Dirt Flyin', Good Time at Miami County Speedway

Written By: Matt "Night" Rider
Sunday, May 31, 2009

Some may agree that battles are won in the trenches. For me, the battles are won on dirt. We had a night of battles at the Miami County Speedway on Saturday, May 30th. It was great watchig the young guns race push their junior micro sprints to the limit and realizing that someday very soon, they will be the future stars of the sport. From the juniors to the newly developed senior class, I could tell that dirt track racing in Miami County is alive and well.

One announcement before we get started. The Miami County Speedway racers will be packing all their gear and taking it on the road to rock the Noble County 4-H fair for the Kendallville Klassic on Tuesday, July 21st in Kendallville, IN. Four (Jr., Restrictor, Open and Non-wing) out of the five feature classes will be run at the Noble County 4-H fair. If I don't have to work, I hope to see you there.

The first feature of the night came from the restrictor class. Kokomo racer No. 95 Garrett Miller took the win. "It felt awesome to win tonight. The high side was my best line tonight," explained Miller. Taking second place honors was No. 73 Brent Busz, while Matt McDonald raced his No. 5M machine to third place.

The Nonwing class was up next. but first they were faced with the Front Row Challenge. Unfortunately, both the polesitter No. 93 Tyler Stump and second place starter No. 15 Ryan Leek refused the challenge, bumping next weekend's challenge bonus to $160.00 for the Open Class racers.

The non-wing feature was an instant classic. I was lucky enough to be standing in the middle of such a battle. Remember in the intro, when I said "Some say battles are won in the trenches. For me, they are won on dirt." Well the non-wingers proved that statement. It felt like I was in the battles with them , it was so competitive.

Camden native No. 20 Chris Miller battled back-and-forth with leader and polesitter No. 93 Tyler Stump, but it was Miller who came away with the win. After the hard fought victory, Miller said, "It felt good to win. I beat some really good cars tonight." Miller explained, "The top (of the track) was really working for us, and I got a run on 2 (Turn 2) to get around those guys." Stump took a hard earned second place, while No. 15J Joe Leek brought home third place.

Next up was the Open class finale. Warsaw's Braxton Hanft raced his No. 29H paved the way to victory lane. "It felt great to win tonight." No. 39 Matt Johnson charged his way to a second place finish, while No. 36S Halen Shafer came back from a brutal flip in hot laps, to score his first top three in recent weeks.

Kendallville racer No. 62 Joe Taylor brought home the win in the newly formed senior class. "It felt good to win tonight. It's been about a year, since I've won a feature", Taylor recalled. Taylor continued, "I ran the bottom tonight. It was the best for this setup." Last weekend's winner No. 29 Rob Johnson took a strong second place finish, while No. 85 Gary Miller held on for third.

In the fifth and final feature of the night, the juniors put on quite a show for all the race fans that stood and cheer on with the young guns from the grandstands. Tipton native No.22 Justin Weir charged his way through the field to take the victory. "It felt good to win my second in a row here at Miami County Speedway," said Weir. No. 9p Parker Price-Miller raced his way from tail of the field, to take second, while No. 11 Kaleb Kinsler drove the wheels off the car, coming home with a hard fought third place finish.

The Miami County Speedway will host another exciting night of racing action this Saturday, June 6th. Hot laps start at 6:15-6:30 with live in-your-face racing after hot laps. I know I'll be there, will you?

Oh and one more bit of information on the family side of things. My little sister Katie is going to be graduating Friday, June 5th from Peru High School. I haven't always told her this, but as a big brother, I am very proud of what she has been able to do. So are the parents and rest of the family. Best of luck in the future Katie!!!!!!