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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY
Larry MacMillan – P.R.
July 29, 2007
Bresnahan Survives two Wrecks for 5th Citrus Win
(July 28, 2007) Questionable weather surrounded Citrus County Speedway
Saturday night and definitely had an affect on the fan base but 126 cars came to
race no matter what the weather conditions after last week’s rainout. Several
feature races raced through light rain sprinkles that may have slowed them down a
little but it certainly didn’t detract from the competitive racing and close finishes for
all of the regular divisions.
Nineteen Late Models tried to take the green flag three times during a light
shower that saw three cars spin on the first lap of each restart due to wearing
slicks and a slick track. They were sent to the pits to let the Street Stocks come out
with their treaded tires that were able to handle the track better and the rain was
over after their feature race. Seventeen racers took the green flag for the 35 lap
main event and pole sitter Donnie Parkinson jumped to the point early and held off
all challengers while battles for position went on behind him. Dale Sanders and
Mike Bresnahan locked horns in a side by side battle for 4th place spinning
Bresnahan out in the first of his mishaps. Sanders went to the rear of the pack
while Bresnahan picked up 4th on the restart. Bresnahan used the outside groove
to go around Jim Smith and Daniel Webster before catching Parkinson in the run
for the lead. Several more wrecks occurred at the back of the field bringing out
caution flags before Bresnahan suffered major rear end damage but was able to
take the lead on the restart being chased by Daniel Webster, Jim Smith, Perry
Lovelady and Herb Neumann Jr.. Webster was literally right on Bresnahan’s
bumper when the white flag came out taking out Bresnahan and all the cars behind
him on turn one. The race was called on where the cars were running in lap 34 and
Webster was put to the rear of the lead lap with Bresnahan taking his fifth win of
the year followed by Jim Smith, Perry Lovelady, Scott Grossenbacher and Herb
Neumann Jr.. Heat wins went to Bresnahan, Morris and Dale Sanders.
Fourteen Sportsmen put on a great show with the front 10 cars battling side by
side for the first 10 laps. Jeff Rook and Fred Tuski see sawed back and forth for
the lead until Johnny Zuidema lost his engine in turn 3 and 4 bringing on the
caution for a long clean up. Tuski took the green on the restart and held off the
charges of 11th starter Mike Veltman right to the checkered flag. When the
checkers came out Tom Posavec and Rusty Bremer got caught up in a major crash
putting both cars into the front stretch wall before they reached the start finish line
and brought on the red flag. Tuski almost lost his first win of the season on his way
to Victory Lane for photos when he continued to move after the red flag came out
driving around the wreck. He was given the win despite the infraction with Veltman
finishing second, Ernie Reed third, Phillip Rook fourth and Jeff Rook fifth. Tuski
and Zuidema logged heat wins. Mike Veltman survived a money protest and came
up legal after a complete teardown.
It was a 19 car Street Stock gang that provided a lot of excitement with the quicker
cars starting in the rear of the field and working their way through the pack.
Despite a damp race track and a light sprinkle during the race the drivers managed
put on a super run for the flag with pretty much the same outcome that has been
going on all season long. Richie Smith started 16th and wound up in Victory Lane
for the 12th time. Jeff Stalnaker seemed to be the only driver that had anything for
Richie but had to settle for second over Tim Alexander, outside pole sitter Frank
Stromquist and Tim Wilson. This was another one of those side by side battles for
about 10 cars for 10 laps in the early going. Heat wins went to Phillip Rook, Frank
Stromquist and Mike Stalnaker.
Fourteen Mini Stocks took the green flag in their 20 lap feature run and Clint
Foley worked his way from 5th to the point in lap 9 and scored his 6th win of the
season continuing his chase for the points lead in third as of this race. Kevin
Harrod took off from the pole position and set the pace for those first 9 laps but lost
out to Foley at that point and spent the rest of the race holding off Mike Lawhorn,
point leader Steve Griffin and defending champion George Neumann. A couple hot
shoes were in the mix when the checkers flew with Johnny Siner picking up 6th and
Chris Hooker running 7th. Heat winner were Harrod and Lawhorn. The rained out
Mini Stock Challenge and Southern Sportsman race has been rescheduled for
August 11th.
Eighteen Pure Stocks went to war in their 20 lap main event and again more than
enough excitement keeping the heavy hitters from repeating their ride to the winner’
s circle. Bobby Taylor’s bid for his 7th win was short lived when it appeared that his
fuel cell fell the through the trunk area of his race car. Rick Shahid went from 5th to
first in the first few laps getting around Jesse Mullis while Bill Ryan worked his way
from 13th to get in the leader mix at the mid point of the race. Ryan made his way
around the front runners and on to his 4th win of the season after logging the win
in the first heat and maintaining his point lead in the division. Shahid held out for
second over hard charging Kyle Peters and Rick Henick who shared the early lead
with Shahid. Bobby Taylor took the win in the second heat before he lost his fuel
cell.
Brandon the “Hammer” Elwood was the dominator in the 4 Cylinder Bomber
feature wasting no time moving from his 22nd starting spot to the point and taking
his third win of the season by half a lap over Patrick Connor and Anthony LaPoint.
The “Hammer” breezed through tech but Connor was D.Q. d for offset wheels and
LaPoint refused to tear down so that moved hard charging Bobby Richardson from
16th to second when all was said and done. Inheriting third was Jeff Eberly who
moved into first in the point race with point leader Travis Hoefler having early
problems and 20th place finish. Rounding out the top five was Chris Harvey and
Robert Carter. Heat Wins went to Elwood, Jenkins and John DeGeorge who
crashed in the feature and finished 22nd.
Wrapping up the night of action were the V8 Thunder Stock Rookies and it looks
like Ricky Shahid has run his last rookie race after scoring his 4th win of the
season. He outran the 18 car field from flag to flag for his win followed by Josh
Long who was disqualified in post race inspection. Richard Dinkins took over the
ride in the #34 car and inherited a second place finish in only his second week in
the field. Mike Veltman’s nephew Jesse Veltman locked in a third place finish in his
first race ever while Kevin Veltman was in the flager’s stand for much of the
evening assisting Brent Fults. Eddie Rosasco outran Cotee Clark in the run for 4th
from his 9th starting spot.
Next Saturday night sees the return of the Open Wheel Modifieds, Figure 8’s,
Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, 4 Cylinder Bombers. Joining the regular
divisions will be the Florida Open Wheel Lites and the Outlaw Mini Modifieds. The
rained out Mini Stock Challenge, Southern Sportsman Series and the Gulf Coast
Modifieds will run on Saturday, August 11th plus Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, V8
Thunder Stocks and 4 Cylinder Bombers.
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