6/9/2017 Stanford LP Gas / Great Lakes Super Sprint Night
Great Lake Super Sprints: #17 Jared Horstman
Elgin Pro Stock: #28 Jared Rizer
Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #x5 Eric Lake
Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks: #18 Nick Putman
Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge: #7 Dakota Vennix
Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified #71 Timmy Near
Horstman Masters Tri-City Motor Speedway in Sprint Car Feature
6/09/2017 (Auburn MI) Ninety-three drivers and cars were on hand at Tri-City Motor Speedway last Friday night to compete in front of a capacity crowd. Stanford LP Gas was the primary sponsor of the night which also included 19 Great Lakes Super Sprint drivers from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. With the first seasonably warm Friday night, everyone was extra amped to enjoy the night’s festivities.
The Great Lakes Super Sprint series, in its second year, has provided the fans with entertaining high-speed racing throughout the Midwest. One of the most competitive winged sprint car series kicked off the evening with qualifying. The top five qualifiers all circled the 3/8th clay oval in less than 12 seconds being led by Cloverdale, OH driver #17 Jared Horstman. Jared would back up that qualifying effort by winning his heat and the dash. With the win in the dash, Horstman was awarded with the opportunity to start on the pole of the 25 lap feature. Horstman, who has not finished worse than second in all five of his previous starts (4 wins) was able to take the lead on the opening lap. On lap two, outside front row starter #28 Phil Gressman, from Helena, OH, would pass Horstman in lapped traffic and set the pace for a majority of the event. However, Horstman would be able catch Gressman with a pair of laps to go and make the winning move by the final lap. The win would give Horstman his 5th victory of 2017. Gressman, #49 Shawn Dancer, #2 Kyle Sauder, #11r Chase Ridenour completed the top five. Ridenour, and #48 Mike Burkin would win their heat races.
The Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge saw 12-year old #7 Dakota Vennix sweep both his heat race and the feature. #3 Mason Clements, #15 Cole Doty, #80 Preston Mieske, and #36 Jennifer Young would round out the top five.
Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modifieds needed three heats and a last chance race to narrow down their field to twenty that would start the 20-lap main event. #27 Matt Szecsodi lead the opening laps on the track before #71 Timmy Near would take over the lead from his fourth place starting position. All eyes were on tenth place starter #615 Chad Wernette as he was able to find speed in the bottom groove and caught Near after the halfway point of the event. Near and Wernette would captivate the crowd as each would lead laps throughout their battle, Wernette was able to clear Near and lead on the white flag lap, but Near was able to make the winning pass coming out of turn four to win by inches. #511 Chaz Pray, point leader #19 Kody Johnson, and Szecsodi would round out the top five. #03 Chris Cohoon would win the last chance feature. Heat gold went to Johnson, #187 Gavin Hunyady, and Near.
Twenty-one Suspension MAXX Street Stock drivers also put on an entertaining feature event. #50 Jake Thompson, who has fought a lot of mechanical issues in 2017, started on the pole for the 20-lap main event. He would immediately separate himself from the rest of the field to lead the first seventeen lap before the caution would bunch up the field. This put #x5 Eric Lake on the rear bumper for the restart. He would be able to put his nose underneath Thompson and make the winning move on the final lap to claim another victory to his 2017 stats. Thompson would finish second and was followed by #73 Don Stuck, #7k Dan Krause Jr, and #67 Ryan Fitzgerald. Thompson and #19 Mike Kosha were heat victors.
99 Rick Beauchamp and point leader #K11 Kendall Morrison would win the preliminary heat races to set the line up for the 20-lap Elgin Pro Stock feature event. Beauchamp would take advantage of his front row start and looked to be the guy to beat. However, by lap eight former Street Stock Champion #28 Jared Rizer Found his car to be perfectly dialed in as he and Beauchamp battled tooth and nail for the final twelve laps. They would swap the lead at every lap before Rizer would finally take the lead at the finish line to claim his first ever pro stock victory. Beauchamp would capture another runner-up finish. #50 Chad Bennett, #69 Nate Murphy, and Morrison held top five finishes.
The final event of the night was the Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stock division. Pole sitter #21 Andy Koczenasz looked to dominate the show as he won his heat and he led the first 12 laps. However, point leader #18 Nick Putman would get by Koczenasz to take the win and extend his point lead. #.08 Richard Mielens, #7 John Staszak, and #66 Mike Schnettler were the top five finishers.
Next week is another full night of racing and it is our first Kid’s Night and Autograph night of 2017. Children 15 and younger get free general admission! The autograph session will take place from 7:15 pm to 8pm. The evening’s entertainment is sponsored by Isabella Bank. Don’t wait in line on race days anymore! Purchase your tickets online at www.tricityracetrack.com !! The gates open at 5:30pm with practice beginning at 6:30. Family Fun Friday action begins at 7:55 with our preliminary races. Make plans now to attend the special Father’s Day Monster truck show while tickets are still available. Purchase them online at www.TCMSmonstertrucks.com. All the details for this event and the rest of the 2017 schedule are online now!
- Erika Puvalowski on Jun 12, 2017
- Article Date: 6/12/2017 by Roger Williams