HARTFORD, Mich. — More than 20 of the area’s best UMP DIRTcar Late Model drivers were on hand for the Michigan Corn 40 American Ethanol Late Model Tour event at Hartford Speedway.
Fast-qualifier Brandon Thirlby led every lap to bank the $4,000 top prize.
The field was slowed just eight laps into the event when a massive pile up in turn three nearly ended Thirlby’s hopes of a victory. Dave Baker and Mike Spatola made contact going into the turn, causing both cars to spin up to the outside wall.
Two cars came to rest right in the groove, and it collected Dusty Moore, Joe Godsey, and Eric Spangler. Thirlby, who was leading at the time, spun into the incident late, with minor contact to the wall and other drivers.
On the restart, no one had anything for Thirlby, as he pulled to a nearly half-a-straightaway lead over second spot Logan Arntz before the field got to turn three. Troubles would continue again for Baker, as he and Spatola made contact on the front stretch just before the halfway point, causing both cars to stop, triggering another caution.
At the halfway point, Thirlby had put a number of lapped cars between he and a battling Arntz and Ryan Missler. Arntz and Missler were locked in an impressive side-by-side battle that saw Missler power to the outside of Arntz going into turn three, back into the outside wall, and continue to try and take the position away.
The pair’s battle would have even more drama as lapped driver Shawn Reed was thrown in the mix. On lap 37, Arntz had cleared Reed down the back straight away, and was bringing Missler with him. Missler attempted to dive to the inside of Arntz going into the corner, but hadn’t quite cleared Reed. The two made significant contact, and both cars spun into turn three.
With three laps to go, something was in the air as drivers tried to better their position. On the first attempt for the restart, contact between Ryan VanderVeen and Mike Spatola on the bottom of turns one and two, caused a chain reaction stack up that lead to Reed and Justin Pauley spinning into the inside wall.
Another attempt to get back underway was slowed when championship contenders Rich Bell and Travis Stemler made contact going into turn three. The contact did major damage to the front of Bell’s machine, nearly knocking the nose piece completely off the car, and doing damage to the front suspension.
The next restart was a single-file attempt, as it marked the third try to restart on the same lap. It was not what Rusty Schlenk wanted to see, as he nearly completed the pass on Logan Arntz for the second spot the restart before.
With the green flag back in the air, Thirlby again began to walk away from the field, as he continued on his way to YellowHose.com Victory Lane. Arntz held on to second spot for his best career AELMT finish, ahead of Schlenk, Wenger and Stemler.