Toledo Speedway

FLAT ROCK, MI: (7-11-09): If you were looking for Saturday night, action-packed short track racing and a great fireworks display to top things off, then Flat Rock Speedway was the deal! The annual Miller Lite Triple 50's and Fireworks show had plenty of both, with Tim Moore, Darrell Krause, Eric Lee and Billy Earley taking the feature race wins. A great crowd, bolstered by free admission for kids 14 and under, was treated to a spectacular pyrotechnics show under the direction of the Volcano Fireworks Company to end the evening.

Tim Moore led from start to finish to score the win in the 50 lap ARCA Street Stock A Main feature that saw 2 wild incidents, with all drivers ok.  On lap 2, Clyde McKee and Randy DeMaggio got together in turn 1, with McKee's car riding up the rear quarter of Randy's machine.   A total of 12 cars dodged the incident and barely missed the wreck, but it did end the night for McKee and Rob Moore, Tim's brother.  Things settled down and Tim Moore built up a comfortable margin as the pack battled, but Scott Selmi, using the high groove, broke loose and chased down the leader.  Behind the lead duo, a 6-8 car pack ran side by side and nose to tail until lap 38, when Chad Guinn and Randy Cornett touched, sending both cars hard into the frontstretch wall.  Again, some cars avoided the incident but Jeff Kurzyniec and David Kind had no place to go, ending up in the pile-up on the main straight.  All 4 were done for the evening with heavy damage to their machines.  Moore got back on the throttle on the re-start and kept his margin over Selmi for the big win.  Steve Cronenwett Jr., doing double duty, slid under Dan Ford Jr. on the final lap to take third, Ford Jr. was fourth and Dave Tanner fifth, followed by Arnold Kirsch, Tadek Stadniczuk, DeMaggio, Dennis Strickland and Rich Frantz. 

Rookie Darrell Krause led all 25 laps en-route to his first win in the Street Stock B Main contest.  John Huebner Jr. led off Rich Abel for second, as that duo battled the entire distance.  A fast-closing Lonnie York was fourth, with Ray Coop fifth.  Carl Dickie, James Rae, Donald Burkhart (also doing double duty), Joe Gramlich and Chris Diovardi were next in line.  Cronenwett Jr., in his first Street Stock outing of the season, set fast time for the 48 car field at 13:427.  Ray Coop led the B Main cars with a lap of 13:926.

Eric Lee used the outside groove to take the lead from race-long leader Ron Allen on lap 18 to grab the victory in the 50 lap ARCA Moran Chevrolet/Miller Lite Late Model feature.  With an inversion of 6, Allen took control at the start and had pressure from Paul Pelletier and Steve Cronenwett Jr. in the early stages.  Pelletier took a couple of shots at grabbing the lead, while Lee got a good run off of turn 2 and got by Paul and then Allen on lap 18 to take command.  Steve tangled with Chris Benson to bring out a yellow, sending the pair to the tail.  Benson dropped out into the infield and Steve Jr. was the man on the mission.  At the back of the 22 car field, the youngster worked hard on the upper lane, finally getting to second with 8 laps to go.  Lee had a solid lead and zipped to the win over Cronenwett Jr., Allen, Pelletier, Dennis Strickland, Stan Yee Jr., Dick Barker, Joe Hawes, Jimmy Thiel and Jeremy Vanderhoof (also running 2 divisions tonight).  Lee set fast time at 11:713.  Heat race wins went to Yee Jr., Thiel and Jason Burkhart.

The final race of the evening was the 50 lap ARCA Figure 8 main, and it provided the more action for the large crowd on hand.  Billy Earley snuck by Jeremy Miller on lap 32 and made it 2 for 2 in 50 lap features in 2009 at "The Rock".  Miller was strong out front as he pulled Greg Studt, Earley and Robbie Loving in and out of intersection traffic with some exciting near misses at the intersection.  It was there, however, that Earley grabbed the lead on that lap 32, using the traffic at the crossover to snare the lead.  On lap 33 the red came out when Chris Cox exploded an engine, oiling down the front straight of the Figure 8 course.  After a lengthy cleanup, Earley went to work and kept the lead for the remaining 17 laps to pick up the win.  Studt came home second, Loving was third, Jeremy Vanderhoof was fourth and Miller was fifth.  Gary Cronenwett, DennisWhisman, Anthony Terris, Sam Hall and Stephanie Bradley followed to complete the top 10 finishers.  Vanderhoof set the Loving Auto Care fast time at 20:691.

Saturday, July 18 is Fasten Right Roofing Night at Flat Rock Speedway.  The ARCA Street Stocks will go to battle in another 50 lap main event, with a 25 lap B Main race also slated, along with heat races.  The Figure 8's will compete in a full race program, and the Rollover contest is also on tap.  The TKC Go-Karts will stage several exhibition races.  The pit area opens at 3, practice begins at 4, time trials at 5:30, the go-kart races are set for 6:30 and the racing card begins at 7 p.m.