Finley to the Winner’s Circle at Spartan

By: Spartan correspondent, Michelle Sprague

    16-year old, Chad Finley, followed in his father, Jeff, and Uncle Doug’s footsteps by scoring his first ever feature win in the Andrew’s Chevrolet Super Late Model division at the Spartan Speedway in Mason, MI. At the green, it was James Johnson, of Wyoming, jumping out to the lead, followed by Jeff Brunt, of LaGrange, IN, Jackson’s Evan Barrett, and Lansing’s Chad Finley. C. Finley took command, with Jon McNett, of Dewitt, and Muskegon’s Dave Stehouwer quickly zeroing in on the leader. Caution on lap18 closed the field up behind Finley, with Stehouwer, Jimmy Gallagher, of Dimondale, and Lansing’s Doug Finley running nose to tail after the restart. D. Finley jumped out of line to try the second groove but couldn’t make it stick. Gallagher slid up the track on the very next lap, opening the door for D. Finley to take away the third position. D. Finley reeled in the lead duo, and was able to get around Stehouwer. D. Finley caught his nephew, but ran out of laps, unable to get around Chad for the win. At the drop of the checker, it was C. Finley, D. Finley, Stehouwer, McNett and Barrett as the top five. McNett took the four car dash win, while Barrett won the heat race.

   The Valvoline Instant Oil Change Modifieds saw Matt Schindewolf, of Onondaga, after a medical hiatus, come back to score the first heat win in the division, while Bill Butler, of Charlotte, took the second. Butler and Marshall’s Justin Kazmar brought the field down to the green for the start of the 35-lap feature. Caution marred the early laps of the feature, with Butler able to hold down the lead until he got caught up in an altercation, relinquishing the lead to Corunna’s Larry Wallace. Chris Ozanich, of Lansing, tacked himself on to Wallace’s bumper, but Wallace was able run away from him. Jason Parish, of Eaton Rapids, and Perry Davenport, of Charlotte, battled for the third position. Davenport made the pass on Parish, while Vermontville’s Leroy Ellis issued a challenge for fourth. At the line, it was Wallace, Ozanich, Davenport, Parish and Ellis.

   In the Performance Automotive Northwest Sportsman division, Jack Koone Jr., of East Lansing, set fast time for the evening, but developed a mechanical problem during the feature, which stood between him and a feature win. Damon Place, of Leslie, led after the drop of the green, until Charlotte’s Dane Long drove around him for the lead. Koone followed Long around Place, bringing Scott Sigman, of Mason, along with him. Long opened up a sizeable lead over Koone, while Sigman and Place battled for third, with Place taking away the third spot on the white flag lap. Long took the feature win, with Koone, Place, Sigman, and Andrew Clark, of St. Johns, rounding out the top five. Sigman tallied the heat win for the division.

   The Boss Snow Equipment Pony Stocks came out in full force for their 20-lap feature, with Jimmy Scavarda, of Holt, winning big on his first night back behind the wheel. When the green flag waved, it was rush hour traffic, as the ponies opted to run three- and four-wide to complete the first lap. Edson Rowley III positioned himself on the outside and motored his way to the front, making it a three-wide battle for the lead between Robert Brown, Lansing’s Randy Kretzinger Jr., and Rowley, just three laps into the race. Rowley had company though, as Scavarda drove through the center of the pack from the rear. Scavarda took over the lead at the halfway mark, with Kretzinger, Brian Beckner and Dan Gokee, both of Lansing, trying to keep the second place car of Rowley in their sights. Lansing’s Wayne Beckner Jr. caught the pack of cars behind the leader and took the third spot away from Kretzinger. When the checker waved, it was Scavarda, Rowley, W. Beckner, B. Beckner and Kretzinger. Portland’s Brad Harbenski and Scavarda took the heat wins.

