A strong 18 car Street Stock field registered to compete in this years Frank Stromquist Memorial 57 lap event. Frank was a fixture in the speedway pit area, both as a driver and crew member. Frank was taken too early from this world, and this annual race pays tribute to his memory. Street Stocks got the night started off with time trial qualifying, each driver would take the fastest of two timed laps to help set the starting grid for the 57 lap feature. After everyone took their best shot, Kyle Peters (53) would find the fast way around with a solid lap of 15.99 seconds. John Chance (61) would follow in 2nd with a lap of 16.03, and Joe Piazza (99) 3rd with a lap of 16.14. After the fan determined invert of 6 rows, the top qualifiers would find themselves starting 11th and 12th on the grid. The 6 row invert would put J D Goff (16) and Kenny May (10) on the front row for the start of the feature. May would jump to the early lead with Leonard Arnold (60) 2nd, and Bubba Martone (98) in 3rd. Martone would move by Arnold for 2nd, and bring Tim Alexander (63) with him to 3rd. Behind them the battle was raging with the fast qualifiers racing their way to the front of the field. The first caution would fly at lap 16 for contact between Piazza and Curtis Flanagan (3). Piazza would end up in the turn 2 wall, but was able to continue, Flanagan would have to retire for the night with a broken tie rod. The top three would remain unchanged on the restart, but top qualifier Peters had made his way to 6th in only 16 laps. May would lead on the restart green, but caution would wave again on lap 22 for contact between John Makula (27) and Alexander while racing for the 3rd position. Makula would take blame for the incident, giving Alexander his spot back. May would lead on the restart, but Peters had managed to find his was to the 3rd spot just behind Martone in 2nd. Peters would make the move on Martone for 2nd, and bring Chance with him to the 3rd position. The final caution of the night would wave at lap 31 for a single car spin by Arnold, resetting the field for the final time. May was still your leader, but now he had Peters on his bumper in 2nd, and Chance just behind in 3rd. May fired for the restart, and Peters went to work right away for the lead. Peters moved to the outside lane, he and May ran sided by side for 3 laps before Peters would finally wrestle away the lead at lap 34. Chance would follow Peters by on the high side moving to the 2nd position. Now the top two qualifiers had made their way through the field, and had clean race track to battle for the win. Mike Wilson (79) would battle his way to 3rd, and he and chance would battle side by side for the 2nd position for 4 laps, Wilson would finally find a way by on the inside, and then set his sights on the leader. Peters would prove to have too large of a lead, and go on to take an apparent victory. Once the top three cars made it to technical inspection, Peters car was found to have illegal rear suspension parts on his racer. Peters was disqualified from the nights events, handing over the victory to Wilson. Chance would move to the 2nd position, and Martone to 3rd. Chance would inherit the top qualifier honors with Peters disqualification, as well as the hard charger award for the night. Martones 3rd place finish would now move him back to the points lead, and he now sits just 11 points ahead of Dora Thorne (48) with only 4 races left this season.
15 Pure Stocks took the green with Kane Dixon (34) and Neil Herne (83) on the front row. Herne would get the early lead, but caution would fly with only 1 lap completed. Dixon would get crossed up off of turn 2, and collect Karlin Ray (72) in the mayhem. Both cars were able to continue, and Ray was returned to his position for the restart. Herne would lead on the restart, but the heavy hitters were coming. Eugene Malverty (0x) would make his way from his 8Th starting position to the lead at lap 7. Bringing Nicholas Malverty (17) and Carl Peters (39) with him. Peters would move by Nicholas for 2nd, and then set his sights on the elder Malverty for the lead. Peters and Eugene Malverty would battle side by side for 2 laps, before Peters would finally move by to take the lead. Ray would then make his charge to the front, moving quickly past both of the Malvertys to the 2nd position. Ray would pour on the pressure to the leader Peters over the final 5 laps. Ray would make one last attempt in turn three on the last lap which saw both drivers exit turn 4 sideways pedaling their cars all the way to the checkers. Peters would take the victory with Ray a strong 2nd, and Nicholas Malverty in 3rd. Malvertys 3rd place finish has now moved him to the top of the year long points championship battle, holding a slim 1 point lead over Happy Florian (65).
In enduro race action Kathy Ray (63) showed son Karlin (9) how to get the job done, winning the 75 lap race. This race saw the cars run 25 laps in the standard direction, 25 laps in the reversed direction, and 25 laps through an infield chicane. Richard Campbell (132) was a crowd favorite, driving the wheels off of his enduro machine, and keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats.
In other action Eric Sharrone (85) pulled the daily double winning the flagpole race as well as the boat trailer race.
This Saturday night sees the return of the TBARA winged outlaw sprint cars. It will be a night of open wheel madness as the Open Wheel Modfieds and Dwarf cars are also on the schedule. Joining them will be the Sportsman, Pure Stock, Mini Stock, and Hornets. This week the speedway will move to its fall start time of 5:30, so make sure you tell all your friends and fans of the new earlier start time.