Beginner Bandolero’s kickstarted Round 2 of 2023 Winter Nationals at Citrus County Speedway – as they will all week long. Brexton Busch won the pole and commanded the lead in the first corner, but Harley Johnson was soon right on his bumper and stayed there for the first six laps. The no. 1x of Gerald White III spun unassisted in turn two – the first yellow of the race. Soon after the restart, White would spin again. After two red flags for cleanup, the race resumed with Busch and Johnson battling. Johnson even nosed ahead briefly but Busch fought back. The final restart occurred with four laps to go with Busch leading White and Johnson. Johnson used the middle groove to pass White and then Busch on the outside. Coming to the white flag, Johnson nearly lost it off corner exit, meaning he would take the inside lane entering turn one after crossing the white flag. Busch went high and Johnson drifted high, tagging the left-rear of Busch. White slid on through and took the checkered flag, accomplishing the “spin and win.”
On the initial start of the Chargers race, cars scattered as Joseph Viverito got out of line and slowed. Olivia Murray’s car got upset in turn one and spun, and was hit by Abi Johnson and Raven Kimball. A second wreck caused another lengthy cleanup after Katelyn Hicks, Austin Harrison, Kendall Van Houten, and Evan McKnight tangled in turn four and on the frontstretch. When the race was underway, Austin Bloodworth was in control. However, Anastasia Markovic never left his rearview mirror. She wasn’t able to close the gap to attempt a pass, resulting in Bloodworth taking home the Chargers victory for the second day in a row.
Josh Mullins and Kevin Foisy battled at the start, but it was Mullins who soon grabbed the lead. Robbie Woodall and Kevin Rollins were in hot pursuit of second place with Brian Weimer close behind. Through 10 laps, Mullins held a commanding lead, but on that same lap Rob Alestock spun, reracking the field. On the lap 12 restart, Mullins pulled clear of Foisy, bringing Woodall with him. Next was a restart for the no. 15 of Scott Kinsman and Mullins kept the lead once again on the restart but a caution for Scott Heintz and Giles Martin brought out the red. Once again, Mullins jumped out to the lead, this time with Rollins in tow, Woodall in third and Weimer fourth. It wasn’t long before Woodall jumped to second but was ten car lengths behind Mullins with eight laps to go. He wouldn’t have enough to catch Mullins, allowing Mullins to capture the Masters race win for the second day in a row.
Cameron Bolin jumped to an early lead over Landen Lewis and Landon Rapp, but swiftly maneuvering his way around both Lewis and Rapp was Jensen Jorgensen. The race’s first caution occurred after seven completed laps when Colton Crocker and Thomas Everson spun in turn two. On the lap eight restart, an immediate caution occurred for Ethan Norfleet who got sideways and Tristan McKee and Josh Speas got into the wall. The second attempt at a lap 8 restart led to Lewis sneaking into second past Jorgensen and began the chase towards Bolin. With 10 laps remaining, Jorgensen began to inch closer to Lewis and Bolin, with Lewis running in Bolin’s tracks. Coming to two to go, Lewis gave Bolin a nudge in turn four, but Bolin crossed him up and were side by side at the white. Lewis got ahead on the backstretch. Bolin got to his inside and down the frontstretch, it was Bolin by a bumper for the win.
Jayden Johnson and Ayden Christensen started side by side all for one lap until Johnson prevailed on lap two. Emma Britt in third with Cohen Henze in fourth trailed close behind. A caution after four laps for a spin in turn two. Then a crash by Ben Morabito on the frontstretch meant the race was paused once again. Johnson pulled out to the lead again but after seven laps three cars tangled on the backstretch. From second place, Henze spun off turn four as the field completed its 13th lap. The Lap 14 restart, Johnson got away nicely from Killian McMann. One more restarted with four laps to go, but McMann wasn’t able to pressure Johnson, who took home the Outlaws victory for the second straight day.
