Flat Rock Speedway

Brian Bergakker, winner of the Moran Chevrolet/Stan Yee Memorial 150 at Flat Rock: “That's awesome to hear I’m the first to win three (Stan Yee Memorial races) in a row. Worked hard for this one. The car ran hot the entire time. I guess I didn’t hydrate enough for this one. It was hot in the car. Yeah, a lot of guys are overheating stuff and it helped me a little bit. But I’ll tell you what, we got really lucky during the whole race ... we only had to restart on the outside once and that was outside of Eric Lee. It really helps here on the bottom on the restart, pick off a couple cars and ride a little bit. I really like the track. It suits my driving style, very little braking, small motor stuff. I like the challenge of this place, one, two, three grooves depending on the night. The races here, everyone races clean, and it’s hard racing. It’s fun to come here and go home with a straight race car,” said the driver of the Central Transport, Sweet Mfg., Senneker Performance, Michigan Marking, Earnest Performance #12. Brian told Ann Yee, Stan Sr.,’s widow, “I love coming to this race, I didn’t know your husband (Stan Yee Sr), but I know Stan (Jr.) really well and he’s a good friend and one of the reasons I come to this race,” upon receiving his trophy.

   The Stan Yee Memorial 150 came into existence in 2009 and Brian Bergakker has the most wins under this banner, three wins in a row. Tonight’s race was the 11th running of the annual race and the only other driver to win multiple Stan Yee 150s is Mike Root, winning the race in 2010 and 2011.

   The annual 150-lap race has been contested since at least 1996 often part of the Gold Cup Series. Six drivers have multiple wins in the event but only one driver has four 150s on his resume, Bill Steinhilber with three consecutive wins in 1996, 1997, 1998 and his fourth in 2000; Dave Kuhlman won in three successive years 2001, 2002, 2003; Eric Lee was victorious in 2004, 2007 and 2011. The sixth driver with multiple wins is Harold Fair Jr winning in 2005 and 2014.

   Conner Zbozien matched a career high finish of second tonight, finishing 1.852 seconds behind Bergakker. “Had an amazing night at the Stan Yee Memorial 150! We qualified second and started 11th in a field of 20. We worked our way up to sixth but dropped back to 12th on a restart. We knew we had plenty of time and patiently saved tires and worked our way through the field. We finished with strong second! A big thanks to all my sponsors, Sommers Marine, Blue Water Industrial, Uptown Electric, Michigan Independent Door Company, Arin Incorporated, BC Motorsports, Performance Fabrication and Exhaust, McQuade Heating and Cooling, Gil’s Northwood Collision, all my friends and family that came out to support me, and Senneker Performance for an amazing car after what happened last race!”

   Craig Everage rounded out the Top three. It his second podium finish in the 150 (he finished second in 2019)  “That was an awesome race. Brian Bergakker does it again. That was all we had. The #10 (Conner Zbozein) got me with about 10 to go. I’m happy for him … Great job Conner. It was a great race, thank you to the staff and the Stan Yee Family. Thank you fans for coming out to the race,” said the driver of the EverageAuto.com, Scott Hantz Hurricane Speedshop (Set up and Shocks). #101.

   Stan Yee Jr qualified third and came home fifth, his best finish since the race has been the Yee 150 (he had another 5th in 2005 and his career best is a third in 2003) “We had a really good car, qualified third. Then we got into a little trouble with a lapped car and then the 16 car (Hayden Sprague) cut down on me in a corner and had to start at the rear again. The whole time we were trying to save the car to the end, that's how you win this race. We had a good chance, we had a really good car but worked our way all the way up mostly on the outside. Finished fifth so I'm really happy with that. Had a whole lot of family and friends there so it was a great time,” said the driver of the Yee’s Collision #33.

   Early leader, Eric Lee led twice but a tire going flat curtailed his run to a fourth in in the 150. He finished sixth in his Lee Motorsports Inc., Action Drywall, Todd Rosebrugh Trucking, Lixey Storage #5.

