Smith, Goff close in on Citrus Hobby leader

By George Neill

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 24, 2000

INVERNESS -- As the season draws to a close at Citrus County Speedway, there's one division with a points title up for grabs.

In Saturday night's Hobby Stock battle, things got even closer.

Richie Smith was able to ward off the challenge of J.D. Goff in the first five laps of the 20-lap race, then dominated the final 15 for the sixth feature victory in his rookie season.

Smith and Goff are locked in a heated points battle with Chris Hooker, who had transmission troubles most of the night.

Hooker salvaged eighth, but Goff's second-place finish allowed him to close to 29 points out of the lead. Smith is third in the points standings, 36 behind Hooker.

Roy Perkins finished third, holding off challenges by Art Bruengingsen and Beau Stevenson. Kreg Belcastro and Patrick Lewis took victories in the heat races.

In the M. Dominique Limited Sportsman 40-lap feature, Rex Struble fought back from seventh place at the halfway point to capture the victory in a 16-car field.

Struble qualified third but was caught on the outside groove where he slipped back before making a late move to the front of the pack.

Robbie Yoakam qualified on pole with a lap of 15.393, but the field was inverted and he was sent to the back. Yoakam made a valiant charge to fourth, but was struck with an overheating engine that took him out of contention.

Struble was followed close behind by David Dollar, Bill Oestreicher, Mike Veltman and Mark Dominique.

In Late Model action, 16 cars began the 35-lap feature, with Herb Neumann, Jr. starting on the pole after the "Pull the pill" qualifying draw.

Neumann dominated the field. Mike Breshnahan clinched the championship with his second-place finish, followed by Ricky Carlton, Richard Pratt, and defending points champ Danny Johnson.

Twenty-seven cars filed out for the start of the Street Stock feature, in which Harley Wilson Sr. took control early on.

Even with pressure from John LeVecque, Wilson overcame the field and recorded his fourth feature win of the season in the 20-lap race. Ernie Reed fought from the back of the pack to take third, with points leader Wes Wilson and David Kingsbury close behind.

The Mini Stock field saw Mark Sowell walk away with his seventh feature of the year, but not without a fight. Rob Wheatley challenged for nearly 20 laps but couldn't pull off a pass for the lead.

Frank Coleman followed with George Neumann and Mike Moore in tow. Don Faunceand Kevin Harrod took wins in the heat races, but they were forced out of competition with problems during the feature.

Neumann captured his third points championship in four years with his fourth-place finish.

With one more event to go, the Figure 8 field put on a show. Peanut Higgenbotham took the victory in a 15-car field.

Higgenbotham led by half a lap at the end of the race. Darryl Mage held off J.R. Meyer, Robbie Mage and Tim Henault for second.

The Mini Cup cars were present for their final race of the season, with 19 taking the green.

The field chased Josh Hermann and Tom Clark to the finish. Terry Lee Tullis, Doug Smith and Calvin Lewis took the rest of the top five.

In the Street Legal Junker race, Rick Badessa took his first win of the season over Shawn Kipp in their 15-lap feature. Roy Blotz was able to finish third after being spun early.

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