Laird crowns mid-season champions

It was a drive for the hardware on Thursday night as Laird International Raceway held their mid-season championship.

The high levels of adrenaline flowing through the drivers in the pits was evident early as the fight for a mid-season title trophy saw some bumping and rubbing along with some great door-to-door racing.

Drivers placing first through third in the feature race were presented trophies in front of the fans on the home stretch.

In the late model division, pictured driver Michael Gold, the night's fast qualifier, took the top honours in convincing fashion with a victory by nearly a half lap in the 30 lap feature over Rick Ellis and Jeremy Van Hoek.

Gold, the division's points leader, also won the second heat race after being one of three cars knocked out of the first heat after a collision on lap one during the third restart.

The collision also sent Paul Seabrook to the pits for the night and Robert Hiiemaa, who struggled after, for the remainder of the race.

The night also marked the return of a pair of race veterans to the track as Robert Sartini and Rick Leonard looked competitive in the late model field.

Ellis captured the first heat while Rod Bolduc Jr. edged out Hiiemaa, Sartini and Gold in the four car dash.

In the pure stock division, the Michigan Sault's Barry Glenn won his eighth consecutive feature race over Len Bibeau and Michigan Sault driver Norm Miller.

Glenn, who also won the first heat, has won three consecutive features at Laird and five straight at the Kinross Speedway. Bibeau captured the second heat.

Kevin Oicle continued his hot streak with 18 consecutive victories after a sixth consecutive clean sweep of the two heat races and feature event in the modified division. Larry Ebare and Randy Hache finished second and third in the feature.

Bar River's Steve Kent barely continued his streak of feature wins but managed to hold off David Slingsby by the slimmest of margins down the stretch in the factory stock division. The victory was Kent's eighth feature win in eight outings this season.

Kevin Pace, who finished third in the feature, won the first heat while points leader John Fragale, who was knocked out the feature with a tire problem, took the second heat.

In the stock four division, Gordon Hunt captured his first LIR feature race and the mid-season championship over Mike Savino and Mike Baraluk.

With the field split in two for the heat races, Baraluk won both his heats while Savino won a heat and John Forbes drove to his first LIR win in the other heat.

LIR will skip next Thursday night and host a pair of races next weekend as a part of the track's second annual Summer Extravaganza event Aug. 6-8.

Laird will run a full show on Friday, Aug. 6 beginning with qualifying at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m. Drivers will then gear up again two days later on Sunday with qualifying at 5 p.m. and racing at 6 p.m.