07/21/2017 United Financial Credit Union/ Stretch Limo Feature Winners
Great Lakes Super Sprints: #17 Jerod Horstman
Melling Select Performance Late Models: #2 Travis Stemler
Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modifieds: #20w AJ Ward
Walker Ideal Trophies Mini Wedges: #7 Dakota Vennix
Elgin Pro Stocks: #27 Rob Westergard
Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks: #18 Nick Putman
Horstman Dominates For Second Time At Tri-City Motor Speedway
07/21/2017 (Auburn, MI) It was a perfect night for racing at the Tri-City Motor Speedway last Friday night. A huge crowd packed the grandstands in anticipation of the winged sprint car action of the Great Lakes Super Sprints. In all, 99 competitors would not disappoint the masses on a track that started out with record breaking speeds. United Financial Credit Union and Stretch Limo partnered as the evening’s entertainment sponsor.
Excellent track preparation by Steve Puvalowski and Pete Badgero gave the Great Lakes Super Sprints the opportunity to break the existing sprint car track record. Twelve of the 21 drivers qualified in the 11 second bracket. #2 Kyle Sauder would better the track record by .02 seconds with a lap time of 11.07 seconds. This equated to a lap average of 114.7 miles per hour! With tremendous grip for the drivers, the heat races provided plenty of fast paced action. Heat races were captured by point leader #17 Jared Horstman, #85 Dustin Daggett, and defending champion #11 Chase Ridenour. It would be #31 Andy Teunessen and #49t Greg Dalman would lead the field to the green flag on the 25-lap feature event. Teunessen took the opening lap before Dalman would take control. Dalman would be able to distance himself from the field. However, every time he would get too far out front, the caution flag would fly and bring the field back together. This allow for Horstman to keep the leader in his sights. He and Dalman would put on an epic battle for the lead. Horstman would finally clear Dalman on the high side and cruised to his seventh feature win of the season and second of the year at TCMS. #2l Matt Foos would charge from his twelfth starting spot to capture the runner up position. Sauder, Dalman, and Daggett would capture top five finishes.
Number 7 Dakota Vennix has been the dominant force in the Walker Ideal Trophies for the 2017 season. Once again, he would sweep the heat race and the feature event as he looks to be on his way to the championship with only two more point nights remaining. Last week’s winner #15 Cole Doty, #07 Rylee Knoll, #36 Jeniffer Young, and #80 Preston Mieske.
Another stout field of Melling Select Performance Late Models was led to the feature event green flag by #03 JC Witherspoon and #86 Scott Clifford. Unfortunately, neither would be around for the 30th and final lap of the event as both retired early. With the sprint cars already running their feature, finding grip was a challenge for the high horse powered machines. Witherspoon would have the lead in the early laps before Blanchard’s #9r Carl Ries would ride the top groove for the lead. As Ries paced the field, positions within the top five were being battled amongst defending champion #4t Andrew Terrill, #21s Steven Hilliker, #2 Travis Stemler, and #11x Ryan Lanphierd. With multiple racing grooves, the fans saw some exhilarating two and three wide battles. Stemler was able to break away from the group and make the winning move on Ries inside ten laps to go and held on for his third TCMS win of the year. Hilliker would make a late race pass on Ries for second. Ries, Lanphierd, and Terrill would take the remaining top five positions. Ries and Stemler captured heat gold.
Defending champion of the Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified division #20w AJ Ward has spent most of the season racing closer to home on Friday nights. The Ionia native, taking advantage of an off night at his home track, would look to get back into victory lane at TCMS. Rockford driver, #97 Nick Stormzand, would take full advantage of his front row starting position to lead much of the first half for the twenty lap feature. He and #7d Myron DeYoung would fight for the lead until DeYoung ended up having to drop out of the event due to mechanical issues and ending his night with a 15th place finish. This allowed Ward to inherit the lead in the closing laps where he would be untouched over the remaining laps. Stormzand would hold on for second and was followed by #187 Gavin Hunyady, #42 Craig Vance, and #71d Brenten DeYoung. #776k Ken Zeigler won the last chance qualifier with Stormzand, #776r Rusty Ziegler, and M. DeYoung winning preliminary qualifying heats.
Number K11 Kendall Morrison had a slim four point advantage over #28 Jared Rizer heading into Friday night’s show in the Elgin Pro Stocks. Defending champion #14 Nate Jones, #69 Nate Murphy, and #27 Rob Westergard would be early winners as they captured their heat races. Ohio driver #J3 Tim Murphy would take the top spot from #10 Brent Reil and lead the first three laps of the main event before two time feature winner, Murphy, took his turn leading the field. With Murphy using the low groove, Rizer would take the high groove to the front of the pack from his seventh place starting spot. Rizer was not able to escape from his competitors as last week’s street stock winner, #M65 Rick Spencer, Jones, Morrison, Westergard, and N. Murphy were mixing it up for top positions. Jones would take the lead for a short time before a mechanical failure in turn two would send him to the pits and an 18th place finish. Spencer would also be the victim of bad luck and was unable to finish the event and was credited with 17th place. A late caution would bunch the field with Rizer as the leader. Westergard would take advantage of the restart by passing Rizer and held on to pick up his first TCMS feature win of his career. It would be Rizer, Morrison, N. Murphy, and #93 Johnny Robbins following Westergard to top five finishes.
With the regular season winding down, the points championship in the Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stock division is #18 Nick Putman’s to lose. He backed up his season long dominance by sweeping both the heat race and the feature event. He battled #03 Josh Charbonneau until the halfway point of the fifteen lap feature. Once Putman took the lead he pulled away from the field. He would grab another checkered flag cemented his likelihood of the 2017 championship. He was followed by Charbonneau, #7 John Staszak, #88 Mike Schnettler, and #66 Bryan Dinsmore.
Coming up Friday, July 28th is Autograph Night at TCMS! Get to the track early as this popular event will begin at 7:15. Bring the kids to meet their favorite drivers and get all kinds of candy, goodies, and other prizes!!! Be sure to plan your weekend for back to back events with the truck and tractor pulls from the Thumb Tractor Pullers on Saturday July 29th! Why stand in a long line to purchase your tickets when you can buy them online?! Purchase your tickets today at www.tricityracetrack.com!! We hope to see you at least one more time for our #fillthestandsFridays! The grandstand gates open at 5:30pm with practice beginning at 6:30. Family Fun Friday action begins at 8:20pm with our preliminary races. Check out our website for more details of this and our other remaining shows for 2017.
- administrator on Jul 23, 2017
- Article Date: 7/22/2017 by Roger Williams