5/29/2025
Owosso Speedway
Double Header Weekend Sees Big Winners
Owosso Speedway’s first doubleheader weekend was on tap to celebrate the Memorial Day Weekend, paying tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms.
The weekend began on Saturday, May 24th with a four-in-one show featuring a special non-points event for the Valley Truck Center Modifieds and the first of four visits for the MCR Dwarf Car Series.
The visitors from the MCR Dwarfs would be first to hit the track in a 20 lap shootout. Troy Hoffman would be the winner when the dust settled but it was a war of two-,three-, and four-wide racing all over the 3/8s mile oval! Parker Tatro would come home to finish second over last years winner Zack Nichols. Steve Shalter Jr. had a strong fourth place run over Greg Rudzik. Heat races were won by Joe McManman, Eric Hoffman, and Greg Rudzik. Rudzik also set fast time in qualifying with a 15.607 (86.5MPH).
The Spence Brothers Construction Street Stocks would be second to hit the track. A thrilling feature event would see intense battles for victory. Jake Thompson would be the pied piper of the field as all the drivers behind him would duke it out for position. At one point Defending Champion Jeff Owens made contact with Thompson, sending him around, but Owens would make the sportsman-like move to accept blame for the incident, allowing Thompson to keep the lead. Thompson would hang on to take the win. Scott Whetzel was second, with Tim Lahar, Johnny Hayden, and Jeff Owens rebounding to complete the top five. Johnny Hayden would get the Hard Charger bonus for passing 9 cars from his original starting spot. Jerry Ballard, Jim Miller Sr., and Gabe Carr would take heat race wins. Whetzel set a new track record in qualifying with a 15.999 (84.38MPH).
The Michigan Paving and Materials All-American Trucks were the penultimate class to run, with another exciting feature on deck for the Tailgate Titans. By virtue of his fast qualifier award, Darren Burton was offered the Kimball Midwest Challenge. The Challenge offers the fastest qualifier of a randomly selected division the opportunity to start the race last in exchange for a rolling bonus that grows $100 for every week not claimed, but the driver must win to claim the bonus. Burton would accept and start dead last! Burton wasted little time slicing his way up through the field, truck by truck, before finally arriving at his destination… victory lane! Burton would claim a $300 bonus. Jim Miller Jr., making his truck debut, would finish second over Mark Wilcox, Defending Champion Greg Long III, and Charles Hamilton. Ricky Gillett and Miller would claim heat races, while Burton set a new track record in qualifying with a 17.894 (75.44MPH).
Burton also claimed hard charger honors.
The Valley Truck Center Modifieds would run a special non-points event to close out night one of the double header weekend. Steven Pelky would lead the way in the early running of the event, and would put on a defensive master class, holding off an all-star field of drivers for many laps. Eventually he would be overtaken by a hard charging Nick Clemens. A late restart would see Clemens start alongside David McManus, a replay of their opening night battle, in which McManus came out on top. But this time it would be redemption for the 2012 Champion Clemens. McManus finished second over Steven Pelky, Tim Lahar, and 12-time Champion Bill Luckhurst. Lahar was hard charger.
Monday Results Courtesy of Champion Racing Association:
In his first start with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance in 2025, Kyle Crump went to Victory Lane at Toledo Speedway. In his previous three starts (Birch Run (2023), Owosso (Fall 2024), Winchester (Fall 2024) ) Crump also went to Victory Lane. After 100 laps around Owosso Speedway Monday afternoon, Crump again went to JEGS Tour Victory Lane for his fifth race win in five starts. The win was also his third Big O Classic win in as many attempts.
Crump rolled off from the fifth spot after qualifying third fastest earlier in the day and redrawing the No.5 pill. He trailed Chase Burda and Austin Hull who led the field to green. The tone for the afternoon was set early when the first caution flew just four laps into the race. A multitude of single car and multicar spins would slow the race throughout the course of the nearly two-hour contest. In the end, the caution flag flew 18 times with the red flag being displayed twice Monday afternoon.
Burda was the early race leader, dealing with Blake Rowe throughout the early stages of the race. Restarting on the outside in every attempt, Rowe finally got the best of Burda at the line on lap 36, but his time out front was short-lived, with Burda retook the lead the following lap. A restart later in the race put a new challenger to Rowe’s right shoulder when Rowe elected to take the bottom of row two at the choose cone – Kyle Crump lined up to Burda’s outside and on lap 57 edged his RMD Racing No.131 to the front of the field.
Burda was shuffled back and later spun down the backstretch into turn three which resulted in him going to the tail of the field. Several heavy hitters ended up in the back throughout the afternoon, including Chase Pinsonneault, Keegan Sobilo, Chris Shannon, and Austin Hull, among others.
Two of the last three races were decided with five or less laps to go at Owosso Speedway – the only exception was the Owosso Nationals in September which was cut short due to rain. Things seemed to be heading that way again Monday afternoon with a final restart on the track with four laps to go. Treyten Lapcevich and the afternoon’s fast qualifying, Albert Francis pestered Crump the entire second half of the race, but neather could capitalize on the late race restarts, allowing Crump to drive on to the win. Francis, Lapcevich, Burda, and Pinsonneault rounded out the top five at the finish.
The next event for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour is a non-points show on Thursday, May 29th for the Rackley Roofing Battle of Broadway 150. Another $10,000 to win race is on the line Thursday and advanced tickets are available. Fans who can’t make the trip can watch the action on TrackTv.com or RacingAmerica.Tv.
Submitted By: Chris Fobbe
