7/12/2022
Thunderbird Raceway
Christmas in July 7/9/22
7/9/22 Feature Winners
Awards Plus Restricted MW-#6 Aiden Cook
Awards Plus Unrestricted MW-#51 Dallyn Ellis
Warriors- 8m Estevan Martinez
Midwest Dirt- 3g Ryan Crocker
Lakeshore Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram FS-#13 Derek Poland
Auto Value Pro LM-#12 Trevor Sloan
BMR Motorsports LLC IMCA Mod-#27 John McCaul
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort UMP SL-#42 Chad Finley
Thunderbird Raceway was the place to be Saturday, July 9th. Christmas in July and Kids Night brought a packed house and pit area. Great, family fun, activities, and giveaways enhanced the racing experience along with having the Midwest Dirt Compact Touring Series in the house.
The Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort UMP Super Late Models put on quite a show with the last lap, last corner pass, for the win. It appeared, early on, that Andy Sprague would go back to back after winning last week and leading almost the entire feature until Chad Finley had other plans making for an exciting finish and a fantastic race throughout. 1st-#42 Chad Finley 2nd- #18 Andy Sprague 3rd-#87 Rich Neiser 4th- 51s Devin Shiels 5th-#94 Bill Bray. Heats were won by #51 "Superman" Steve Fairbanks, #07 Shawn Reed, and Andy Sprague. Fast Qualifier overall was Shiels with a 13.300.
The beginning of the BMR Motorsports IMCA Modified feature looked promising for a first-time feature winner in the up-and-coming driver of the #75, Justyn Clark. But, after leading a good portion of the race, veteran drivers would work their way around and we get the One-Handed Bandit, John McCaul, parking it in the Allstar Performance Victory Lane. 1st-#27 John McCaul 2nd-#82 Jacob Poel 3rd- 20w AJ Ward 4th-#38 "Bad Boy" Mitchell Hunt 5th-21s Tom Sprague Jr.
Heat winners were #83 Casey Smith, Poel, and McCaul.
A good field of Auto Value Pro Late Models came out for Kids Night to put a show on for the kiddos. There were a couple different contenders for the win but, Trevor Sloan continues to assert his dominance over the division with another feature win. 1st-#12 Trevor Sloan 2nd-#37 Jordan Dahlke 3rd-#15 Kyle Wright. Picking up heat wins were #5 Troy Marciniak and Sloan.
It was going to be an uphill battle for anyone in the Lakeshore Chrysler Factory Stock feature with the hot veteran driver, Derek Poland, sitting on the pole as he has really figured out his setup and settled into a groove the last few weeks while celebrating 50 years as a racecar driver. There were comers and goers, but, nobody had anything for the Mean Green Thirteen Machine. 1st-#13 Derek Poland 2nd-#74 Paul Namey 3rd-#8 Bailey Lynn 4th-#20 Chad Weinrick 5th-#09 Mike Wiseman. Taking the checkered flag in heats were Poland, Namey, and Weinrick.
The Midwest Dirt Compact Touring Series were on hand and we saw another great last lap, last corner pass for the win as the early leader, Nick Jenema, got caught behind slower traffic, and Indiana native, Ryan Crocker, seized the opportunity to steal the win. 1st- 3g Ryan Crocker 2nd-#44 Nick Jenema 3rd-#20 Allen Hite 4th-#88 Estevan Martinez 5th-#22 Drew Phillips. Picking up the heat wins were Crocker, Phillips, and Hite.
The Warrior feature was a tale of two halves. The first half looked to be a showdown between Heidi Barnhard and Cam Hendrickson until a mishap with slower traffic caused each of those two to DNF. The second half would be a story of what was the beginning of our race season as Estevan Martinez and Brandon Tichelaar would battle it out for the win as they did the first few weeks with Martinez coming out the victor. 1st- 8m Estevan Martinez 2nd-#37 Brandon Tichelaar 3rd-#34 Mike Goodwin Jr. 4th-#71 Trevor Sherrell 5th-#2 Robert Whisler. Heat races were won by #3 Heidi Barnhard, Whisler, and Goodwin.
The Awards Plus Unrestricted Mini Wedges would see dominance from start to finish by the eventual race winner, Dallyn Ellis. 1st-#51 Dallyn Ellis 2nd- A6 Audee Proctor 3rd- 10w Teegan Williams. Heat winners were Ellis and #85 Racer Smith.
The Awards Plus Restricted Mini Wedge class kicked off feature racing with another dominating performance by Aiden Cook. 1st-#6 Aiden Cook 2nd- 6jr Josh Pearson 3rd-#87 Nevaeh Davidson. Picking up heat wins were 88s Elleighanya Sheren and Cook.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers, race teams, and fans for donations, the local businesses for stepping up, all of the fans for bringing out the kids, and anyone who had a hand in helping us make Kids Night a great success. Join us next Saturday, July 16th for another scheduled stop on the calendar for the Allstar Performance Challenge Series for the Auto Value Pro Late Models!
Photo Credit: Dirt XTC Images
Article Credit: Jeremy Pearson
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