History was made Saturday night at the new Plymouth Speedway in northern Indiana. A former asphalt speedplant now in its’ third season running as a dirt track hosted its’ first ever late model show with a visit from the QuickCar Dirt Late Model Series in what was billed as the “East vs West Challenge”. Only the East, or Northern Indiana Late Model Series failed to have one driver represent. Despite that fact, a field of 13 cars signed into the pits and proceeded to put on a heart-pounding show before a tremendous crowd in what is becoming the norm at Plymouth.
And one man will forever linked to the answer of a speedway trivia question no doubt. That man was Jeremy McLaughlin of Danforth, IL, who found himself starting on the pole alongside Shawn Diggs of Leroy, IL. McLaughlin would get the jump on Diggs and the rest of the field at the drop of the green flag and lead the field into turns one and two. With passing at a premium on the tight 3/8-mile, McLaughlin focused his attention on holding the bottom and hitting his marks lap after lap. Meanwhile, two-time feature winner and series point leader Steve Lance Jr. of Cuba, IL, was making his forward from his tenth starting position and by lap six would be draped all over McLaughlin shadowing his every move and waiting for a mistake. Despite opening the door on several occasions in the later stages of the 25-lap affair, Lance was unable to capitalize on McLaughlin, who was the 2013 Kankakee County Speedway track champion.
McLaughlin was twice able to use the lapped car of newcomer Chris Klahn of Rensselear, IN at just the right moment to separate himself from the clutches of Lance, but each time Lance wasted little time in reeling McLaughlin back in to set up another passing opportunity. A late race caution would set up a two lap shootout with a clear track ahead and Mclaughlin sealed the deal scoring his first win of the season to get the monkey off his back after a couple of tough outings at both Lincoln and Kankakee.
Chad Osterhoff would run a solid race on the dry slick track to finish third while Diggs would snare fourth, just ahead of Doug Hayes, who scored a personal best fifth place finish.
QuickCar Dirt Late Model Series President Tom Smith would like to thank Dairy Queen of Plymouth for generously donating $100 to the top three finishers, as well as Mary Schwartz DPM, and Phillip Worrick, President of NILMS/Fastrack Series, who generously provided additional money to the Late Model payout and raised the start payout to $150.
The series heads to Spoon River Speedway in Canton, IL tomorrow night for the finale of the three day race weekend.
Summary of Results (13 cars)
Heat 1 8-laps – 1. 34 Jeremy McLaughlin 2. 23H Doug Hayes 3. 95 Dave Polak Jr. 4. 72 Brian Ross 5. 7 Jimmy Walker
Heat 2 8-laps – 1. 78 Shawn Diggs 2. R1 Randy Manos 3. 19 Chad Osterhoff 4. Levi Ashby 5. 25 Steve Lance Jr.
Feature 25-laps, $1,000 to win
1. 34 Jeremy Mclaughlin (1) $1,100
2. 25 Steve Lance Jr. (10) $700
3. 19 Chad Osterhoff (4) $500
4. 78 Shawn Diggs (2) $350
5. 23H Doug Hayes (3) $300
6. 72 Brian Ross (7) $250
7. 1A Levi Ashby (8) $200
8. 95 Dave Polak Jr. (6) $225
9. 7 Jimmy Walker (9) $200
10. 13 Shawn Amor (12) DNF $175
11. 27K Chris Klahn (11) DNF $150
12. R1 Randy Manos (5) DNF $150
13. 23M Kyle Madison (13) DNF $150
Hard Charger – 25 Steve Lance Jr. +8
Lap Leaders – 34 Jeremy McLaughlin 1 – 25
Hard Luck Award – 23M Kyle Madison
Paul D. Bayne
Director of Public Relations
Kankakee County Speedway
www.KankakeeCountySpeedway.com
@KankakeeCoSpdwy
kankakeecountyspeedway@gmail.com
Quick Car Dirt Late Model Series
www.dirtlatemodelseries.com
@QuickCarDLMS