7/9/2018
Tri-City Motor Speedway
7/6/2018 Race Results
07/06/2018 Figure-Eight Night
- Melling Performance Late Model: #4t Andrew Terrill
- Mueller’s Performance Engines Pro Stock: #77 Chris Malek
- Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #x5 Eric Lake
- Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks: #01tk Brad Treichel
- Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified: #187 Gavin Hunyady
- Figure-Eight: #x5 Eric Lake
Lake Double Dips and Hunyady Wins First Feature at Tri-City Motor Speedway
07/06/2018 (Auburn, MI) 110 competitors made the trip to Tri-City Motor Speedway last Friday night with the main attraction being the breathtaking 24-lap Figure-Eight feature for Street Stock-type cars. In addition, the Street Stocks had a full show on the oval along with Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Pro Stocks and Bomber Stocks.
The final event of the night was the fifteen-car field that took the green flag for the only Figure-Eight race of 2018. #91 Gary Shank would lead the opening laps of the $888 to win race. As the field spread, the drivers were forced to deal with the intersection. Earlier feature winner and Street Stock Champion #x5 Eric Lake looked fearless as the passed for the lead on lap four. Aggressively and cautiously, he mastered the track and thrilled the fans on his way to the big win. #01 Randy Radabaugh and third place finisher #8 Scott Buehrly finished as the only cars on the same lap as the leader. #16 Steve Doty and #11a Anthony Carlton completed the top five.
Number 03 JC Witherspoon has been flexing a lot of muscle on the track and behind the wheel of his machine in the Melling Performance Late Model Division. The previous week, he came up through the field in a last chance race to make the main event. This week, he took the lead from pole sitter #4x Chad Anklam at the start of the 30-lap feature. He led the first twenty-one circuits before 9th place starter and two-time Champion #4t Andrew Terrill tracked him down through help from lapped traffic. The two wrestled the lead amongst one other before Terrill took the lead for good crossing the finish line first in the caution free race. Harbor Beach’s #76 Torrey Ahrens, #87 David Mielke, and Witherspoon walked away with top five finishes. Witherspoon, #23v Ryan Vanderveen, and #16 Mike Staszak won earlier heat races.
Clio driver #33 Todd Matheson took the early lead from his fifth place starting position in the Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified top race. However, it only took three laps for #187 Gavin Hunyady, from the same row as Matheson, to make the move on the inside line for the lead. Hunyady clung to that bottom groove facing challenges from last week’s winner #615 Chad Wernette. As the two reached the tail of the field, the difficulty of getting around the slower vehicles opened the door for #79 Nate Jones and 2017 TCMS Champion #19jr Kody Johnson to become part of the pending drama. All four were jostling for position as they caught a pack of drivers fighting to stay on the lead lap. Hunyady would tangle with one of those drivers, which brought out the caution flag with three laps remaining. With one of the lapped cars taking responsibility for the caution, Hunyady regained the lead. He paced the field on the restart for the final few laps to capture his first ever TCMS feature victory. Johnson would fight off Wernette, Jones, and a hard-charging #4s Toby Steele (from 15th starting position). Jones won his preliminary heat along with Hunyady.
With new drivers in the Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks in 2018, it was just a matter of time as to when some of those rookies would get the hang of the front-wheel drive vehicles. One of those rookie driver, #01tk Brad Treichel from Bay City, has quietly picked up two wins over the past month. Starting outside of row four, he passed TCMS Mini Wedge Champion #5x Dakota Vennix for the top spot. Treichel nearly looked like a veteran racer as he masterfully held off heat race winner #03 Josh Charbonneau to add his third feature win of 2018. Point Leader #7 John Staszak, Vennix, and #18 Pierce Ritter finished in the top five. Essexville driver #80 Daryl McBride won the other heat race.
Many drivers drove double duty in the SuspensionMAXX Street Stock and Figure-Eight classes. TCMS Bomber Champion #18 Nick Putman was the strong car early as the street stock rookie led the first three laps before #16 Steve Doty led his lone lap of the event. Championship contender #7r Kevin Newcomb stole the lead from Doty and was the leader when the caution flew for a spun car on lap five. Newcomb came to a stop on the front stretch as a failed ball joint on the right front of his ended his night. The part failure for Newcomb handed the lead to point leader and defending Champion #x5 Eric Lake. He overcame a number of late race cautions to cruise to another TCMS feature win. Heat race winner #75 Kenny Keller, #15.2 Robert Cunningham, #91 Gary Shank, and Doty survived for top five finishes. Doty and Lake also had preliminary heat race wins.
If you are betting on winning drivers for fun in the grandstands on Friday night at TCMS, The Mueller’s Performance Engines Pro Stock feature has been a hard race to choose a winner. Each week, it seems as if the winning driver has had to overcome a lot of traffic and pass a lot of cars to find victory. This Friday night was no exception. Twenty cars took the initial green flag to start the main event. TCMS Street Stock Champion #7r Dave Newcomb seemed to have hit the early set-up on his car by leading the first four laps of the twenty-lap main feature. #10 Brent Reil fought his way through the field to lead lap five. 8th place starter, #14 Andrew Fidler looked like the class of the field as he zipped passed the lead battle between Reil and #27 Rob Westergard. The Elwell driver looked to be well on his way to his first TCMS feature win until #77m Chris Malek, just passed the halfway mark, made a tough move at the very bottom of the track to clear Fidler. Once out front, Malek was able to maintain his distance in front of Fidler to capture his second win of 2018. The 18th place starter, Malek, was followed by Fidler, #K11 Kendall Morrison, #69 Nate Murphy, and #67 Ryan Fitzgerald. Rookie Fitzgerald joined Murphy and Morrison as earlier heat race winners.
Next week at TCMS is a HUGE charity racing event as local pastors hit the track in a friendly but fierce battle of the Faster Pastors! Last year the area charities won big as nearly $30,000 was raised through this event. Can the record be broken in 2018?? In addition, we will tickle the Gods with a beautiful firework display at dusk! The Mini Wedge class will be back on the track along with Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, and Street Stocks. We don’t have to tell you how great our racing is. Just ask your race friends!! Come spend some time with us this and every Friday night through Labor Day weekend!! Stand in Line? Why? Purchase your tickets online today at www.tricityracetrack.com! We look forward to entertaining you and your family here at TCMS!!
Article Credit: Roger Williams
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