Login |
forgot?
Watch LIVE at | Events | FAQ | Archives
Sponsor 923
Sponsor 717

DirtonDirt.com

All Late Models. All the Time.

Your soruce for dirt late model news, photos and video

  • Join us on Twitter Join us on Facebook
Sponsor 525

Daily Dirt 03/28/2024 13:49:18

Sponsor 743
August 7
Merritt Speedway,
Lake City, MI
Sanction: Sunoco American Late Model Series (Wood Tic Dan Salay Memorial ) - $33,000
Information provided by: Staff and track reports (last updated August 8, 2:14 pm)
Schlenk takes $33,000 thriller in ALMS Wood Tic
Wood Tic Dan Salay Memorial
  1. Rusty Schlenk
  2. Eric Spangler
  3. Dona Marcoullier
  4. Brandon Thirlby
  5. Rich Bell
  6. Andrew Terrill
  7. Travis Stemler
  8. David Hilliker
  9. Mike Vandermark
  10. Jeep Van Wormer
  11. Joey Burch
  12. Colin Shipley
  13. Ryan Lanphierd
  14. J.C. Witherspoon
  15. Mike Staszak
  16. Chad Finley
  17. Cody Bauer
  18. Dave Baker
  19. Curtis Roberts
  20. Logan Nickerson
  21. Torrey Ahrens
  22. Rick Gokee Jr.
  23. Greg Gokey
  24. Jim Billett
presented by
Randy Ellen/randyellen.smugmug.com
Rusty Schlenk (91) overtakes Eric Spangler (27) heading for the checkered flag at Merritt Speedway.
What won the race: Gaining momentum late in the race after a caution with nine laps remaining, Rusty Schlenk of McClure, Ohio, blasted ahead of Eric Spangler out of turn four on the final lap to capture the $33,000 Sunoco American Late Model Series victory in the Wood Tic Dan Salay Memorial on Saturday night at Merritt Speedway. He finished 0.125 seconds ahead of Spangler.
Key notes: The 33rd annual Wood Tic offered a record purse of $119,840, including $33,000-to-win for Super Late Models in the ALMS-sanctioned Allstar Performance Challenge Series event. ... Schlenk and Spangler won Friday's 25-lap semifeatures to earn front row starting spots for Saturday's main event. ... The Wood Tic's Salay Memorial honors the former racer, longtime Brandon Thirlby crew member and father of Thirlby’s girlfriend Leah Salay, who died in 2017 after a short bout with cancer. Salay spent seven seasons working with Thirlby and his younger brother Collin as a truck driver and mechanic.
On the move: Jeep Van Wormer of Pinconning, Mich., started 24th and finished 10th.
Winner's sponsors: Schlenk’s Domination Race Car is powered by a Mullins Engine and sponsored by Buckeye Concrete Coatings, Tom Finch Automotive, Dominator Race Products, Velocita USA, Landrum Performance Springs, VP Racing Fuel, Vahlco Racing Wheels, Wilwood and CP-Carrillo, Bilstein, ML Performance, Allstar Performance.
Points chase: Entering the weekend, Brandon Thirlby (195 points) of Traverse City, Mich., leads Merritt’s points over Cody Bauer (194), Eric Spangler (184), Dave Mielke (183) and Ryan Lanphierd (173).
Current weather: Clear, 68°F
Car count: 33
Fast qualifier: Cody Bauer
Time: 13.956 seconds
Polesitter: Rusty Schlenk
Heat race winners: Cody Bauer, Eric Spangler, Rusty Schlenk, Logan Nickerson
Next series race: August 27, Winston Speedway (Rothbury, MI) $5,000
Editor's note: Results and race details are unofficial.
From track reports

LAKE CITY, Mich. (Aug. 7) — Rusty Schlenk has had plenty of memorable moments and impressive accomplishments throughout his standout career, but none of them compare to what he did Saturday night at Merritt Speedway.

