Ryan Super at Spartan
By Michelle Sprague
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 Tim Ryan swept the Sawyers Superstore Super Late Model division at the
Spartan Speedway on Friday, July 1st. Ryan kicked off the holiday weekend by tallying
the heat win and went on to take the 40-lap feature, leading wire-to-wire. Jimmy
Gallagher was right behind him in second, poised to strike, but just didn’t have enough
for Ryan. Gallagher did take the four car dash win earlier in the evening. At the stripe, it
was Ryan, Gallagher, Stehouwer, Bob Bauer and Logan Beckwith as the top five.
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 Heat winner, Kyle Drake, looked to be on track for his first feature win in a
Modified, but Dan Loughan was the man out front when the checkered flag dropped on
the 35-lap feature. Drake, Loughan and Nyle Weiler broke away from the pack in the
early going, and on lap 13, Loughan dove under Drake to take the lead. Larry Wallace
went to work on Drake for second, taking over second on lap 18. Wallace wasn’t able to
catch Loughan as the laps ran down and at the line, it was Loughan, Wallace, Weiler,
Drake and Tony Pastorino.
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 The Boss Snow Equipment Pony Stocks saw the largest field of cars for the
evening, with the A Feature win up for grabs. Any one of the cars on the track during
their feature could have brought home the win, but Todd Metz Jr. came out on top after
20 laps. Tyler Heeney led the early laps as Metz Jr. sliced his way up to the front. Kyle
Crump came up through the pack with him, as did Darren Wright. Metz Jr. took the lead
on lap nine, while Crump and Wright gave chase. Wright dove under Crump for second
with four laps remaining to catch Metz Jr. Todd Metz Sr, made it a three-way chase for
the win but at the line, Metz Jr. prevailed. Wright, Metz Sr., Crump, and Wayne Beckner
Jr. rounded out the top five.
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 The race to the checker couldn’t have been any closer than
in the Pony Stock B Feature. Bryan Jenks looked to be cruising to a win when Rich
Roberts threaded the needle between Roberts and a lapped car with 2 laps to go. Patrick
Denison and Abby Looman watched everything unfold ahead of them and Denison
capitalized, jumping up into the high groove to take the lead over Jenks and Roberts,
coming out to turn four to the checker. Jenks held down second, while Roberts, Looman,
and Jerry King rounded out the top five.
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 The ARCA Figure 8’ers, The Motor City Madmen, hit the ¼-mile Figure 8, and
started what was seemingly an un-eventful follow-the-leader. A flat tire by one of the
competitors heated things up, as he rejoined the field, lagging a bit behind the tail of the
lead cars. Action in the intersection was fast and furious and fans were treated to a
Figure 8 exhibition that is un-equaled. Rubbing, paint-trading and leaning on each other
made for lots of sod being torn up as a huge dust cloud formed over the infield. Figure 8
specialist, Robbie Loving took the win over Dennis Whisman, Jeremy Miller, Jimmie
Rae and Randy Roberts.
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