BIRCH RUN, MI -- Dixie Motor Speedway, the home of the ShortTrackTrucks.com Challenge Series, hosted Round #5 of the Championship Series and saw Joey Shuryan put in a dominant performance to claim the pole, hard charger award, fast dash win, and the feature victory! Rod Morrison ran a strong race to finish second ahead of Bob Fruit in third. Kenny Clark was the highest finishing Zander Radio Systems Rookie of the Year contender. Both Shuryan and Bill Niedziewicki eclipsed the track record in qualifying action with Shuryan claiming the Turbo Blue fast qualifier award. Keith Wioncek slotted in third with Fruit and Clark rounding out the fast five qualifiers. Heat race action saw Shuryan claim the fast dash in a wild, three wide finish besting Wioncek and Fruit. Mike ‘Put-Put’ Putnam grabbed his first heat race victory in ShortTrackTrucks.com Challenge Series competition in the second heat. Putnam outdistanced Morrison for second and series rookie Michael Niedziewicki for third. Justin Claucherty netted the win in heat race number three over Alex Lewis and Jim Idema. Under a beautiful twilight sky, the trucks roared to the drop of the green flag for feature event action. Rod Morrison jumped to the front of the field and paced the trucks in the early going. Paul Schaffer passed Dan Lenters to settle into the second slot with Fruit, Shuryan, and Wioncek moving up and racing hard. The trio of Fruit, Shuryan, and Wioncek put on a wild show trading paint all the way to the front of the field. Only the black Silverado of Rod Morrison stood in their way. As Shuryan drove hard on the outside to overtake Fruit to claim second, Morrison still showed the way in first. Shuryan worked hard for several laps to finally claim the lead from Morrison. From there, the series reigning champion drove away from the field as Morrison, Fruit, and Wioncek battled for the second position. At the end it was Shuryan over Morrison and Fruit for second and third. Bill Niedziewicki drove a steady race to finish fourth with Paul Schaffer climbing back up to fifth. Wioncek faded in final laps to fall to sixth over Kenny Clark, Natascha Thompson, Kelly Doyle and Series newcomer Andrea Weaver in tenth. |