Following two consecutive weeks of rained out events, the Kinross Speedway was looking to get a big night of racing in the books this past Saturday night.
With Mother Nature finally on our side, a season-high crowd filled the covered grandstands and were treated to an excellent show of side-by-side racing.
This night would see the Speedway complete 4 heats and 4 feature from a rain shortened June 28th show prior to starting another complete show of racing in all 4 divisions. Northside Used Auto, Auto Value / Bumper-to-Bumper Part Store of Soo, Michigan and Soo Collision were the sponsors of the night.
The Factory Stock division continued to display it's parody here in the 2003 season as the calibre of drivers in combination with the equal playing field this class is currently on, has created some of the most exciting racing around.
Pee Wee Fountain (50) blistered the track record on his first appearance of the season coming in under the lights at 15.440 seconds.
Soo, Ontario's Jason Praysner (5) grabbed the 4-car dash win, while Super Dave Devine (4) won the Australian Pursuit before Praysner would grab win #2 of the night in the 10-lap heat race.
When the division rolled out onto the ¼ mile for their feature event Devine and Paul Fox (36) would bring the 9-car field to the green flag. Devine, who perhaps is experiencing his best year in the Factory Stock division, would lead the pack for the first 7-laps with Jerry Ball (8) and defending track champion Mark Beaudoin (74) on his back bumper.
It would be on lap #8 that Beaudoin would take his 7th starting position to the lead. Ball would hold onto that second place position until lap #21 when he would retire pit side via the hook with front end problems to his machine and Fox would go pit side as well. From this point Beaudoin would be able to hold off the charges of Praysner and Piche for the win. Praysner, Piche (88), Johnson (37) and Devine rounded out your top 5.
After experiencing car count problems the first couple weeks of the season, the Super Late Model division appears to be in good hands as 8 cars would find their way to our U.P. facility on this night.
#33 Dave Vansloten would time in as your fast qualifier for the 2nd consecutive week with a time of 13.860.
Current-point leader Tim Aho (27) was victorious in the four-car dash while Vansloten topped the field in the heat race.
Dennis (75) and Tim Aho would make-up your features front row after Rick Leonard (37) and Dan Shumbarger (75X) opted to start scratch for this event. Tim would grab the lead out of turn 2 and was able to hold onto that position for his first 10 trips around the Speedway. Lap 11 is where Vansloten would make his move on the high side of the Speedway and into the lead. That would drop Aho back to 2nd, while Bill Bond (38) and Curtis Anderson (51) sat 2nd and third respectively. The field would remain unchanged for the most part as Vansloten brought his Ross Competition sponsored car to victory lane. Aho and Anderson crossed the line to complete your top 3 cars.
The make-up feature from June 28th would see Bay City, Michigan native Bill Bond grab the win.
Two new cars would join the already entertaining field of 4-Cylinder cars as this entry-level division is having a fantastic 2003 campaign.
For the 2nd consecutive week the track record would fall in this division, but this time Tim Gregory (25) would take the honours in his Pontiac Fiero as he was fast qualifier of the night with a time of 18.350. Jared Nightlinger (48) found victory lane in the four-car dash while fellow youngster William Odbert (23) would grab his first career win at Kinross in the Australian Pursuit. Gregory would come back to take the 10-lap heat race.
Odbert and James Orr (24) sat on the front row for the 25-lap feature event. Orr began the quest for his first career feature win as he would be your leader on laps 1 through 4 before a caution would fly as the 35 car of John Clawson would come to an abrupt halt in turns 3 and 4. On the restart Gregory took over the lead from the 9th starting position but your top 2 point-getters, Nightlinger and John Mayer (9) were now on his back bumper as well.
Nightlinger and Gregory would swap positions for 2 laps at the halfway point before the positions would be traded for the last time on lap 14 when Nightlinger took the top spot. The Hessel, MI native would run flawlessly through lapped traffic in the final laps enroute to his 2nd feature win of the night and season.
Gregory, Mayer, Johnny Fountain Jr. (2), Dan Sherlund (71), Chris Brady (17), Orr, James Thompson (8), Odbert (23) and Clawson finished off the field.
The make-up heat race and feature from June 28th were both won by Jared Nightlinger (48)
The Pure Stock Division would bring another strong field to the Speedway on this night and they would be joined by former Junior Division Champion and Factory Stock runner Mike Vansloten (77)
Fast time of the night would go to Soo, MI native Barry Glenn as he would bring his Pita Pit sponsored car under the lights in 16.670 seconds.
Ray Golladay (22) would grab the night's early bragging rights after grabbing the checker flag in the four-car dash.
Division rookie Richard Huyck (27) would continue his dominance in the Australian Pursuit by taking the win only to follow it up with the win in heat race #1. Bill Cryderman (61) was the winner of heat race #2.
The 25-lap feature would see Huyck and Randy Miller (73) bring the field to the green flag. It would take until the third try before we would get the 1st lap in the books and Huyck would be your leader. Cryderman (61) would be the first man to make a move to the front as on lap 3 he advanced 5 positions to the lead. It was by this same time that fast qualifier Glenn (55) had moved up to 2nd from outside row 5 while Ray Golladay (22) was up to third from outside row 4.
Glenn would take over the lead on lap 8 and then Golladay would drop Cryderman to third one lap later. Onaway Motor Speedway regular Todd Ferguson (57) was up to third place when he crossed the line on lap 18 but would go back pit side one lap later with heavy damage after an altercation in turns 1 and 2.
Lap 21 would see Mike Porcaro (15) tag the rear for bringing out the caution and Cryderman would exit pit side with car problems. Glenn would run the high-groove the final laps to take the win. Golladay was 2nd, Vansloten 3rd, Huyck 4th and Randy Miller (73) 5th.
Richard Huyck and Bill Cryderman would take the wins in their respective make-up heats from June 28th while Glenn would take home the double feature win.
Racing continues at the Kinross Speedway this coming Saturday, July 19th with our Mid-Season Championships and Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club Night. It will feature a full show of Super Late Models, Factory Stocks, Pure Stocks and 4-Cylinders.
Time trials are at 4:30 p.m. with racing to follow at 6:00 p.m.
The Kinross Speedway is located at the Kinross Community Park in Kinross, MI. Take exit 378 off I-75 and follow the signs.