Max Reaves shot out to the lead with Jackson Denton in hot pursuit but a quick caution for Kevin Davis brought us to an early reset. Reaves once again rocketed to the lead as Denton and Cooper Gaul battle for second. On lap 4, Denton made the pass Reaves for the lead. A tangle between Keelan Harvick and Ty Fredrickson sent Harvick to the hot pits for a quick stop and on the restart, Gaul was on the tail of Denton. The pair swiftly moved away from Gage Gilby in third, leading the next group of cars. Until the caution waived on Lap 13, it was all Denton and Gaul up at the front. Cole Robie and Hunter Jordan were the reasons for the caution as the duo spun in turn three. When the race resumed, Denton’s start wasn’t as good as before, but good enough to keep the lead over Gaul with Reaves in third but Isaac Kitzmiller spun on his own in turn two after 14 laps completed. Gaul looked to challenge on the outside on the restart but to no avail. Reaves made a move on second on Lap 18, relegating Gaul to third. A large fender to bumper scuffle occurred on the frontstretch on Lap 20, when Fredrickson, Harvick, Ayrton Brockhouse, and Alex Meggs found their way off track and into the infield grass, but all continued. The field received the green and time flag on Lap 21 at the race’s continuation, but Gaul nor anyone else could pass Denton for the win.
Like the day before, Mason Lastra and George Phillips were side-by-side into turn one, but it was Lastra taking charge on the backstretch. At halfway, Lastra held a lead of 10 car lengths over Phillips, who was only just ahead of Jadan Bowling. On Lap 15, Karlin Ray hit the wall to bring out the race’s first caution. Lastra was challenged by Phillips who took the lead but soon lost it, but a caution saved him when Taylor Corum’s car came to a stop in turn four. Resuming on Lap 17, with Phillips holding onto his new found lead and second place Lastra dropping back multiple positions. Another spin in turn four brought out the caution but it was Jadan Bowling who was the leader on the previous lap. Restarting on Lap 18, Bowling kept his lead over challenger Jerrod Holle. But on Lap 19, Holle and Jesse Martinez were wheel-to-wheel with Martinez pulling ahead just as Holle hit his rear spinning him in front of the field. No other cars were collected. Bowling maintained the lead with the six laps to go. Phillips bumped Luke Yarbrough in turn four and eventually claimed second one lap later. A few restarts later saw, the field get the green and time flag from the starter. Phillips had one more opportunity to get around but couldn’t time the move right. Bowling claimed the Round 2 Semi-Pro victory.
The nights final race was the Bandolero Bandits Round 2 race and there was a caution on the start when Grayson Ikard spun Carson Sherman, as well for the spin of James Monolo. When the race got underway, Lane Christensen assumed control with Colt Johnson behind. A caution filled first ten laps gave way to a cleaner last 15. Johnson snatched the lead from Christensen with 14 laps to go before Matthew Laprade lost control, spinning and hitting frontstretch wall. When the race resumed it was Christensen with full intent to retake the lead from Johnson. He would succeed coming to nine laps to go. Just as he preparing to take the white flag, Levi Morrow spun off turn two. The one-lap shootout was not enough for Johnson or third-place Wyatt Coffey to challenger Christensen for the win and the No. 46 Bando of Christensen parked in on the start-finish line to celebrate his win.
Coverage of Round 3 on Wednesday begins between noon and 1:00 p.m. Round 4 will be Thursday and the fifth and final round will be Friday. All coverage can be found on uslegendcars.tv.
