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Fan were given an extra value for a great night at Merritt Speedway on May 23, with a “Car Load” entering the speedway for …$20.00, no kidding! As the evening started, Mother Nature dampened spirits momentarily, however the racers and staff moved forward to give everyone something to talk about, a night of exciting racing!

In the UMP Late Model ranks, Dona Marcoullier of Houghton Lake won the Dash and Heat 2, his father Donnie Marcoullier also of Houghton Lake took honor in Heat 1, Craig Foster of Lake City was the victor of Heat 3 and Don Erickson of Traverse City won the B main.

As the Feature entered the speedway, 2 past champions sat on the front row, David Hilliker of Midland and Frank Seder of Alger. On the green flag the field entered turn 1, Seder took the lead down the back stretch and by lap 5 Seder started to lap slower cars. On lap 13 a caution brought out by Jeremy Tulick of Cadillac have mechanical problems bunched the field up, line-up for the restart showed the Marcoulliers had made their way up through the field to 2nd and 3rd. When the race restarted, it stayed green for the remaining laps with Seder taking the win, Dona Marcoullier 2nd, Donnie Marcoullier 3rd, Josh Knoll of Barryton 4th and Justin McNeill of Gladwin 5th.

During UMP Modified competition, Gary McKinley of Fife Lake took the Dash, Heat 1 went to Bob Baldwin of Petoskey, Jeff Cade of Buckley won Heat 2, Steve Hilliker of Midland returned to Victory Lane in Heat 3 and Mark Nienhouse of Traverse City won the B main to transfer into the Main Event.

In the Feature, Mark Kurth of Gaylord “set sail” on the green flag and lead every lap with Baldwin working up into 2nd, Cade bettered his start by one for 3rd, Dave Mairose of West Branch moved up 4 spot to 4th and Lawrence Sprague of Mt Pleasant in 5th.

In the Pro Truck series Ian Knoettzer of Gladwin took the Dash, Heat 1 went to Richie Sutherland of Merritt and Billy Myers of Houghton Lake won Heat 2.

In the Feature, Sutherland and Knoettzer started on the pole and remained 1 and 2 until lap 12 when Myers got by Knoettzer. On lap 17 Myers got inside of Sutherland to take the lead and the win, Sutherlandfinished 2nd, Adam Brinks of Cadillac went even up in 3rd, Bob Hammar of Cadillac gained three spots for 4th and 5th went to Knoettzer.

In the Sportsman division, Dan Hersey of Traverse City won Heat 1 and Chris Brinks of Cadillac took his first win in Heat 2.

During the caution free Feature, David Meilke of Gladwin set on the pole and held a commanding lead until a broken axel on lap 10 ended his night, giving Tom Zundel the lead and the win. Brinks finished 2nd,

Hersey had 3rd, 4th was Jaramia Richards of Mt Pleasant and 5th went to Jim Miller Sr. of Flint.

Factory Stocks diced things up with Mark Howie winning the Heat and Mike Higdon got his first Merritt Speedway win in the Feature.

May 30th is Spring Championship at Merritt Speedway with all divisions crowning their Champ! Come out and cheer your “Short Track Hero”, gates open at 4:00 PM, Hot Laps at 6:00 PM and racing starts at 7:30 PM. Check out www.merritt-speedway.com for more details.