Auburn, MI – Jac Nickles (Harrod, OH) takes advantage of a late caution to grab his 2nd feature win of the season at Tri-City Motor Speedway.
Rolling out 7th to qualify, Nickles set a fast time of 12.774 seconds which was .142 seconds quicker then 2nd quick qualifier Justin Ward (Benzonia, MI) who put in a lap time of 12.916 seconds. Mack Erickson (South Boardman, MI), Tom Hunt (Ithaca, MI) and Lindsey Erickson (South Boardman, MI) rounded out the top 5 qualifiers.
In the Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1, Alex Cogley (Findlay, OH) led the field around to the chalk line. As the field went green, Cogley got out front and led all 8 laps, holding off Scott Flees (Mesick, MI) who finished 2nd. Nickles, who started 4th, slipped to 5th the first 2 laps and clawed his way back up to a 3rd place finish with Hunt and ShelbyYeaples (Coldwater, MI) rounding out the top five.
Ward, starting 4th in the Chaney Creek Construction Heat 2, was determined to move up and did so, getting around Bill Dunham (Bellevue, MI) in the 6th lap for the lead. Ward held on to the lead and took the checked with Dunham following 2 seconds behind for 2nd. Lindsey Erickson, Matt Cogley (Findlay, OH) and Bud Schrader (Benzonia, MI) rounded out the top five.
Brendon Cascadden (Traverse City, MI) takes the checkered in the Beacon & Bridge Markets Heat 3. Working hard to keep moving forward, Big Mack Erickson gets up to second and grabs the last redraw spot. While Thomas Parker (Wayland, MI), Randy Plamondon (South Boardman, MI) and Paul King (Kalkaska, MI) round out the top five spots.
Mack Erickson and Bill Dunham lead the field out for the Maxima Racing Oils Feature race. Big Mack takes the early lead and holds the field off for 5 laps, until Cascadden gets around him for the lead in lap 6. Nickles worked his way up to 2nd in the 10th lap, setting up a dramatic end to the feature.
In the 17th lap, Hunt got loose coming out of turn 4 and did a 360 degree spin and slowing greatly. As the flagman grabs the caution flag and goes to throw it, Hunt came out of his spin and kept moving. Unfortunately, with communication breaking down between the flagman and tower, the officials in the tower hit the caution on the scoring. This froze the field even though 2 more laps were ran.
After getting the caution lights on and getting the cars restacked, there were 3 more laps to go. As Cascadden takes the green, Nickles continues to apply pressure, pushing to take the lead. As Cascadden takes the white flag, Nickles makes his move and gets around Cascadden as they come out of turn 2. Nickles comes out of turn 4 and takes the checkered flag .53 hundreths of a second ahead of Cascadden. Mack Erickson, Ward and Alex Cogley round out the top 5 finishers.
Our next scheduled race is Saturday, August 22nd during the Butler Bash. For our most up to date schedule go to our webpage at www.grreatlakeslightningsprints.com. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@GLSprints).
Thank you to our series sponsor Maxima Racing Oils and their support as well as our Marketing and Partners, Engler Machine & Tool, Chaney Creek Construction, Beacon & Bridge Markets and Specialty Fuels & Logistics. Please support these sponsors, whose support helps us do the thing we love!
- Barry Marlow on Aug 13, 2020
- Article Date: 8/7/2020 by GLSS Staff