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Racenight Recap for Friday July 12, 2019

Great Racing at Laird International Raceway on Friday July 12th.

We held our third racenight of the season at Laird International Raceway during the evening of Friday July 12th. Weather was warm, with cloudy skies and some sunny periods, perfect for fans and racers.

Drivers in all divisions put on a great show for the fans in attendance. We switched things up a bit on this race night; normally we have a 4 car dash, a heat and a feature in all divisions, but this night we opted to drop the dashed and add another heat in each division. Fans got to see more cars and more race laps.

The national anthems were once again sung by Factory Stock Driver, Rob Wagner. A few minutes after that, we got the races started with heat racing.

Service Rental Factory Stocks
Five cars were out for qualifying runs earlier in the evening. Fast qualifier was #51 Jamie Fox with a time around the 1/3 mile oval of 16.398 seconds.
In the first heat, the five qualifiers were joined by Jarritt Varcoe in the #67 car to make it six cars on the track. Varcoe was also driving in the Modified division during the evening. The #52 driven by Jon Diodati started at the front outside #88 Rob Wagner. At the green Diodati got a good jump out front. A lap in he had #01 Jerry Ross on his tail. Ross got close, but didn’t have anything to get beside Diodati. Diodati led all laps of the 8 lap heat and snagged the win, his first one in the factory stock division. #01 Jerry Ross was 2nd, Fox 3rd, Varcoe 4th, #21 Jacob Heimonen 5th, and #88 Rob Wagner 6th.

In the second heat, Heimonen and Varcoe were missing, leaving four cars to run the 8 lap race. Once again, Diodati started outside front. Diodati led the first 4 laps with Fox working to get by. On lap 5 Diodati left enough room below him on the backstretch to let fox get by on the inside to take the lead and finish the race to take the checkers. Diodati was 2nd, Ross 3rd, and Wagner 4th.

The “Run for the Flag” Factory Stock feature was a 25 lap event, consisting of 5 cars. Missing was Heimonen. The race ran caution free. Once again Diodati started at the front and got a good start off the green. Diodati ran hard and maintained the lead for 8 laps with Fox working high and low. On the backstretch during lap nine, Fox on the outside drove hard into corner 3 and got beside Heimonen. As they rounded corner 4, Diodati slid sideways a bit allowing Fox to complete the pass and take the lead. A the same time, Ross, who was running third, got inside Diodati on the front stretch and moved into second, about 10 car lengths behind Fox. Over the next 10 laps, Ross closed the gap and started to run beside Fox. On lap 20 he got by Fox coming out of corner 4 as Fox slid a bit. Fox was unable to close the gap during the last 5 laps. Ross took the feature win, followed by Fox 2nd. Varcoe and Diodati battled for the last 15 laps of the race. Varcoe finished 3rd about a half lap behind the leaders, Diodati 4th right behind, and Wagner was 5th a lap down. Three fast factory stock races during the evening and no cautions.

Northern Fencing Super Late Models
Action in the Super Late Model Division was fast and exciting during the night. Fast qualifier was #50 Rob Hiiemaa with a time of 14.784 seconds.

In the 10 lap heat 1, eight drivers took to the track, including visiting driver Mike Sturgill from Onaway Michigan. Mike runs the Onaway Speedway and tries to get up to Laird once or twice a season. Sturgill driving the #100SR didn’t disappoint and put on a great show for fans during the heat. #3 Shawn Ritchie started at the pole, with #100R Ron Raynor outside. Ritchie jumped out front at the green and Raynor fell back a car length. Ritchie led the first two laps, then found Sturgill racing beside him. The pair traded first position a couple times then Sturgill took over front place on lap 6, while Ritchie lost a couple positions. Sturgill had #46 of Dan Byrnes working behind him, and Rob Hiiemaa behind Byrnes. Byrnes couldn’t challenge for the lead so Sturgill went on for the win. Byrnes took 2nd, Hiiemaa 3rd, #2 Zak St. John 4th, #21L Jake Irwin 5th, Ritchie 6th, Raynor Jr. 7th, and #15 Randy Lapossie 8th.

