By Johnny Sanders
This Saturday night Citrus County Speedway will have it’s annual $5 grandstand admission night, that’s right, just $5. On the race program this week will the Street Stocks, Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks, Hornets, and the best Figure 8 racing around with the Street Stock/Pure Stock figure 8’s! Grandstand gates open at 4pm, and racing starts at 6pm.
Last Week:
Jenkins and Schnader take 1st wins of the season
Mother Nature has played a big part in the last two races at Citrus County Speedway. The last race on June 25th was in doubt right up until the green flag for the 1st heat. This past Saturday night was no different, rain fell most of the afternoon in the Central Florida area, leaving the race program in jeopardy once again. Practice started right on time at 3pm, and despite a few rain drops during the drivers meeting, the race night started right on time.
16 Open Wheel Modifieds were trying to make their way to victory lane for their 40 lap feature on Saturday night. Billy Bechtelheimer (6) would benefit from the 4 row feature inversion, and start from the pole position, with Tommy Schnader (19) along side. Schnader would launch from his outside pole position to take the early lead. Bechtelheimer would fall into second followed by Robbie Cooper (98). Cooper would get by Bechtelheimer and set his sights on the leader Schnader. A lap 11 caution for the spinning car of Steven Hise (2) would give Cooper the break he needed to catch up to Schnader. On the restart, Schnader would prove he was the man to beat, pulling back out to a comfortable lead in just a few laps. Behind the top 2 drivers, the action was non-stop, which lead to the nights scariest incident. Richie Smith (42) and L.J. Grimm (25) made contact coming out of turn 4 on lap 20 while racing side by side. Grimm’s car would make heavy contact with the front stretch wall while Smith’s car would slide to the infield in a shower of sparks. Once Grimm’s car came to rest, a fire erupted in the fuel cell area, as well as the engine compartment. Grimm quickly exited his car, and the track crew extinguished the blaze in short order. Grimm’s car was hooked to the wrecker, and looks to have a trip to the frame jig in it’s future. Smith would repair his car and rejoin the race at the tail. On the restart Schnader would bring the field to green followed by Cooper and Dalton Nelson (94) in 3rd. Schnader would again take off and build a lead, but behind him, the action was furious. Nelson was now under pressure from the last 2 Modified point champions, Jeremy Gerstner (70) and Curtis Neumann (01). Neumann would make an outside move on both drivers before being squeezed into the backstretch wall by Nelson. Neumann would lift, which let Gerstner fill the hole on the bottom. There would be contact between the 2 drivers entering turn 3, with Gerstner taking the position. One lap later, contact between Gerstner and Neumann again, would send both cars spinning and to the rear of the field. With those 2 drivers now in the rear for the restart, this put the 51 of Josh Todd into the 4th position. Todd had methodically made his way through the field picking cars off one at a time. The lap 24 restart saw Schnader jump back out in the lead, but Todd (51) was coming in a hurry. Todd would get by Nelson for 3rd and continue his charge to the front. Lap 33 would see the last caution of the night for the 81 of Herb Neumann Jr. and give Todd a shot at the win. On the restart Todd would put pressure on Cooper for 2nd right away, and take the position with just 5 laps to go. Schnader would prove to have too large of a lead, and go on to take his 1st feature win of the year. Todd would come home 2nd with Cooper holding on to 3rd. Point leader Bobby Ervien (88) would come from his last row starting position to take a solid 5th place finish just behind Nelson in 4th. Doug Miller (53) and Grimm were the heat race winners.
