6/14/2022
Tri-City Motor Speedway
Emotional Win for Terrill at Tri-City Motor Speedway
06/10/2022 Allstar Performance 4-6 Cylinder Challenge Series Presented by XLT Engineering
Feature Winners:
Mini Wedge Restricted: #69 Cason Murphy
Mini Wedge Unrestricted: #26 Brennan DeShano
Great Lakes Motorsports and Rowleys Tires & Automotive Services - Bay City IMCA Modified: #19 Cody Johnson
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort Late Models: #52 Andrew Terrill
XLT Engineering 4-6 Cylinders: #88 Chad Freeman
06/10/2022 (Auburn MI) The motor racing season at Tri-City Motor Speedway continued this past Friday night at the historic Auburn oval. Rain had threatened the area a few hours prior to the initial green flag of the night. However, the threat stayed north and south allowing drivers and fans to enjoy a great night of race action.
The Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort Late Models had one of the best track conditions of the year when they came out to qualify. Eric Spangler once again was the fastest qualifier of the evening. He just missed breaking the track record by .02 seconds with his lap of 11.748. He backed up the qualifying effort by winning his heat race as did Hall of Famer David Hilliker. The thirty lap feature started with Joe Pomeroy and Andrew Terrill on the front row. Terrill grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag in his tribute car that his late grandfather Jim Terrill had made famous over the course of his Hall of Fame career. Jim passed away just prior to the start of the 2022 season. The pain scheme, known as the “Apple Express” shot away from the field. As the final laps were run, it was apparent that perhaps the Terrill machine may be experiencing some handling changes with the race surface getting more slick after every lap. However, Terrill was able to just barely hold on at the finish nipping Derrick Hilliker at the checkered flag for an emotional win for Andrew and the Terrill family. Spangler, Tyler Norton and Nick Kurtz completed the top five.
The ALLSTAR Performance Mini Wedge restricted motor class main event had Lucas Lanphierd leading the field from his first place starting position. He paced the field until lap six when heat race winner Cason Murphy took over the lead. Murphy led those final four circuits to win over Lanphierd, Brantley Reil, and Kylie Watz. In the unrestricted motor class, it was a DeShano grudge match as the feature had Kyron, Brennan, and Pierson taking the green flag. Former Champion Kyron DeShano had the family covered until he nearly spun on lap four. The bobble by Kyron allowed Brennan to make the winning pass. Brennan, who also won the heat race, finished ahead of Kyron and Pierson.
The feature event which will be talked about over the next few weeks was in the Auto Value Pro Stocks. Ohio’s Teri Lynn Murphy and former track champion Nate Murphy took the field to the initial green flag for the 20-lap battle. Teri Lyn used the bottom groove to lead the race. She was able to hold off strong challenges from Nate Murphy, Andrew Steele, Jared Rizer and her husband Tim Murphy. This battle within the top five went on for the first 18 laps until Tim Murphy and Andrew Steele spun in turn three bringing out the caution. Both cars were sent to the rear for the final restart. With Rizer dropping out of the race due to a power steering belt malfunction and Steele and Murphy at the rear of the field, it was now going to be a two lap shoot-out between the two Murphy’s that originally started on the front row of the race. Nate masterfully made his winning move on the final lap to claim the win. Teri Lyn had to settle for a runner-up finish. Kyle Hunt, Brad Wassmann and Jacob Wassmann completed the top five finishers. Hunt and rookie candidate John Staszak captured the heat race gold.
Rookie Jake Thompson looked like a veteran in the opening laps of the Great Lakes Motor Sports and Rowleys Tires IMCA Modified feature. He had won his heat race earlier in the evening’s program as did Kody Johnson. Thompson led the first eight laps of the 20-lap main race. It was the other heat race winner, Johnson, who took over the front of the filed on lap eight and never looked back as he took the win. Kendall Morrison climbed through the field to second place ahead of Chad Bennett, Thompson, and Nate Jones.
Friday was the ALLSTAR Performance Challenge Series presented by XLT Engineering for the 4-6 Cylinder class. Four heat races and a Last Chance Qualifier needed to be run to determine which twenty drivers would get to compete in the 20-lap feature. Those winners were Bradley Williams, Scott Popielarz, 2021 Champion Chad Freeman, Christopher Wassmann and Jaydon Brodnex. Ethan Robarts led the first lap before conceding the position to Freeman. From there, Freeman’s lead was not really contested despite numerous restarts due to on-track incidents. He survived multiple race restarts to be the first one to the checkered flag ahead of Williams, David Harrington, Tagel Wangler (from 18th) and Popielarz.
Next Friday is the always popular Autograph Night at TCMS! Come out early and meet with your favorite drivers prior to the evening’s race program. Pit gates open at 3:30 with general admission grandstands opening at 4:30 pm. The first green flag will wave at 6:45 pm. Visit our Facebook page for updates as well as our website tricityracetrack.com. Of course, you also check out instant results and point standings all season long by downloading the MyRacePass app on your smart phone or other devices.
Photo Credit: Randy Ellen
Article Credit: Roger Williams
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