PRO
FEATURE 2 (25 Laps): 1. 88-Cameron Bolin[3]; 2. 62-Landen Lewis[1]; 3. 32-Jensen Jorgensen[5]; 4. 51-Donovan Strauss[10]; 5. 24-Joel Smith[4]; 6. 5-Garrett Gumm[6]; 7. 72-Nick Woodall[7]; 8. 1-Alex McCollum[18]; 9. 22-Gianni Esposito[14]; 10. 77-Jason Alder[13]; 11. 28R-Landon Rapp[2]; 12. 2-Austin Thompson[8]; 13. 56-Ethan Norfleet[9]; 14. 78-Colton Crocker[17]; 15. 8-Colin Stocker[20]; 16. 45-Jacob Bradley[16]; 17. 4NH-Thomas Everson[15]; 18. 84-Xavier King[21]; 19. 46-Kaleb Bradley[22]; 20. B1-Brenton Irving[19]; 21. 7-Tristan McKee[12]; 22. 16-Josh Speas[11]; 23. (DNS) 84B-Kyle Beattie; 24. (DNS) 00-Gavin Graham
MASTERS
FEATURE 2 (25 Laps): 1. 21M-Josh Mullins[2]; 2. 77-Robbie Woodall[3]; 3. 40-Brian Weimer[7]; 4. 57-Kevin Foisy[1]; 5. 93-Kevin Rollins[5]; 6. 66-Daryl Mahar[10]; 7. 5M-Brandon Mckenzie[21]; 8. 24-Ray Fitzgerald[4]; 9. 19-John Robbins[12]; 10. 77B-Darrell Buckingham[6]; 11. 5-Brandin Wrisley[8]; 12. 2-Jim Sylvester[9]; 13. 08-Steve Gareau[15]; 14. 87-Mike Mazzagatti[17]; 15. 2B-Chris Byerly[14]; 16. 19D-Donald McCormick[16]; 17. 15-Scott Kinsman[18]; 18. 10-Rob Alestock[19]; 19. 31-Giles Martin[11]; 20. 57H-Scott Heintz[20]; 21. (DNS) 9-Corey Crisafulli; 22. (DNS) 78-Andy James; 23. (DNS) H2O-Doug Stevens; 24. (DNS) 09-Michael Van Houten Jr; 25. (DNS) 2V-Brad Vanhouton
SEMI-PRO
FEATURE 2 (25 Laps): 1. 77-Jadan Bowling[4]; 2. 55-George Phillips[2]; 3. 60-Shawn English[3]; 4. 31M-Sam Mazzo[15]; 5. 98-Sean McElearney[10]; 6. 08-Carson Haislip[13]; 7. 9C-Michael Crafton[22]; 8. 8-Trevor Wester[5]; 9. 9-Jackson Reynolds[17]; 10. 01-Brody Gunter[23]; 11. 04-Cameron Murray[14]; 12. 71-Nick Morabito[19]; 13. 9V-Chase VanHouten[18]; 14. 9W-Sterling Wrisley[16]; 15. 22-Taylor Corum[12]; 16. 5X-Jesse Martinez[7]; 17. 4-Preston Wrisley[24]; 18. 0-Jerrod Holle[6]; 19. 64T-Tyler Ledbetter[20]; 20. 72-Luke Yarbrough[11]; 21. 81-Karlin Ray[21]; 22. 64-Lucas Vera[8]; 23. 66-Owen Mahar[9]; 24. 17-Mason Lastra[1]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 81-Karlin Ray[1]; 2. 9C-Michael Crafton[3]; 3. 01-Brody Gunter[6]; 4. 4-Preston Wrisley[4]; 5. 84-Noah Healey[2]; 6. 51J-Josh Inglis[5]; 7. 96-John Palmer Pisle[8]; 8. 316-Adam Walker[9]; 9. 26-JT Poole[7]; 10. (DNS) 51-Leroy Kimball; 11. (DNS) 18-Chris Kuhn
YOUNG LIONS
