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MAY 29, 2007 |
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MEMORABLE FIRSTS ON MEMORIAL WEEKEND AT M-40 Jones, MI (5/25) On a cool night celebrating Memorial Weekend it was a memorable night for several here at the M-40 Speedway. It was the 1st ever appearance for the Short Track Truck Series. Therefore, of course, they had a 1st time winner at our track. The Dave's Concrete Late Models had their 4th winner in as many nights while the Ausra Equipment Supply Co. Pro Stocks saw another new face in the Lane Automotive Victory Lane for the 3rd time in their 3rd night of competition! In order those 1st time winners for 2007 at M-40 were Justin Claucherty (Trucks), Bobby Stremme (Late Models), & John Long (Pro Stocks). The Old Hat Brewery & Grill Pure Stocks & the Franger Gas Mini Stocks had the night off but will be in action as part of a big 4-in-1 show Friday June 1 & June 8. The Short Track Trucks Series made their inaugural visit to the M-40 Speedway & they brought 14 good looking trucks ready to do battle on the 3/8 mile paved high banked speed plant. The top 5 trucks timed in with just over 1/4 second separating their qualification runs. Keith Wioncek set the track record for that group with a 14.121 (95.602 mph) lap. The next 2 combatants were within .071 seconds of that time! Their 8 lap heat races were taken by John Smalley & Wioncek. Their 40 lap feature was very competitive and was slowed for just 2 minor caution periods. But there was action right down to the finish. John Culp started on the pole & held the point for the 1st 22 laps when Justin Claucherty took the lead & held it for good from lap 23 on. 17 year old rookie Darren Lane held 2nd from the start until lap 19 when he fell back to 3rd until lap 26 when he regained 2nd & held that position until lap 39-3/4 when there was an incidental tap to the left rear bumper which sent the youngster spinning & dropped him to 11th in the finishing order. When the dust cleared, Justin Claucherty was the winner with John Culp the big beneficiary of the spin moving back up from 4th to 2nd. Chad Lennert & Keith Wioncek also moved up ahead of Paul Schaffer who had been right behind his boss' son (Lane) the entire race. I feel bad for both Paul & Darren as they ran a hard, clean race. 6-10 were John Smalley, Jim Idema, Josh Leo, Rod Morrison, & Dan Lenters. Late Model qualifying has been the Jeff Vochaska show as he has posted fast time every week. This week he set fast time at 12.719 (106.140 mph). However, the rest of the field is catching on as there were 8 drivers in the 12 second bracket tonight. 22 Late Models on the grounds required 3 heats & a Last Chance race. Phil Bozell dominated heat 1 by nearly 3 seconds. However, there was a hotly contested Mack Attack for 2nd as Al McGlothlen edged last week's feature winner Danny McEndarfer by only .018 at the stripe! The other heats went to Bill Hartman & Lee Slaton. Matt Weenink had Eric McGlothlen all over his back bumper as those 2 drivers advanced to the feature from the Last Chance race. The Late Model feature was a 50 lap affair with the winner walking off with a cool grand. The 1st lap had a scary moment as there was contact to the back of Danny McEndarfer's #11 which caused the overflow to come off from the fuel cell causing large quantities of gas to spew out & his night ended early. 2 other cautions for single car spins slowed the action. Roger Northrop Jr. grabbed the lead from the start with Bill Hartman trying hard to make the pass every lap but Roger out-motored him off the corners. This went on for the 1st 30 circuits until Bobby Stremme had moved up from 8th to take over 2nd on lap 31. Phil Bozell, up from 11th, moved by Hartman the next lap. Lap 34 Stremme appeared atop the leader's board. The next lap Phil Bozell overtook Northrop for the runner-up spot. A classic side-by-side battle ensued between Stremme & Bozell all the way to the wire as the final margin of victory was only .122 seconds! It was a great race & they stretched the lead to 1.546 ahead of Phil's dad (Andy Bozell) who had raced his way from 15th. Jeff Vochaska (from 16th), Northrop, Hartman, Jeff Ganus, Jerry Zachary, Al McGlothlen, & his son Eric McGlothlen rounded out the top 10. The Pro Stocks have had 3 different feature winners & 3 different fast qualifiers in their 3rd night of action. Chris May came to the track for the 1st time this year in his pretty #8 & posted fast time at 13.853 (97.452 mph). He was joined in the 13 second range by 5 other drivers. Steve Smith Sr. & Alex Pratt picked up heat race wins. The main event went 40 laps with the lion's share of $750 going to the winner. Lap 1 had a multi-car pileup on the front stretch which eliminated Stan Siczek & Steve Smith Jr. Lap 15 knocked out Eric McCann & Chris Shannon. Laps 21 & 23 were the demise of Ron Carpenter & Steve Smith Sr. Lap 23 saw a tangle between 2007 feature winners Rich Mersereau & Robbie Ferrier. Ferrier had battled his way up from 15th to challenge for 5th at the time. Both drivers restarted at the tail but only had 17 laps to get back to the front. Burney Arnett, as he has done so many times in his long career, started outside pole & set the pace the 1st 24 tours around the speedway until John Long made the winning pass to lead the last 15 laps. Arnett & fellow front row starter, Alex Pratt, held on for 2-3 while fast timer & 16th place starter Chris May drove a great race to finish 4th. Gary Wyrick Jr., John (Robbie's dad) Ferrier, Fred Reed, Rich Mersereau, R. Ferrier, & Mike Shewchuk rounded out the top 10. John Long drives one of Shewchuk's cars & we are happy to welcome Shewchuk's Advanced Property Management aboard as an Associate Sponsor for the Pro Stock class. Check out the newly improved M-40 Speedway every Friday for an action packed, family friendly show that is always done before 11pm. Get all the latest auto racing news - Subscribe to MARC Times Racing News Today! |
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