LAKE CITY, Mich. (Aug. 21) — While most of the series regulars breathed a sigh of relief when the longest schedule in DIRTcar Summer Nationals history reached its conclusion Saturday night, Ashton Winger was wishing the tour could be even longer.
Closing out his first full-time run on the grueling summer series in impressive fashion, Winger of Hampton, Ga., completed a sweep of the tour’s final weekend with a dominating performance in Saturday’s series finale at Merritt Speedway to earn $10,000 for his sixth series victory.
Winger, who also earned a $10,000 payday in the tour’s penultimate event at nearby Tri-City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Mich., on Friday, started from the pole and overtook second-starting Travis Stemler on lap 17 of Saturday’s 40-lap feature and cruised the remaining distance in topping third-starting Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio, by 1.306 seconds at the finish. The victory propelled Winger ahead of fellow series regular Tanner English for second in the tour’s final points standings as Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., wrapped up his fourth series title with a 12th-place finish.
“The way we’re running right now, I almost wish this deal was just getting started,” the 21-year-old Winger said not long after celebrating in victory lane with his usual overzealous roof slaps and rooftop steering wheel drop that series followers have grown accustomed to after watching him wrack up wins during the second half of the two-month tour. “The good thing about winning this one is we can celebrate it a while. When you run every day like we do on this deal, people forget about who wins pretty quick. Finishing it up the way we did, winning both of these last two races, it’s going to be something cool to look back on.”
Starting from the pole position, Winger settled into second on the race’s initial start after Stemler of Ionia, Mich., used a high-side charge through the first corner to take the lead. After following Stemler around the track’s low groove for the race’s first 10 laps, Winger moved up a lane and quickly began eying a pass for the lead.
Pulling alongside Stemler on lap 16, Winger used the track’s middle lane to pull even with Stemler exiting turn two on the next lap and completed the winning pass exiting turn four. With the race running green until the end, Winger ran unchallenged, opening a lead of more than three seconds before Moran cut the advantage to a more modest gap as Winger ran through traffic in the closing laps.
“I really had to work for that one,” Winger said of his performance. “When Travis got me on the start there I was beating myself up pretty bad just for not getting a better launch. Then Devin showed me the top (on the race’s only restart with three laps compete). … I didn’t really realize the top would be as good as it was. Hat’s off to the track crew. They made this thing racy.”
Moran settled for second behind Winger for the second straight night, although Saturday’s result was much less dramatic than Friday’s last-lap theatrics at Tri-City that saw Moran attempt a final-corner pass of Winger that came up just short. Behind Moran, Stemler slid back to third at the finish with with Chad Finley of St. Johns, Mich., and English of Benton, Ky., rounding out the top five.
As he closed in on Winger late in Saturday’s feature, Moran was hoping another late caution would give him a chance to make up for his near-miss at Tri-City the night before.
“We had a good car again and I think we would’ve been able to pull it off if we had another one of them last-lap deals again,” said Moran, who joined the tour for its season-ending four-race Michigan swing and picked up a victory, two runner-up finishes and a third-place finish. “I was trying to roll the top and then (Winger) moved up right when I got there. But that’s just the way it rolls. We needed to be a little better.”
Notes: The race, which took 14 minutes to complete, was slowed by one caution that appeared when Mike Staszak of Kawkawlin, Mich., slipped over the turn-two banking on lap three. … Twelve of 22 starters completed all 40 laps. … Along with the $10,000 payday for winning the race, Winger earned $11,600 for finishing second in the series standings — that’s $3,480 more than the $8,120 English earned for ending up third. Wigner also claimed the $2,000 weekly points title. … Before the start of Saturday's program, Pierce accepted a championship check worth $29,000.
