Saturday Night Special Heats up Plymouth Speedway

[NickHolt]

Saturday Night Special Heats up Plymouth Speedway

 

by Anita Goodan

 

(Plymouth, IN) It was a rather hot Saturday afternoon and the racing was just that much hotter as four classes of drivers took to the dirt surface when the sun went down.

 

In an evening presented by OmniSource, Frank Marshall, of Valparaiso, shot out to an early lead while Dan Hamstra, of Wheatfield, and Steven Hogue made up the top three in the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds Feature. A quick caution bunched up the field which allowed Derek Losh, of Rensselaer, to run up top and grab third from Hogue when the track went green. After another caution on lap seven, Losh used the same line to get by Hamstra for second when they got back to the start/finish line. Marshall saw Losh coming quickly and did what he could to retain the lead. Marshall held off Losh and pulled ahead of the field. Jamie Lomax got into the mix and went after Hamstra for third. Marshall and Losh, who were running first and second, saw lapped traffic by lap 15 which didn’t affect them. Hamstra and Lomax found the lapped car of DJ Streeter on the last lap. Hamstra went on the high side of Streeter while Lomax went low and the three went into the final turn of the race. The pair passed Streeter, but it was Hamstra who was able to claim the third spot by four-tenths of a second. Marshall won the feature followed by Losh and Hamstra.

 

From the pole to the finish, David Short, of Winamac, got the job done in the WTCA Super Streets Feature. Short jumped to the lead quickly while Roger Duszynski, Jr., of Black Oak, moved into the second position by Ron Wilkes, of Lowell, on the second lap. The top three stayed quiet through the first half of the race. After a mid-race caution, Wilkes attempted a pass to gather second place from Duszynski, Jr., but stayed in the third position. A caution on the last lap set up a green-white-checkered finish which didn’t affect the racing order. Short was the winner with Duszynski, Jr. in second and Wilkes in third.

 

The Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints had a rough start with a five-car pileup in between turns three and four on the first lap in a packed field of cars. That didn’t stop Dylan Woodling, of Warsaw, from dominating the race from the pole. Barbie Kimmel, of Mentone, who began the race in fifth, was able to get up to the second spot on lap seven while Justin Harper, of Denver, Indiana, rounded out the top three. On lap 16, Blake Lamb’s car suffered engine trouble. He pulled his No. 69 600 Open Sprint off the live track and pulled onto the outer racing surface. It was then that the engine caught fire with flames shooting out of the left front of the engine compartment, into the driver’s cockpit and over the top of the car. The race was red-flagged while safety crews were quick to extinguish the fire. Lamb was not injured in the incident, thanks to the expert safety staff on board at Plymouth Speedway. When the race resumed, Woodling kept the lead and won the race while Kimmel finished in second and Harper in third.

 

The landscape of the Walmart Thunder Stocks podium changed slightly this week. Points leader John Rhoads, of Mentone, led the race from the pole position while Sheldon Oberle occupied second and Tom Grall zeroed in on third. After a caution on lap four, Grall, of Plymouth, powered his way to second while Oberle slipped to third. It appeared that Chris Hunter was on his way to a podium spot and the lead just after the halfway point of the race, but his car suffered a mechanical failure after a caution. Tony Bowman, of Wabash, moved up to the third spot and began battling Grall for position when the race went green. They stayed side-by-side for two laps before Grall fought off Bowman for second. Grall then snuck up on Rhoads and the pair were side-by-side for the lead on the last lap. Grall was racing a higher line than Rhoads and got the lead out of turn four while looking at the checkered flag. Grall was the winner while Rhoads was in second and Bowman was third.

 

Join us for a packed week of racing as the first of a three-day Hump Day Summer Series occurs on Wednesday, June 29 with the USAC Midgets and the Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints set to take the track. On Saturday, July 2, it’s a night of racing and fireworks as we dive into the Independence Day holiday. The Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds, WTCA Super Streets, Walmart Thunder Stocks, Shepherd Firearms Pro Sprints and Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints will take center stage. A 7 p.m. ET start time is set for both events. For ticket information, visit www.plymouthspeedway.net. Visit Walmart or The Complete Printer in Plymouth to obtain a coupon for $2 off the admission price for either night.