Track damage postpones features at Plymouth Speedway

[NickHolt]

Two Make-up Contests Run, Track Damage Postpones Features

 

by Anita Soltis

 

(Plymouth, IN) It was a night was created to intrigue fans with seven features, but it was cut short Saturday night due to an on-track incident.

 

First, the Dickies Restaurant 600 Sprints took center stage as the first of two features that had to be made up from June 28. That previous race night was cut short due to rain.

 

Brad Nichols and Billy Cribbs started on the front row and they battled each other for the opening seven laps when Cribbs took over the top spot. Lapped traffic played to Cribbs’ advantage as Nichols had to ease up to avoid a collision. Meanwhile, Garrett Saunders was making his way through traffic from eighth place and was working on Dawson Stealy for the third position. On lap 18 of the 20-lap feature, Stealy was bumped out of the racing groove and Saunders capitalized and got the third spot. Cribbs took home the trophy with pole-sitter Brad Nichols in the runner-up spot and Garrett Saunders with the last position on the podium.

 

“It was a good race,” smiled Cribbs. “It didn’t start out the way I wanted and it took a while to get by Nichols but I did it.”

 

The Swan Lake Resorts UMP Modifieds race had a rough start with three complete restarts but it got busy in a hurry. Frank Marshall got a good start on the field and built up a good distance on the second place runner Kyle Yocum. Yocum was able to get past Steve Hogue on the restart for position. Marshall led the race for 13 laps and a hard charging Jamie Lomax went from eighth to get by Marshall to first in that amount of time. He used the high side of the racing surface to get past his competitors. Lapped traffic couldn’t stop Lomax from dominating the field as he picked up the win with last year’s champion, Frank Marshall, in second and Kyle Yocum rounding out the top three.

 

“The race was awesome,” stated Lomax. “There was a lot of bite in the track. It was a great race.”

 

With those two make-up features complete, the rest of the field prepared for a regular night of racing with the Dickies Restaurant 600 Sprints, Swan Lake Resorts UMP Modifieds, Super Streets, Thunder Stocks, and I-Mods. The Swan Lake Resorts UMP Modifieds division was the last group of heat races to run. In the first heat of this division, an accident involving Chad White and Damen Bock caused damage to the track. Bock got into White which sent his race car into the front stretch wall. That action caused him to hit the catch fence. With that impact, the lights fell to the ground. As the car came to rest, part of the catch fence caught on the car and was torn from the outer wall of the track.

 

Luckily, the catch fence did its job and no fans were injured. Neither driver was injured in the accident.

 

Officials quickly assessed the situation. Upon further analysis and taking fan safety and driver safety into account first, the decision was made to cancel the rest of the night’s racing. Fans who were in attendance may return to the racetrack on July 12 with wristbands and receipts and they will be honored. The features promised on Saturday night will be run again on July 12.

Plymouth Speedway officials apologize for any inconvenience. There are fireworks planned for the July 12 race night. Gates will open at 4 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. ET.