8/13/2018
Tri-City Motor Speedway
8/10/2018 Race Results
08/10/2018 Championship Pre-Show Night
- Melling Performance Late Model: #19 Derrick Hilliker
- Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #21 Kyle Thomas
- Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified: #79 Nate Jones
- Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini-Wedge (6-9yr old): #5 Brennan DeShano
- Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini-Wedge (10-14yr old): #24c Caden Anderson
- Mueller Performance Engines Pro Stocks: #27 Rob Westergard
- Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service FWD Bomber Stocks: #7 John Staszak
Midland Family Sweeps Top Three Finishing Spots at Tri-City Motor Speedway
08/10/2018 (Auburn, MI) A large crowd convened at the Tri-City Motor Speedway in Auburn, MI to watch one-hundred four cars across six divisions compete on the final point night before championship evening next week. In addition to the stock car entertainment, the kids also got an opportunity to tackle the 3/8 mile clay oval with their peddle bikes. With the track in tip-top condition, each race had intense moments that kept spectators on the edge of their seats.
The Thornton Brothers Sewer and Septic Service FWD Bomber Stocks had a very strong field of twelve starting the fifteen-lap feature. #01TK Brad Treichel overtook front row starters #15k Paul Streeter Jr. and #87 Scott Kloha by lap one. Kloha and #03 Josh Charbonneau would tangle in turn two which would eventually take both out contention. #80 Daryl McBride, tied for 2nd in points with rookie #17 James Antku, clawed his way to the front before motor issues ended his night early and a 10th place finish. Treichel built up a sizeable lead, but with three laps remaining, point leader #7 John Staszak used the high side to pass Treichel and lead the final two laps for the win. Treichel settled for a disappointing second place ahead of #52 Richard Shuler, Antku, and Streeter. #5x Dakota Vennix and Treichel held the victory flag after winning their respective heat races. The win for Staszak virtually assures him the 2018 Championship with a 23 point lead over Antku and 27 over Treichel with next week approaching.
The Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge Junior Division continues to mature prospective future stars in motor racing. Six of the eight 6-9yr olds in the ten lap feature have graced victory lane in 2018. Two of those six were the most recent winners over the past three weeks. #3 Jett Gohr picked up his first heat race win earlier in the evening and led laps early in the main event. #27 Pierson DeShano snuck by Gohr and paced the field for the bulk of the race until he spun coming out of turn two. This handed the lead to #28 Kyron DeShano. He and #5 Brennan DeShano raced the only way a competitive family should; with neither giving an inch! By the time the dust settled, it was Brennan taking home the trophy and the bragging rights within the family as the winner. Pierson and Kyron finished second and third. #80 Preston Mieske and Gohr completed the top five. Point leader #54 Addison Clink finished sixth. With Kyron and Brennan DeShano’s strong finishes, it moved them closer to Clink for the 2018 Championship trophy. Clink holds on to a 3 points advantage over Kyron and 4 ahead of Brennan.
The closest point battle heading into the evening was in the Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified division. IMCA state point leader and Clio Mi Driver #27 Matt Szecsodi entered the pits with just a slim two point lead over #79 Nate Jones. Both started in row six of the 20-lap feature. Front row starter #84 Mike Stevenson was strong early and led the majority of the first half of the event before falling back to a seventh place result. Jones handily took over the lead from Stevenson and was able to pull away from the competition for his sixth main event win of the year. Szecsodi dug hard but came up just short with another runner-up finish. #615 Chad Wernette, #2 Tanner Pray and #4s Toby Steele completed the remainder of the top five positions. With the win, Jones closed in to just one point behind Szecsodi for the 2018 Championship. #511 Chaz Pray, #33 Todd Matheson, and #23 Preston DeShano all captured heat race gold earlier in the preliminary heat races.
