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With another Friday night show in the books, M40 speedway did not disappoint.  Mother Nature pulled a prank with overcast skies and the threat of bad weather that apparently kept some fans at home.  The cars that did make it put on a great show for the fans.

Bad luck played a part for Pro-stock Points leader Brandon Zachary No. 16 as he blew his motor during hot laps.  "We had a 55 pt. lead, hopefully we can come out next week only down to 2nd or 3rd in the points," said Zachary.  "Rob Morris will help get us back out for next week."

Pat Harding No. 1 also loaded up early, as his Pro-stock also had mechanical issues.  Harding had a twisted pinion in the rear end causing the early departure.

As for the rest of the Pure Stock division the racing was worth watching.  The dash went to Fred Reed No. 32 who won the 6 lap race from the pole.  In the heat Fred Reed made it two in a row.  From the 4th starting position Reed got past 2nd place finisher Gary Wyrick No. 36 to take the win with hard charging Rodney Smith No. 30 finishing 3rd.

The 40 lap feature saw a good performance as fast time qualifier "Richy" Rick Mersereau No. 61V took his Gold rimmed rocket to the front.  After taking the lead from Reed, Mersereau led over 25 laps uncontested scoring his 2nd feature win in as many weeks.

"The car is perfect, that’s the plan" said Mersereau. "Things are going just the way they need to be," added Mersereau jokingly.

Reed held on to 2nd place over an improving Gary Wyrick.  Rodney Smith finished 4th, with Thomas Fisher rounding out the top five.

The Late model division not only featured some of the best driving of the night, but also had the largest car count.  The dash went to Jeff Ganus No. 5 who held off fast qualifier Jeff Vochaska No. 45.  The heat race went to Roger Northrup Jr. No. 29 who held off Rick Slusher No. 4.

The pursuit race had the best non-accidents of the season. Contact between Vochaska and Cory Pressler No. 32 sent Pressler straight toward the turn one wall in what could have turned out to be a devastating T-bone crash between Pressler and Bobby Stremme No. 35.  Pressler and Stremme purposely spun their cars making minor contact but avoiding a devastating incident and keeping both cars race ready for the feature.

"It definitely looked scary for a second," said Pressler.  "There was contact, but we came out ok." added Stremme, who finished 2nd in the Pursuit behind Ron Coburn No. 42.

The Late Model feature had a pursuit of its own.  Jeff Ganus was on the run to the front with Bobby Stremme and Jeff Vochaska in hot pursuit.  Ganus would hold off both Stremme (2nd) and Vochasa (3rd) to pick up his 2nd feature win of the season.  Roger Northrup Jr finished 4th with improving Rick Hahn rounding out the top five.

The M40 Speedway officials then inspected the Feature winner's car for rules infractions.  Infractions such as traction control were just one of the areas inspected.  While this may upset a few drivers it keeps the playing field level and the cost down.   I was informed that it’s not always the feature winning car that is inspected, but any one of the feature cars.

The Pure Stock division brought the question, would anyone stop Tim Thurston No. 7 from winning his 5th race in just three weeks off racing?

The dash had Tyler Hufford No. 5 just beating Thurston to the line for the victory.   The Heat went to Rick Reed No. 12 who held off fast qualifier Robbie Ferrier No. 34 and Cody Dale No. 83.

Ferrier would walk away in the feature until the closing laps when Tony Stewart No. 14 attempted to reel in the leader.  Stewart ran out of laps and ended up finishing 2nd.  Thurston would finish 3rd, with Rick Reed and Cody Dale rounding out the top five.

The racing night ended early due to the smooth program.  The track clean up crew got every incident cleaned up quickly to keep he show running along.  Come out and see a great racing program at an affordable price, every Friday night at the M40 Speedway.