 2nd, and Jim Smith (3) in 3rd. Anderson would pull away while behind him Herb Neumann Jr (98) would slip by Smith for the 3rd position before caution came out again at lap 3. Once back to green, Anderson would continue to lead, with Neumann finding his way by Brown for 2nd at lap 10, bringing Smith with him to the 3rd position. Neumann then set his sights on the leader, and made the inside pass on Anderson in turn one to take the lead at lap 20. The top 3 would survive 5 more mid race cautions before a lap 26 incident would change the top three running order. 9th place starter Drew Brannon (82) marched to the front of the field, and began to put heavy pressure on third place runner Smith. Brannon and Smith would make contact sending Smith into the front stretch wall, and the rest of the top 10 scattering behind them. Once the dust settled, several cars were involved in the mayhem. 5th place runner Brannen Hester (77), Billy Smith (00), John Coffman (58), and Scott Grossenbacher (09) were all involved. Coffman and Hester were done for the night, the rest rejoined the field. This is the 2nd incident in as many races for Smith and Brannon. Just two weeks ago Smith and Brannon made contact while racing for the lead, which sent them both to the rear and out of contention. This battle should be one to keep you eye on the rest of the season. Once back to green, Neumann would drive away from Anderson to take his 2nd feature win of the 2012 season. Following him to the line were Anderson in 2nd, and Dale Sanders in 3rd. Heat race winners were Hester and Jim Smith.
A short 10 car Street Stock feature saw Jonna Hughes (12) and Ray Lyon (25) on the front row for their 20 lap event. Hughes would take the early lead on lap 1, but contact between the leader and 2nd running James Peters (5) would let the caution fly. Peters was attempting an outside pass for the lead off of turn 4 when both drivers ran out of racing room. Hughes car would be turned head on into the front stretch wall and receive heavy front end damage. Hughes was uninjured in the incident, but her racer was done for the night. The field was reset for another restart attempt with David Kingsbury (73) now on the pole position. Kingsbury would take any early lead, but soon gave way to 3rd place starter Kenny May (10). Moving by Kingsbury with May were 7th place starter Bubba Martone (98) an Curtis Flanagan (3) to take the 2nd and 3rd place positions. Martone would go to work on May for the lead, making contact with May’s rear bumper several times in the corners. Near the half way mark of the race, Martone would again hit the rear bumper of May and send him spinning to the infield off of turn 4. No caution was thrown, and May rejoined the race just in front of the leaders as they cam around to put him 1 lap down. The new leader Martone would then attempt to pass the lapped car of May on the outside entering turn 1. May expressed his displeasure with Martone’s rough driving, by intentionally wrecking Martone in turn 1, bringing out the caution. May was black flagged and disqualified for the night, and Martone was returned to the lead for the restart. As the leader Martone fired in turn 4 for the restart, the steering in his car seemed to be damaged from the incident with may. This opened the door for 2nd place runner Curtis Flanagan (3) to take over the top spot. Martone would continue to around the high line at a slow speed with a broken right front upper ball joint. Staying on the speedway with a broken racer would prove to be an even more costly mistake just a few laps later. As the field came to take the two laps to go sign, contact between Dora Thorne (48) and Austin Hughes (68) stacked up the field in turn one. Martone was on the outside of both of these racers as the wreck occurred. Martone was unable to avoid the wreck with his damaged front end, and this resulted in Martone making heavy contact with the turn 1 wall. Martone would hit with such force, his racer would fly over the turn one concrete retaining wall, and come to a rest in the grass outside of turn one. The red flag was displayed, while the safety crew attended to the drivers. While all drivers were uninjured, the same could not be said for their racing machines. All three cars were done for the night, and Austin Hughes was also black flagged and disqualified from the nights events for his part in the incident. Flanagan would survive a green, white, checkered finish to take home his 7th feature win of the season. Following him to the line were Tim Alexander (63) in 2nd, and James Peters (5) in 3rd. Martone was your heat race winner.
10 Pure Stocks registered for their 20 lap feature event, and the fans were treated to one of the best races of the night. Karlin Ray (72) would follow up last weeks feature win by moving to the lead on lap 12 from his 9th starting position. Ray took the top spot away from pole sitter Happy Florian (65), bringing 3rd place starter Eugene Malverty (123) with him to 2nd. Ray would pull away from Malverty and looked to be headed to his 2nd feature win. But lap 17 saw Ray get sideways, almost spinning out, while leading. This would give Malverty the opportunity he was looking for, as he moved by Ray for the lead. Florian would also reclaim the 2nd spot briefly, but Ray would rally to take the 2nd position away on the last lap. Malverty would go on to take his 2nd feature win of 2012 followed by Ray in 2nd, and Florian in 3rd. Malverty was also your heat race winner.
James Ellis (98) jumped out to an early lead in the Modified Mini Stock division, before Clint Foley (7) would make a late race winning pass to take his 6th feature victory of the season. Ellis would come home 2nd with Phil Edwards rounding out the top 3. Foley was also you heat race winner.
13 Street Stock figure 8’s saw Pnut Higginbotham (5) take his 1st feature win in several years. Higginbotham would take advantage of his front row starting position, and never look back. Ronnie Schrefiels (6) would follow closely in the 2nd position followed by 9th place starter Thomas Peet (85) in 3rd.
Once Daryl Veltman (55) found victory lane, he must have liked the way it felt. Since taking his first win just a few weeks ago, he won’t be denied in the Hornet division. Veltman took the victory again this week over Bryan Kuhn (6) and Chris Hennessey (32) in 3rd.
This Saturday night at the Citrus County Speedway will be another one you won’t want to miss. The Florida United Promoters Late Models Series will be making their first visit of the 2012 season. The states top Late Model pilots will be here for their 100 lap feature event. Citrus County Speedway has been the most successful track of the series to date, bringing the two largest fields of cars for last years series. This should be the largest field of Late Models this year for the track and series. Point leader Steve Dorer, Anthony Campi, Jake Perkins, and Dave Pletcher will all be in attendance. Mixing in local hot shoes like Herb Neumann Jr., Randy Anderson, and Daniel Webster should make for the most exciting race of the season! Qualifying will start a t 5:30 pm, with the green flag dropping at 6:30 sharp.