NASCAR Drivers Thrill, Four Features Heat up Plymouth Speedway
By: Anita Soltis
(Plymouth, IN) It was an exciting night of racing Saturday when NASCAR drivers Justin Allgaier and David Stremme went up against the regulars at Plymouth Speedway in the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds feature. Who would prevail?
It would take a while to figure that out as the Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints were the first to take the track. Aaron Davis was quick to take the lead and had a good lead on the field until a scary incident happened on the backstretch on lap 8. Nick Yoder flipped tail over nose after losing a wheel that went sailing into the outer part of the track along turn four. The race was red-flagged while crews attended to the driver. He was able to climb out of the car under his own power with no injuries. When the race went back to green, Davis took off back into the lead. Randy Shilling’s bad luck continued this week as he was running in third and made a mistake on lap 14 and Billy Cribbs was able to get by him. Shilling kept falling in the order and went around with Chad Hartzell with four laps to go in the feature. Shilling would spin again on the restart lap and his night was done. Meanwhile, Brad Nichols held his second position strong. Now running third, Cribbs spun on the last lap which moved up the field and Eric Saunders, who had been moving forward in the field throughout the race, captured third on the last lap. The dominant Davis picked up the feature win with Nichols in second and Eric Saunders in third.
“I can’t thank everybody enough. That’s what makes it happen. This feels great,” said Davis.
The Super Streets feature was a pretty straight forward race which isn’t always the case. Michael Clark took the early lead from the pole and had gotten a pretty good distance on the field with Brandon Roundtree and David Short running second and third. Roundtree spun on the fourth lap and had to go to the rear of the field. As more and more cars went into the infield for various issues, Clark enjoyed a first place finish while David Short had another podium finish in the second spot and Butch Fisher with his first podium finish of the season in third.
“I hadn’t had a lot of luck lately, but I’ve been racing a lot and the past couple of weeks have been really good. It’s great to be up on top again,” said Clark.
The Thunder Stock feature found a lot of activity and some battles for the leaders. Eric Brown started on the pole and dominated most of the race until lapped traffic came into play by lap 11. Brian Merritt got loose coming out of turn four on lap 13 and got into Brown. That contact caused a right rear flat for Brown and while he attempted to go on in the race he slipped back in the pack quickly and eventually had to call it a night. This allowed Bryce Shidler to take over the lead with Trenton Vogts in hot pursuit in second and John Rhoads right on his bumper. The pair and been working on each other for position until Vogts make a mistake on the second-to-the-last-lap and Rhoads capitalized which moved him to the second spot. Chris Joseph then went to work on Vogts on the last lap and Joseph crossed the finish line ahead of Vogts. Shidler came away with the hard-fought win with Rhoads claiming second and Joseph on the last spot on the podium.
“We didn’t really change anything from the beginning of the season. The car just sort of changed by itself and became competitive,” laughed Shidler.
The feature that everyone was waiting for was the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds race which NASCAR drivers Justin Allgaier and David Stremme were the featured drivers. Stremme was on the pole and showed dominance on the high groove of the track for the majority of the 30-lap feature. His right rear tire showed a little bit of use as the race went on and caused him to lose some time. Meanwhile, track regulars Jamie Lomax and Frank Marshall made their way through traffic and put some pressure on the special guests. Lomax battled Allgaier for position when they were running in the fifth position. As Allgaier was attempting to get by Tommy Beezley II on lap 16, Beezley II got a little sideways and Allgaier’s front bumper tapped Beezley II’s rear bumper which sent Beezley II spinning. Since Allgaier caused the caution, he was told to go to the rear of the field. While the race was still under caution, Beezley II made contact with Allgaier which caused damage to the right front tire of Allgaier’s No. 51 and it would end his night. Lomax had moved through the field to the second position and challenged Stremme for the lead. Stremme got a little too high coming out of turn four on lap 19 and Lomax was able to grab the lead. Even after two restarts, Lomax would prove his car was the one to beat in clean air and he was the first to cross the finish line with Stremme in second and Zeke McKenzie with a hard fought third place finish. McKenzie, Dillon Nusbaum and Frank Marshall had gone three wide out of turn four for the last podium spot and McKenzie edged them out for the placement.
“It was a really good racetrack tonight and the racing was great on the high groove. It was a lot of fun,” smiled Lomax.
Next week’s action at Plymouth Speedway will be a Saturday night special with the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds, Super Streets, Thunder Stocks and the Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints. Racing will start at 7 p.m. ET. For more information on ticket prices, visit our website at
www.plymouthspeedway.net.
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