From Duane Turner
Mason, MI — (April 24, 2015) — Spring may be here, but the cold weather has not left just yet. Spartan Speedway fans and race teams would brave the cold, and they would not be disappointed on opening night. Travis Eddy, Dane Long, Tony Monge, and Brian Beckner would claim the feature events to kick off 2015.
The Performance Automotive Northwest Modifieds would start their 35 lap feature with Bill Pennington bringing the field down to the green flag. Jon McNett quickly took the lead from position number two. Travis Eddy made his presence felt as he moved in to third a lap later. 12 laps in, a caution would wave bunching the leaders up for the restart. Megan Carpenter would hang tough on the high side, and would take the lead two laps later. On lap 16, Travis Eddy would take over the point and would set sail for the remainder of the 35 laps. Carpenter would hold on for second with Jim Butler, Jon McNett and Tracey Hernley rounding out the top five.
The Sawyers Chevrolet Superstore Michigan Legends would see Tony Monge take the lead at the drop of the green flag, and set pace for the 20 laps taking the win. Greg Rudzik, Mitchell Huber, Mason Ludwig, and Lyn Hall were the top five.
Lipari Foods Spartan Stocks B-Feature would kick off their 20 lap feature with Rick Gokee Sr leading the field to the green flag. Gokee would take a big early lead, but the caution would fly early on lap two. James Gokee Jr would give chase after the race resumed, keeping the pressure on the race leader until lap seven when Shane Miller would slip by for second. Lap eight, Miller would use the high side of the speedway to take over the lead. On a restart with six laps to go, Gokee Jr would take over second. Two laps later, Bryan Jenks would take over third. At the finish, Miller would take the win followed by James Gokee Jr, Bryan Jenks, David Kelly and Rick Gokee Sr in the top five.
Lipari Foods Spartan Stocks A-feature were up next with Mike Findley taking the early lead from the outside pole position, with Jesse Collinge, and Jordon Harvey in close formation. At the half way point, the top seven cars were still in two by two formation. A restart with 14 laps remaining, Collinge would take the point, but Findley would retake the lead on the next circuit. Two laps later Joey Barnhart would slip by Findley to take the lead, while Dane Long would follow Barnhart to take the runner up position. The final restart with four laps to go, Long would make the high side pass to take the point, and hold on with Robby Johnston, Jordon Harvey, Collinge, and Findley rounding out the top five.
Jarin Larner would start on the pole position of the Boss Snow Equipment Pony Stock B-feature, but Wayne Parkhurst II would take the lead at the conclusion of lap one, with Cam Garza in tow. Half way through the race, and a couple speeding penalties later, Wayne Parkhurst II would continue to lead the way. Lap 18, Wayne Beckner Jr would take the lead in lapped traffic, then a caution would fly setting up a green white checkered finish. Beckner Jr and Garza would race side by side for the final two laps with Beckner Jr taking the win followed by his wife Laura Beckner. Garza, Jerry King, and Josh Finner would be the top five.
The Boss Snow Equipment Pony Stock A-feature would have Randy Kretzinger take the early lead. John Ward Jr would settle in to second with Ryan Gordon in third. Lap four, Brian Becker would take over third, and then slip in to second just one lap later. On lap seven, Beckner would catch the race leader, and finally make the pass on the high side two laps later. On lap 13, Tyler Heeney would take over the runner up sport, but a 1/4 lap behind Beckner. At the finish Brian Beckner would take the win with Heeney, Brian Boesel, Kretzinger, and Tyler McGhan in the top five.
