August 31, 2015 at 2:42 p.m.
Wild night of racing at TNT Motor Speedway
Wild night of racing at TNT Motor Speedway
In the penultimate points-paying night of the season, the only way for some of the point leaders could actually have a chance of losing the championship is to falter while their nearest rivals in the standings excel. That's exactly what took place Saturday night.
Rhinelander's Cory Allen went into Saturday night's races with a comfortable 26-point lead over James Koga in the TNT Pro Truck class. But Koga started off the night with a heat race win. Allen wound up fifth in that heat.
Could it have been the full moon?
In the feature, Koga jumped out to an early lead, while Allen worked his way through traffic. Then, with 5 laps to go, Allen moved past Koga to take the lead. Winning the feature would have basically clinched the track championship for Allen. But as Allen was building up a big lead going into the final two laps of the race, Allen's truck suffered a blown shock to put him toward the back of the pack.
That set up a race for the win between Koga and Pelican Lake's Herb Dettman.
"Myself and others saw James (Koga) stay on the high side, so I and others dropped down to the bottom side to take advantage of what happened to Cory (Allen)," explained Dettman.
Koga stayed on top, and went on for the win.
"James (Koga) would have had to make a mistake for me to get the lead, and he didn't," commented Dettman.
While Koga took the win, Allen finished fifth and saw his lead sliced by nearly a third.
"This was the first time I have ever won both a heat and a feature. What made the night even more special was that my grandmother got to see both wins," Koga remarked.
In the WISSOTA Street Stocks, Bruce Crossing, Michigan's Jordan Kurtti clinched the points championship by cruising to a win in the heat race. In the feature, Kurtti worked his magic to get around his friend and teammate David Blackberg halfway through the race,
Kurtti looked to be out for a joy ride in front of all the other cars as the race was winding down. Then a caution came out and Kurtti's lead disappeared.
On the Delaware re-start, Kurtti had the front row to himself. with Blackberg and Tomahawk's Derek Eberl in Row 2. When the flag dropped, Eberl snuck between both Kurtti and Blackberg to take the lead and steal the victory.
The drama continued in WISSOTA Midwest Modified class in a race that pitted a pair of track champions - Rhinelander's Dan Melton, who locked up the TNT title a week prior, and George Truscott the titlist at Adventure Mountain Speedway in Greenland, Mich.
A few weeks earlier, Truscott beat Melton in the Border War race at Adventure Mountain. Melton returned the favor Saturday night.
"I've chased George (Truscott) all year at Adventure Mountain and I know how good of a driver he is," commented Melton.
Truscott easily won the heat race, with Melton and Dennis Mikkelson in hot pursuit throughout the race.
In the feature Ron Lillie of Wakefield, Mich. impressed the fans by getting a lead in his first race at TNT. Truscott eventually worked his way to the point, with Melton and Mikkelson right behind.
"George (Truscott) was running a low line for the entire race, and I was one groove outside of him," Melton said. "It was a line that my car simply handled flawlessly...but I knew that George was still the one to beat."
Then on the final turn of the final lap, Melton got his nose in front of Truscott to get the win.
Next up were the Pure Stocks. It is in the Pure Stock (a.k.a. Bomber) class that three drivers were all in the running for the championship - points leader, Tyler Lundberg of Rhinelander, followed by the Eagle River tandem of David Blackberg and Jason Melton.
Just as in the TNT Pro Trucks. Lundberg just needed to stay in front of Blackberg and Melton in all the remaining races.
None of the three took the checkered flag in the first heat race. That distinction went to Eagle River's Jake Ison. However, Blackberg finished second to Lundberg's third, cutting Lundberg's lead by a point.
That opened the door for Melton, who won the second heat race.
Early on in the feature Ison, Jason Eisel, Mike Rick, and Devin Wulf led the way. Then a late race altercation not only brought out the caution, but involved Lundberg who had to go to the back of the pack.
On the restart, Blackberg quickly weaved through traffic to get on the bumper of Ison. With only a couple laps to go, Lundberg cut through traffic like a hot knife through butter.
On the final lap, Ison was in the lead while Blackberg and Lundberg were tussling amongst each other. Ison won the race, and even when the race was over, Lundberg continued to tussle with Blackberg.
Despite the altercation, officials ruled Lundberg would keep his third-place finish and the points he got in the feature.
The racers in the Micro Sprint 600s didn't want to be lost in the shuffle of all the excitement going on, so the fastest cars on the track put on an amazing display of speed and handling.
Deerbrook's Jake Reif and Shiocton's Denver Larson hit speeds of close to 80 mph while racing inches apart. The two battled side by side for the entire race. In the end it was 15-year-old Larson holding off the 18-year-old Reif for the win.
The feature proved to be a carbon copy of the heat with Larson holding off Reif for the win.
Even the Stingers and Junior Sprint racers wanted to use the mystical powers of the full moon to put the fans on the edge of their seats.
Merrill's Zach Degner and Rhinelander's Bobby Sheldon were bumper to bumper in both the heat and the feature. Degner got the heat win, while Sheldon took the feature. Both races went right down to the finish line.
In the Junior Sprints, Phelps' Dustin Kangas earned a sweep of the heat and the feature. He had to work his way around Deerbrook's Josie Rae Reif and Conover's Dayton Rein in both races.
Kangas has clinched the Junior Sprint Points Championship.
"Jerry (Grasse) told me to set some goals every night I race, from my starts to restarts, to the lines I use, and that is what I have been working on all year," Kangas commented.
TNT Motor Speedway will conclude its regular season with a two-day special this weekend. On Saturday night, the track will hold its final points-paying race of the season. That will be followed by a special race Sunday afternoon.
While the points season will be over, TNT Motor Speedway will host Wisconsin's version of "Border Wars," on Saturday, Sept. 26. The races will pit drivers from Michigan's Upper Peninsula against those from Wisconsin.
At the "Border War" races held in the Upper Peninsula's Adventure Mountain Speedway, the U.P. Drivers won by a score of 5-1. The lone Wisconsin win came from Allen in the Pure Stock Class.
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