FEATURE 2 (25 Laps): 1. 124-Jackson Denton[3]; 2. 8-Cooper Gaul[2]; 3. 88-Max Reaves[1]; 4. 9-Garrett Erwin[8]; 5. 24-Ayden Christensen[13]; 6. 79-Neal Dulin[12]; 7. 95-London McKenzie[11]; 8. 21-Nathan Lyons[7]; 9. 29-Cole Robie[9]; 10. 23-Beckham Malone[6]; 11. 93-Aidan Walker[20]; 12. 81-Hunter Jordan[4]; 13. 25-Gage Gilby[5]; 14. 62-Keelan Harvick[15]; 15. 36-Ty Fredrickson[14]; 16. 10-Kevin Davis[19]; 17. 97-Isaac Kitzmiller[17]; 18. 18-Alex Meggs[16]; 19. 12-Ayrton Brockhouse[18]; 20. 31-Darren Krantz Jr[10]
OUTLAWS
FEATURE 2 (20 Laps): 1. 8-Jayden Johnson[2]; 2. 2M-Killian McMann[8]; 3. 24-Ayden Christensen[1]; 4. 38-Emma Britt[3]; 5. 15-Alison Johnson[4]; 6. 9-TJ Moon[7]; 7. 78-Atley Wiese[12]; 8. 8E-Carter Erickson[16]; 9. 35-Owen Zacharias[10]; 10. 88-Cohen Henze[5]; 11. 97-Daniel Vandenburg[14]; 12. 68-Wyatt Dent[6]; 13. 21-Sarah Whitesell[15]; 14. 33-Cullen O'Connor[13]; 15. 000-Lincoln Johnson[11]; 16. 41-Mandi Lee[17]; 17. 24B-Bryson Brinkley[9]; 18. 2-Lily Whynot[18]; 19. 17-Ben Morabito[19]; 20. (DNS) 31-Darren Krantz Jr
BANDITS
FEATURE 2 (20 Laps): 1. 46-Lane Christensen[1]; 2. 24-Colt Johnson[3]; 3. 2-Wyatt Coffey[4]; 4. 9S-Jack Smith[12]; 5. 26-Laquan McCoy[6]; 6. 22-Bentley Thompson[2]; 7. 38L-Billy Lee[10]; 8. 3-Levi Morrow[7]; 9. 87-Chloe Mazzagatti[13]; 10. 9-Carson Sherman[15]; 11. 13-Luka Dib[14]; 12. 18-Matthew Laprade[11]; 13. 37-Carson Cauble[9]; 14. 88-Grayson Ikard[17]; 15. 11-Bryson Carlbert[8]; 16. 04J-James Monolo[16]; 17. 14-Parker Davis[5]
CHARGERS
FEATURE 2 (20 Laps): 1. 24-Austin Bloodworth[1]; 2. 87-Anastasia Markovic[4]; 3. 1X-Cameron White[7]; 4. 23-Josh Lowe[8]; 5. 88J-Joseph Viverito[2]; 6. 88-Phoenyx Kimball[14]; 7. 78-Gracie Crocker[11]; 8. 99-Spencer Bradshaw[9]; 9. 75-Makenna Crocker[15]; 10. 1-Austin Harrison[10]; 11. 20-Evan McKnight[3]; 12. 33-Clayton Bohanon[19]; 13. 51K-Aiden King[17]; 14. 51-Raven Kimball[16]; 15. 25-Nate Morris[18]; 16. 13-Ayden Brockhouse[21]; 17. 06-Olivia Murray[6]; 18. 9-Abi Johnson[13]; 19. 4-Katelyn Hicks[12]; 20. 29-Kendall Van Houten[20]; 21. (DNS) 08-Noah Haislip; 22. (DNS) 84-Brandon Montgomery; 23. (DQ) 7-Karter Beattie[5]
BEGINNER BANDOLERO
FEATURE 2 (20 Laps): 1. 1X-Gerald White III[4]; 2. 80-Bryson Nichols[5]; 3. 16-Matt Hodges[6]; 4. T2-Camden Truett[7]; 5. 66-Evan Johnson[3]; 6. 54-Brexton Busch[1]; 7. 7-Harley Johnson[2]; 8. 18-Michael Mazzagatti[10]; 9. 5-Corbin Cannon[12]; 10. 5F-Christopher Flynn[9]; 11. 75J-Allee Johnson[11]; 12. (DNS) 8X-Addison Martinez; 13. (DNS) 83-Hudson Ruff; 14. (DQ) 75-Jay Hemenway[8]