Cody Stickler took advantage of his outside pole position to take the lead over the 12 car sportsman field. Mark Peterson (73) would fall into 2nd from his pole position followed by Bobby Ervein (8). Heat race winner Chris Harvey (51) was running in the 4th position when his racer would have a rear gear let go right in the middle of the back stretch. Point leader Ernie Reed was following Harvey on the bottom line, and made contact with the now broke Harvey, sending Harvey spinning to the infield. It was a close call for the point leader, which could have cost him dearly in his championship run. Stickler would pace the field on the restart and stretch his lead out at the drop on the green. Back in the field, 8th place starter Brandon Morris, and 11th place starter Aaron Williamson were making a charge to the front. Lap 15 would see a caution for contact between George Gorham Jr. (10) and David Williamson (12). Gorham would be black flagged for rough driving, after pushing Williamson into the outside wall several times, while trying to pass him. Stickler would rocket away on the restart and go on to take his 2nd feature win of the year followed by the hard charging Brandon Morris in 2nd, and new daddy Aaron Williamson in 3rd. Heat race winners were Reed and Harvey.
Point leader David Walls (35) would make it 2 for 2 with his new car, taking the victory in the 20 lap Taylor Made Homes Pure Stock feature. Sheri Makula (27) would get to the front 1st, but could not hold off Walls for the win. A great battle for the 3rd position between Happy Florian (65) and William Stanbury (13) had everyone’s attention for the last few laps of the feature. Florian would make the last lap pass to take 3rd place over Stanbury. Walls now has a nearly put a lock on his 2nd division championship in a row, with a huge 168 point lead. Heat race winners were Makula and Walls.
12 Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks took the green for their 20 lap feature with Tim Scalise (24) taking the early lead from his outside pole position. Pole sitter Shawn Jenkins (43) would fall into the 2nd spot. The 1st caution came out on lap 13 for the spinning Jessey Mallory (50), and tightened the field back up. There would be a few attempts to restart this race, but a 2 quick cautions sent Buddy Mallory (51) and Ashlee Williamson (84) to the rear, before the field would complete one lap. Scalise took off on the restart, but pushed wide on turn 4, opening a lane for Jenkins to slip by for the lead. Jeremy Sharrone (32) and Phil Edwards (21) were waging the best battle in the field behind the leaders. Edwards got several good looks on the inside, only to have the door slammed in his face by Sharrone. The tight racing finally caught up with this duo in turn 1 on lap 15, sending both cars for a spin, with Sharrone getting a flat left rear also. Edwards would tag the rear, and Sharrone would return 1 lap down. Jenkins would pull out to a lead on the last restart, while the new 2nd place car of Sonya Heater, was under heavy pressure from Ashlee Williamson (84). Williamson would make the outside groove work, and just edge out Heater at the line for 2nd. Jenkins took his 1st feature win of the season after several weeks of hard work and some bad luck. Heater increased her point lead with her 3rd place finish, and now holds a 15 point lead over 2nd place Kevin Stone (98).
11 Pro Figure 8’s put on perhaps their best race of the year, going almost the whole race without a caution. Joey Catarelli (6) rocketed off of his pole position to set the pace for the entire race. Behind him, 10th place starter Mason Love (01) made his way from the back of the field to challenge front row starter Robbie Powell for 2nd in the last 8 laps of the race. Powell would suffer a flat left rear tire coming to take the white flag, which brought out the caution, and set up a 1 lap shoot out for the win. Catarelli would get a great restart, and never give Love a chance to race for the win. Catarelli took his 2nd feature win of the year, and reclaimed the point lead from Wayne Calkins (14). Love came home 2nd with Benny Harris (3rd). This was indeed the best race of their season, the intersection action looked like a well choreographed dance. We can only hope this type of racing continues for the rest of the season.
12 Outlaw Mod Mini’s made their bi-monthly visit to Citrus County Speedway. Last race was on of the best the series had seen at Citrus, and this race was just as good. There was a 3 way battle right to the checkers with Kevin Campbell (19), Ric Mills (22), and Doug Hopper (15) who started dead last in the field. All three drivers put on an exciting show, that ended with Mills taking his 1st feature win of the year at Citrus. Mills held on to 2nd by fighting off the late charge of Miller.
Remember: This Saturday night Citrus County Speedway will have it’s annual $5 grandstand admission night, that’s right, just $5.
See You Saturday!