MORRIS, Ill. — Stan Zolodz IV held off a challenging Eddie Hoffman and went to victory in the Mid Season Championship Firecracker 50 late model stock car race at Grundy County Speedway Friday night.
Zolodz, the 22-year-old speedster from Hebron, Ind., wheeled his S4 Motorsports Chevrolet No. 33 to his first win of the year at the third-mile paved oval, taking the checkered flag with a 0.215-second advantage over Hoffman, the seven-time late model champion at the Grundy oval.
Racing behind Zolodz and Hoffman at the finish were former track champions Ricky Baker and Anthony Danta with fast qualifier Nathan Kelly and Jim Weber rounding out the top six.
Kenny Benson was the winner of the 35-lap sportsman division main event.  Benson captured this fourth feature win of the season ahead of a pressing Jeremiah Senko, James Dean, Kevin Murphy and last week’s feature winner Matt Clemens.
Cameron Preisler claimed top honors in the 30-lap street stock headliner, scoring the win with a comfortable margin over last year’s track champion Scotty Gardner.  Randy Weese, Darrell Gay and Matt Chester chased the leading duo to the finish line.  It was Preisler’s second win of the year.
The pure stock four-cylinder feature race was won by Gavin Legner, his first win of the season.  Legner bested Ethan Wolf and Kris Koppers in the 25-lap contest.Â