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Second Night of Summer Brings the Heat

The second day of summer at Sandusky Speedway brought the heat not only in the air, but the action on the track was as hot as ever.

The first show of the night saw the Lake Erie stocks hit the track. After Carl Smith and Tom Hardwick took the top spot in qualifying and the first heat respectfully, they looked to be the cars to beat during the night. After starting 7th in the 7 car field, Smith proved just that. Steamrolling through the field he was able to take the lead early on in the feature.

There were two cautions of the night during the event that included oil down on lap 8 and again on lap 17 that would eventually bring out the red to let the safety crew cleanup the track.

Despite this, it did not keep from Smith to going on and dominating the race and take the feature win.

Rounding out the field for the Lake Erie Stocks were Bob Young, Cory Gentry, Tom Hardwick, Mike Nunn and Shawn Reinke. Both Nunn and Reinke were the drivers putting down oil and were credited with a DNF.

The next series up at the half-mile were the Beginner Stocks. The 3 car field consisted of Tanner Smith, Colton Fowler and Austin Smith.

The entire night was dominated by Tanner Smith. Through hot laps, heat and the feature, Tanner Smith was the car to beat.

After starting last in the 3 car field thanks to inverts, Tanner Smith was able to take the lead on lap 1 in turn 1 and never looked back. After building a commanding straightaway length lead, Tanner Smith cruised to victory once again this season at Sandusky Speedway.

There were no cautions and no drivers left the track during this feature.

The third feature of the night saw the most eventful feature of the night. The Renegades came into Sandusky Speedway once again and put on a show for the fans that waited through the heat.

The feature got off to a rough start in the first turn when the field took it three wide and contact was made which led to the 15 of Chris Stevens to spin and receive severe right front damage. The 58 of Brad Merritt, who won the second heat of the night, left momentarily during the caution to check any damage he may have had, but returned to the tail of the race.

After the restart the 92 of Chris Nicastro and 15 of Stevens, who still had damage and fought his way through the field, started battling for the lead before Stevens took the lead and seemed to check out.

After a lap 8 spin by both the 71 of Dan Smith and the 92 of Nicastro, the 5 of Brandon Halcomb took the lead from Stevens. Stevens would then have to leave the track due to overheating and would wind up finishing 8th with a DNF.

The climax to the race occurred on lap 15 when the 58 of Merritt looked to blow up going into turns 1 and 2 putting liquid down on the track. Going down the backstretch with nowhere to go the 629 of James McKay got into Merritt causing him to spin and crashing into the tire barriers. After a quick check Merritt was deemed to be ok, but his car was finished for the night.

While the field was stopped on the front stretch, during the clean-up for Merritt’s crash, the 92 of Nicastro’s car caught on fire ending his night prematurely.

After that wild sequence of events, the race resumed and the 5 of Halcomb took back control of the race and won going away.

Rounding out the field behind Halcomb was Kyle Ramsey, Dan Smith, James McKay, Matt Smith, Chris Nicastro, Brad Merritt, Chris Stevens and Brad Smith. Nicastro, Merritt, Stevens and Smith were all credited with DNF’s.

To round out the racing at Sandusky Speedway the Modifieds returned once again to put on a show.

To start off the race the 42 of Kevin Jaycox Jr took the lead, but that was short lived as the 97 of Stephen Kinect passed Jaycox for the lead on lap 3.

After two cautions for the 11 of Kenny Sharp on lap 5 and lap 18 saw a restart that bunched up the field one final time and began a three car battle for the lead for the final five laps.

Between the 31 of Doug Meyer, the 97 of Klinect and the 30 of Preston Walker, who won his feature on the night, all threw their best for the spot before Walker took the lead for good after Meyer got loose and fell back from the leaders.

Walker was able to get the win to close out the racing at Sandusky Speedway followed by Klinect, Myer, Bubba Smith, Kenny Sharp, Jaycox, Sam Bigham, Matthew Winningham. Ryan Cypher was credited with a DNS.

Next week racing at Sandusky Speedway includes the Lake Erie Stock, Beginner Stocks, Renegades and Modifieds. Pits open 3:00, Gates open at 4:00 and racing starts at 7:00.

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