By Steve Birmingham
Granite City, IL – The title chases ratcheted up another notch Saturday following Tri-City Speedway’s U-Haul Mid-Season Championships Saturday.
Tom Seets, once again proved perfect by winning his qualifying heat and the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Late Model headliner. Seets’ win stretched his lead in track points to 94 over second heat winner Ken Johnson and 98 over Terry McClintock. Chasing Seets at the feature finish were Pat Ryan, McClintock, Johnson and Paul Raymond.
Bert Jacoby narrowed the gap between himself and point-leader Terry Chester by winning his heat and the ShorTrack Series Sportsman feature. With the top six in points inverted for the start, Pat Chalmers and Bubb Mitchell took turns leading the first 19 laps. While the two busied themselves with a fight for the point, Jacoby and Chester slugged their way to the front and by the fifth circuit were third and fourth.
Jacoby tried Chester low several times through the corners but used a backstretch move to put the defending champion behind him for good. With only Mitchell in his sights, “Jake” tried almost every move in his arsenal but saved his best for last, blasting past Mitchell on a last lap restart and nailing his second win of the season. Chasing Jacoby home were Mitchell, Chester, Chalmers and Tony Walker. The qualifiers fell to Mitchell and Jacoby.
Street Stock leader Jim Laughlin won the battle by winning the main event over Ken Johnson, Jr., and David Parker, but saw his point lead shrink to a mere 10 markers over Parker. Parker and Casey Govero won the qualifiers.
The 600cc Micro Sprint go was a Brett Anderson clinic how to get around Tri-City’s quarter-mile bullring. Anderson, winner of the first qualifier, led flag to flag and sailed home by a 10-length margin over Christopher Massey and second heat winner Jason Howe. Point-leader Tom Ritter, coming home fourth, increased his lead to 38 points over Howe and 46 over Mark “The Gas Man” Gass.
Modified maven Joe Dresch solidified his lead with another victory, this time besting second-heat winner Wess Weinman and John Stanton. His win gives the defending champion a 74-point margin over B.J. Seets. Steve Meyer, Jr, won the second qualifier.
The landscape changed in the Factory Stock ranks with Ken Bell now atop the point heap by 16 tallies over Ralph Bradford. Bradford, winner of his qualifying heat, sped home first ahead of Bell and second heat winner Josh Porch. Mel Perkins, who led much of the early season title chase, began a two-week suspension for a July 5 on-track incident and was not in competition Saturday, which resulted in a 50-point drop to the third position.
www.tricitymotorsports.com
Granite City, IL – The title chases ratcheted up another notch Saturday following Tri-City Speedway’s U-Haul Mid-Season Championships Saturday.
Tom Seets, once again proved perfect by winning his qualifying heat and the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Late Model headliner. Seets’ win stretched his lead in track points to 94 over second heat winner Ken Johnson and 98 over Terry McClintock. Chasing Seets at the feature finish were Pat Ryan, McClintock, Johnson and Paul Raymond.
Bert Jacoby narrowed the gap between himself and point-leader Terry Chester by winning his heat and the ShorTrack Series Sportsman feature. With the top six in points inverted for the start, Pat Chalmers and Bubb Mitchell took turns leading the first 19 laps. While the two busied themselves with a fight for the point, Jacoby and Chester slugged their way to the front and by the fifth circuit were third and fourth.
Jacoby tried Chester low several times through the corners but used a backstretch move to put the defending champion behind him for good. With only Mitchell in his sights, “Jake” tried almost every move in his arsenal but saved his best for last, blasting past Mitchell on a last lap restart and nailing his second win of the season. Chasing Jacoby home were Mitchell, Chester, Chalmers and Tony Walker. The qualifiers fell to Mitchell and Jacoby.
Street Stock leader Jim Laughlin won the battle by winning the main event over Ken Johnson, Jr., and David Parker, but saw his point lead shrink to a mere 10 markers over Parker. Parker and Casey Govero won the qualifiers.
The 600cc Micro Sprint go was a Brett Anderson clinic how to get around Tri-City’s quarter-mile bullring. Anderson, winner of the first qualifier, led flag to flag and sailed home by a 10-length margin over Christopher Massey and second heat winner Jason Howe. Point-leader Tom Ritter, coming home fourth, increased his lead to 38 points over Howe and 46 over Mark “The Gas Man” Gass.
Modified maven Joe Dresch solidified his lead with another victory, this time besting second-heat winner Wess Weinman and John Stanton. His win gives the defending champion a 74-point margin over B.J. Seets. Steve Meyer, Jr, won the second qualifier.
The landscape changed in the Factory Stock ranks with Ken Bell now atop the point heap by 16 tallies over Ralph Bradford. Bradford, winner of his qualifying heat, sped home first ahead of Bell and second heat winner Josh Porch. Mel Perkins, who led much of the early season title chase, began a two-week suspension for a July 5 on-track incident and was not in competition Saturday, which resulted in a 50-point drop to the third position.
www.tricitymotorsports.com
