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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY
Larry MacMillan – P.R.
February 3, 2008
Citrus County Speedway Kicks Off 53rd Racing Season
(Inverness, Fl. 2/2/08) Beautiful weather greeted a full house of race
fans who came to see the 142 registered race drivers kick off the 2008 short
track racing season at Florida’s premier 3/8ths mile, Citrus County Speedway
Saturday night. Seven divisions made for a full pit in heat and feature action in
the Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks, 4 Cylinder
Bombers and feature races for the wild and daring Figure 8’s and the V8
Thunder Stock Rookies.
Young Curtis Neumann proved to be the man to beat in the Open
Wheel Modifieds in their heat and the 13 car 30 lap feature. He launched his
new Hise Roofing ride from 5th in the heat to out run the 7 car field for the win.
He drew the pill for a 7th starting spot in the feature and survived a spin while
in the lead from Richie Smith to regain his spot in the running and outrunning
Doug Miller and Robbie Cooper to take the first Modified point race of the
year. Richie Smith came from the back of the field on the restart to salvage a
fourth place finish over Bobby Taylor who still has some dialing in to do on his
race car. Teddy Nelson the defending champion took the win in the second
heat, started on the outside pole in the feature but ran into mechanical
problems and a minor crash in the feature for a DNF. Thirty two Mods are
registered to race this year.
Fifteen of 45 registered Sportsmen made the opening night race and
it was a five car battle royal in the race for the checkers in their 20 lap feature.
It was a four car run for the flag in their main with Daniel Webster coming off
the inside pole Shelton Bowers off the outside pole and Mike Veltman starting
third. The 4th car in contention was Tom Posavec who had to make a run from
the 11th starting spot. Veltman survived a spin early in the race to come back
and over take early leader Webster and Bowers for the win, followed in a nose
to tail run for second by Bowers, Webster, and Posavec. Arthur Conquest
locked down a 5th place finish. Webster and Bowers took the heat wins putting
Bowers in the point lead after one week of action.
Seventeen of 33 registered Mini Stocks came to put on a very
competitive show for the fans and that’s exactly what they did. Robbie Yoakam
is back and he made that quite clear in both his heat and the 20 lap feature
run with back to back wins for the night. The real battle was for second with
George Neumann locking onto the spot until 15th starter Cling Foley made his
way through traffic and made a last lap pass on Neumann for the spot. Foley
received the Citrus County Chronicle Driver of the Year award at half time that
may have inspired him to prove that he was deserving of the award with that
ride. Neumann had settle for third just ahead of Kevin Harrod and Mark
Powers who started 10th. Neumann won the second heat.
Thirty Three 4 Cylinder Bombers made the starting field in a knock
down drag out 20 lap battle that saw a young 14 year old rookie Brandon
Watson show the rest of the field how to drive through all that traffic to Victory
Lane. It was a scorer’s nightmare with so many cars on the track but the
youngster took off from the pole in both his heat and the feature and never
looked back for his first win ever in a regular stock car. Richard Kuhn drove
from 15th to 2nd over 6th starter John Kidwell, 10th starter Melissa Hunley and
21st starter Chris Harvey. Jeremy Root took the win in the second heat and
Richard Kuhn locked in the third heat. Forty five Bombers have already
registered for the season.
It took 4 heats and a 13 car B-Main to weed out 24 of the 33 cars that
were vying for starting positions in their feature. Bill Ryan brought out a brand
new race car and showed the field that he is going to defend his 2007
championship with a vengeance. Bill just blew the rest of the field away in both
his heat and roared from his 7th starting spot to the point in just a few laps and
it was all over but his Kodak moment in the winner’s circle which he passed on
to get to tech to make sure everything was kosher. Tim Wilson brought out his
old race car from moth balls and despite its appearance definitely had what it
takes to come home with a second place finish and a heat win. New comer
Tom Potts inherited a third place finish after Steve Hise was D.Q.’d in post
race inspection. Bill Ryan’s team mate Chad Markland inherited Bill’s 2007
Championship car and locked down a 5th place finish from his 9th starting
spot. Larry Welter and Daniel Bouchard picked up the other heat wins. Winner
of the B-Main was Matt Schell.
Sixteen out of 31 registered Figure 8 racers had the fans on their feet
and on the edge of their seats for their 20 lap main event. The Hage family is
on a roll again with Darryl Hage taking the first win of the season. John
Baranauskas is a new name to the local fans but he is one that the Figure 8
crew is going to have to reckon with before is all over rocking to a second
place finish over Wayne Calkins, Seth Nistok and Joey Catterelli. Figure 8’s
are due back in two weeks for more exciting action.
Seventeen rookies opened up their season with a barn burner V8
Thunder Stock 20 lap main event. Fifty three cars are registered for car
numbers and a lot of the new kids are just that, 14 years old and up. Young
Austin Roberts came off the outside pole and took the point away from Jason
Hise and never looked back for his very first win ever. Dustin Swearingen out
ran Joe Floyd, Jon Brown and Alexander Wilder for the top five positions.
Opening night was quite an outstanding start to the speedways’ 53rd
racing season and next week is going to be even better. The Tampa Bay Area
Racing Association Winged Sprints bring in their 800 horsepower rockets to
headline another great race card. These racing machines turn the Citrus
County Speedway 3/8ths mile in the low 12 second bracket and several have
been clocked at 11.9 seconds. Now that’s fast. Joining them will be the Mini
Stocks, Street Stocks for their first race of the season, Pure Stocks and V8
Thunder Stock Rookies are back.
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