05/24/2019 Outdoor Adventures Night
- Great Lakes Super Sprint Series: #17 Jared Horstman
- Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #72 Bobby Kosha
- Allstar Performance IMCA Modified: #2 Tanner Pray
- Members First Credit Union Pro Stocks : #69 Nate Murphy
- Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stocks: #60 Matt Taylor
- Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge: #26 Brennan DeShano (Jr. Division)
- Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge: #15 Cole Doty (Sr. Division)
Horstman Dominates Sprint Car Feature at Tri-City Motor Speedway
05/24/2019 (Auburn MI) Typical spring-like weather in Mid Michigan has wreaked havoc on local sporting events over the month of May. Weather forecasts that change daily has made it difficult to make decisions to cancel events for pending weather or to move forward with scheduled shows. This past Friday was another one of those gambles for Tri-City Motor Speedway Promoter Steve Puvalowski. As the afternoon moved along, the forecasts continued to improve. Not cancelling proved to be the right call as 129 racers, including 23 of the best sprint car racers in the Midwest, convened at the Auburn speed plant to put on one of the best shows of the season so far. The crowds followed, too, and enjoyed some spectacular racing to kick off the Memorial Day weekend with the night presented by Outdoor Adventures.
The following is courtesy of Great Lakes Super Sprints.
Leading out the Kistler Engines and Racing Parts Heat 1 was Rookie, Garrett Saunders (Lakeville, IN) and Dan McCarron (Britton, MI). Jumping out front at the start, McCarron would take the checkered flag in a quick 100 seconds. Sams would finish just behind him and securing the second redraw spot. Daggett and Gressman battled for 3rd and 4th, while Brad Lamberson (Parma, MI) rounded out the top 5.
Jared Lamberson (Parma, MI) and our 2016 Champion, Chase Ridenour (Perry, MI led out the Campbell Performance Heat Race 2. Performing well with his back up motor in, Ridenour jumped out to the early lead and was able to hold off Horstman till the 6th lap, With Horstman in the lead for good, the
battle became between 2nd and 3rd. Dobie, who was running 3rd, was able to get around Ridenour in the final lap to secure the 2nd redraw spot. Ridneour finished 3rd, with Jared Lamberson (Parma, MI) and Andrew Schied (Kent City, MI) rounding out the top 5.
In the Perfit/Engine Pro Heat 3, Kyle Poortenga (Woodland, MI) and Jay Steinebach (Hudsonville, MI) led the field around to the green flag. Dalman was called for a jump, in his first night of racing with his new car, beating Poortenga to the start line. Lining up the cars for a restart found Dalman now in the 3rd row. Steinebach led green flag to checker, with Dalman moving up to 2nd to claim the final redraw spot. Poortenga, Michael Burkin (Clyde, OH) and DeVault rounded out the top 5 spots.
Horstman got out to the early lead in the 25 lap main event with McCarron right behind him. They went 14 green flag laps before Michael Summers (Warsaw, MI) spun at the top of turn 4. With Summers going to the tail and getting the rest of field lined up, they knock out the remaining 11 laps in short order.
When the caution was thrown, Gressman, Dalman and Daggett were charging hard, trying to reel in Horstman. Sometimes a caution is a good thing to bring the leader back in closer to the field. This wasn't the case Friday night, clearing out the lapped cars and giving Horstman a few laps of clean air with no one in front of him. At the checkered flag, Horstman won with feature with a 2.3 second lead over runner up Gressman. The battle at the line was by Gressman, Dalman and Daggett. Gressman edged out Dalman at the line by 100th of a second and Dalman edged out Dagget by 34 hundredths of a second. McCarron rounded out the top 5 finishers.
