Toledo Speedway

It has been six years since there have been over 40 super late models at Flat Rock Speedway, but 42 made their way to the track for the Stan Yee Memorial race, which was part of the Hantz Group (presented by Allegiant Air) Gold Cup series. For the last four years the Gold Cup races have been at held Toledo ... the last one run at Flat Rock was in 2005.

Race winner, Mike Luberda Jr., was one of five drivers that had never raced at Flat Rock before. Fast time was his first good thing he did, which netted him $333. Invert for the feature was 12 and it took Au Gres, Mich., driver nearly 100 laps to make to the lead, racing polesitter Dave Kuhlman for several laps before taking the lead for good on lap 98. "This is unbelievable. I want to thank Tony LeClair, who owns the car. They come a long way for me to race, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, (the car is housed in the Standish, Mich., area, still a three hour haul from Flat Rock). God Dang that felt good. There were not many cautions, I really expected more ... sort of short racing. It was a beautiful night for racing. It was my pleasure to come out and put on a good show for you folks," said the unsponsored driver after his first time ARCA winner. "It was a good day for my family. My dad finished fourth in the U.S.A. modified feature at Auto City (Flint, Mich.)."

Second place went to two time 150 winner, Eric Lee who pressured Luberda Jr.'s the final dozen or so laps of the feature. "We lent Mike (Luberda Jr.) a gear for the race. Congrats to Mike and his team, they had a really good run. There was a lot of really good cars in the race tonight and it was a tough one. The car got super loose and was just coming in the last portion of the race. We needed a few more laps. It was a great race, everyone raced clean and the lapped cars did a great job staying down, " said the Macomb Township, Mich., driver. The car is sponsored by Arrow Uniform Rental, Labelle Electric, Jacks Garage, D&E Landscaping, Posen Construction, Mona Vie, Dusty's Collision, Powertrain Transformers, Applied Roofing, Keller Williams Realtors, Auto/Con Corp., ET Performance, Complete Prototype Services #5.

Third went to another newcomer to Flat Rock, Mike Root. The Grand Rapids, Mich., driver passed Kuhlman in the closing laps. "That was a fun race. It was nice to pass all those cars. The car was tight, so I tried to save the car for the end. I may have saved it too long. There wasn't much left of the tires when I got to the front. We're happy with the finish," said the driver of the Universal Graphic Solutions, Creatingaccents.com, Renegade, Amsoil, Ace Auto Body and Jant Group #9.

Three-time winner Dave Kuhlman returned to Flat Rock after a couple year hiatus. He led first 97 laps of the race before fading to fourth at the checkered flag. After the race the crew discovered a tire had been going down. "The guys ran hard out there tonight. The car was pretty good out of the box. It's our first time out tonight, and we brought it home in one piece, so that's a pretty good night," said the driver of the Giles Auto Body, Zeiller's Market #24.

Fifth place went to Dennis Strickland, "We had a good run ... got shuffled back at the beginning. Actually wished the race was another 100 laps, our car was just coming in and the tires weren't fall off. I want to congratulate Mike Luberda Jr., and his team for the win ... first time here, that's really great," the driver of the Strategy One Computers, MichWiFi.net, Pete's Garage, Stoney Creek Auto Parts and The Super Health Store.com, Complete Batteries #90. Strickland had to rush off after the LM feature to run the Street Stock A division feature that he won.

Sixth place finisher Paul Pelletier had a brand new car. Before tonight the team had about hour on the track. The car is a Perfect Circle Chassis and the body is built by Limelight Motorsports (Paul's business). The car was so new they didn't even have time to finish putting the sponsorship on the car. He's sponsored by ABC Plumbing, Jaimes Industries, Exotic Automation. Four Star Steel and Dusty's Collision.

Steve Cronenwett Sr., returned to late model racing after a three-year absence. He won the first B main race to transfer to the feature. His race was finished early when he was involved in an accident lap 83.

It was the first time that Stevie Cronenwett got to race with his dad. He finished 10th for the third year in a row in the 150.

Only one of the Yee Racing cars made the field, former NASCAR Cup driver, Joe Ruttman, finished third in the 'even' B main. He was never a factor in the race, running as high as 11th place before being sidelined with an apparent transmission problem.

To say it was a tough field to make was probably an understatement. Making the race was an accomplishment in itself. There were 27 drivers on hand at the first Gold Cup race of the year at Toledo ... 19 of these drivers were in the pits tonight at Flat Rock and only nine of these 19 drivers made the feature. There was two provisionals, one for the Gold Cup, which went to Bill Litogot and another for the highest Flat Rock driver not making the field, this went to Ron Allen who is third in Flat Rock points.

