Menasco Wins 4th, Green & Latham Win 3rd as Bohanan and Evans Win 2nd
Rob Nugent, Track Announcer/Social Media/PR
THE EVENT
POCOLA, OK (June 24th, 2017) – The ninth points race of the season at the legendary Tri-State Speedway was a night of repeat winners. The 46th Annual Firecracker Spectacular and 5th Annual Curtis Tennant Memorial presented by Shamrock Bolt & Screw Company was forced to scramble by none other than Mother Nature herself. Thanks also to Crey Hoover Land and Cattle Company for assisting with the weekend’s events.
The Thursday night practice session went well with quite a few cars participating along with some fans enjoying the free admission. The predicted early Friday morning rains fell as predicted but the track was ready for it and the qualifying races and two support classes for the big Pure Stock event went on as planned. Then the somewhat predicted rain for the night came about 90 minutes earlier than we needed forcing us to cancel the Friday night events after only reaching about half way to intermission.
On Saturday morning, a decision had to be made by management, after looking at everything, as to what to do for the final night of the event. The decision was made to postpone the big money Pure Stock race until a later date and instead run a full show for all five classes and pay the Pure Stocks $750to win. The pay was also increased for the other positions in that class forward by one position over their normal pay. Along with the huge fireworks display and the added money for the USRA B-Mods by DustinsDream.net and Green Country Poultry Litter, making it a $600 to win race, 77 cars provided an incredible show for the packed grandstands.
The pre-race ceremonies started just before 8:00 PM with a memorial reading about the late Curtis Tennant. The invocation followed and during the National Anthem, several drivers, led by Jeff Tennant and Gerry Vaughn, made two parade laps while presenting our nation’s flag and several memorial flags honoring Curtis.
Heat race lineups for all classes, except the IMCA Modifieds, were determined by the driver’s draw at sign in. The IMCA Modifieds followed the published rules for that class, which utilizes the driver’s point average for starting positions. The classes, that drew for their starting heat position, advanced to their features via their finish in their heats. Plus, the last heat winner in each class, other than IMCA Modifieds, drew a number for the number of cars to invert for the A Feature.
At intermission, everyone had a chance to grab themselves some of the great food items from the concession and one of the limited-edition event T-shirts by Kevin Schmidt and Cuztom Graphics. The previous week’s winners that were on hand received their trophies and were interviewed by Michelle Walker. Then the lights went out for the huge fireworks salute to America which included many “ooh” and “ah” moments. The finale concluded with, what has almost become a tradition at the event of, a very large kerosene bomb that always catches everyone by surprise.
TOP THREE
The first race on the track after intermission was the USRA B-Mod A Feature paying $600 to win where Dean Green (28 – Springdale, AR) returned to Victory Lane for the third time this season which tied the number of wins of the second-place car, Hunter Byers (88 – Rogers, AR). Lonny Flanagan (7 - Rudy, AR) repeated his third-place finish from the previous week but remains the points leader with a 62-point margin.
Next was the Pure Stock A Feature that saw them racing for a $750 paycheck with increased pay for the other positions. Andrew Bohanan (51 – Stigler, OK) took home the win for his second of the season. A hard-charging Mike Smith (1S – Spiro, OK) crossed the line in second place ahead of Adam Gipson (20 – Lavaca, AR), who finds himself in second place in the points battle just 15 points behind the class leader.
The next A Feature was for the IMCA Modifieds. Kayden Menasco (49 – Muldrow, OK) finished first, for his fourth win of the season, ahead of Jake Davis (7D – Hackett, AR). Jason Payton (6 – Greenwood, AR) took home third place and finds himself in second place in points with only a four-point deficit.
Next up was the Super Stock A Feature where Ty Evans (5E – Fort Smith, AR) captured the checkered flag for the second time this season. Last week’s winner, Gean Davlin (26 – Shady Point, OK) crossed the line in second ahead of Grant Davis (1 – Muldrow, OK). With G. Davlin’s win last week and his second place finish this week, he moves with 15 points of the class leader, Randy Moses, Sr. (75 – Muskogee, OK).
The USRA Modifieds took to the high banks last for their A Feature. Trevor Latham (27 – Rogers, AR) took home his third win of the season and remains the class point leader. Kreg Dobson (79 – Hubert, OK) charged through the field for a second-place finish over last week’s winner, Brent Holman (17 – Rogers, AR).
All race results, including heats, are available by clicking on the Result tab. Season point standings for each class are also available by clicking on the Points tab.
NEXT TIME
Tri-State Speedway will be off this coming weekend of July 8th and will return to action on Saturday night, July 15th, 2017 with a full night of racing in all five classes. The Super Stocks will only be running for pay that night.
Don’t forget the new starting time of 8 PM with both pit gates and grandstand gates opening at 5 PM. Driver’s meeting is at 7 PM and hot laps are scheduled for 7:30 PM.
The complete 2017 racing schedule can always be found by clicking on the Schedule tab. Also, be sure to stay up to date with us via our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube which can be found by clicking the icons on the bottom of our website home page or by adding a “/” plus “Facebook”, “Twitter”, “Google+” or “YouTube” at the end so it looks like www.Tri-StateSpeedway.com/Facebook, etc.
We will see YOU soon!
UPCOMING EVENT(S):
• 19th Annual Super Stock Showdown presented by Shamrock Bolt & Screw Company and paying $5,000 to win on July 20, 21 and 22, 2017.
