7/18/2016
Tri-City Motor Speedway
Race Result from 7/15/2016
07/15/16 Midland Steel Sales and XLT Engineering Winners
Melling Select Late Models: #4 Chad Anklam
Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #50 Jake Thompson
Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified: #20w AJ Ward
Walkers Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge: #7 Jonny Staszak
Faster Pastor Champion: Duane Harris Auburn United Methodist Church
Area Churches Raise Nearly $20,000. Anklam and Thompson Pick Up First Dirt Feature Win at TCMS.
07/15/2016 (Auburn MI) With the summer heat above normal for much of June and early July, it was an unusually cool and cloudy Friday night for racing at Michigan’s premier dirt track, Tri-City Motor Speedway on Friday night. Area church pastors and their congregations were on hand for the third annual “Faster Pastor” race to help raise funds for their selected charities. In addition, the rained out Melling Select late Model 51-lap special was part of the program along with IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, and Mini Wedge cars. The evening’s entertainment was sponsored by both Midland Steel Sales of Midland and XLT Engineering of Kawkawlin.
Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge drivers were the first competitors on the track to race in front of the near capacity crowd. They witnessed 10-year old #7 Jonny Staszak snatch the lead away from #3 Mason Clements on the start of the feature and cruise to a half lap lead. Staszak would easily cruise to the win over Clements, #07 Rylee Knoll, and #36 Jennifer Young. Staszak, who will be moving to the Bomber Stock division in 2017, also won the heat race.
Much of the enthusiastic crowd was on hand to watch their pastor’s climb into track-provided bomber stock cars to see which church would have bragging rights as the “Faster Pastor” of 2016. The heat race line ups were based on the amount of donations that were received before the 7:30pm deadline that evening. Midland Nazarene’s David Anderson would win the first heat race by outdueling Duane Harris (Auburn United Methodist Church), Ean Green (Community Wesleyan Church), and David Auckerman (Mt. Haley Church of God). Heat race number two was won by David Warren (Calvary Baptist Church). Warren was followed by Rob Schmidt (Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church) and Dale Mudd (Bay Valley Christian Church). The feature event would put the top two finishers in the heat races together to determine who would be the one who would take home the 6-foot trophy as the fastest of the year. Schmidt and Warren would start in the first two positions and provided quite a battle in the first half. However, it was the two from heat race one, Anderson and Harris, that would end up providing the showdown to decide the finish. Contact between the two would send Harris completely sideways in turn two. Harris would make a miraculous save keeping the car from turning completely around. With the caution bunching the field for the final restart, Harris was able to make the pass for the lead and would hold on for the victory. Congratulations to all the churches that participated in the event. In total, the churches raised $19,285 to go towards their selected charities.
The other crowd drawing event was the anticipation of the 51-lap Melling Select Late Model feature. 25 late model drivers were on hand to try and qualify for the 20 open spots available for the big feature event. In addition to the regular purse, those drivers that had run on July 1st had the ability to win additional money from Midland Steel Sales. Former Champion #0x Zack Olger, July 1st winner #4t Andrew Terrill, and #9 Isaac Wolfgang won the qualifying heats that would ensure their starting positions in the main event. Ohio Driver #6* Grahm Short had to make his way into the show by winning the B-Main. Marlette driver #50 Scott Phillips and Vestaburg’s #21 Logan Arntz would lead the field of 20 to Rich Haskin’s green flag. The first 26 laps went caution free with Phillips leading until lap 16 when 2015 Champion #21 David Hilliker, who had flipped his car last Saturday night at Merritt Speedway, took charge of the field. The lack of cautions and the amount of horsepower put down on the clay, the track started to change. Drivers began searching for grip. #4k Kevin Reeve would find the top side to his liking and passed Hilliker on lap 31. As Reeve was enjoying the lead, his car owner and Silver Bullet Speedway Champion #4 Chad Anklam found some speed in the lower grooves and found himself battling his own car for the lead. He and Reeve would race door to door around lap 45 before Anklam would take the lead on the final lap clinching his first ever TCMS feature win. The Freeland driver would finish ahead of Reeve, Arntz, Terrill, and Short. The remainder of the top 10 included Olger, Wolfgang, #6r Carl Ries, Hilliker, and Phillips.
As it has been all season, the Suspension Maxx Street Stocks have been putting on some of the best racing you will see in Michigan. Lots of three and four-wide racing along with exciting finishes have kept the drivers and fans coming back to see what will happen each week. Earlier in the evening, #x5 Eric Lake, #31 Bob Robinson, and #15.2 Robert Cunningham won their heat races. Cunningham, who won the opening night feature in April, would start on the front row of the feature with long time veteran #M2 Mike Pashak. Cunningham would get a better start than Pashak and lead the opening lap. However, #50 Jake Thompson would take the lead from his fourth starting spot on the next lap by making the high side pass in turn two. Thompson, a rookie on dirt for 2016, is no stranger to leading the features but has had difficulty leading the final lap. He would keep the field behind in until lap 12 when Lake would take his car from twelfth place to the lead. Lake has been on a roll of late and looked as if he was going to chalk up another victory. Thompson, running second, tried a different line than what he typically runs and found some additional speed. He would overtake Lake on lap 16 and survive a late race caution to win his first ever dirt feature and first at TCMS. The grandson of Michigan Motorsports Hall of Famer Jay Woolworth (get well, Jay!) finished ahead of Lake, #96 Shane Wright, #67 Ryan Fitzgerald, and #73 Don Stuck. The completion of the top ten included #3 Mitch Clements, #7k Dan Krause Jr., Robinson, #15h Larry Hawley, and #16 David Doty.
20w AJ Ward has been the story of the Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified division all season long. He hasn’t competed every night, but when he has he finishes as the winner. It was no surprise to see Ward win his heat, while the 2015 Champion #7d Myron DeYoung would win the other heat. Both drivers would start mid pack with DeYoung starting 6th and Ward starting 10th in the 20-lap feature. #19 Kody Johnson would lead lap one before Beaverton driver #4s Toby Steele would take control on lap two. Steele looked strong running the very bottom of the track, but it was not enough to keep Ward from taking over the lead on lap seven. Steele would give it his all but Ward was too much for the field once again as he would claim feature win number nine for 2016 and remain unbeaten. Despite missing a few nights, Ward also reclaimed a share of the points lead. The top ten finishers were Ward, Steele, DeYoung, #187 Gavin Hunyady, #98 Austin Wonch, Johnson, #71 Brenten DeYoung, #5 Tanner Pray, #511 Chaz Pray, and #27 Matt Szecsodi.
Join us this Friday as Isabella Bank presents another great night of racing at TCMS!! Watch the kids test their racing skills with the return of the box car races!! Also, Suspension MAXX Truck Drags will be sure to throw some dirt!! The Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Street Stocks, and Bomber Stocks will also be back in action!! Grandstand Admission is $14 for adults, 55 and better $13, 7-15 yr olds $5, and those under 6 get in for absolutely free. Don’t forget that the Great Lakes Super Sprints will be back on July 29th!! No need to wait in line on race day! Save yourself time and order your tickets online at www.tricityracetrack.com . Free rustic camping is also available!!!
Submitted By: Steve Puvalowski
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