6/18/2018
Tri-City Motor Speedway
6/15/2018 Race Results
06/15/2018 Isabella Bank Night/ Greased Pig 8.0
- Main Street Seed and Supply/ Lane Automotive Comp Cams IMCA Modified Challenge Presented by Allstar Performance: #20w AJ Ward
- Mueller’s Performance Engines Pro Stock: #77 Chris Malek
- Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini-Wedge 6-9 Yr Olds: #54 Addison Clink
- Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini-Wedge 10-14 Yr Olds: #24c Caden Anderson
- Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: Rained Out
- Melling Performance Late Models: Rained Out
- Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks: Rained Out
“Live Wire” AJ Ward Wins Fourth Career Greased Pig at Tri-City Motor Speedway
06/15/2018 (Auburn, MI) The first race in the new dirt track era of Tri-City Motor Speedway took place in mid June back in 2011. Each year, TCMS commemorates the occasion with the annual Greased Pig main event for the IMCA modified division. Along with the special race, this weekend’s event also included Kids Night and Autograph night with the 123 race teams on hand providing gifts and goodies to the children and adults that visited the front stretch to meet with their favorite drivers. Isabella Bank was the evening’s sponsor.
Thirty-four of the best IMCA Modified drivers checked in for an opportunity to make the 20-car starting field for the Lane Automotive/Comp Cams IMCA Modified Challenge Presented by: All Star Performance 41-lap main event. With $2018 being posted as the top prize, the competition level was at an all time high. Four Qualifying heats locked in 16 of those drivers. Qualifying heat race winners included last week’s feature winner #27 Matt Szecsodi, former track Champion #20w AJ Ward, last year’s Greased Pig winner #511 Chaz Pray, and Clarkston driver #5 John McClure. Two last chance races, won by #42 Craig Vance and #2 Chance Allen, filled in the remainder of the starting field. Auburn’s #03 Chris Cohoon started on the pole and led the field to the green flag for the feature. His night would end early after having problems on the backstretch ending his night on the back of the wrecker. With Cohoon out, the lead was handed to Szecsodi. Szecsodi, with two wins at TCMS and three at Silver Bullet Speedway in Owendale, took advantage of a long green flag run and began to pull away from the field. However, with ten laps to go, a caution flag bunched up the field and put ninth place starter, Ward, and defending track Champion #19jr Kody Johnson on Szecsodi’s rear bumper. Ward fought Szecsodi using the bottom groove as the two would battle over the final seven circuits until Ward was able to clear Szecsodi to take his 4th Greased Pig victory and collect a large payday. Szecsodi would settle for a runner-up finish but ended up taking over the TCMS IMCA point lead from rookie #79 Nate Jones (finished 18th). Johnson, McClure, and Allen cleared the top five spots.
The Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge drivers saved their best performances of the season for the capacity crowd Friday night. #54 Addison Clink, the point leader in the 6-9 year old division swept her heat race and took home another feature checkered flag in her main event. She would outduel #23 Mason Vanderveen, #5 Brennan DeShano, heat race winner #28 Kyron DeShano, and #27 Pierson DeShano. In the 10-14 year old “senior” division, #24c Caden Anderson grabbed his second feature win in a row by beating #15 Cole Doty and #2e Easton Murray to the finish. Doty took the heat race win.
Last week’s feature winner #69 Nate Murphy and Deford driver #36 Jeremy Spencer won the preliminary heat races in the Mueller’s Performance Engines Pro Stock division. Spencer would earn the opportunity to start on the front row for the 20-lap main event. He would shoot out to a big lead on the field with no one able to make their way by through the first half of the race. All eyes were watching the final starter, #77 Chris Malek methodically picking off cars on his charge to the front. With three laps remaining, Malek used the lowest race groove on the track and make the winning pass on Spencer to capture his first TCMS feature win. Spencer held on for second and was closely followed by defending track Champion #28 Jared Rizer, Murphy, and #25 Richard Yaroch.
The Melling Performance Late Models were not able to start their main event as Mother Nature won the remainder of the night. Their feature will be the first to run this coming week. Heat races were won by current point leader #2 Travis Stemler, 2011 Track Champion #72 Kyle Borgman, and #75 Rod Laney. Rookie #71 Tim Near would overcome troubles in his heat race to win the B-Main.
The Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks will also need to complete their feature this upcoming week. #03 Josh Charbonneau and #9 Ethan Robarts took heat race gold earlier in the evening.
The SuspensionMAXX Street Stock feature will also be part of the beginning of next Friday nights show. Three heat races were run with rookie #18 Nick Putman, #21 Kyle Thomas, and track Champion #x5 Eric Lake all victorious.
The rained out features from this past Friday will be the first races to hit the track next Friday night. In addition to the additional feature races, the winged warriors of the Sprint On Dirt will make their first appearance at TCMS since 2015. Pro Stocks and Mini Wedges will be in action along with the double features for the Late Models, Bomber Stocks, and Street Stocks. We will also have the first Stevens’ Cycle Sales Side-By-Side ORV races. Avoid the long line on race day by purchasing your tickets online today at www.tricityracetrack.com. We look forward to having you and your family joining us for the best dirt racing Michigan has to offer!!
Article Credit: Roger Williams
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