Eric Saunders captured his first Pro Sprint feature win last week and didn’t wait long to repeat. Starting fifth in the feature Saunders made steady progress through the field by staying steady and being able to run the bottom of the track. The Lakeville Indiana resident passed Goshen’s Tyler Fitzpatrick with 7 laps to go. A lap latter the race’s only caution came out and Saunders didn’t stumble a bit on the restart to lead to the checkers. Saunders’ brother Garrett Saunders restarted the race in fifth but passed a couple cars on the restart to finish second and maintain the points lead. Fitzpatrick rounded out the podium in third. The Pro Sprints will have the week off as the Great Lakes Super Sprints 360s come to Plymouth Speedway June 6.
The box score has Frank Marshall, Valpariso, winning his heat, starting on the front row and winning the feature. It was not that simple. A couple keys to his victory was Marshall’s car ran really well up against the cushion and starting on the outside of the front row was helpful. Second place finisher, Rennsselaer’s Derek Losh fell back a couple spots on the green as he worked his way to the top where his car hooked up. The early laps the top six cars Marshall, Losh, Bobby Stremme, Dylan Woodling, Josh Hesson and Matt Mitchell all ran close trading positions sometimes twice a lap. South Bend’s Stremme worked his way into second as the laps ran down. On the final yellow with a hand full of laps left Stremme gave Marshall a friendly wave to let him know that he was there. On the restart Marshall continued on the cushion with Stremme and Losh both close behind trying to find a way around. They could get even into the center of the corner but Marshall’s momentum up high was just to much to get past even with as much grip the damp track provided down low. On the white flag lap Losh stayed up high on the cushion to get past Stremme to move up one step on the podium. Losh maintains the points lead with Lafayette’s Mitchell in second and Cameron Head in third.
The non-wing 600 mini-sprints provided another exciting feature with 21 cars taking the green flag after transferring 5 from the B feature. Jacob Ruppe of South Bend and Chad Hartzell of Granger started on the front row with Plymouth’s Ed Cleveland and Alexis Adgate of Midddleville, Mich. making up row two. Hartzell got out front with Cleveland close behind when the first of several yellows came out. Hartzell and Cleveland continued to run close throughout the event as Blake Lamb, of Warsaw, made his charge from starting 13th to finish third. Ruppe finished fourth with Warsaw’s Dylan Woodling finishing fifth.
Hartzell leads the point race over Plymouth’s Garrett Wagoner by just 5 points and Cleveland by 14 points. The 600s will be in action again next week, expect another big field as the points race continues to be tight.
15 Super Street entries took the green flag on their feature which was a clean green flag non-stop event to the checkers. Calvin Peek Jr., of Hobart started on the front row and looked to run away and hide. Peek got out to a sizable lead when lapped traffic came into play. Ron Wilkes from Lowell, Ind. started sixth and was absolutely hooked up on the damp clay surface. When Peek hesitated for a moment in lapped traffic to pick his way through Wilkes pounced taking the lead and not looking back picked up another feature win. Peek finished second and Bob McLean came home third. Wilkes with three wins leads the points over McLean and Joe Spiewak from Merriville is currently in third.
The Thunder Stocks featured a lot of passing and positions swapped from green flag to checkers. Cole Schroeder of Knox started on the pole with Jeremy Sturgeon from Williamsport, Ind. on his outside. Schroeder would end up sixth and Sturgeon would retire and finish 11th. Kevin Kerlin picked up another feature win starting fourth with Wally Kerst of Williamsport, finishing second. Kerst started sixth with Austen Hubbard of Valparaiso in fifth on his inside, Hubbard would finish third only moving two positions. The rest of the field either gained a hand full of positions or dropped a hand full of positions. Bryan Banta, South Bend, ran a very competitive fourth position and currently leads the championship points over Chad Mclean and Kevin Kerlin.
Thunder Stocks will be in action again next week sharing the event with the Great Lakes Super Sprints, Kenny Wallace will be racing with the UMP Modifieds, the non-wing 600 Mini Sprints and Spectator racing. Regular starting time with racing at 7 p.m. with adult tickets $18, children 6-12 $5 and 5 years and under free. Presale tickets are available for $15 at the website plymouthspeedway.net. A regular exciting night of racing will be featured Saturday, June 16 with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour visiting Sunday, June 17 racing Late Models and Modifieds. Complete schedule, results and point standings available at plymouthspeedway.net.