With other racing venues cancelling earlier in the afternoon, the Allstar Performance IMCA field was once again bolstered with 29 drivers hoping to find their way to the TCMS victory lane. #78 Brody Bowser and #D42 Don Sautter battled during the first seven laps of the 20-lap feature. Sautter had the field covered until he lost power in turn four ending his night with a premature exit and a 19th place finish. Former track Champion #7d Myron DeYoung inherited the lead. He had his hands full during the second half of the race as #27 Matt Szecsodi and #2 Tanner Pray pressured DeYoung through every corner. On lap seventeen, Pray used the high line coming out of turn two clearing DeYoung for the lead. From there, Pray cruised to his first ever feature victory. Szecsodi completed the event with a second place effort and was followed by DeYoung, last week’s winner #38 Mitchell Hunt, and #71 Brenten DeYoung. #98 Austin Wonch gained entry into the main event by being victorious in the B-Main last chance race. Multi-time track Champion #20w AJ Ward, Rockford’ #16 Chad May, and M. DeYoung captured the checkered flag in their respective qualifying heat races.
It was a night for the DeShano youngsters in the Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge Division. #15 Cole Doty won his Sr. Division heat and feature. In the Junior Division, heat races were won by #27 Pierson DeShano and #28 Kyron DeShano. In the feature, it was a patient #26 Brennan DeShano that mastered the field to end the main event holding the coveted first-place trophy. Behind Brennan was defending Champion #54 Addison Clink, P. DeShano, K. DeShano, and #7 Ella Gradowski.
The Thornton Brother Sewer and Septic Service Bomber Stock front wheel drive division had another night of tight competition. #10 Austin Vennix took the opening lap in the 20-lap feature before Sanford’s #15k Paul Streeter Jr. took his turn at the front as he tried to hold off the other eighteen drivers behind him. Within five laps to go, last week’s winner #M25 Don Frohm made the pass for the lead on the front stretch and was the first to the checkered flag. However, a failed post-race tech inspection moved #60 Matt Taylor to victory lane for his first at TCMS. The Greenville driver was followed by Vennix, Streeter, defending Champion #7 John Staszak, and #03 Josh Charbonneau. Vennix and Streeter took home heat race gold.
Aggressive and close racing was the rule in the Suspension MAXX Street Stock main event. Vassar’s #72 Bobby Kosha has had some bad luck resulting in disappointing finishes so far in 2019. He started his evening by winning his heat along with #18 Nick Putnam and #46 Tyler Moore. #91 Gary Shank won the last chance race to gain his starting spot within the 20 that would be able to start the main event. Kosha and Putman brought the field to the green flag in the feature. Kosha held off challenges from numerous drivers as they frequently ran three and four wide throughout the 20-lap affair. When the dust settled, it was Kosha who led from start to finish to collect his first win of the season ahead of #02 Will Stanley, Putman, #20 Kyle Thomas, and #18d Fred Dow Jr.
The Members First Credit Union Pro Stocks had arguably the most exciting finish of the evening. #3 Loren Short, who had won his heat race, started on the pole and led the opening laps before #69 Nate Murphy, the winner of the last two features, took the lead on lap three. The two would swap the lead for the next handful of laps before Short spun on the backstretch to bring out the caution flag. This brought defending Champion #K11 Kendall Morrison, rookie #x5 Eric Lake and #44 Aaron Raby to Murphy’s rear bumper for the restart. With two laps to go a patient Morrison made his move on Murphy. The battle would become heated as both would exchange the lead again taking the white flag for the final lap. With neither driver giving anything away, Morrison got loose as they came out of turn four for the checkered flag making contact with Murphy resulting in a crashing at the finish and also collecting a third place running Lake. It was determined that Morrison caused the crash and Murphy was the race winner for his third straight to start the season. The finish was Murphy, Lake, Raby, #28 Jared Rizer, and #316 Teri Lynn Murphy. Morrison was called the caution car which put him with a 13th place finish.
If you love cookouts, camping and warm summer nights, you won’t want to be anywhere else other than Tri-City Motor Speedway this Friday. Bring your camper or tent and stay for a bonfire after the races. All heroes (firefighters, first responders, military and police) show your ID for FREE grandstand admission. Also, Kawkawlin, Linwood, Pinconning, Standish & Sterling residents can get in for $10 with proper ID. Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Street Stocks, Bomber Stocks, Mini Wedge (6-9 yr), Mini Wedge (10-14 yr) will be back on the track! Purchase your tickets online early at www.tricityracetrack.com and get here early to claim your seat! For contact information, directions, and instantaneous race results visit www.tricityracetrack.com.
- Erika Puvalowski on May 25, 2019
- Article Date: 5/25/2019 by Roger Williams