The Sprints on Dirt always impress when they come to Plymouth Speedway and the drivers put on a show for the fans Saturday night for the annual Earl Gaerte Classic.

Randy Hannagan fought his way to the front by the halfway point but it wasn’t easy for him to get past Dennis Yoakam who started out the feature out front.  He had to pass front runners Shawn Dancer and Gregg Dalman at the beginning of the race.  Dalman had issues with his sprint car which moved Hannagan up and then he set his sights on Yoakam.  Once he got out in clean air he stayed there.

Danny Lasoski, 2001 World of Outlaws Champion, came to Plymouth Speedway just for this race and proved why he was a champion.  He ran in the fifth spot for a good portion of the race but a late caution helped him get closer to the front runners and close the gap on the restarts.  He ran out of laps to get around Hannagan so he would finish second.
It was Hannagan with the win, Lasoski with second place and Yoakam with the third spot on the podium.

“That was a great race,” said Hannagan.  “Happy we could make it here to race.  We’ll be back!”

Eric Brown keeps finding wins in the Thunder Stock Division.  He made it look easy Saturday night as he led the entire race from the pole position.  Bob Bourff was giving him a little bit of a challenge early on but Bourff had engine trouble and finished last in the feature.  Bryce Shidler, who was waiting for parts to fix “a bunch of problems” before the race, brought home the second place trophy after he fought for position with Dennis Freeland and Chris Joseph.  Paul Minter came out of nowhere near the end of the race and snagged the third place spot on the podium.

“This win right here – I can’t tell you how good this feels,” said Brown.  “At 9 a.m. today, I didn’t have an engine to put in this car!  My cousin, Paul Minter, (who finished third) gave me an engine to race tonight.  Thanks to him I got the win tonight.”

Michael Clark claimed another victory in the Super Street Division Saturday night.  He started on the outside pole and didn’t hesitate to take the lead from Bob McLean who started first.  McLean got shuffled back in the start of the race and fought back for a fourth place finish.  Travis Wolford moved up a spot when second place runner David Short had an issue with his car and had to pull into the infield when he realized his night was over.  Last week’s winner Tommy Beezley II managed to get into the top three when he got around Randy Akers with whom he had battled for position for several laps before making the pass.  Travis Wolford cruised around the track to get a second place finish on the night. It was Michael Clark who was dominant – leading by five seconds at one point.

“I hope we have a lot more of these this year!” said Clark.  “Thank you to everyone who has helped me in this sport.  This is awesome.”

The UMP Modifieds took the track for the last feature of the night and one of the most talked about drivers of the season took the checkered flag.  Jamie Lomax led from the drop of the green flag and didn’t look back.  In fact, the top five racers didn’t move around much from their starting positions.  Derek Losh got by Frank Marshall immediately and was able to finish in the second spot with Frank Marshall in third.

“There was a great field of cars tonight,” commented Lomax.  “I thought about taking the Gaerte challenge but I didn’t want to give up the pole – especially with the talent of these drivers.  It’s always tough here but it’s beginning to feel like home.”

The Gaerte challenge offered the winner of the B Feature to start the A Main from a starting spot – 11th to 20th – and if that driver won the A Main then $500 extra would be given to that driver.

The next weekend of racing won’t be a slouch of an event as Plymouth Speedway will host the QuickCar Late Models and NILMS Fastrack Late Models on May 24.  Pro/Crate Late Models, Super Streets, Thunder Stocks, UMP Modifieds, and 600 Open Sprints will be featured.  Brian Ross will be at the track.  You won’t want to miss it!  For more information, visit www.plymouthspeedway.net.

 


By: Anita Soltis