Attached Photos:
Threewide.jpg Brothers Garrett Saunders (71) and Eric Saunders (349), of Lakeville Ind. race three wide with Jake James (99), of Harlan, Ind. through turns one and two. Eric Saunders would go on to win and Garrett Saunders would finish second in the Pro Sprint feature race Saturday evening at the Plymouth Speedway.
Topthreemods.jpg Frank Marshall (28) up on the cushion would hang onto win the modified race Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway. Bobby Stremme (53) and Derek Losh (21) would swap positions on the final lap to finish second and third.
prosprintpodium.jpg Brothers Garrett Saunders in second and Eric Saunders in first sit atop the podium with Tyler Fitzpatrick after the Pro Sprints feature at Plymouth Speedway Saturday. Eric Saunders using hand controls to pilot his sprint car as a result of being paralyzed from the chest down in a motocross accident, picked up his first feature win last week and his second this week.
Complete results:
Modifieds
A Feature 1: 1. 28M-Frank Marshall, [2]; 2. 21-Derek Losh, [1]; 3. 53-Bobby Stremme, [5]; 4. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [6]; 5. 18-Josh Hesson, [3]; 6. 14-Michael Thayer, [10]; 7. 10-Bradley Jameson, [9]; 8. 49S-Darek Snyder, [8]; 9. 0-Garrett Jameson, [13]; 10. 5-Scott Fitzpatrick, [14]; 11. 00-Cameron Head, [12]; 12. 2M-Matt Mitchell, [4]; 13. 25H-Bruce Hogue, [7]; 14. 12-Jeremy Nordman, [11]
Heat 1: 1. 21-Derek Losh, [5]; 2. 18-Josh Hesson, [4]; 3. 2M-Matt Mitchell, [6]; 4. 25H-Bruce Hogue, [2]; 5. 10-Bradley Jameson, [7]; 6. 12-Jeremy Nordman, [1]; 7. 0-Garrett Jameson, [3]
Heat 2: 1. 28M-Frank Marshall, [1]; 2. 53-Bobby Stremme, [3]; 3. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [2]; 4. 49S-Darek Snyder, [4]; 5. 14-Michael Thayer, [6]; 6. 00-Cameron Head, [5]; 7. 5-Scott Fitzpatrick, [7]
600 Open
A Feature 1: 1. 57-Chad Hartzell, [2]; 2. 45-Ed Cleveland, [3]; 3. 69-Blake Lamb, [13]; 4. 12-Jacob Ruppe, [1]; 5. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [8]; 6. 21-Brenton Lamb, [15]; 7. 29-Kayla Cleveland, [18]; 8. 0C-Andrew Cockman, [12]; 9. 15-Andy Hall, [14]; 10. 49-Brian Kunze, [10]; 11. 23-Kevin Hapner, [6]; 12. 21F-Kevan Free, [17]; 13. 28H-Austin Helm, [16]; 14. 91A-Jason ormsby, [7]; 15. 27J-Joseph Irons, [21]; 16. 10-Garrett Wagoner, [9]; 17. 07-Tyler Chalk, [11]; 18. 35-Noah Miller, [5]; 19. 91L-Alexis Adgate, [4]; 20. 38-Kenneth Elder, [20]; 21. 99-Zack Clark, [19]
B Feature 1: 1. 28H-Austin Helm, [1]; 2. 21F-Kevan Free, [4]; 3. 29-Kayla Cleveland, [5]; 4. 99-Zack Clark, [9]; 5. 38-Kenneth Elder, [10]; 6. 88-J.J. Billisitz, [6]; (DNS) 599-Ronnie Hapner, ; (DNS) 27J-Joseph Irons, ; (DNS) 76-Maddy Kinzer, ; (DNS) 13-Jim Sanderson,