Feature lineup
Row 1: Ashton Winger, Travis Stemler
Row 2: Devin Moran, Chad Finley
Row 3: Tanner English, Scott James
Row 4: Cody Bauer, Joe Godsey
Row 5: Eric Spangler, Mitch McGrath
Row 6: Dona Marcoullier, Bobby Pierce
Row 7: Brandon Thirlby, Joey Burch
Row 8: Logan Nickerson, Andrew Terrill
Row 9: Ryan Lanphierd, Mike Staszak
Row 10: Jeff Roth, Jamie Grochowski
Row 11: J.C. Witherspoon, Thomas Hunziker
Consolation race results
(10 laps; top three transfer)
Finish: Andrew Terrill, Ryan Lanphierd, Mike Staszak, Thomas Hunziker, J.C. Witherspoon, Jeff Geis, Jacob VanDeVoorde, Rod Laney, David Bowen, Dan Hersey, Jerry Kent, Jim Billett, Robert Lewis, Chad Foster Sr., Jamie Grochowski, Jeff Roth.
Heat race results
(10 laps; top five transfer)
First heat: Devin Moran, Chad Finley, Cody Bauer, Mitch McGrath, Brandon Thirlby, Andrew Terrill, Mike Staszak, Rod Laney, Chad Foster Sr., David Bowen, Robert Lewis.
Second heat: Travis Stemler, Tanner English, Joe Godsey, Dona Marcoullier, Joey Burch, Ryan Lanphierd, Thomas Hunziker, J.C. Witherspoon, Jamie Grochowski, Dan Hersey.
Third heat: Ashton Winger, Scott James, Eric Spangler, Bobby Pierce, Logan Nickerson, Jeff Roth, Jeff Geis, Jacob VanDeVoorde, Jerry Kent, Jim Billett.
Qualifying
Driver (car no.), hometown, time
- Devin Moran (9), Dresden, Ohio, 13.350
- Tanner English (81E), Benton, Ky., 13.426
- Ashton Winger (12), Hampton, Ga., 13.547
- Chad Finley (42), East Lansing, Mich., 13.554
- Travis Stemler (4), Ionia, Mich., 13.575
- Scott James (83), Bright, Ind., 13.609
- Cody Bauer (19X), Farwell, Mich., 13.682
- Joe Godsey (14G), Edinburgh, Ind., 13.689
- Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 13.691
- Mitch McGrath (74), Waukesha, Wis., 13.761
- Dona Marcoullier (3M), Houghton Lake, Mich., 13.764
- Logan Nickerson (21N), Vestaburg, Mich., 13.783
- Andrew Terrill (4T), Sanford, Mich., 13.904
- Thomas Hunziker (38), Bend, Ore., 13.962
- Jeff Roth (14R), Bentonville, Ark., 13.999
- Brandon Thirlby (M14), Buckley, Mich., 14.010
- Ryan Lanphierd (11X), Midland, Mich., 14.062
- Eric Spangler (27), Lake City, Mich., 14.077
- Mike Staszak (16), Kawkawlin, Mich., 14.151
- Joey Burch (16B), Rosebush, Mich., 14.269
- Jacob VanDeVoorde (9LT), Stryker, Ohio, 14.280
- Chad Foster Sr. (24), Mcbain, Mich., 14.396
- Jamie Grochowski (15G), Toledo, Ohio, 14.487
- Jeff Geis (T18), Wauseon, Ohio, 14.571
- Rod Laney (75), Kawkawlin, Mich., 14.588
- J.C. Witherspoon (03), Kinde, Mich., 14.640
- Jim Billett (25JB), Mcbain, Mich., 14.770
- Dan Hersey (29), Traverse City, Mich., 14.900
- Jerry Kent (29K), Central Lake, Mich., 14.917
- Robert Lewis (00), Interlochen, Mich., 15.121
- David Bowen (33), Sterling, Mich., 17.972
Saturday’s schedule
5:30 p.m. - Drivers' meeting
6:00 p.m. - On-track activity
- Late Model hot laps
- Modified hot laps/time trials (3 laps)
- Late Model time trials (2 laps)
Opening ceremonies
- Factory stock heat races (8 laps)
- Modified heat races (8 laps)
- Late Model heat races (10 laps)
- Four-cylinder heat races (8 laps)
- Pro stock heat races (10 laps)
- Modified consolation (10 laps; if necessary)
- Late Model consolation (10 laps; if necessary)
Intermission/track prep
- Factory stock feature (20 laps)
- Pro stock feature (25 laps)
- Modified feature (25 laps)
- Late Model feature (40 laps)
- Four-cylinder feature (15 laps)
