SWANSON WINS A WILD ONE AT GRUNDY
By: Michael J. Guglielmucci
Morris, Il- Kingsburg, CA native Kody Swanson cruised to victory Saturday night, while a few other drivers had a not-so-easy night. While taking the green flag to start the 30 lap main event in the D’Arcy GMC STARS/USAC D1 National Midget Division, several cars found themselves calling it a night before completing the first lap. While entering turn 1, Kyle Kettmann had a brake failure that ended up collecting Robbie Ray sending them both in the catch fence. Both drivers got out under their own power. As that accident was happening, another one occurred in turn number three. Nick Wagner attempted to come to a stop for the red flag conditions but a throttle stick sent him over one car, resulting in a flip as well and collecting several other cars. All drivers were treated and released right at the track.
After the debris was cleaned up, a complete restart occurred. Patrick Wilda Jr. took the early lead and held onto it for the first 17 laps. While holding off a hard charging David Byrne, that gave Swanson time to work his way up from his tenth starting spot. Swanson caught and passed Byrne on lap 12 and then proceeded to run down Wilda. A lap 16 caution bunched the field up and allowed Swanson and his Wilke-Pak Spike/Toyota to take over 2 laps later. Swanson would then go on to take a comfortable lead and never looked back, taking the victory by over 4 seconds. Wilda, Brad Greenup, Byrne and Jimmy Simpson completed the top five. Aaron Andruskevitch was the winner in the Hot Rod Barn Trophy Dash, while Byrne, Grant Galloway and last week’s winner Jimmy Anderson took home heat race victories.
The Town and Country Lanes Classic Modified series welcomed a new winner to the series on Saturday night. 15 year old up and coming driver Erica Ensor etched her name in the winners books. It wasn’t an easy night for Erica, though. She set fast time early in the night but got into some trouble in the Hot Rod Barn Trophy Dash, won by Scott Struthers, bending the front end. Her crew got it fixed and she jumped out front early on and never looked back in the feature. Following the young lady at the stripe was Struthers, Ernie McGeorge, heat race winner Mike McGeorge, with Sam Shew rounding out the top five.
The INEX Legends series also welcomed a new name to victory lane in this early 2012 season. Max McNamara hit a Grand Slam Saturday night by sweeping the night. McNamara set fast time, won the Hot Rod Barn Trophy Dash, took home the heat race and completing the “Grand Slam” bonus by winning the 20-lap feature. By hitting a Grand Slam during “Baseball at the Track” night, McNamara earned a $75 dollar bonus. Trailing McNamara at the finish was Rachael Pinkerman, last week’s winner Andy Jones, Anthony Metallo, and Drew Higginson.
In CSR SuperCup action, Jordan Caskey found victory lane by leading the final seven laps. Caskey caught Austin Kunert, who led the first 13 of 20 laps, and went on to take his first win in 2012. Mike Harrold picked up his first Hot Rod Barn Trophy Dash of the season, while Jamie Domski took home a heat race win. Rounding out the top five for the CSR SuperCups was Kunert, Opening Night victor Jaret James, Harrold, and Domski.
The D’Arcy GMC Short Track Auto Racing Series will have a week off on June 15th, but will be back on track June 23rd for “Ladies Night”. As always gates will be open at 5:00 pm with the first race at 6:30. For information on the D’Arcy GMC STARS series, log on to
www.stars-racing.com, “Like” them on Facebook,
www.facebook.com/shorttrackauto, or follow them on Twitter, @shorttrackauto.