Heat 1: 1. 45-Ed Cleveland, [1]; 2. 91L-Alexis Adgate, [2]; 3. 91A-Jason ormsby, [5]; 4. 49-Brian Kunze, [3]; 5. 69-Blake Lamb, [9]; 6. 28H-Austin Helm, [8]; 7. 21F-Kevan Free, [6]; 8. 27J-Joseph Irons, [4]; 9. 38-Kenneth Elder, [7]
Heat 2: 1. 23-Kevin Hapner, [2]; 2. 57-Chad Hartzell, [3]; 3. 3W-Dylan Woodling, [6]; 4. 07-Tyler Chalk, [5]; 5. 15-Andy Hall, [4]; 6. 13-Jim Sanderson, [7]; 7. 29-Kayla Cleveland, [1]; 8. 76-Maddy Kinzer, [8]
Heat 3: 1. 12-Jacob Ruppe, [3]; 2. 35-Noah Miller, [2]; 3. 10-Garrett Wagoner, [8]; 4. 0C-Andrew Cockman, [7]; 5. 21-Brenton Lamb, [4]; 6. (DNF) 599-Ronnie Hapner, [6]; (DNS) 88-J.J. Billisitz, ; (DNS) 99-Zack Clark,
Thunder Stocks
A Feature 1: 1. 34-Kevin Kerlin, [4]; 2. 65-Wally Kerst, [6]; 3. 114-Austen Hubbard, [5]; 4. 7B-Bryan Banta, [8]; 5. 12-Chad McLean, [7]; 6. 913-Cole Schroeder, [1]; 7. 48C-Wade Clemmons, [3]; 8. 35-Danny Dykhuizen, [10]; 9. (DNF) 53H-Curtis Hart, [13]; 10. (DNF) 18-Doug Grall, [9]; 11. (DNF) J3-Jeremy Sturgeon, [2]; 12. (DNF) 24D-Don Dykhuizen, [11]; (DNS) 39-Jeffrey Sturgeon,
Heat 1: 1. 34-Kevin Kerlin, [3]; 2. 48C-Wade Clemmons, [2]; 3. J3-Jeremy Sturgeon, [4]; 4. 12-Chad McLean, [5]; 5. 18-Doug Grall, [1]; 6. 24D-Don Dykhuizen, [6]; (DNS) 53H-Curtis Hart,
Heat 2: 1. 114-Austen Hubbard, [1]; 2. 913-Cole Schroeder, [2]; 3. 65-Wally Kerst, [4]; 4. 7B-Bryan Banta, [3]; 5. 35-Danny Dykhuizen, [5]; 6. 39-Jeffrey Sturgeon, [6]
Super Streets
A Feature 1: 1. 19-Ron Wilkes, [6]; 2. 88-Calvin Peek Jr, [2]; 3. 15-Bob McLean, [4]; 4. 92-Rusty Pleasant, [3]; 5. 51-Jason Fritz, [14]; 6. 28-Joe Spiewak, [5]; 7. 12-Matt Koval, [9]; 8. 79-Mike Fincher, [8]; 9. 44-David Fritz, [15]; 10. 82-Joe Spiewak Sr, [12]; 11. 10-CJ McLean, [13]; 12. 83-Greg Marlow, [10]; 13. 15C-Matt Carlisle, [7]; 14. 5-Brandon Williams, [1]; 15. 14-RJ Akers, [11]
Heat 1: 1. 19-Ron Wilkes, [3]; 2. 92-Rusty Pleasant, [4]; 3. 15-Bob McLean, [1]; 4. 15C-Matt Carlisle, [5]; 5. 12-Matt Koval, [6]; 6. 14-RJ Akers, [8]; 7. 10-CJ McLean, [2]; (DNS) 44-David Fritz,
Heat 2: 1. 88-Calvin Peek Jr, [1]; 2. 28-Joe Spiewak, [3]; 3. 5-Brandon Williams, [6]; 4. 79-Mike Fincher, [2]; 5. 83-Greg Marlow, [5]; 6. 82-Joe Spiewak Sr, [4]; (DNS) 51-Jason Fritz,
Pro Sprints
A Feature 1: 1. 349-Eric Saunders, [5]; 2. 71-Garrett Saunders, [6]; 3. 57-Tyler Fitzpatrick, [1]; 4. 18-Micheal Summers, [4]; 5. 2-Jake Gordon, [3]; 6. 42-Brayden Clark, [9]; 7. 99-Jack James, [2]; 8. 70-Eli Lakin, [7]; 9. 48-Nicholas Hull, [8]
Heat 1: 1. 2-Jake Gordon, [1]; 2. 349-Eric Saunders, [4]; 3. 71-Garrett Saunders, [2]; 4. 70-Eli Lakin, [3]; 5. 42-Brayden Clark, [5]
Heat 2: 1. 18-Micheal Summers, [1]; 2. 57-Tyler Fitzpatrick, [3]; 3. 99-Jack James, [2]; 4. 48-Nicholas Hull, [4]
