Saturday night was an action packed night at the county’s action attraction, the Citrus County Speedway. Starting off the nights events were the time trial qualifying laps for the Sportsman division, to help determine the starting order, for their 50 lap $1000 to win feature. When the dust settled, it was Aaron Williamson (13) who took the top qualifier award with a fast lap of 14.75 seconds around the ¼ mile. Following Williamson in qualifying were Brandon Morris (56) in 2nd, and Cody Stickler in 3rd. After some help from one of the speedways young fans, 11 year old Xavier, the inversion dice roll come up with a 1. That meant that the fans would choose between 2,4, or a 6 row inversion to start the feature. As usual, the fans chose for a 6 row inversion, putting your top qualifier starting in the 11th position for the green. Leading the field to the green now, was the duo of Kevin Harrod (34) and Tom Posavec (01). At the drop of the green, 3rd place starter Dennis Neighbor Sr. (83) would go to the top spot followed by 5th place starter Mike Bresnahan (69). Caution would come out on lap 4, for a spin, and Neighbor would give up his lead when he headed to the pits with a mechanical problem. Bresnahan would bring the field to green with Chad Pierce (157) now in 2nd, and Cody Stickler (99) in 3rd. Stickler would make the move on Pierce for 2nd on lap 6 and set his sights on the leader Bresnahan. Over the next 15 laps, Stickler and Bresnahan would wage one of the closest battles of the night, Stickler would try to make the pass several times, only to have the door slammed shut as they entered the corner. Finally on lap 21, Stickler would kick the door wide open, when contact would send Bresnahans 69 machine up the banking in turn 1. Stickler and fast qualifier Williamson would both make the move on the low side, and Bresnahan would settle back into the 3rd position. Despite several short cautions over the last half of the race, Stickler was able to pull away on each restart, and go on to take the win. Williamson would come from his 11th starting position to finish 2nd and take home the hard charger honors also. Bresnahan would hold out for 3rd under heavy pressure from Brandon Morris (56) and Richie Smith (4) over the final 5 laps. Point contender Ernie Reed (55) once again had a rough night, being involved in two incidents, which left his racer wounded. Reed would ultimately retire to the pits, and take another big blow to his championship chase hopes. Sticklers win broke the tie atop the points standings with Morris, and now gives him a 7 point lead in the chase for the championship.
18 Open Wheel Modifieds took on the “Twin 30’s” race format on Saturday night. The first 30 lap race was a rainout make up from 2 weeks ago, and run early in the race program. This left these talented drivers with a hot and slippery track, which they are not used to having for their feature events. Point leader Bobby Ervien (88) would launch his racer from the pole position to take the lead, but 5 cautions before 6 laps were even complete, repeatedly slowed the field. Several drivers received damage in the cautions, as well as 2 drivers being black flagged for aggressive driving. Once the remaining drivers settled down, Ervien would go on to take an unchallenged victory over 5th place starter Robbie Cooper (98) in 2nd , and 14th place starter Richie Smith (42) in 3rd. Ervien would pad his point lead with the victory, but still have another feature in his future. The top 3 finish would now mean Ervien, Cooper, and Smith would start at the rear of the 2nd feature.
Race number 2 saw point contender Doug Miller (53) and Patrick Williams (17) bring the field to the green flag. Both drivers would wage a great side by side battle over the first few laps, with Miller finding enough traction on the bottom side to take the top spot. Back in the field, the top 3 from the previous race were charging to the front, but met stiff competition on their way. Drivers such as L J Grimm (25), Kyle Book miller (03), Josh Todd (51), and Tommy Schnader all stood in their way. Richie Smith (42) would be the first of these 3 to make his way towards the front with only a few laps remaining. Smith would see his great run end when his right front tire developed a slow leak, and send him to the pits with only a few laps remaining. Cooper and Ervien were locked in a battle just outside the top 5, when those two drivers would get together, sending both cars spinning. Both cars would be sent to the rear for the lap 28 restart. Under the caution, point leader Ervien would show his displeasure with Cooper, by ramming the back of Coopers car in turn 3. Ervien was then black flagged, and sent off of the racing surface for his unsportsmanlike conduct. Miller would drive away on the final restart to take his 2nd feature win of the season. Williams would come home in the 2nd position with young Dalton Nelson turning in another impressive performance in the 3rd position. With the victory, and Ervien being sent to the pits for his conduct, Miller now takes over the point lead for the 1st time this season. Miller now enjoys a 5 point lead over Ervien, and a 28 point lead over Smith in 3rd. With only 2 points races, and the October 22 Eddie Bran Memorial left on the schedule, this ones going to come down to the wire.
11 Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks took the green for their 20 lap feature. When the dust settled, it was a familiar face in victory lane. Point leader David Walls (35) would come away with this 5 feature win of the season. Following Walls to the line was a hard charging Carl Peters (39) in 2nd, and Sherri Makula in 3rd. Walls enjoys the largest points lead in any division, and looks to be a lock for his 2nd straight title in that division. Walls and Makula were heat race winners.
10 Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks took their shot at victory lane in their 20 lap feature. Jeremy Sharrone would go from the outhouse to the penthouse, taking his new racer from the last row on the start, to his 2nd feature win of the season. Ashlee Williamson (84) would start right next to Sharrone in the last row, and come home in the 2nd position. Williamson would get to the bumper of Sharrone over the final 2 laps, but didn’t have enough to make the winning pass on this night. Shawn Jenkins (43) would win the 3 way battle for the 3rd position at the stripe. Jessey Mallory (50) was the heat race winner.
Thomas Peet (35) would take the victory in the very wet 20 lap Pro Figure 8 race. An early afternoon race shower would leave the infield area very wet. But the hard work of the track crew would get the surface good enough to race. Following right on Peets bumper to the finish were Wayne Calkins (14) in 2nd, and Charlie Meyer Sr (94) in 3rd.
Jimmy Harrington (6) would take the race tracks newest Inter-County Recycling Hornet to victory in their 15 lap feature. Harrington would battle with pole sitter Debbie Bryent (1) and Daryl Veltman (55) till just 4 laps to go. Harrington would pull away to take his first ever victory followed by Bryent in 2nd, and Veltman in 3rd. The Speedway now offers the fans a chance to get behind the wheel with a rental car program. Anyone interested in possibly renting one of the tracks 2 Hornet cars, please email John at polesitter62@yahoo.com for complete details.
This weekend will see the return of Super Late Models to the action attraction. Also headlining the race program will be the 35 lap $300 to win Taylor Made Homes Pure Stock race, Street Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks, Street Stock/Pure Stock figure 8’s, and the Mini Cup cars. Please visit the track website at www.citruscountyspeedway.com for complete details. See ya at the races!