The top three finishers of the odd-even B mains were: Cronenwett Sr., Jason Allision and Jimmy Thiel. The even B main went to Brent Jack over Jeff MacZink and Joe Ruttman.

Those not making the race is a smorgasbord of drivers: Stan Yee Jr., Brian Norton, Dave Stehouwer, Jay Sommers, Kevin Butzin, all three of the Burkhardts Chris, Jason and Don, Tom O'Leary IV, Royce Cornett, Rick Sheppard, Joe Hawes, George Rangel, Keith Nelson II, Steve Peters, Jeff Bailey and Larry Smouthers and Dan Trosen Jr.

It's been three years since Jimmy Thiel has been racing. The team built the car from the ground up and just finished the car. He finished 13th, two laps down. "The car didn't have power steering and his arms gave out with him... For a while there he ran with the leader after he got lapped, so I think we did pretty good for the first night out," said Jimmy's dad Rich.

Two drivers racing at Flat Rock for the first time in 19 years were Dave Sensiba and Jay Sommers. The last time both were at the track was an Iceman Series race in which Sensiba finished second by a couple inches to Rick Sheppard. "After a couple laps everything came back. We had a good run today and had fun racing here again," said Sensiba after the race. The Middletown, Mich., driver finished seventh.

Harold Fair Jr. was up to third when he got tangled in an accident and broke the sway bar in the car. Fair Jr. is the defending Gold Cup Series champion and was second in points coming into the event.

Chad Finley was another one of those drivers racing at Flat Rock for the first time. "I've never raced here, but I've been to the track when by dad (Jeff) drove an ARCA race here in the 1999," said Finley. Chad finished eighth in his first try at the track.

Ron Allen got the Flat Rock provisional and drove all the way up to ninth place at the end of the race, gaining the most positions, 13 (race winner Luberda moved up 11, the second most).

Justin Schroeder almost didn't get to start the feature as he experienced ignition problems on the warm up laps. The team fixed it but it was only for a short time with Justin pulling out on lap 12. The team worked again on the ignition but eventually it ended his night.

Larry Smothers broke a shock in hot laps and also had problems with the rear end of the car shifting. He was able to compete in his B main.

Other first timers to the track were Justin May from Angola (Ind.) Speedway and Dave Stehouwer (Spartan Speedway near Lansing).

Before we get to this week's Street Stock update I have to apologize to Tim Moore, who won the last two A division Street Stock features. I wrote it last week as "Rob" his brother. Sorry about that. Anyways, it was Tim's first career back to back feature wins.

Dennis Strickland gave Danny Slater his first career A division as an owner. Slater is sidelined because of medical reasons and Strickland took over the driving shores of the #3 car. The last season Strickland drove SS was in 1997 and last win was in May of that year (he's the second driver this season to win again after over 10 years... Randy Cornet did it a couple weeks ago). Tonight's win is Dennis' 11th career win. "First of all I thanked God, because without him this would not be possible, in fact one of the requirements of being on the team is to go to church Slater had to stop driving for medical reasons and he asked me to take over driving because of because of his (Slater's) commitments with sponsors. I thanked the sponsors Southgate Transmission, Auto Zone and all the rest (I couldn't remember them all there is about 13 of them). After driving a Late Model for all these years with a mirror and spotter, I didn't have a clue as to what was going on behind me. So I drove like crazy and I guess I had a good space behind me. I did not climb the fence after the win ... I was too wore out," he wrote in an email. For the record, here's all of the sponsors ... all 13 of them. Southgate Transmission and Complete Auto Care, Auto Zone, Cochran and Foley Associates, Leppen Chiropractic, High Impact, REJ Accounting, Benedicts Flowers, Charlie's Family Dining, Downriver Coney Island, Clark Plumbing, Family Dentistry, RJ Nixon Funeral Home, Thom Funeral Home.

Jimmy Rae won his third B division feature win in a row.

Dennis Whisman won the Figure 8 feature. "I'd like to thank my car owner Rich Lee. Also my sponsors Sportway Go Carts, Leppen Chiropractic, Affordable Transmission, WBVS Photos, Stanley Market and my family and whole crew," said the driver of the #1. Tonight win was Dennis' 40th career win at Flat Rock.

Ben Harris made his first appearance of the year (I think) and won a A main heat.

I think it was Chris Webber's first race of the season too... he finished 5th in the B main.

A couple weeks ago Rayce Metdepenningen finished second in the B main... I checked that was his career best finish.

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