In the second Late Model heat, the field was joined by #91 Keith King to make it 9 cars on the track. Ritchie and Raynor started up front again. Cars got off to a dicey start with some slipping and sliding up the front stretch and into corner 1. Somehow they all held it together though. Raynor took the lead, with Ritchie behind, and Heiimaa outside Ritchie. As they were coming down the backstretch on lap 2, Hiiemaa now running beside Raynor drove it into corner 3 a bit fast and spun up and off the track on corner 4. Drivers behind Hiiemaa somehow avoided a disaster. King slid up and over, as did Irwin. Dan Byrnes managed to stop short and avoid hitting Irwin.

Hiiemaa was sent to the back and the heat restarted with one lap complete, Raynor in the lead with Ritchie outside, and Irwin and Sturgill behind. Ritchie fell back a bit and Irwin moved up and was trying hard to get beside Raynor. Irwin was having a problem on multiple laps going high out of corner 4. By lap 8, Sturgill took second place out of the hands of Irwin. On the final lap, Raynor maintained the lead to take the checkered flag. Right behind Sturgill had a drag race with Zak St. John to the line and took 2nd, St. John 3rd. Irwin was fourth, Hiiemaa 5th, King 6th, Ritchie 7th, Lapossie 8th, and Dan Byrnes 9th with a “did not finish” (DNF) after suffering some problem on lap 2 of the race.

There was lots of action in the 20 Lap Late Model feature that included 9 cars. Six cautions were seen during the race, plus a red flag to do some track cleanup. The race took approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Ritchie and Raynor started out front, with Sturgill and Hiiemaa in the second row. As they were coming out of corner 4 during the first lap, Raynor slid a bit and slowed, then Hiiemaa nosed into the rear of Raynor, lifting Raynors tires off the track. When Raynors car came back down, it pulled Hiiemaa’s nose cone forward. Caution was pulled with one lap complete. Raynor restarted at the front again beside Ritchie, and Hiiemaa opted to restart at the back. As they were rounding corner 4 to the green, Byrnes was tapped and spun into the infield bringing out the second caution.

Raynor led again for a few laps after the restart, with Irwin right behind, and Sturgill third. On lap 7, King, running 4th went high on the backstretch and made contact with the guardrail, taking out his right rear tire. King rolled around to the front stretch with the tire cut down and some damage. When he parked, fluid began to run down the track. The red flag was pulled to allow track crews to tow Kings car and dry up the track.

The feature restarted, but as they were coming to the green, Hiiemaa was tapped and spun into the infield in corner 4 bringing out another caution and another restart, with 7 laps complete. Raynor was hanging onto the lead then caution came out again during the completion of lap 11. Multiple cars spun in corner 4. Sturgill was sent to the back. Yet another restart, followed by another caution before another lap was complete. This time it was Raynor and Irwin at the front that spun in tandem in corner 4. Irwin was to be sent to the back, but left the track before the restart.

The last restart saw Raynor still at the front. Hiiemaa was beside. A couple laps and Hiiemaa had lost the second place to Zak St. John. St. John and Raynor had a multiple lap drag race with St. John on the outside. St. John won the drag race on the last lap to take the win over Raynor who finished in 2nd. Byrnes took 3rd, Hiiemaa 4th, Sturgill 5th, Ritchie 6th, and Lapossie 7th.

NAPA Auto Parts Michigan Modifieds
Seven Michigan modifieds were out to qualify earlier in the evening. Fast qualifier was #77 Chase Wilson with a time of 15.176 seconds.

In their first heat, the seven qualifiers were joined by latecomer #28W “Diesel” Dave Wagner, out for his first ever run at Laird. Also on the track was Jake Irwin, but he was missing a transponder and became unscored. Disaster struck on the first lap of the race when #28 Mark Porpealia when high around corner 2 then cut down in front of the field on the backstretch collecting #83 Sean Sikes and to a lesser extent, Wilson. The red flag was pulled while Porpealia and Sikes’ cars were towed and some track cleanup took place.

