Auto City Speedway was the place to be this past Saturday night as there was a little bit of everything for the race enthusiast and more. The night could not have been any better weather-wise as Mother Nature was smiling upon the track. With the Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Sprints on hand for their Championship night and the Michigan Automobile Racing Fan Club in attendance, it was just the icing on the cake.

The Herald Pure Stocks qualifying started the night out and it was Tony Williams (with only his third appearance this year) leading the field with a 16.35. The All American Truck Series hit the track next for their qualifying and driving a new truck for the series, it was Anthony Richardson in his gold #422 taking the top spot. The Auto Value Super Sprints were next and with a new track record, the #11E of Kyle Edwards flew around the half mile at a blistering 12.84.

So with all the classes set in qualifying, it was time for the pre-race ceremony. It started with the M.A.R.F.C. acknowledging Sue and Jay Woolworth for their long time support of the organization and dedication to the Michigan local short track racing scene. Then after the National Anthem it was time for the racing to begin.

The Herald Pure Stocks heat races were first on tap and boy it was just a preview of how the night’s races were going to be. With a lot of shuffling at the green flag, it was Tim Shann (#22) in a borrowed car taking the early lead, but as Tim Shann started having some challenges from other drivers, he clipped the wall causing a right front flat that sent him flaying over the turn one embankment hitting the fencing. He did get out on his own and stood on the roof to let everyone know he was OK. When it was all said and done, the 2015 Pure Stock Champion Randy Clayton Jr. in his #54 was the winner.

The second heat race was just as exciting as a heat race could be with fast qualifier Tony Williams making his way to the front to capture the checkered flag followed by Chad Lamson in his #888 and the #55 of J.T. James Clayton.

The All American Trucks heat race was next and it was point’s leader, Josh Delong in his black #067, taking the win.

The Auto Value Super Sprints were on the schedule next and in the preliminary action, Anthony McCune in the #8M won the Dowker Engines first heat race and Aaron Piece in the #26 took the checkers in the Royal Purple Synthetic Oil second heat race.

After the kiddy stock races and a drift car demonstration which was pretty thrilling and saw an excellent preview of drifting and an unexpected thrill of one of the cars going over turn three on the ¼ mile and being airborne landing abruptly. The driver and passenger got out and both were OK. Then the feature races were on deck.

The weather conditions were just right for the race cars and drivers, no wind and a bit cool. As the sixteen Pure Stocks came out of the pits to line up, you could tell it was going to be a good race. But no one expected it to be the race it turned out to be. When the green was dropped, the race was on. With twenty five laps to determine the winner, you’d thought it was going to be figured out in the first five laps with the way the competitors were driving. As the field got sorted out, the top eight cars were side by side on lap four at full speed pulling away from the rest of the field. Some of the hot shoes up front included the #55 of J.T. James Clayton, #19 of Bruce Dunton, #12 of Michael Hayes, the #80 of Gerald Presails, the #54 Randy Clayton Jr., the #067 of Josh Delong, #888 of Chad Lamson, #97 of Tony Williams. Tim Shann blew a motor going down the front stretch, probably as a result of his earlier incident, which brought out a yellow.  Once the track was ready, the battle continued and the laps counted down. It was time to move for Chad Lamson as he made the big move being a few rows back to step out and make a ‘third grove on the outside work’ and some followed suit to make it “three wide racing and two rows deep”. They raced like that for a few laps and you could tell it was tense. Things did get a bit tight and both, J.T. Clayton and Bruce Dunton suffered during the battles as both suffered flat tires with contact from competitors on separate incidents. The final green flag flew and it was a four way battle between Josh Delong, Chad Lamson, Tony Williams and Randy Clayton Jr. and when they crossed the start/finish line, it was Chad Lamson getting the win over Josh Delong and Tony Williams came off turn four almost sideways smoking his rear tires to get the third spot. It was one of the most awesome Pure Stock feature races in quite some time at Auto City Speedway. Just goes to show how competitive this class is and the talents of all the drivers competing.

Then it was on to another exciting feature, this time for the All American Trucks. As the green flag fell and the trucks got sorted out, it was a three way battle for the lead, being Brad Reseigh in his #7 leading the way with Josh Delong’s #067 battling as well as Anthony Richardson’s #422. They all exchanged the lead for the most of the 20 laps, but coming down for the final checkered flag, it was Josh Delong edging out Brad Reseigh by a bumper to take the win.

The Auto Value Super Sprints were next and the 17 Sprints were going thirty laps for their feature. The racing was fast and all of the drivers were wanting to take home the last checkered flag of their season. About midway through, there was a red flag that had to be thrown for a blown motor and track clean up. But once they were back at it, it was the fast qualifier of Kyle Edwards taking the win over the #22 of Derek Snyder, finishing third was Ryan Gillenwater in the #45, fourth was Aaron Pierce in the #26 and finishing fifth was the Season Point’s Champion, Jason Blonde in his #42. It was Jason Blonde’s 7^th Championship in the Auto Value Super Sprint series.

The night was not quite over as it was the Auto City Figure 8’s who were up next. And with a fast paced 12 laps, it was Tony Williams taking the win over Chad Lamson as there were not enough laps for Lamson to get to Tony and battle.

On an added note, The M.A.R.F.C. had special trophy awards made for all the feature winners commemorating long time legendary announcer, Larry Loynes. They were titled the “Larry Loynes Memorial Feature Winner”.

The night was capped off with a fireworks finale that entertained the audience as they were packing up and getting ready to leave.

The action does not stop at Auto City as this coming Saturday, September 2^nd will be a Maximum Destruction presented by Dr. Pepper and Snapple with the appearance by Transaurus, the fire breathing, car eating Monster along with the Herald Pure Stocks, the Auto City Figure 8’s, Monster Truck Rides, School Bus Figure 8’s, Trailer figure 8 racing, a 50 lap Enduro, a Jet Smart Car, Baby Dino and much, much more. Go to www.autocityspeedway.com for more details and we will “See You at the City”.