Hunt captures first feature at Kinross

Local driver Gordon Hunt captured his first ever feature win at the Kinross Speedway on Friday night.

Hunt, pictured, took the honours in the four cylinder division despite having the races cut a little short because of curfew regulations at the track.

Several other local drivers made some noise at the track as Michael Gold, Nick Guerriero and Rick Ellis headed a solid late model field.

Bill Butler also had a solid night in his new division by capturing an Australian Pursuit race in the pure stock class.

The following is a complete recap of Friday's events provided by the Kinross Speedway's Gerry Liscumb Jr.:

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Vansloten, Piche, Young Sr. and Hunt claim night 2 honors at Kinross

Increasing car counts and attendance, combined with co-operative weather has ushered the Kinross Speedway into the 2004 season with vengeance.

Just 2 weeks into the new campaign and this Northern Michigan ¼ mile has seen positive feedback from both sides of the fence.

Fifty-six cars would make their way pit side this past Friday night for a full 4-in-1 show brought to you by Auto Value Parts Store of Sault Ste. Marie, MICHIGAN.

The night's preliminary events for the Pure Stock Division would see 2001 division champion Barry Glenn (55) set fast time coming in under the lights in 16.920 seconds.

Larry Young Jr. (25) grabbed the checker flag in the four-car dash while Bill Cryderman (61) and William Butler (6) would grab the Australian Pursuit wins. Terry Johnson (11) and Larry Young Sr. (26) would win their respective heat races.

The seventeen-car field would see Rick Orsborne (5Y) and Butler pace the field to the green flag.

Cryderman jumped out to the early lead before being overtaken on lap 4 by Young Sr. A caution on lap 9 would tighten the field after Young Jr. tagged the front stretch wall ending that young man's night early.

Korey Lavigne (60) would head pit side on lap 12 while Mike Porcaro (15) exited on lap 18 and Joe Addison (43) would follow just 2 laps later.

Despite the hard charges from his fellow competitors down the stretch Young Sr. would hold on for his 2nd career feature win in 7 years of racing here at Kinross.

Glenn, Al Odbert III (32), Randy Miller (73) and Ben Huyck (27) would round out the top 5.

In what is shaping up to be their most exciting season to date, the Four Cylinder Division would increase their car count for the 2nd consecutive week, this time seeing 23 cars check into the pits.

John Clawson (35) set fast time with a lap of 18.100 seconds and then backed that up with a win in the four-car dash. Anthony Jones (29) and Aaron Lemay (10) won the division's Australian Pursuit races before Gordon Hunt (77) and John Mayer (9) would take heat race #1 and 2 respectively.

Jones and Ken Litzner (7) brought the pack to the green flag of the scheduled 25-lap affair.

An altercation between turn 1 and 2 on lap 1 would see Mayer and Roger Tarr (5) being relegated pit side early.

On the restart Sault Ste. Marie, ONTARIO native Gordon Hunt (77) would take his 5th starting position to the front and lead the pack thru the paces.

The checker flag would fly prematurely as the track hit its 11 p.m. curfew, giving Hunt his first-ever feature win at the Kinross Speedway.

Lemay, Eric Sherlund (79), Steve Stec (13), Chris Brady (17), Jones, Nick Jobst (74), Clawson and Preston Nightlinger (48) capped off the top 10 positions.

The Factory Stock division fast qualifier would once again be Trout Lake, Michigan's Jerry Ball (8), this week with a time of 15.530 seconds.

Kevin Johnson (37) would take the early bragging rights in the four-car dash before going 2-for-2 on the night after seeing the checkered flag in the 10-lap heat race.

Dave Devine (4) and Jared Nightlinger (48) occupied the top two spots when the stout field would start their final event of the night.

Devine would power his car through laps 1 and 2 as the leader before Josh Ware (7) would bring his Nova to the front of the pack from inside row 2. Those two drivers would swap positions twice more before Ware gained control until just past the ½ way mark when the lone caution of the race would fly.

On the restart the "Pink Panther" Cecil Piche (88) would make the move and take home the hard-fought win with Ware coming in a close 2nd. Pee Wee Fountain (50) capped off the final podium position.

The fourth weekly division at the Speedway, the Late Models, would see one new face on week 2 as 2002 track champion Michael Gold would make an appearance in his familiar #97 machine.

Dave Vansloten (33) set fast time and a new track record with a blistering 13.730 seconds. That eclipsed his old mark by 2 hundredths of a second.

Hometown driver Todd Jackson (21) won the four-car dash while Vansloten would grab the division's lone heat race.

Rick Ellis (5) and Nick Guerriero (4) made up the front row for the feature that would be minus Rick Leonard (29) and Sam Bohling (45) who had their cars down pit side to start the night.

Guerriero would lead the first 4 laps before Vansloten make a high-side pass on lap 5 to take the lead from inside the final row.

From their your fast qualifier would lengthen his lead while the attention now shifted to the battle for 2nd between Gold and Jackson. Those two drivers would battle it out the entire race before a nifty-move with only 2 laps to go would see Jackson grab the 2nd position.

Vansloten would roll onto his first feature win of the season while Jackson, Gold, Guerriero, Mark Howland (59) and Ellis capped the top 5 spots.

The scheduled powder puff could not be run due to time constraints and has been rescheduled for this coming Friday, June 4th.

As well, the night will include another full 4-in-1 show of Late Models, Factory Stocks, Pure Stocks and 4-Cylinders while Nyberg Lettering and Embroidery will be sponsoring lap money in all divisions.

Qualifying is at 6 p.m. with racing to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Take exit 378 off the I-75 and follow the signs. For more information check us out online at www.kinrossspeedway.com.

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PHOTO: Four Cylinder feature winner Gordon Hunt. (Photo courtesy of Rod Aubertin of www.saultracers.com)