Scoring the biggest victory of his career in dramatic fashion, Schlenk of McClure, Ohio, used a furious high-side charge to chase down Eric Spangler of Lake City, Mich., in the closing laps of Saturday’s 75-lap Dan Salay Memorial at Merritt Speedway and pulled off a thrilling final-corner pass to win the Super Late Model portion of the Wood Tic weekend in a photo finish. Schlenk, the former DIRTcar national champion and longtime regional ace, earned a career-high $33,000 payday in topping Spangler by a mere 0.125 seconds at the finish.

“This is top of the charts. And we’ve won a lot of races,” said Schlenk, who started alongside Spangler on the front row and swapped the lead with the veteran Michigan driver for the first third of the race before fading slightly until his late charge. “To be able to do it the way we did tonight and lead the last four feet. Man, that was freaking awesome.”

Spangler, who dominated large stretches of the race’s middle portions before a late caution allowed Schlenk the chance to mount his high-side rally, settled for second and received a $10,000 payday as his consolation for coming out on the losing side of the the race’s dramatic conclusion. Ninth-starting Dona Marcoullier of Houghton Lake, Mich., was third with Brandon Thirlby of Buckley, Mich., fourth and Rich Bell of Sheffield, Ill., fifth.

The early back-and-forth battle between Schlenk and Spangler ended when Spangler pulled ahead on lap 23, and it appeared as though Schlenk’s may be slipping out of contention after Thirlby overtook him for second four laps later.

Indeed, Schlenk soon realized that he had made the wrong call on the setup of his self-designed Domination Race Car. With his car too tight to keep up during long green-flag runs, his only chance was to maintain as best he could and hope for a late caution. He got it when the race’s final yellow flag waved with nine laps remaining and erased Spangler’s more than one-second advantage and put the third-running Schlenk alongside Thirlby in the second row for the restart.

“I didn’t make the correct call to free this thing up enough and I was way too tight through the middle of the race,” Schlenk said. “I knew I wasn’t gonna have much left at the end. I was just trying to keep pace and hope to God for some cautions because when that tire would cool down I’d be good for four or five laps. I drove my ass off that last caution. I knew it was gonna get tight on me, but we got up on that cushion and let ‘er rip.”

When the race went back green on the final restart, Schlenk needed four laps to finally clear Thirlby for second. By then, Spangler was already out to a lead of 1.058 seconds. Schlenk was still more than a half-second behind Spangler when the leaders took the two-to-go signal, but he cut away just enough of the advantage to attempt to his bold cushion-riding pass on the final lap.

“I was watching Eric there for four or five laps and I knew if I hit the cushion right he was leaving me a lane up top there. I knew I could squeeze between him and the line,” Schlenk said. “That cushion was treacherous man. If you hit it wrong, it’d just eat you up. I just had to put together a perfect last lap and hope for the best. The racing gods did me a good one today.”

Notes: The event was co-sanctioned by the Sunoco American Late Model Series and the Allstar Performance Challenge Series. … Schlenk’s previous best paydays this season were both $5,000 victories in Southern All Stars action at Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla.,  in March and with the ALMS tour at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio, in June. … The race was slowed by six cautions. None were for serious accidents. …. Fifteen of the race’s 24 starters were running at the finish. Ten cars finished on the lead lap.

Feature lineup

Row 1: Schlenk, Spangler
Row 2: Gokey, Bell
Row 3: Bauer, Vandermark Jr.
Row 4: Thirlby, Finley
Row 5: Marcoullier, Nickerson
Row 6: Stemler, Hilliker
Row 7: Terrill, Billett
Row 8: Shipley, Ahrens
Row 9: Gokee Jr., Burch
Row 10: Staszak, Witherspoon
Row 11: Lanphierd, Roberts
Row 12: Baker, Van Wormer

advertisement
Sponsor 263
 
Sponsor 1249
 
Sponsor 728
©2006-Present FloSports, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Cookie Preferences / Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information