Rothbury, Michigan (Friday, July 10th, 2015): The Lane Automotive Michigan Traditional Sprints were the headliners at the Winston Speedway in Rothbury, Michigan this past Friday night. The event marked the Davision, Michigan based traveling series in several years. The Late Models, Street Stocks, Bombers, Four-Cylinder Warriors, and Young Guns were all in action as well continuing their chases for their respective track championship point battles.
15-year old Gabe Flores picked up the win in the Young Guns feature event. Flores started on the outside of the first row alongside Ronnie VanNatter. This was the Twin Lake, Michigan native’s Fourth win of the season. 15-year old Heidi Barnhard finished second. 13-year old Madison Crane, 16-year old Chelsey Allen, and 14-year old Nathan Magner rounded out the top five. Crane won the heat race.
Derek Poland and Robbie Sternberg led out the 25-lap feature for the Street Stocks. Poland jumped out with the early lead, and that turned out to be all that he would need to do, as he would dominate the entire race leading every lap taking home the checkered flag. The 59-year old Muskegon, Michigan driver picked up his sixth win of the year. Sternberg had to settle for second. Paul Namey, Chuck Smith, and Josh Sternberg finished off the top five. Sadie Klein won the lone heat race.
The Bombers Feature was won by Robb Sternberg. Stenberg started on the pole alongside Dan Wilson Jr. Sternberg led in the early going, but soon after Mike Epplett would charge past Sternberg for the top spot. However with just 3 laps to go his car would break and that gave the lead back Sternberg who went on from there to pick up the win. Nate Trick finished just behind in second. Mike Fekken, Wilson, and Robert Erickson capped off the top five. The heat wins were picked up by Trick and Wilson.
The Late Models were led out by the front row of Larry Passenier and Lowe Webster. Passenier took the early advantage after the drag race into turn 1. Alan Vochaska was able to weave his way to the front to take the lead away on lap 6. He looked to be unstoppable, but with 7 laps left in the A-Main, after a sudden caution Vochaska would suffer mechanical issues and pull off to the pits. This gave the lead over to CJ Heskett, who pulled away off the following restart and would sail on to victory. This was the first win of the season for the 42-year old Muskegon, Michigan driver. Kyle Borgman was the runner up. Kevin Nelson Jr., Webster, and Rob Taylor completed the top five. Vochaska and Nelson won the heats.
Mike Burkin won the 25-lap feature event for the Lane Automotive Michigan Traditional Sprints. The race would undergo several cautions, but Burkin led the entire event, showing a dominate performance in the Davison, Michigan based series first dirt race of the year. The preliminary heats were won by Don Smith, Nate Bostrom, and Mike Galajda.
This Friday July 17th the Winston Speedway will be running another full 7 in 1 show headlined by the Tim Epplett memorial Bomber Special presented by Bulduc’s Complete Automotive. The show will also feature racing from the Late Models, UMP DIRTcar Modifieds, Michigan Dirt Modifieds, Street Stocks, Four-Cylinder Warriors, and Young Guns. Pits Open at 5:30pm, Grandstands open at 6:00pm, Hot Laps start at 6:30pm, and the green flag is set to fly at 7:30pm.
Winston Speedway is located at 7834 South 72nd Avenue in Montague, Michigan. For more information, please call: 1 (231) 737-9223 or go to the website located at: www.racewinston.com You can also follow everything that is happening on and off the track by becoming a fan on the tracks Facebook Fan Page and following along on Twitter as well. Just go to: www.facebook.com/WinstonSpeedway and www.twitter.com/WinstonSpeedway and click on “Like" and “Follow” buttons today.
- Brian Osborne on Jul 16, 2015
- Article Date: 7/16/2015 by Brian Osborne