As the result of a six-car invert, Jeff Bailey had the pole position for the State Transmission MidState 75-lap Late Model main event, but it was Brandon Riehl’s aggressiveness that stole the show.
At the drop of the green flag Bailey jumped to a multi-car lead, and by lap-11 he had sprinted to a quarter-lap lead by lap-11 as the rest of the field settled into a shoestring formation around Tri-City Raceway’s tri-oval.
On Lap-25, the second of three cautions slowed the pack, enabling Riehl another chance to catch Bailey. And on lap-38, Riehl moved up on Bailey’s side, slipping under him on the backstretch of that lap.
Bailey, who has run a limited racing schedule this season, held off all challengers in running to his best finish of the year, but once Riehl was able to get around him his hopes for a win were shattered.
Bailey maintained his pace for a second-place finish, with Zamora, Rhoads and Rod Schultz rounded out the top five.
Schultz ran a determined race but tire troubles kept him from finishing any higher than fifth. Jason Jefferson, the current points-leader, ran at Riehl’s bumper for the majority of the race, but a low tire late in the race caused him to slow his pace. With only a few laps left Jefferson elected to bypass the pits and nurse his racer to a lead-lap finish rather than go a lap down, therefore losing several places at the finish line.
It was a smart move on the part of Jefferson and his crew, but that enabled Riehl to capture his sixth win of the season and close the gap between he and Jefferson for the MidState championship. With more than a one-hundred point gap between the two leaders, you can be sure that every race and every point counts, and that Riehl will be doing everything he can to gain on Jefferson.
For the Limited Sportsman class, B.J. Tidrick came to the tri-oval looking for his first win of the Series at Tri-City Raceway. John Rose was looking for a win as well to gain on points-leader, Rod Schultz, Jr., but for Tidrick and Rose, destiny was not on their side.
Schultz was the top qualifier, but an eight-car invert put him mid-pack for the start of the 50-lap main event, with Jack Anderson on the pole, and J.C. Wofford, Jeff Estabrook, Kriss Clark, Rose, Brian Lambert, and Tidrick between him and his sixth win of the season.
Anderson and Wofford answered the green flag with side-by-side racing for the initial lap, but Anderson fell off the pace allowing Wofford to grab the lead, with Schultz moving up through the pack.
By lap 10, Rose had the lead, but by this time Schultz had made it into the lead group and had Tidrick and Rose in his sights. For 20-laps Rose held off the challengers, but on lap-32, Rose could no longer hold off the hard-charging Schultz. Once Schultz grabbed the lead, he moved to an immediate eight-car lead and held it all the way to the checkered flag, and a well-deserved sixth win.
While Schultz was building leads, Rose and Tidrick were staging their own battle for second and third places, respectively, with Tidrick slipping by Rose on lap 46. Wofford and Lambert finished in fourth and fifth.
Since a restructure of the class in the early part of the season, the MidState Super 4s have been struggling to find an audience. But with each race that audience is growing and the car count increasing.
On Saturday night, Tri-City Raceway Mini Stock driver Kevin Gustafson won the pole but started the race in fourth place on the invert. Within five laps, however, Gustafson had gained the lead. By mid-race he had built a quarter-lap lead, with Rick Thompson and Don Walker battling for the runner-up position. At the drop of the checkered flag Gustafson was followed, in order, by Thompson, Walker, Tommy Macomber, and Jeff Raver.
Results: MidState Late Models: 1. Brandon Riehl, 2. Jeff Bailey, 3. Mike Zamora, 4. Brad Rhoads, 5. Rod Schultz, Jr., 6. Christian Roeder, 7. Jerry Markee, 8. Jody Tanner, 9. Bob Olson, 10. Jason Jefferson, 11. Alden Hamilton, 12. Davey Manthei, 13. Ed Thomsen Top Qualifier: Brandon Riehl (18.063) A Trophy Dash: Riehl, Schultz, Jefferson, Manthei B Trophy Dash: Roeder, Tanner, Zamora, Hamilton
MidState Limited Sportsman: 1. Rod Schultz, Jr., 2. B.J. Tidrick, 3. John Rose, 4. J.C. Wofford, 5. Brian Lambert, 6. Jeff Estabrook, 7. Kriss Clark, 8. Todd Connell, 9. Darrell Tidrick, 10. Jack Anderson, 11. Ted Wilburn, 12. Tim DeWeese, 13. Tracy Goering, 14. Tom Kargman, 15. Randy Marshall Top Qualifier: Rod Schultz, Jr. (20.123) A Trophy Dash: Lambert, Rose, Schultz, B. Tidrick B Trophy Dash: Connell, Anderson, Wofford, Marshall Heat Race 1: B. Tidrick, Lambert, Estabrook, Clark, Wofford, D. Tidrick, Schultz Heat Race 2: Anderson, Connell, DeWeese, Marshall, Kargman, Wilburn, Goering
MidState Super 4s: 1. Kevin Gustafson, 2. Rick Thompson, 3. Don Walker, 4. Tommy Macomber, 5. Jeff Raver, 6. Stan Owsley Top Qualifier: Gustafson (19.974) A Trophy Dash: Gustafson, Thompson, Walker B Trophy Dash: Raver, Owsley, Macomber Heat Race: Thompson, Gustafson, Walker, Raver
