By Andrew D. Hayn for the Pilot News
    PLYMOUTH — This past Saturday night almost 150 cars made the trip to the Plymouth Speedway for the Mid-Season Championships.
The local speedway hosted the championships for its five original classes and invited the Mid States Region Super Cup division as well. Many fans also made it out for the mid-summer thriller.
    The late models began the afternoon witnessing Bobby Stremme set the fastest pace with a time of 13.374. This marks the first fast-qualifying award for Stremme in 2007.  Tyler Roarhig set the fast time in the sportsman division with a circuit around the 3/8 mile in 14.910 seconds. In the mini stocks, South Bend’s Derrick Griffin set the pace with a lap of 15.983.

After the opening ceremonies, it was time for heat racing action. The mini stocks opened heat racing action with a pair of eight lap races. Picking up the heat wins were Chad Lindsay and Jamison Corn.
    The thundercars made their way out onto the race track next for their two heat races. Dennis Kiser won the first event with the second race going to Chris Milligan. The front wheel drives were the final class for heat racing action. The sportsman and late models only raced extended feature events without racing heats. Picking up wins in the front wheel drive class was Joe Kilpatrick and Hammond’s Shane Hildreth.
    After a quick intermission to give away some prizes to the fans it was time to go feature racing. The Dually Depot Outlaw Late Models kicked off the features with a 50-lap spectacular. Rich Boal started on the pole and shot out to an early lead. Ken Weaver of Mishawaka quickly chased him down where they began a close battle. Boal then cut down a tire and Weaver took the top spot after Boal was forced to the pits. Ken Weaver held on for the win. He was followed by Cory Pressler in second for his best finish of 2007. Steve Stacey rounded out the podium.
    The Sportsmen were up next for a 40-lap affair. Gary Chapman picked up his first feature of 2007 at Plymouth with the Mid-Season Championship. Mike Schew-chuck ran a strong race to finish in second with Kevin Gunkel finishing in third. There were so many sportsman drivers that there had to be a ‘B’ feature. Frank Fairchild won the sportsman ‘B’ feature with a late race charge around Bob Bean.
    The Super Cups ran two different features. The junior feature had a lot of racing up front with a close finish. The win went to Kyle Brinkmann. Derick Goodman came home in second with Camden Murphy in third. The adult feature was 25 laps. Wisconsin Dells driver Jake Jump picked up the feature win.
    The mini stocks ran a 25- lap mid-season championship. The race was hard fought by the two top point competitors. Jamison Corn and Jim Newman went back and forth, however the race win went to Leesburg, Indiana’s Jamison Corn with Newman in second. Round-ing out the top three was Bryce Schaeffer.
    The thundercars were out next for their 25-lap feature. Picking up the win after slicing and dicing his way to the front from the last starting spot was Matt Norem of Knox. David Long had the best finish of his career with a second place finish while Joe Clark rounded out the podium.
    The front-wheel drives were the last division on the night with a 25-lap event. The win went to Matt Norem while Robert Reed and Eric Kiser finished second and third.
    This weekend the Ply-mouth Speedway hosts the East/West Shootout with the GLAS dwarf cars. The Dually Depot late models, sportsmen, mini stocks, thundercars, and front-wheel drives will all be on hand. There will also be a kid’s nickel pitch at intermission. The racing action begins at 7 p.m. For more information visit www.plymouthspeedway.net.