   The Pure Stock division saw an Eastside Invader, Jordan Lechota, from the Flint area, give the boys a run for their money. Lechota captured the heat win and went on to finish second behind Dimondale’s Spencer Drake in the 15-lap feature. Holt’s Mike Higbee jumped into the first position at the green, with Drake, Leslie’s Justin Lewis, Lechota, and Wayne Parkhurst II, of Holt, tagging along to battle for position. Drake and Lechota broke away from the pack, leaving Higbee, Lewis, and Lansing’s Ian Schafer, to duke it out for second. At the stripe, it was Drake, Lechota, Higbee, Lewis and Schafer.

   Please join us each and every Friday night at the Spartan Speedway for exciting, family-friendly racing action. Friday, May 23rd, will feature the Andrews Chevrolet Super Late Models, the Valvoline Instant Oil Change Modifieds, the Legend Series and MCR Dwarfs. Qualifying begins at 5 P.M., with racing at 7:30 P.M. Check us out at www.spartanspeedway.com. As always, we’ll see you at the races!

Statistics
Andrews Chevrolet Super Late Model Series
Friday, May 09, 2008
Qualifying Results:								Dash
Pos	Car#	Driver	Best Time	2nd Best	Pts.			Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
1	29	Doug Finley	12.839	12.842	20			1	7	Jon McNett	4	12.856	4	10
2	33	Dave Stehouwer	12.965	13.137	15			2	25	Jim Gallagher	4	13.037	4	8
3	25	Jim Gallagher	12.971	12.981	14			3	29	Doug Finley	4	13.098	4	6
4	7	Jon McNett	12.974	12.981	13			4	33	Dave Stehouwer	4	13.019	4	4
5	007	Dale Lewis	13.156	13.159	12
6	42	Chad Finley	13.213	13.225	11			Heat 1 Results:
7	45	Carl Sodman	13.217	13.261	10
8	94	Evan Barrett	13.300	13.301	9			Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
9	15	James Johnson	13.358	13.491	8			1	94	Evan Barrett	8	13.390	8	10
10	1	Jeff Brunt	13.700	15.649	7			2	1	Jeff Brunt	8	13.454	8	8
								3	007	Dale Lewis	8	13.367	4	6
Feature Results:								4	42	Chad Finley	8	13.329	6	4
								5	15	James Johnson	8	13.517	7	0
Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.		6	45	Carl Sodman	8	13.454	6	0
1	42	Chad Finley	40	12.951	10	200
2	29	Doug Finley	40	12.952	8	190
3	33	Dave Stehouwer	40	12.996	13	185
4	7	Jon McNett	40	12.852	13	180
5	94	Evan Barrett	40	13.161	23	175
6	15	James Johnson	40	13.145	17	170
7	1	Jeff Brunt	40	13.231	24	165
8	25	Jim Gallagher	39	12.925	8	160
9	007	Dale Lewis	18	13.314	9	155
10	45	Carl Sodman	9	13.497	3	150
Valvoline Instant Oil Change Modified Series
Friday, May 09, 2008
Qualifying Results:								Heat 1 Results:
Pos	Car#	Driver	Best Time	2nd Best	Pts.			Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
1	50	Leroy Ellis	13.267	13.377	20			1	6	Matthew Schindewolf	8	13.738	5	10
2	27.	Nyle Weiler	13.310	13.341	15			2	0z	Chris Ozanich	8	13.676	4	8
3	55	Larry Wallace	13.362	13.441	14			3	29	Jason Parish	8	13.656	6	6
4	49	John Mamula	13.369	13.411	13			4	31.	Trei Deubel	8	13.612	5	4
5	31	Ron Parish	13.422	13.503	12			5	88.	Richard LaPratt	8	13.574	5	0
6	96	Justin Kazmar	13.424	13.431	11			6	17	Dusty Carl	8	13.703	6	0
