Flat Rock Speedway

Flat Rock, MI  (4-25-09)--  The long, harsh winter is officially over—Flat Rock Speedway is open!  “The Rock” began its 56^th season of operation Saturday night under cloudy skies and pleasant temperatures.  The rain and storms pounded the area to the north of the track, but things were dry all evening, allowing the 7-Up Season Opener to take place.  Dennis Strickland, Billy Earley, Clyde McKee and Eric Fitzpatrick collected the feature wins on a night that saw action and accidents in all 3 divisions.

For photos, visit Performance Images or ARCA Nation.

Strickland led every lap in the 50 lap ARCA Moran Chevrolet/Miller Lite Late Model feature on his way to victory.  With an inversion of 6, Dennis zipped away on the start and held the point throughout.  Eric Lee, the fast qualifier at 11:734, made his move to the front, using the outside lane, with about 12 laps to go.  The defending champ got to second as the checkered flag fell on the field.  Keith Nelson turned in a great run with a third place finish, Ron Allen was fourth and Steve Cronenwett Jr. fifth.  Ricky Kargel, Paul Pelletier, Michael Simko, Stan Yee Jr. and Brian Norton completed the top ten.  A lap 14 incident eliminated Dick Barker, Joe Hawes and Steve Peters.  Nelson, Peters and Barker took the heat races.  19 cars were on hand.
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A wild 20 lap ARCA Figure 8 feature saw Billy Earley sneak by Robbie Loving in lapped traffic to score the win.  Loving led at the drop of the green and motored out front with Earley in tow.  As the lead duo approached lapped traffic with 2 to go, Loving got sandwiched between 2 cars and got up under Chuck Pankow’s rear deck lid, picking his car up in the air.  Earley zipped by on the outside to grab the lead and the win.  Intersection traffic was at a premium as 18 cars showed for the first night of 2009, making things interesting the entire event with near-misses.   Jeremy Miller and Dennis Whisman also got around Loving in the final lap to take second and third, respectively.  Fourth was Loving and Greg Studt was fifth, followed by Jeremy Vanderhoof, Gary Cronenwett, Anthony Terris, Brice Thomsen and Scott Apperson.  Jerry Lee and Nick Bradley collided on lap 8 as Nick spun and Lee had no place to go, resulting in a hard crash.  Both drivers were fine.  Whisman set the Loving Auto Care fast time at 20:567.  Lee, Terris and Thomsen took the heat wins.

Veteran Clyde McKee stayed in control the entire way as he topped Rich Frantz and Randy DeMaggio to win the 25 lap ARCA Street Stock A Main event.  DeMaggio looked outside early on as he challenged Clyde for the top spot.  Frantz took the inside lane as the event wound down and even got to the door of McKee in lapped traffic, but Clyde held on to take the victory.  A 6 car pack stayed glued together throughout the contest, with some great racing back and forth for position.  Dave Tanner was fourth and Derek Wiley was fifth, followed by Tim Moore, Regan Ford, Dan Ford Jr., Rob Moore and Jeff Kurzyniec.  Moore set fast time for the A Main 24 car field at 13:370.  Ford Jr., Steve Prucnell and Kevin Stepinski took the heat races wins.

The 15 lap B Main saw a great 3 car battle for the lead between Eric Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Rae and and Lonnie York.  Eric and Jimmy ran side by side for the first 9 laps until Rae lost it and tagged the frontstretch wall.  On the restart, York darted low to go for the lead, but Eric had enough to hang on for the win.  York came home second, rookie Darrell Krause third, Billy Cronce fourth and rookie Alan Beno fifth, followed by Chris Diovardi, rookie Anthony Camilli, Joe Gramlich, Jim Stocker and rookie Jimmy Little.  York posted quick time at 14:142, with heats to Rae and Anthony Camilli.

It’s back to action next Saturday, May 2 at Flat Rock Speedway with Corrigan Oil/Armed Forces Night.  All military personnel will be admitted FREE with military ID.  The ARCA Late Models, Figure 8’s and Street Stocks will again battle in the 3 division race card.  Time trials are set for 5 p.m. and racing begins at 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 3 is the annual Flat Rock Historical Society Flea Market at the track, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Admission is free to the grounds. For sale space, call 734-782-5220.