6/21/2022
Tri-City Motor Speedway
Past Tri-City Motor Speedway Champions Back in Victory Lane
06/17/2022 Autograph Night and Father’s Day Weekend Celebration
Feature Winners:
Mini Wedge Restricted: #69 Cason Murphy
Mini Wedge Unrestricted: #27 Pierson DeShano
Auto Value Pro Stocks: #1 Andrew Steele
Rowleys Tires & Automotive Services - Bay City and Great Lakes MotorSports and IMCA Modified: #79 Nate Jones
Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort Late Models: #19 Derrick Hilliker
Auto House Factory Stocks: #12 Dale Kaake III
XLT Engineering -6 Cylinders: #88 Chad Freeman
06/17/2022 (Auburn MI) The Father’s Day weekend kicked off at Tri-City Motor Speedway last Friday night. The annual Autograph Night, which is a fan and driver favorite show, brought out 113 drivers and a near capacity crowd to the Auburn speed plant. All six weekly racing divisions were in action with many of the big features being won by past track season champions.
Twenty-three Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort Late Models vied for the twenty positions available for the 30-lap main event. Cass City’s Joe Pomeroy laid down the fastest lap of the group in qualifying with a lap time of 13.661 seconds. In the three qualifying heat races, 2015 Champion David Hilliker, rookie Rylee Knoll and Logan Nickerson took wins to lock themselves into the feature field. Wade Witherspoon needed to win the last chance qualifying race to make big race. Rob Westergard and Ryan Lanphierd led the field to the green flag of the A Feature. Westergard led the initial lap before Lanphierd took the lead. He and the 2019 Champion Derrick Hilliker battled side by side for a handful of laps before Hilliker cleared Lanphierd a mounted a large lead. With the lack of cautions, Hilliker had to deal with lapped traffic for the majority of the second half of the race. Nickerson was starting to catch Hilliker but simply ran out of laps as Hilliker grabbed his first win of the season. Nickerson took second followed by Lanphierd, Alex Hupert, and David Hilliker.
The ALLSTAR Performance Mini Wedge restricted motor class had defending Champion Cason Murphy sweeping both the heat and feature for the second week in a row. Murphy edged out Bowen Jaynes and Lucas Lanphierd for the feature win. In the unrestricted class, Ella Gradowski took the heat race win but struggled in the final race finishing fifth behind winner Pierson DeShano, Brennan DeShano, Kyron DeShano, and Caiden Lechota.
After the drama from the previous week’s Auto Value Pro Stock feature, this week’s main event was a bit tamer. Former track champion Jared Rizer looked to have his first feature of 2022 wrapped up as he held a near 5 second lead on the field before a caution with 2 laps remaining bunching the field for a final shootout for the win. He would have the two previous champions, Nate Murphy and Andrew Steele on his back bumper for the restart. Steele immediately shot to the top groove of the track stealing the lead away from Rizer and finally getting back into victory lane. The defending champion, Steele, was followed by Rizer, Murphy, Brendan Powell, and Tim Murphy at the finish. Steele, along with Powell, were both heat race winners.
Former track Champion Nate Jones was another one of those drivers that was searching for his first success of 2022 in the Rowley’s Tire and Great Lakes Motorsports IMCA Modified division. He started the night capturing the win in his heat along with Kevin McFarland. Chase Rosebrugh and Tanner Pray started on the front row for the feature event. Both swapped the lead back and forth in the opening laps until Jones motored his way from his eighth starting position to finally capture his first win of 2022. Rosebrugh, Pray, Kyle Osentoski, and Jake Thompson completed the top five finishers.
Regardless of where Chad Freeman starts in an XLT Engineering 4-6 cylinder race, he seems to take his number #88 to victory lane. He started mid-pack in the 15-lap main event. The first half of the race saw some great battles in the top five with point leader Chris Wassmann, Jay Bradsher, Brian Bullock, and Charles Ellithorpe. Freeman chased them all down to take control of the race, leaving them to settle second place amongst them. Bullock looked to have second place in hand until the motor exploded in a ball of flames on the backstretch with one lap remaining. Bullock was okay but his night was done. Freeman had a great restart and held on for his third win of the year ahead of Wassmann, Ellithorpe, Nicholas Thurston, and Bradsher. Wassmann, Freeman, and Bullock were heat race winners.
Dale Kaake III has been on a tear in 2022 with the Auto House Factory Stocks. The luck of the draw put him on the pole for the 20 lap feature. He took the initial lead at the drop of the green flag and led every lap for the win and extending his season point lead. Kamryn Gordon moved up thirteen positions to finish second. Rick Beauchamp, Ben Gonzalez, and Brent Reil (from 17th) finished in the top five. Reil had to win the Last Chance qualifier to make the main event after having mechanical issues in his heat race. Kaake III, Jordan Lechota, and Beauchamp were heat race winners.
Next Friday will be another Fast Shafts Qualifier Race for the Rowley’s Tire and Michigan Motorsports IMCA Modifieds! Come see the best IMCA modified drivers in Michigan duke it out on track for a $1000+ top prize! All of our divisions will also be in action for a night of racing you will not want to miss! 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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