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In the timeless words of Meatloaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad!” In fact, at Auto City the two out of three race nights during this rainy season have been GREAT!

After canceling for rain last week, Auto City Speedway Drivers were anxious to give a great show and fans braved the cold temps to see it.

I caught three young fans in full winter gear waiting in line at the concession stand and asked them what they were looking forward to that night.

Nine-and-a-half-year-old, Lauren Sandvig of Sterling Heights said, “Good Racing!”

“A lot of fun!” her eight year-old brother, Evan yelled.

“And good food,” their five year-old Cousin Jacob added while pointing to the top of the Grandstands. “I get to eat it way up there!”

Those kids were in for quite a treat.

Modifieds Rookie, Timmy Near, was the first checkered flag taker of the evening. In only the second mods race of his career, Near, was three wide on the outside battling for the number three spot early in the race, while 2008 Champ Nick Clemens led the pack. Near moved up to second half-way through the race and took the lead inside turn two in the 18^th lap.

“I was runnin’ to win,” Near said. “The competition was tough tonight. This is only my second race ever in a Mod. I’m glad I made the switch from Led Sleds this year.”

No. 14, Kyle Hayden, led the whole 35 lap show for the Auto City Super Stocks/Pro-Late Models.

“We lucked out getting fast time tonight and sitting on the pole for the start,” Kyle said. “I just had to stay out front and hope nobody caught us.”

In the Pure Stock division, the No. 888 of Chad Lamson grabbed the win and I spoke with him while he was changing his tires for the figure 8 race at the end of the evening.

“Everything came together for us,” Lamson said. “All the hard work over the winter paid off.”

The No. K9 car of Jim Miller, Sr., rode out a solid third for 35 of the 40 lap Street Stock feature, then slid into first in the last five laps and battled to stay on top all the way to the end for his first feature win of the season.

Andrew Burton in the No. 5 car won the figure 8 show.

Paige Amy and Jake Thompson both started in the back of the field for the Hornets feature. They both looked right at home in all the traffic as they moved up into the top five very quickly.

I heard one fan in the stands yell, “She’s fearless!” as Paige Amy moved up five spots in just one lap with Jake Thompson right behind her.

Jake found his way around Paige on the back-stretch of the sixth lap and was out front by lap eight. As soon as Jake saw daylight in front of him, that was all she wrote. He pulled away from the pack and led the last twelve laps of the race a half-track ahead of the rest.

Second place No. 13 Loren Short said, “He (Jake) did a heck of a job.”

Next week the Bus Stop Inn of Birch Run presents Bus Mania at Auto City Speedway!

As a “Rookie Michigan Writer”, I have never seen a figure 8 bus race.

Auto City Owner, Joe Dewitte, promised that I would be “pleasantly entertained”, while grinning a sly, mischievous grin. Is there something he’s not telling me?

I can’t wait to find out! See you there!