Next week on Friday, May 1st, Spartan Speedway will host the Sawyers Chevrolet Spartan Sprint Cars, Boss Snow Equipment Pony Stocks, Lipari Foods Spartan Stocks and Sawyers Chevrolet Michigan Legends. For more information, log on to the official Spartan Speedway website at www.spartanspeedway.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/spartan.speedway
Event Summery:
Performance Automotive Northwest Modifieds
Qualifications: 1) 78 Travis Eddy 13.573 2) m2 Jim Butler 13.812 3) 10 Tony Pastorino 13.837 4) 8 Megan Carpenter 13.858 5) 47b Tracey Hernley 13.890 6) 7 Jon McNett 13.891 7) 34 John Ledwidge 13.904 8) 72 Dan Loughan 14.190 9) 13 Kirk Newland 14.526 10) 55 Bill Pennington 14.947
Fast Car Dash: 1) 8 Megan Carpenter 2) m2 Jim Butler 3) 78 Travis Eddy 4) 10 Tony Pastorino
Heat Race: 1) 72 Dan Loughan 2) 47 Tracey Hernley 3) 7 Jon McNett 4) 55 Bill Pennington 5) 13 Kirk Newland
Feature: 1) 78 Travis Eddy 2) 8 Megan Carpenter 3) m2 Jim Butler 4) 7 Jon McNett 5) 47b Tracey Hernley 6) 72 Dan Loughan 7) 55 Bill Pennington 8) 13 Kirk Newland dns: John Ledwidge, Travis Pastorino
Sawyers Chevrolet Superstore Michigan Legends
Heat Race: 1) 92 Tony Monge 2) 14 Gregory Rudzik 3) 31 Mason Ludwig 4) 71 Lyn Hall 5) Mitchell Huber
Feature: 1) 92 Tony Monge 2) 14 Greg Rudzik 3) 10 Mitchell Huber 4) 31 Mason Ludwig 5) 71 Lyn Hall
Lipari Foods Spartan Stocks
Qualifications: 1) 7 Dane Long 13.909 2) 35 John Kennedy 13.973 3) 45 Joey Barnhart 14.165 4) 55 Robby Johnston 14.253 5) 07 Jordan Harvey 14.449 6) 20 Tim Lahar 14.742 7) 13 Jason Luce 14.786 8) 10 Mike Findley 14.796 9) 25 Jesse Collinge 14.796 10) 74 James Gokee Jr 15.172 11) 11 David Kelley 15.244 12) 44 Tom Freeman Jr 15.267 13) 87 Tyler Hawkins 15.272 14) 33 Brian Boesel 15.295 15) 31 Rick Gokee 15.648 16) 9 Bryan Jenks nt 17) 10 Evan Jenks nt 18) 51 LT Harper nt
Heat Race #1: 1) 10 Mike Findley 2) 25 Jesse Collinge 3) 74 James Gokee Jr 4) 33 Brian Boesel 5) 11 Dave Kelley 6) 31 Rick Gokee 7) 13 Jason Luce 8) 87 Tyler Hawkins
Heat Race #2: 1) 45 Joey Barnhart 2) 7l Dane Long 3) 07 Jordan Harvey 4) 35 John Kennedy 5) 20 Tim Lahar 6) 5 Shane Miller 7) 9 Bryan Jenks
B-Feature: 1) 5 Shane Miller 2) 74 James Gokee Jr 3) 9 Bryan Jenks 4) 11 David Kelley 5) 31 Rick Gokee Sr 6) 33 Brian Boesel 7) 44 Tom Freeman Jr 8) 51 LT Harper 9) 87 Tyler Hawkins 10) 10 Evan Jenks
A-Feature: 1) 7 Dane Long 2) 55 Robby Johnston 3) 07 Jordan Harvey 4) 25 Jesse Collinge 5) 10 Mike Findley 6) 45 Joey Barnhart 7) 35 John Kennedy 8) 20 Tim Lahar 9) 13 Jason Luce
Boss Snow Equipment Pony Stocks
Qualifications: 1) 11 Brian Beckner 16.078 2) 18 Tyler Heeney 16.169 3) 23 Tyler McGhan 16.305 4) 33 Brian Boesel 16.358 5) 21 Ryan Gordon 16.360 6) 27 John Ward Jr 16.382 7) 7 Lex Jarecki 16.412 8) 57 Randy Kretzinger Jr 16.531 9) 17 DJ Marciniak 16.562 10) 14 Cam Garza 16.751 11) 13 Wayne Parkhurst II 16.777 12) 47 Wayne Beckner Jr 16.974 13) 9 Laura Beckner 17.003 14) 15 Jerry King 17.064 15) 5 Ryan Hollister 17.247 16) 27 Josh Finner 17.621 17) 7h Shawn Hornus 17.765 18) x15 Shelby Gokee 18.023 19) 44 Jarin Larner 19.295 20) 46 Travis Dexter nt
Heat Race #1: 1) 15 Jerry King 2) 5 Ryan Hollister 3) 27 Josh Finner 4) 7h Shawn Hornus 5) x15 Shelby Gokee 6) 44 Jarin Larner 7) Travis Dexter
Heat Race #2: 1) 13 Wayne Parkhurst II 2) 57 Randy Kretzinger Jr 3) 47 Wayne Beckner 4) 14 Cam Garza 5) 17 DJ Marciniak 6) 9 Laura Beckner
Heat Race #3: 1) 18 Tyler Heeney 2) 27 John Ward Jr 3) 11 Brian Beckner 4) 7 Lex Jarecki 5) 33 Brian Boesel 6) 21 Ryan Gordon 7) 23 Tyler McGhan
B-Feature: ) 47 Wayne Becker Jr 2) 9 Laura Beckner 3) 14 Cam Garza 4) 15 Jerry King 5) 27 Josh Finner 6) 7h Shawn Hornus 7) 5 Ryan Hollister 8) 13 Wayne Parkhurst II 9) x15 Shelby Gokee 10) 44 Jarin Larner
A-Feature 1) 11 Brian Beckner 2) 18 Tyler Heeney 3) 33 Brian Boesel 4) 57 Ryan Kretzinger 5) 23 Tyler McGhan 6) 7 Lex Jarecki 7) 21 Ryan Gordon 8) 17 DJ Marciniak 9) 27 John Ward Jr