Dennis Varcoe was one of the last men standing after surviving a crash and bang late model feature to collect the checkered flag on Thursday night at Laird International Raceway.
With a large field of 13 cars qualifying in the late model division,Varcoe, whose win was his career first at LIR, won one of six cars to finish the 30 lap feature race.
An early collision down the front stretch retired Rick Ellis, Dennis Aho, Dave Archibald and George Wilson to the pits for the night. Shortly after, Maverick McDonald, Rick Leonard and Tim Aho left the race with car problems. Division points leader Rob Hiiemaa was sent to pits with loose sheet metal hanging off his car but returned and finished 17 laps behind the leader.
For heat racing, the division was separated into two groups of seven and six cars for 10 lap racing. Rick Leonard, a two-time super late model champion at Laird, won his first race of the season while other winners included 20 year-old Michael Gold, Heyden's Hiiemaa and McDonald.
In qualifying, the times continue to drop each week as drivers continue to adjust to the new division and new car set-up. Gold first broke Wilson's record set on Monday with a time of 14.915 seconds. Wilson then broke Gold's mark with consecutive record breaking lap times of 14.905 and 14.856 around the 1/3 mile oval.
Archibald won the fast car dash over Wilson, Gold and Tim Aho. No points are awarded to the winner of the six lap dash between the top four qualifiers.
In the factory stock division, John Fragale had a big night by winning the feature in convincing fashion and the first heat race. Len Bibeau won the second heat. Points leader David Slingsby and Jason Praysner continued a close battle with both racers recording high finishes.
Brimley, Michigan's Bob Laphew won the pure stock feature race while Cottage Park, Michigan's Ray Golladay won both heats. The points battle will tighten after points leader Barry Glenn, from the Michigan Sault, was forced to miss Thursday's program with back problems.
In the stock four division, Matt Huber, who had won and been subsequently disqualified from the last two feature races, completed a clean sweep by winning the feature and both heats. Jeremy Van Hoek won the exhibition hot dog race, which consisted of five laps of racing,eating hot dogs and riding a bicycle one lap.
Racing continues next Thursday with racing at 7 p.m. and qualifying at 6:15 p.m. LIR will host their mid-season championship on this night with the late models running a special 40-lap feature.