06/24/16 Stanford LP Gas Winners
Great Lakes Super Sprints: #17 Jared Horstman
Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #96 Shane Wright
Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified: #03 Chris Cohoon
Elgin Pro Stocks: #71 Timmy Near
Thornton Brothers Septic Service Bomber Stocks: #13 Preston DeShano
Ohio’s Horstman Dominates Great Lakes Super Sprint Debut at TCMS
06/24/2016 (Auburn MI) The Great Lakes Super Sprints made their debut at Auburn’s Tri-City Speedway on Friday Night, sprint car drivers from three states and Canada made the trek to Michigan’s premier dirt track to claim the title of the first TCMS winner in the first season of the new 360 winged sprint series. The standing room only crowd saw one of the most action-packed nights of racing so far in 2016. A total of 88 drivers kept the fans on the edge of their seats throughout the night. Stanford LP Gas of Midland and Gladwin was the entertainment sponsor of the evening.
The Great Lakes Super Sprint 25-lap feature saw the first nine starters lined up by the finishing order of the dash, which consisted of the top finishers in the three heat races. Perry Michigan’s #11r Chase Ridenour, point leader #85 Dustin Daggett, and Cloverdale Ohio’s #17 Jared Horstman were all victorious in their heat races. Horstman would end up winning the dash, which placed him on the pole for the main event. Immediately, he would set a torrid pace by jumping out to large leads through the feature. A number of cautions early on would allow other drivers to try and take the top spot away from Horstman, but he would not be caught as he was able to maneuver through lapped traffic and hold off fast qualifier #2 Kyle Sauder, Daggett, Ridenour, and #16b Max Stambaugh. #48 Mike Burkin, B-Main winner #16 Brett Mann, #27 Brad Lamberson, Canadian #3r Shane Ross, and #16 Ryan Ruhl completed the top ten finishers.
03 Chris Cohoon and 2011 track runner-up #27 Matt Szecsodi would bring the field of 19 Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified drivers to the green flag of their 20-lap affair. Both drivers, hungry for their first wins on 2016 with point leader #20w AJ Ward competing elsewhere, would swap the lead a number of times in the opening five laps before Cohoon was able to clear Szecsodi. Cohoon would run the bottom of the track as both #42 Craig Vance and Arkansas driver #68 Heath Grizzle would run the high side and start pressuring Cohoon for the lead. Vance would have a couple of turns at the front before a late race caution would bunch the field for a final 3 lap shootout for the win. On the restart Cohoon would find himself holding off an early three-wide battle for the win. On the final lap, Grizzle attempted to get to the high side and pass for the lead as he pulled a slide job on Vance which slowed them both up and allowed Cohoon to hold on for his first ever modified feature win in thrilling fashion. Grizzle held on for second with Vance third. #187 Gavin Hunyady and #615 Chad Wernette both finished within the top five. The rest of the top ten were Szecsodi, #511 Chaz Pray, #33 Todd Matheson, #5 Tanner Pray, and #19 Joe Fowler. Wernette and Grizzle captured heat races.
77 Stacie Staszak would once again win her heat and start on the pole of the 12-lap Thornton Brothers Septic Service Bomber Stock Division feature event. Outside pole sitter #27 Mercedes Kosha would take the lead for the first three laps before last week’s winner, #18 Nick Putman would take the lead. However, on lap eight, the right front wheel would break sending him to the pits and handing the lead back to Kosha. Kosha would pace the field until lap ten when Kawkawlin’s #13 Preston DeShano would wrestle the lead away and cruise to another victory. Kosha, Staszak, #21 Andy Koczenasz, and #25 Christopher Jones rounded out the top five.
Nineteen Elgin Pro Stocks took the green flag for their main event. Rookie #28 Jared Rizer had the early upper-hand on the field as he would lead the first three laps. #K11 Kendall Morrison found some speed on the rim of the track and took control of the field. However, by lap ten, the pressure from last week’s winner #71 Timmy Near proved to be too much as Near would lead the second half of the event and was able to hold off a hard charging #57 TJ Gilbert for his third feature win in a row. #93 John Robbins, Rizer, and Morrison were able to hold on to top five finishes. Heat race winner #69 Nate Murphy, #7r Dave Newcomb, #21d Darren Mularz, #01x Randy Radabaugh, and points leader #14 Nate Jones completed the top ten in the finishing order. #99 Rick Beauchamp also won his heat race.
The final event of the evening was the Suspension MAXX Street Stock Feature with #M57 Mike Currie and #50 Jake Thompson taking the field of twenty to the initial green flag. Both drivers would take turns leading the field before #16 Steve Doty would take over the race. With the track being slickened from the all the previous races, the drivers had their hands full with a number of cautions being flown throughout the twenty lap feature. The restarts allowed for mid-pack drivers to make their way through traffic to contest for the lead. Row five starter #96 Shane Wright took to the low side of the track and was able to hold off strong challenges from both #11 Jimmy Jaenicke and #21 Dan Engel for the win. Doty and 16th place starter #7r Kevin Newcomb captured top five finishing spots. Thompson, #67 Ryan Fitzgerald, #3 Mitch Clements, #18d David Lester, and #85 Al Spiekerman had strong runs finishing in top ten spots.
Celebrate the beginning of the Independence Day weekend with us as we welcome the halfway point of the 2016 racing season at TCMS! We will kick off the night with four car dashes for the top four in points in our Late Model, IMCA Modified, Pro Stock, Bomber Stocks, and Street Stock divisions. In addition, we’ll celebrate with an exciting firework show at dusk that will set you back in your seats!! Free parking and grandstand Admission is $14 for adults, 55 and better $13, 7-15 yr olds $5, and those under 6 get in for absolutely free. No need to wait in line on race day! Save yourself from waiting in line and order your tickets online at www.tricityracetrack.com . Free rustic camping is also available!!!
- Steve Puvalowski on Jun 27, 2016
- Article Date: 6/27/2016