Eventful Evening of Racing at Plymouth Speedway

[rebelracewriter]

Eventful Evening of Racing at Plymouth Speedway

By: Anita Goodan

(Plymouth, IN) It was one of those nights where the podium scene changed on the last lap.

Shepherd Firearms presented the evening of racing that began with the Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints. After starting on the pole and leading 17 laps with Chad Hartzell in a close second, Sam Kimmel abruptly pulled off the track with an issue. Hartzell was able to claim the lead with Aaron Davis making moves with only three laps to go in the race. On the last lap, Davis, of Windfall, was able to get by Hartzell and claimed the victory while Hartzell, of Granger, came in second and Nappanee’s Dylan Woodling in third.

The Walmart Thunder Stocks feature took a turn when points leader and race leader John Rhoads, of Mentone, found the turn two wall after leading the first four laps from the pole position. The race was red-flagged while crews surveyed the damage following a small fire from the left rear of the car. Rhoads was not injured in the accident. Tom Grall, who had been running second, also exited the track which put Sheldon Oberle, of Battleground, in the lead. The race restarted with Tony Bowman in second and Wally Kerst, of Williamsport, in third. Kerst got by Bowman for second by lap 9. Bowman soon saw company when Jim Henson, of Winamac, traded paint and bumped Bowman to claim the third spot for his own out of turn one on lap 13. The remainder of the feature saw green flag racing with Oberle the winner, Kerst in second and Henson in third. This was Oberle’s first visit to Plymouth Speedway.

Kevin Atkins found himself in Victory Lane once again in the Shepherd Firearms Pro Sprints feature. Atkins found himself three-wide with lapped traffic by lap 14 and Zane DeVault, of Plymouth, kept up in the second position. Garrett Saunders, of Lakeville, maneuvered his Pro Sprint along the high side of the cushion to keep the third position at the end of the race. Atkins retains his points lead in the standings while DeVault only trailing by four points with Saunders 20 points behind Atkins.

There wasn’t enough space in turn one to keep two WTCA Super Streets drivers from getting into each other after battling for the lead early in the race. David Short and Eric Hunter were side-by-side at the start/finish line entering the second lap. They entered turn one and collided and went up the race track and up against the turn two wall. That put Bob McLean, of Hobart, into the lead with points leader Roger Duszynski, Jr., of Black Oak, into second and Preston Obelle, of Battleground, in third. Duszynski, Jr. was able to get by McLean for the lead on lap seven. The top of the running order stayed static through many cautions in the race. With race time becoming an issue, the green-white-checkered command was given and Duszynski, Jr. led the field to green. Shaun Wiltjer, of Gary, began using the outside line and found himself in a position to pass Obelle. The pair were side-by-side in turn four on the last lap. As they crossed the start/finish line, Wiltjer was able to claim the final spot on the podium by two-tenths of a second. Duszynski, Jr. got the win with McLean in second.

The same excitement continued to the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds race. Zeke McKenzie, of Claypool, led the race early with Derek Losh in second and Jamie Lomax in third. Lomax soon found his way around Losh for second by lap eight. Lomax, of Lake Village, used slower cars to his advantage to get around McKenzie for the lead with four laps to go in the race. On the last lap of the race, Losh, of Rensselaer, went door-to-door with McKenzie for second. As they rounded turn four and saw the checkered flag, Losh was able to take the runner-up spot by one-tenth of a second over a third finishing McKenzie.

Join us for more exciting racing on Tuesday, June 21 when Plymouth Speedway takes on a national audience for the Tony Elliott Speed Sport Challenge. The 410 Non-Wing Sprints, Shepherd Firearms Pro Sprints and the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds will be televised nationally on MAVTV. The gates will open at 4 p.m. and racing begins at 7 p.m. ET. For ticket information, visit www.plymouthspeedway.net.

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About Plymouth Speedway:
Plymouth Speedway features a three-eighths (0.375) mile banked dirt oval owned by Ed Kennedy. Five different classes of racing are featured: Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds, Dickies Restaurant Non-Wing 600 Sprints, Shepherd Firearms Winged Pro Sprints, Walmart Thunder Stocks, and WTCA Super Streets. Regular season races are scheduled in the months of April through August on Saturday nights with several special events. For information, visit www.plymouthspeedway.net, follow Plymouth Speedway’s official Facebook page, @PlymouthSpeed on Twitter or email info@plymouthspeedway.net.