Springing into 2017 At CMS

Sunshine, blue skies, and 80º is the epitome of a wonderful summer day, but when that day comes in April and you find yourself at one of Michigan’s premier race tracks…its pure perfection.

On April 15^th Crystal Motor Speedway opened the doors on the 2017 racing season and not only was the weather incredible, the racing action was nothing short of impressive.

With full fields of Flinn Stocks (4-cylinders), Street Stocks, Pro Stocks, Pro Trucks, IMCA Modifieds, and Late Models; the six divisions that make up a regular show at CMS it was a night filled with 3 wide corner passes, nail biting finishes and all around exciting racing.

Crystal Motor Speedway is always a place to go for family fun.  With spacious grandstands built into a berm; thus creating a safe seating experience regardless of how high you sit, family-only sections provide a perfect place for young eyes and ears to take in all of the action, and with an amazingly friendly set of staff and drivers, everyone regardless of age will enjoy a Saturday night at Crystal Motor Speedway.

This spring I was surprised by a few new additions at CMS; throughout the infield Ron Flinn and the crew have added a ton of LED lighting, coupled with new LED lights on the front stretch means that the speedway is void of any dark spots at all making it impossible to miss some of the Late Model feature finishes like what took place on this night.

The Kentucky Fried Late Model feature was pretty intense from the start with slower traffic spinning right in front of early race leader Ryan VanderVeen casuing some superficial damage on the #23 machine.

Following the early race clean up you could see something brewing around Mid-pack.   2016 Track Champion #13 Scotty Baker was picking his way through the pack from his 7^th place starting position.   With just 4 laps left Baker cleared the 2^nd place car of  Zach Olger and began to reel in VanderVeen.  With nearly half a track to make up it seemed like an incredible feat, but once again slower traffic played a role and Baker took the opportunity to make his move winning at the line in a true photo finish with the final margin of victory being 0.015 seconds.

The Late Model feature finish was one of the most exciting that I have ever seen, but it wasn’t the only highlight of the night.

In Pro-Stocks we saw the #80 of Jeramie Raby battle his way up from 12^th to grab the lead…but Raby wasn’t the only one on the move.    The #14 of Nate Jones put on a clinic moving up from his 16^th starting position to grab the win.

In the IMCA Modified Main it was all things DeYoung as young Brenten schooled his father driving the #71 to the win over Myron in the #7.

In Pro-Trucks the always impressive Curtis Rice drove the #92 machine to the win over former Late Model standout Matt Pickard in the #115, while in Street Stocks it was the mean green #73 Wagon driven by Jasen Wiley that made the show making quick work of moving from his 7^th place starting spot to grab the win.

Finishing up the night was a great run by Joey Eller in the #17 working his way up from 9^th to win over Mike Schnettler in the #66.

Every night at Crystal Motor Speedway is an exciting one and the family and I are already looking forward to our next trip to the speedway.

I simply cannot thank Ron & Mary Jane Flinn along with the awesome CMS crew of Kim Fellows, Ryan Flinn, Kris Ward, Sue Lincoln, Roger Williams, Trevor Hollis and now the newest team member of Leo “Chief” Pego on the mic for their wonderful hospitality.

Thank you all so very much for reading and I will see you when the next green flag flies!