7	M1	Bill Butler	13.438	13.476	10			7	13	Ken Buchner	8	13.730	8	0
8	0z	Chris Ozanich	13.494	13.526	9			8	36	Tom Williams	8	13.825	6	0
9	88.	Richard LaPratt	13.531	13.531	8
10	31.	Trei Deubel	13.608	13.610	7			Heat 2 Results:
11	29	Jason Parish	13.629	13.641	6
12	17	Dusty Carl	13.674	13.687	5			Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
13	6	Matthew Schindewolf	13.697	13.707	4			1	M1	Bill Butler	8	13.584	6	10
14	36	Tom Williams	13.866	13.895	3			2	96	Justin Kazmar	8	13.560	7	8
15	13	Ken Buchner	13.892	13.901	2			3	49	John Mamula	8	13.455	8	6
16	6.	Perry Davenport	-.---	-.---	0			4	27.	Nyle Weiler	8	13.580	8	4
								5	55	Larry Wallace	8	13.582	4	0
Feature Results:								6	31	Ron Parish	8	13.535	6	0
								7	50	Leroy Ellis	8	13.392	7	0
Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.		8	6.	Perry Davenport	3	14.024	1	0
1	55	Larry Wallace	35	13.425	8	200
2	0z	Chris Ozanich	35	13.479	11	190
3	6.	Perry Davenport	35	13.362	10	185
4	29	Jason Parish	35	13.555	11	180
5	50	Leroy Ellis	35	13.430	11	175
6	17	Dusty Carl	35	13.590	12	170
7	88.	Richard LaPratt	35	13.671	13	165
8	6	Matthew Schindewolf	35	13.734	9	160
9	13	Ken Buchner	35	13.693	12	155
10	49	John Mamula	34	13.528	15	150
11	36	Tom Williams	34	13.872	6	145
12	31.	Trei Deubel	22	13.658	9	140
13	27.	Nyle Weiler	12	13.519	3	135
14	M1	Bill Butler	6	13.694	2	130
15	96	Justin Kazmar	6	13.728	5	125
16	31	Ron Parish	6	13.717	3	120
Performance Automotive Northwest  Sportsman Series
Friday, May 09, 2008
Qualifying Results:								Heat 1 Results:
Pos	Car#	Driver	Best Time	2nd Best	Pts.			Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
1	01	Jack Koone Jr.	14.178	14.201	20			1	47	Scott Sigman	8	14.540	7	10
2	7L	Dane Long	14.200	14.225	15			2	7L	Dane Long	8	14.257	7	8
3	47	Scott Sigman	14.408	14.417	14			3	24.	Damon Place	8	14.651	8	6
4	24.	Damon Place	14.514	14.523	13			4	M74	Nate Moon	8	14.729	5	4
5	M74	Nate Moon	14.795	14.810	12			5	92	Andrew Clark	8	15.289	5	0
6	92	Andrew Clark	15.108	15.169	11			6	01	Jack Koone Jr.	2	15.434	2	0
7	2	Jamie Feguer	-.---	-.---	0
Feature Results:
Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
1	7L	Dane Long	25	14.342	16	200
2	01	Jack Koone Jr.	25	14.457	4	190
3	24.	Damon Place	25	14.611	14	185
4	47	Scott Sigman	25	14.468	8	180
5	92	Andrew Clark	24	15.348	11	175
6	M74	Nate Moon	8	15.022	6	170
7	2	Jamie Feguer	3	16.546	1	165
The BOSS Pony Stock Series
Friday, May 09, 2008
Qualifying Results:								Heat 1 Results:
Pos	Car#	Driver	Best Time	2nd Best	Pts.			Pos	Car#	Driver	Laps	Best Time	Lap	Pts.
1	72	Jimmy Scavarda	16.513	16.716	40			1	22	Bradley Harbenski	8	17.616	2	10
2	55.	Edson Rowley III	16.518	16.580	40			2	55.	Daniel Gokee	8	17.147	3	9
3	47	Wayne Beckner Jr	16.723	16.744	40			3	63	Joe Bates	8	17.204	4	8
4	7.	Lexus Jarecki	16.802	16.867	40			4	38	Patrick Denison	8	17.490	3	7
5	11	Brian Beckner	16.942	16.954	40			5	5	Richard Roberts Sr.	8	17.041	6	6
6	12	Marq Eaton	17.049	17.368	40			6	80.	Bill McBride	8	18.351	6	5
7	14	Jeremy LaFontaine	17.132	17.132	40