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Hiiemaa dominates late model field

Rob Hiiemaa went fishing at Laird International Raceway on Thursday night as he reeled in the opposition to catch a clean sweep of the late model division.

Rob Hiiemaa went fishing at Laird International Raceway on Thursday night as he reeled in the opposition to catch a clean sweep of the late model division.

Heyden's Hiiemaa won both heat races and the feature in the nine car field to expand his points lead in the late model division at LIR in front of over 1,900 fans.

The veteran driver took the same approach to each race, as he patiently waited for an opening to make his move to methodically climb up the field. By the final laps of the race, Hiiemaa was cruising to the checkered flag.

The feature win was Hiiemaa's second of the season while the heat victories were his third and fourth of the young season.

George Wilson and Rick Ellis were involved in an interesting collision in turn four on the final lap of the feature. Running door-to-door during the final laps, the two finally collided causing both to spin out and blow tires. In an effort to claim some points in the standings, both crawled across the finish line on their tire rims.

Al Odbert III, a 17 year-old driver out of the Michigan Sault, had a break-out night in his second year of racing in the pure stock division. Odbert, who won a heat race last week, won the second heat and showed veteran poise in holding on for his first ever feature victory. Barry Glenn, also out of the Michigan Sault, won the first heat.

Jason Praysner continued his dominance of the factory stock division as he captured his third feature win of the season. Heat races were won by Chuck Fawcett and David Slingsby.

Fawcett, who ran strong all night, was black flagged while leading the second heat race for violating the quarter-second rule. Any driver who drives over a quarter-second faster than their qualifying time, is ejected from the race.

Jeremy Van Hoek also had a break through night in the stock four division. Van Hoek won his ever race in the opening heat before winning the second, although his night did end on a sour note as he experienced engine trouble on the 16th lap of the 20 lap feature while enjoying a lead. Dan Dinsmore eventually won the feature.

The fifth week of racing at Laird continues next Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. Qualifying begins at 6:15 p.m. LIR will also celebrate with a summer bash while the late models will run a twin 30 lap feature.


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