The most interesting race of the evening may have been the SuspensionMAXX Street Stock main event. #81 Dustin Barlow took advantage of his front row start and led the opening three laps before #84 Eric Watz tried his hand ahead of the 22-car field. Point Leader and Defending Champion #x5 Eric Lake outdueled Watz for the lead on lap eight. It seemed as if the front positions on the track were all jinxed as top-five runners #72 Bobby Kosha, #96 Cade Schafer and Barlow all dealt with circumstances that took them out of contention for the win during the final ten laps. With five laps remaining, race leader Lake uncharacteristically lost control of his machine and spun while leading in turn four . With the spin by Lake, the lead was handed over to second place car #21 Kyle Thomas. He had no issues keeping himself at the front and was the first to the checkered flag on lap twenty. #41n Ryan Nethers survived to finish second and was followed by #3 Mitch Clements, #15.2 Robert Cunningham and pole sitter #91 Gary Shank. With Lake’s ninth place finish, he clinches the 2018 Championship and successfully defends his championship from a year ago.
The Mueller’s Performance Engines Pro Stocks wowed the fans for all twenty laps of their main event. 2017 Champion #28 Jared Rizer and #K11 Kendall Morrison have been battling atop the point standings for much of the season. It would get just that much tighter after the checkered flag flew on their night’s main event. Earlier in the heat race, it looked as if Rizer may be trying to save his car for the feature by not mixing it up with the front runners. That poor finish by Rizer put him 20th in the 21-car field. Morrison, on the other hand started 8th. Pole-sitter #65 Matt Schaaf led lap one before #50 Chad Bennett snatched the lead with a bold three-wide move around Schaaf and #93 John Robbins. Bennett was challenged hard by Robbins before eventually clearing him near lap ten. The grip in Bennett’s earlier race groove started to go away and he struggled with the suddenly changing track. This allowed #69 Nate Murphy to overtake Bennett. Murphy looked to be in control of his own destiny with less than seven laps remaining. Ninth place starter #27 Rob Westergard patiently worked the bottom groove to steal the lead from Murphy and beat him by a half car length at the line on the final lap. Murphy, #77m Chris Malek, Bennett, and Robbins finished in the top five. Morrison finished in sixth with Rizer getting as close as tenth in the event before dropping back with a disappointing 15th place finish. With the results, Morrison now has jumped to the point lead by just one point over Rizer with Championship night on the line next week. #36 Jeremy Spencer, #99 Rick Beauchamp, and Bennett were heat race winners.
One family would start up front in the Melling Performance Late Model main event with another family sweeping the front finishing positions. #04 Wade Witherspoon started outside of his son #03 JC Witherspoon on the front row of the 30-lap affair. It was Wade the lead the opening five laps before #3 Kyle Roberts took a lap at the front. #6r Carl Ries would quickly take the top spot from Roberts and lead until lap 12. Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame driver #21 David Hilliker found his car hooked up in the bottom groove and wrestled the lead from Reis in turn four of that lap. Hilliker looked to be the class of the field, but a caution bunched up the cars for a restart with less than ten laps remaining until the finish. David’s son, #19 Derrick Hilliker had fought his way through the field and was being chased by David’s brother, another Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame driver, #21s Steven Hilliker. Derrick had a great restart and pulled alongside David. The two swapped the lead over the following five laps until Derrick finally took the lead with four laps remaining to beat David and Uncle Steve at the finish marking the first time all three Midland drivers have finished in the top three. Heat race winner #3 Kyle Roberts and Ries completed the rest of the top five at the finish. Steven Hilliker won the other heat race. With Derrick’s win and point leader #4t Andrew Terrill’s seventh place finish, Hilliker finds himself just eight points away from a possible first Championship. Terrill needs to keep Hilliker within his sights in the feature next week in order to repeat as the Champion. Next week will be a barn burner for sure.
Next week is Season Championship night at Tri- City Motor Speedway. Who will be crowned a 2018 Champion in your favorite car class?? The on-track action and the driver emotion will be the highest it has been all year and you will not want to miss it!! We will also have fun with the Kid’s Box Car Races before the evenings show. Late Models, IMCA Modifieds, Mini-Wedge, Street Stocks, Pro Stocks, and FWD Bomber Stocks will all be in competition. Time is running out to enjoy at least one more night at
Michigan’s ultimate dirt track racing destination: Tri-City Motor Speedway.
Article Credit: Roger Williams
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