The race then restarted with #84 Mark Laakso and #79 Roddy Bolduc up front. Laakso opened up a 5 car length lead on Bolduc, while Bolduc and Wilson battled for second spot. Further back were #71 Jay McCoy and #21 driven for the night by Josh Maitland. A few laps in, McCoy slid up off corner 4 and pinched Maitland. Tires touched and Maitland went for a bounce, both continued so caution didn’t come out. The race ended with top spot in the race taken by #84 Mark Laakso, followed by #79 Roddy Bolduc 2nd, #77 Chase Wilson 3rd, #67 Jarritt Varcoe 4th, and #71 Jay McCoy 5th, Wagner 6th.

The second heat was a seven car event for 10 laps. Missing were Porpealia, who was done for the night after the incident in the first heat, and Sikes. Also missing was the #21 car. Added was #4 Michael Carbone. Caution was out once, before the first lap was completed when Varcoe spun around in corner 2, while Wagner found himself doing a dirt run around the top of corner 2. On the restart, Laakso took the early lead with Bolduc running second for the first four laps. Wilson took over 2nd spot from Bolduc on lap 5 then began to work on Laakso. Wilson was able to get beside Laakso a couple times, but couldn’t make the pass. Laakso took the checkers again, Wilson 2nd, Bolduc 3rd, Varcoe 4th, McCoy 5th, Carbone 6th, and Wagner 7th a lap down.

Nine cars came up on the track for the 20 lap feature but during hot laps Chase Wilson suffered a trailing arm breakage, sending him into a spin on corner 1 and unable to start. Laakso and Bolduc started at the front again and had a great drag race going for a few laps. On lap 4 as the duo were rounding corner 3, they touched and Laakso on the outside spun bringing out the caution. Bolduc was sent to the back for the restart.

The race continued with Laakso resuming the lead ahead of Maitland. A couple laps later the caution was out again, this time for Jay McCoy spinning into corner 3. The race resumed and Laakso was still out front but within a couple laps had Bolduc back working on him. The laps clicked by but Bolduc could do nothing more than get beside Laakso a couple times. The race ended with Laakso making the hat trick with his third win for the night, Bolduc came up 2nd, Varcoe 3rd, Carbone 4th, #21 Josh Maitland took 5th, McCoy 6th, Wagner 7th, and Sikes 8th after leaving on lap 4 with problems.

Atomic Blonde Factory Fours
Four Factory Fours were out for the night, and were joined by two enduro cars (not scored) driven by #72 Randy Larrett and #82 Joey Wierzbicki. Fast qualifier was Jason Kern with a time of 18.533 seconds.

The division ran caution free for the night with two 8 lap heats and a 15 lap feature. In heat 1, Kern finished first to the line, followed by #17 Caleb Foster 2nd, #42 Jack Lannigan 3rd, Weirzbicki (not scored), #88 Kayla Kurnell 4th, and Larrett (not scored).

Kern captured the win in the second heat as well, followed by Lannigan 2nd, Wierzbicki (not scored), Foster 3rd, Kurnell 4th, and Larrett (not scored).
Kern got his third win for the night in the Factory Stock 15 lap feature. Foster rang up 2nd, Lannnigan 3rd, Kurnell 4th. Weirzbicki finished unofficial 5th, and Larrett 6th after leaving the track on lap 12.

Intermission and other Fun
During a short break in action during the heats, fans saw 8 year old Emma Lapossie take to the track in a fine looking #88 Mini Wedge to spin a couple laps for fans to see. Mini Wedges will be running during the last two race events of this season.

During intermission, six full sized school busses came up onto the track and had a ten lap race. They were seen to go three wide around corner 1 and 2 without incident. Right rear wheels were also off the ground several times around those corners. Following the bus race, a couple of them stayed on the track and kids were invited to go for a ride in them around the track and into the pits. Lots of smiles.

Just following intermission there was a draw for three new bicycles. Brenda and Rick McLaughin won the first and will be making one of their grandkids happy this week. Six year old Cooper Rebbe, son of father Andy got the second one, and Norm Charette will be making his granddaughter happy as well with the third win.

More photos can be found on this website in the "Photos" section. Also visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lairdraceway.

We will be taking a week off here, with our next race scheduled for the evening of Friday July 26th, weather permitting. Gates open at 5:45, with racing starting at 7. Hope to see your butt in the bleachers!

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