{"id":8546,"date":"2011-09-26T00:44:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T00:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=8546"},"modified":"2011-09-26T00:44:54","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T00:44:54","slug":"smooth-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/front-page-news\/smooth-operator\/","title":{"rendered":"Smooth Operator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mother nature finally smiled on the Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. With the forecast showing a 60% chance of rain from 5pm on, many people were left looking to the sky. But the Citrus County Speedway seemed to have a bubble over top of it Saturday night, with rain all around the speedway through the afternoon. Wet roads could be found as little as a half mile in both directions from the speedway. The rains couldn\u2019t keep the drivers away, as 96 cars registered to compete for the evening.<\/p>\n

Saturday night was the final visit of the year for the independent wingless sprint cars, and they brought there biggest field of the year with 19 cars registering to race. Wendy Mathis (90) and Brian Gringas (1) occupied the front row for the start of the 30 lap feature. Brian Gringas would jump out to an early lead, but 5 cautions before lap 15 slowed the pass after only a few laps of green each time. The cars of Mathis, Tony Careno (78), Rex \u201cBoneman\u201d Hollinger (15), and Stan Butler (81) all went for spins to slow the race action. Gringas would lead on the lap 15 restart, with Jimmy Alvis Jr (9) in 2nd<\/sup>, and 12th<\/sup> place starter Mickey Kempgens (70) in 3rd<\/sup>. Kempgens would get by Alvis shortly after the restart and set his sights on the leader Gringas. Kempgens would catch Gringas quickly, and go to work on the leader. Kempgens certainly had the faster car, but couldn\u2019t find a way by the leader, who never slipped a wheel. Lap 25 saw the leaders catch lapped traffic, and that\u2019s where Kempgens made his move. Coming off turn 2, Kempgens would use a lapped car as a pick, and rocket by Gringas to take the lead. Kempgens would pull away over the final 10 laps to take the hard fought victory. Gringas would come home 2nd<\/sup> followed by Alvis Jr. in 3rd<\/sup>. Shane Butler (18) and Kempgens were the heat race winners.<\/p>\n

A short 11 car Sportsman field came to compete for the victory this week. Tom Posavec (01) and Dennise Neighbor Sr. (83) would bring the field to the green flag. The racing would be slowed on lap 3 however, for an incident between Mark Peterson (73) and Richie Smith (4) on the backstretch. Smith was attempting to make an outside pass off of turn 2, when Peterson came up the track and slammed Smith into the backstretch wall. Smith\u2019s car was heavily damaged, and he was not a happy camper. Under the caution, Smith would show his displeasure by hurling his helmet at the windshield of Petersons\u2019 car as he drove by under caution. Smith was corralled by track officials and returned to his badly damaged racer. Once the field got squared away, Dennise Neighbor Sr. would bring the field to green, with point contender Ernie Reed (55) just behind. Reed would make the pass for the lead, and bring point leader Brandon Morris (56) with him. Reed and Morris would wage a fierce battle for a few laps, before Morris would take the lead away from Reed on the inside. Behind the leaders, drivers Aaron Williamson (13), and Cody Stickler (99) were having a very spirited battle. This duo would trade paint 3 separate times from lap 17-24, which resulted in three cautions for their cars spinning out each time. Both cars were black flagged for being involved in 3 cautions in one race, and sent to the pits for the night. However, Stickler chose not to leave the racing surface after being shown the black flag 3 times. Track manager Don Cretty had to chase Stickler down on a 4 wheel ATV under caution, to get him to leave the racing surface, after he repeatedly ignored the direction of the flagman and pit steward. Sticklers disregard for the black flag, resulted in his disqualification for the evening, ending his hopes for a Sportsman points championship. The final few laps of the race would see Reed put the pressure back on Morris, after losing the lead to him near the middle of the event. Morris would have just enough to hold on to the victory over Reed, with David Williamson (12) coming home in the 3rd<\/sup> position. Aaron Williamson, and father David Williamson were the heat race winners.<\/p>\n

A stellar field of 17 Open Wheel Lite cars helped fill the pits at Citrus County Speedway on Saturday night. All 17 cars would hit the track for qualifying to start off the night, which put the cars of\u00a0 Bo Bass (14) and Chris McClelland (98) on the front row. Bass would jump out to the early lead, with McClelland pressuring him from the get go. Bass would lead until a mid race restart saw his motor stumble off of turn 4, McClelland would make the move for the lead as Bass got is car back up to speed. Bass would run McClelland back down, and take the lead back with only 10 laps remaining. Bass would go on to take the victory with McClelland coming home 2nd<\/sup>, and Darrin Bass (25) coming home 3rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

13 Street Stocks rumbled to the green for their 20 lap feature. Mark Fallows (007) would take the early lead from his pole position with Joe Bifaro (112) challenging him for the lead right away. Bifaro would make the inside pass on lap 10, but a caution for a wreck behind him, would make him do it all over again. On the restart, Bifaro would suffer a flat right front tire, and end his hopes for his 1st<\/sup> victory of the season. Fallows now had pressure from John Makula (27) and point leader Curtis Flanagan (3). Flanagan would make a exciting 3 wide move in between both of those cars, and rocket out to the lead. Flanagan would go on to take his 7th<\/sup> feature win of the year, more than any other driver at the speedway this year. John Makula would come home an apparent 2nd<\/sup>, with Bubba Martone (98) in 3rd<\/sup>. However, in post race tech inspection, the finishing order changed. After the top 3 drivers engines were \u201cP&G\u2019d\u201d, Makula\u2019s car was found to have and illegal engine, too many cubic inches. This would move Martone to 2nd<\/sup>, and Mark Fallows to 3rd<\/sup>. Martone and Bill Ryan were the heat race winners.<\/p>\n

12 Taylor Made Homes Pure Stocks took the green for their 20 lap feature with Mike Dubbs (36) and Chris Ickes (20) filling the front row. When the dust settled, there were some familiar names at the front. Tyler Stickler (9) took and unchallenged victory over Happy Florian (65) in 2nd<\/sup>, and Mike Martin (76) in 3rd<\/sup>. Stickler and Nicholas Malverty (17) were your heat race winners.<\/p>\n

8 Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks battled for the victory in their 20 lap feature. In the end, it was a familiar sight. Jeremy Sharrone (32) and Ashlee Williamson (84) would once again wage a bumper to bumper battle all the way to the checkers for the victory. Sharrone would come out on top this time, with Williamson settling for 2nd<\/sup> over Shawn Jenkins (43) in 3rd<\/sup>. Kevin Stone (98) was your heat race winner.<\/p>\n

6 Inter-County Recycling Hornets fought hard for their 15 lap feature with Scott Bumgarner making it 2 for 2 at Citrus County Speedway, taking his 2nd<\/sup> victory in as many trips. Matthew Jenkins (777) would come home 2nd<\/sup> with Kane Dixon (15) making a last lap pass on Darryl Veltman for the 3rd<\/sup> position.<\/p>\n

Robbie Powell (25) would take the victory over the 10 car pro figure 8 field, with Cliff Rousseau (3) coming home 2nd<\/sup>, and Joey Catarelli in 3rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

This week will see the return of the Super Late Models, who brought a strong 22 car field just one week ago. Joining them will be the Street Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks, Sheldon Palmes Insurance Mini Stocks, Inter-County Recycling Hornets, and the Pro Challenge Series. See you at the races!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mother nature finally smiled on the Citrus County Speedway Saturday night. With the forecast showing a 60% chance of rain from 5pm on, many people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,22,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-citrus-county-speedway","category-featured","category-front-page-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8546"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8555,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546\/revisions\/8555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}