Flat Rock Speedway

Flat Rock, MI—August 21, 2021:  Harris Mechanical Season Championship Night at Flat Rock Speedway saw Eric Lee (ARCA Moran Chevrolet Late Model), Dennis Whisman Jr. (ARCA Figure 8), Greg Studt (ARCA DTS Drive Train Specialists Street Stock A Main)  and Robert Stewart  (Street Stock B Main) crowned with their 2021 division track championships, respectively. 

It was a night of firsts, as 3 of the 4 feature winners earned their initial Flat Rock wins.  Conner Zbozien, Lance Lipasek and Rob Liedel grabbed their momentous wins, while Jeremy Vanderhoof took his 2^nd win of the season.  Ben Harris, a former driver and the boss of Harris Mechanical, along with his family members, presented the trophies to the feature winners in the Monroe Asphalt Winner’s Circle.

The 50 lap ARCA Moran Chevrolet Late Model feature went green flag the entire distance.  Despite a short field, the competitive race saw recent high school graduate Conner Zbozien snap Steve Cronenwett’s 3-race win streak.  That duo started on the front row and ran door to door for the first 4 laps until Conner took control.  The youngster kept about a 10 car length lead for much of the race.  Cronenwett closed in just slightly on a couple of occasions, but could not catch Zbozien as he zipped to his first win.  Cronenwett Jr., Stan Yee Jr., Justin Schroeder, Chris Benson, Paul Pelletier, Frank Jiovani, Lee, Bryan Moore and George Rangel completed the finishing order.  Cronenwett set quick time at 11:803.  Schroeder and Lee took the heat wins.

The top 3 in the feature-Zbozien, Cronenwett Jr. and Yee Jr., collected the Moran Chevrolet Championship bonus money of $300, $200 and $100, respectively.

Lee edged out Cronenwett by 20 markers to capture his 5^th Flat Rock Late Model crown.  The #5, owned by his father, Steve Lee, who also is a former Flat Rock champion, thanked his crew, sponsors and family in the post-race interview.  Eric’s other titles were in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011.

While Jeremy Vanderhoof picked up the win in the 25 lap ARCA Figure 8 Championship feature race, Dennis Whisman Jr.’s third place run locked up the track championship, his second title in a row in his career.  Dennis nosed out Jakob Lee for the top spot in 2021.  Vanderhoof took the lead on the green flag, avoided intersection action and sped to win #2 of the season.  Eugene Worden took second, Whisman Jr., third, Lee fourth and Ethen Lambert fifth, followed by John Lambert, Dave Lambert, Johnny Whisman, Brice Thomsen and Stephanie Bradley.  Lee and John Lambert notched heat wins, while Worden’s fast time was a lap of 20:865 on the Figure 8 course.

Youth continues to be served at Flat Rock, as rookie Lance Lipasek, a high school student, made the pass under race leader Jeff Metdepenningen on lap 23, then survived several restarts to win his first-ever feature at Flat Rock in the 30 lap ARCA DTS Drive Train Specialists Street Stock A Main Championship race.  Several drivers challenged Jeff throughout the contest.  The low groove was the fastest Saturday night, and the evenly-matched field exchanged positions lap after lap.  Lipasek, a graduate from the Quarter Midget ranks, dove to the bottom of turn 2 to wrestle the lead away and held on for his big win.  Metdpenningen held on to second, Jeremy Vanderhoof was third, Greg Studt fourth and Caleb Barron fifth.  David Liaeff, Rob Moore Jr., Nick Shanks, Rob Randa and Johnny Rangel completed the top ten. 

The 20 lap ARCA DTS Drive Train Specialists Street Stock B Main ran start to finish under the green flag.  Rob Liedel took the lead from David Hanna early on and scored his first-ever win.  Rob, driving the car that Alan Kennedy raced, dedicated the win to him.  Alan passed away last summer.  Hanna, Taylor Papineau, George Burgess, Mike Miller, Justin Peterman, Robert Stewart, Rich Abel, Joe Rozek, Aaron Greathouse and Ryan Smith were next in line at the checkered flag.

Moore Jr. set fast time for the 31-car field at 13.400.  Hanna led the B field with a lap of 14:028.  Heat race winners were Studt, Landon Schuster, Trevor Farmer, Papineau and Peterman, who collected his first-ever checkered flag in a great run in his heat race.

Greg Studt iced his Street Stock A Main Championship with his 4^th place finish. The title is Greg’s third in the class (also in 2016 and 2019) and his 11^th overall in ARCA competition.  Greg is the only driver to win championships in each of the 3 classes at Flat Rock-Late Model, Figure 8 and Street Stock.  Those 3 classes have been Flat Rock’s mainstay since 1977.

Rookie Robert Stewart nosed out Mike Miller to capture the Street Stock B Main title.  The #68 machine was very consistent week in and week out.

Saturday, August 28 is the date for The Vault Antiques and Treasures Enduro Series Championship race.  The 250-lap contest will highlight the evening of action, which has a special start time of 6 p.m.

The Enduro class will have a practice, followed by group qualifying.  The 250 lap feature, run non-stop except for red flag incidents, will serve as the finale’ of the night.

The DTS Drive Train Specialists Street Stocks will compete in a non-point event, featuring a “progressive” show format.  There will be no qualifying for the class.  Qualifying heat races will be determined by a pill draw, with the finishes of those heat races setting up the A and B features for the Street Stocks.

The pit gates will open at 2:30, practice begins at 4:30 and racing starts at 6 p.m. 

There is no advance ticket sale for this race.  ALL tickets will go on sale race day at 4:30 p.m. at the track.