   Justin Schroeder’s finish doesn’t highlight how well he really ran. He was running second to Brian Bergakker when he suffered a flat tire. He was unable to get to the pits and slowed to a stop on the track Unfortunately, he was docked five laps for bringing out a caution by stopping on the track with a flat tire.  But oh the drive he gave those final 39 laps. After changing the tire, he restarted nearly a half lap behind the end of the field and he was, well, off to the races in his G Michael Kabot Orthodontics, Maybee Water Hauling, and JMS Transport #4. Spending most of those laps in the second groove and proceeded to pass one car after the other. When the checker flag fell, the results will show him with a 11th place finish, but if he would’ve been on the lead lap, he would’ve finished third. I looked at Race Monitor, and it showed the total time it took the drivers to finish the 150 laps and Schroeder spent the third lowest time to complete the laps after Bergakker and Zbozien.

   Dennis Redersdorf finished 10th in his first Stan Yee 150 (or any of the 150s). From his Facebook page: “We had a good run at the Stan Yee 150 last night. Not the best qualifying lap so we started 19th out of a 20-car field. The plan was to stay out of trouble and be there at the end. We did most of that. Something happened up front on a restart around lap 30 something and it filtered back to us. But we raced on. Thanks to a few lucky dog free passes, we stayed on the lead lap until about lap 130. Then got passed by the leader. We stuck to our plan and kept going. Ended up getting lapped one more time by the leader only on the white flag lap. We ended our night with a 10th place finish and a little bump work to do before our next race on August 7th at Flat Rock. Lots of thanks to George Burgess, Liam Starrs, Chad Watson and Mike Burkley for getting things done in the pits and on the radio. They did an awesome job. Race on our friends and see you again on August 7th.”

   Jeremy Vanderhoof had an interesting Figure 8 feature. He was leading by quite a margin over Dennis Whisman Jr, probably most of the straightaway of the Figure 8 track, when he was clipped barely by Brice Thomsen. Jeremy spun, didn’t lose the lead, but left a lot of debris. The red was thrown for the debris and he retained his lead, winning his first feature of the season (last one was August 2019). “It’s great to be back in victory lane. Never sure when you’ll get back here. Thanks to all the fans for coming out.” It may have been the shortest victory lane in history as the fans were being shooed out of the stands because of lightning in the area. It was Jeremy’s 31st Figure 8 win at Flat Rock.

   Some best finishes and stats for the Yee Memorial:

• Hayden Sprague had his best finish, seventh
• Stan Yee Jr had his best finish fifth and his best in a 150 since 2005
• It was Eric Lee’s sixth Top 10 in the Yee and 11th Top 10 in the 150
• Frank Jiovani scored his fourth Top 10 in the Yee
• It was the sixth Top 10 for Mike Root
• Dennis Redersdorf and Bryan Moore were in their first Yee
• There have been 81 drivers that have competed in the Yee
• Most Yee Memorial starts (12 Yee Memorials held):
  • Harold Fair Jr, Paul Pelletier, Steve Cronenwett Jr: 12
  • Dennis Strickland, Stan Yee Jr: 11
  • Eric Lee, Justin Schroeder: 10
  • Craig Everage, Joe Hawes, Mike Root; 9
• Best Average Finishes in Yee Memorial (drivers with at least three Yee races):
  • Brian Bergakker, Mike Luberda: 6.0
  • Mike Root, Dakota Carlson: 6.5
  • Brad Riethmeyer: 7.0
  • Paul Pelletier, Jeff Ganus: 7.3
  • Jack Varney Jr: 8.0
• Most starts in all 150s held (there’s been 25 150s held):
  • Stan Yee Jr: 25
  • Dennis Strickland: 21
  • Joe Hawes; 20
  • Harold Fair Jr, Paul Pelletier, Ron Allen: 19,
  • Eric Lee: 18
• Best Average Finishes in all 150s (drivers with at least three 150 races):
  • Rick Knowles: 4.4
  • Dave Kuhlman: 5.6
  • Bill Steinhilber: 5.9
  • Mike Luberda, Brian Bergakker: 6.0
  • Dakota Carlson, 6.5