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FW: 2010 MMSHoF inductees announced-----Original Message----- From: Allan Brown <speedways@comcast.net> Sent: Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:44:34 Pacific Daylight T... READMORE |
Paul McMahan takes WoO win at Eldora Paul McMahan had racked up six Top-Five finishes in his last eight starts heading into the finale of Outlaw Thunder by Goodye... READMORE |
New Paris braves cold, Thirteen Feature No doubt about it, the weather was cold with temperatures in the low 40's and a stiff wind swirling through the 1/4 mile spee... READMORE |
Galesburg Speedway Red Flagged The Galesburg Speedway did not open last weekend as scheduled and it’s unlikely the race track will open this Saturday becau... READMORE |
Ron Flinn Hospitalized Reports out of Crystal Motor Speedway this morning are that Ron Flinn has been hospitalized due to a coronary issue. Accordi... READMORE |
Action to begin at Spartan SpeedwayIf the grandstands along the front stretch of Spartan Speedway look a bit higher than normal, well, they are. The speedway p... READMORE |
Auto City postpones due to Cold Although the weather was picture-perfect for testing on Thursday afternoon, Mother Nature brought us cold and windy condition... READMORE |
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On a night better suited for November then April, about 50 race cars made their way to Springport Motor Speedway to bring the big high banked 3/8th mile oval back to life after an aborted 2009 season.
New promoters Steve Martin and Maurice Randall had the facility in great shape and spirits of the racers were not damped by the frigid temperatures, while the fans in the stands were obviously a bit turned off by the 40 degree temps.
First on the docket was the debut of the Venom Stock Car Series. Both A- and B- features gave fans a little taste of what’s to come in the future for this division, as many cars are still in the process of being built. Four cars ran the A-Main, and the racing was close, as Randall promised, with evenly matched cars competing in the 20-lap feature. Tim Rugg and Dave Elliott brought the field down to the green, with fast-qualifier, Mike Ammerman, and Ian Sprague in tow. Elliott jumped out to the early lead, with Ammerman working the second groove, while Sprague worked his way around Rugg on the outside. Ammerman took the lead on lap nine, as Sprague went after Elliott for second on the low side. Elliott got loose and clipped Sprague bringing out the caution. Sprague moved into second ahead of Rugg and Elliott for the restart. Ammerman picked up where he left off and ran away from the field as Sprague struggled with an ill-handling car, allowing Elliott to make his way into second, but Elliott couldn’t catch Ammerman. At the stripe, it was Ammerman, Elliott, Sprague and Rugg. Sprague took the first checker of the 2010 season for his heat win, while Ammerman took the first A-Main feature win and the opening night winner’s trophy in the Engine Pro Winner’s Circle. B-Main action saw Lonnie Saumier dominate in the first 10 laps of the 20-lap feature, but mechanical problems and a quick fix sent him to the rear of the field behind Tyler Hawkins, non-qualifier Eric Wagner, and Martin French. French worked his way to the front by lap 11, but mechanical problems ended his run for his first ever checker. Wagner inherited the lead, setting up a battle royal for the win with Saumier. Saumier regained the lead on lap 17 and crossed the stripe ahead of Wagner and Hawkins. Saumier took both the heat and feature win for the B-Main.
The Great Lakes Super Cups took to the track next for a 25 lap feature. It was John Dewey driving his Kevin Harvick replica No. 29 to captured the checkered flag. This was a great return to racing for Dewey Motorsports. John suffered a bad crash at Spartan Speedway last summer and wasn't sure he was going to return to racing. John has been driving in the GLS Series for the past five years and made the decision just before the beginning of the season to give it another go. John was rewarded for his resolve and determination with a feature win. The No. 99 of Morgan Baird finished 2nd.
Both Andrew Conklin and Chris Morgan were okay following seperate hard hits which brought out the red flag twice over the course of the GLS feature.
The Oliver's Collision Pony Stock were the final feature of the evening. Thirteen cars from around Mid-Michigan took the track in what was certainly the most entertaining feature of the evening.
Randy Kretzinger of Holt, Mi driving the Okemos Auto Repair/MarcTimesTV.com No. 57 was on the pole and led the cars down to the green flag to get the feature started. Gary Sanfilipo in his O'Neil's Auto No. 93 quickly assumed the lead and the race was on as the No. 96 of JT Leach and the No. 95 of Dennis O'Neil set to running down Sanflipo. Patrick McNamara driving the No. 37 Marc Times Racing News/O'Neils Auto Dodge Neon slowly made his way up to 4th with the No. 79 of Todd Metz nipping at his heals.
With 3 laps to go, it was a 4 car battle with Sanflipo, Leech, McNamara and Metz all thinking they had a win in hand. McNamara made a banzai move to take over 2nd took a high line on the final lap to get next to Sanflipo at the strip, but the No. 93 was able to hold on, giving what appeared to be the first feature win of his career to Tony Sanflipo. But during post race inspections, the Top 2 cars were both docked 5 finishing spots due to rules infractions and JT Leech became the race winner, followed by Todd Metz, Dennis O'Neil, and Matt Vainner.
