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Reay Leads All the Laps on Way to Feature Win at Tri-City Speedway

Reay Leads All the Laps on Way to Feature Win at Tri-City Speedway

06/18/2021 (Auburn MI) The dirt racing community convened at the Tri-City Motor Speedway this past Friday to watch some of the best drivers in Michigan and Ohio compete against each other. With the Soaring Eagle Late Models off for the week, it was an opportunity to share the spotlight to those in the support divisions. This was especially true for the Troll Smokehouse IMCA Modifieds and XLT Engineering 4-6 Cylinder classes as each competed in their respective divisions for bigger money than normal. The Walker’s Ideal trophies Mini Wedge divisions, Auto House Factory Stocks, and Auto Value Pro- Stocks were also part of the jam-packed racing program.

With the top prize increased to $1000 for winning the XLT Engineering 4-6 Cylinder main event, a season high 35 competitors from around Michigan were on-hand hoping to claim one of the 22 starting positions in the main event. Local drivers Ethan Robarts (Whittemore, MI) and William Withrow (West Branch) and Chad Freeman (Alger) took heat race gold along with Shane Wiggins (Palo). The Last Chance Qualifier was won by Peter Henner (Prescott). Robarts and Freeman brought the field to the green for the 20-lap main event. Robarts snagged the opening lap while Freeman took over on lap two. It only took until lap five for 11th place starter Wiggins took his turn pacing the field. Wiggins would lead until lap thirteen when last place starter Ryan Hamm (Muskegon) made the pass from the bottom groove. Wiggins and Hamm had been the class of the field all night turning near record breaking laps. The two would challenge each other throughout the final seven laps before Hamm eventually crossed the finish line ahead of Wiggins on lap twenty. Unfortunately, post race inspection resulted in both drivers being disqualified and handed the $1000 win to third place finisher Robarts. This was Robarts first TCMS win of 2021. Freeman would move up to second place in the final standings ahead of Nick Bullock (Bay City), Former champion Don Frohm (Lakeport) and Cody Steinly (Whittemore). Griffin Proctor (Brown City) won the B-feature.

The Troll Smokehouse IMCA Modified drivers finally got an opportunity to run one of their 2021 challenge series events on Friday night. Twenty-Eight drivers from around Michigan, many of them champions at TCMS and other tracks, looked to capture the $2000k top prize. The most recent feature winner, Collin Thirlby (Traverse City) won the first heat race. Scott Payton (Gaylord) and former track Champion Myron DeYoung (Crystal) also outpaced their respective heat races. Two-time TCMS IMCA Champion had to win the Last Chance Qualifier to be tagged on to the rear of the 21-car feature field. The feature front row of Payton and Jeff Reay (Portland) took the field to the green flag of the big money-paying race. Outside pole sitter, Reay, wasted no time jumping out ahead of Payton. From there, no one could put together a real bid to slow Reay’s dominance. He led all 30-laps to collect his first TCMS feature win and the big check. Brenten DeYoung (Crystal) weaved his way from 14th to finish behind Reay. IMCA Regional Champion AJ Ward (Ionia), Payton, and Austin Harnick (Clare) rounded out the top five.

One of the most exciting features of the evening came from the Auto House Factory Stocks. Through the 20-lap race there were six different lead changes. Zachary Lehotan (Saginaw), Ryan Nethers (Mount Pleasant), Jacob Flickinger (Gaylord) and Jim Miller Jr. (Clio) all took turns swapping the lead. Many times making three or four wide passes to get to the top spot. In the end, it was a epic battle between Miller and Flickinger. Miller took over the lead on lap eight. Flickinger led eleven only to concede the position back to Miller the following circuit. Miller was the first to the white flag doing everything that he could to keep Flickinger behind him. The exited turn four on the final lap in a dead heat heading towards the checkered flag. As both cars crossed the finish line, it was Flickinger that inched ahead to win by .007 seconds ahead of Miller in the closest Factory Stock finish in TCMS history. Nethers held on to third. 16th place starter Eric Lake (Montrose) took home fourth with Kyle Andrzejewski in fifth. Heat race victories were taken by Jake Thompson (Birch Run), Andrzejewski, and Miller Jr.

Heat race winners, Danielle Robinson (Mount Pleasant) and Tim Murphy (Holland, Oh), battled hard for the lead over the opening five laps of the Auto Value Pros Stock 20-lap feature race. As the battled each other, Andrew Steele (Twining) was planning his move to the lead. He made a daring three-wide pass on lap six to take the over the point. From there, he cruised to his second TCMS feature win of 2021. Rob Westergard (Bay City), who started last on the field, clawed his way to a second place finish behind Steele. Murphy, Nate Murphy (Coleman), and Robinson managed to hang on to top-five finishes.

The kids competing in the Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge classes are starting to get used to the new smaller and wider mini-wedge track configuration. Defending Restricted Mini Wedge Champion, Jett Gohr (Bay City) swept both the heat and feature wins. While it was Brennan DeShano (Kawkawlin) sweeping both the heat and feature events in the Unrestricted Mini Wedge class.

The Soaring Eagle Casino Late Models are back on the schedule next Friday night along with a rescheduled $1500 to win Feature for the Troll Smokehouse IMCA Modifieds. All the house divisions including the Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini-Wedges, Auto House Factory Stocks, Auto Value Pro Stocks and the XLT Engineering Bomber Stocks are all a part of the race card. Join us on Friday July 2nd as the fourth race of the Allstar Performance Late Model Series will take place offering a $10k prize to the winner!! The first green flag waves at 7:30. Be sure to come early to claim your seat for another show you won’t want to miss! For updated and instant results, season point standings and the entire 2021 race schedule, visit the TCMS website at tricityracetrack.com or download the MyRacePass app.

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