9/2/2019
Tri-City Motor Speedway
2019 Season Champions
Tri-City Motor Speedway 2019 Champions
- ARP Late Models: #19 Derrick Hilliker
- Allstar Performance IMCA Modified: #27 Matt Szecsodi
- Members First Credit Union Pro Stocks: #69 Nate Murphy
- Suspension MAXX Street Stocks: #20 Kyle Thomas
- Thornton Brothers Septic Service Bomber Stocks: #7 Johnny Staszak
- Walkers Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge: 6-9 Year Olds: #28 Kyron DeShano
- Walkers Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge: 10-14 Year Olds: #2e Easton Murray
2019 Champions Crowned At Tri-City Motor Speedway
08/21/2019 (Auburn MI) The season-long point battle for each of the seven racing divisions came to an exciting end this August. With another season of car counts averaged over 100 per night, the Championship chase was anything but easy for every driver that had set their goals to being the top overall driver in their class. Of the seven Champion drivers crowned, all but one captured their first TCMS Championship this season. In addition, five of those Championships were decided on the final point night.
Midland driver #19 Derrick Hilliker had to dethrone three-time defending Champion Andrew Terrill to take top honors in the Automotive Racing Product Late Model class. Hilliker is no stranger to being around success. His father and Uncle, David and Steven Hilliker, have multiple TCMS Championship and both are recent inductees into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame. Derrick has been able to absorb the knowledge from them and proved that being fast and winning is a Hilliker tradition. Although Derrick wasn’t able to secure a feature win in the 2019 point season, he was consistent with his Hilliker Glass, Stanford LP Gas, Midland Steel #19 a top ten finish in each of the nine feature races with six of those finishes inside the top five. Overall, he finished the season 29 points ahead of Terrill in the final standings. This was also the first ever Championship for Hilliker.
For the 2019, Members First Credit Union Pro Stock Champion #69 Nate Murphy, it was a season of pure domination. In 2018, Murphy had won the most features than anyone in the class. However two missed nights due to work obligations took him from title contention. This season, the Coleman driver once again piloted his American Sewer Cleaners machine to a class best five feature wins out of the eight main races this season. Despite finishing in the top ten every race night, he would still have to wait until the final race night of the season to clinch the Championship. Former Champion #28 Jared Rizer kept the point race close but ended up finishing five points shy of the top. Murphy, a second-generation driver, is a first time Champion at TCMS.
The 2019 AllStar Performance IMCA Modified Championship was about redemption for Clio driver #27 Matt Szecsodi. Szecsodi had success in the early 2000’s running modified on the pavement at Birch Run Speedway (formerly Dixie Motor Speedway) with a 2003 Championship to his credit. The switch to dirt near the turn of the decade provided a tough challenge for him to regain his success. In the inaugural 2011 dirt season at TCMS he finished a close runner-up in the IMCA standings. Last season, he led the points until the final night of the year when mechanical issues knocked him out of contention and lost the Championship to Nate Jones. This season looked similar to the year prior with both Szecsodi and Jones fighting for the point lead up to the final night. This year, Szecsodi held onto the top spot collecting his first TCMS Championship. He finished the year with one win and eight top five finishes in his Adam Poage owned, Team Harris, Moose Graphics, The Smoothie Shop #27.
It took a tiebreaker to decide the 2019 Thornton Brother’s Septic Service front-wheel drive Bomber Stock Champion. Defending Champion #7 John Staszak had a lot more competition to beat this season near full fields of cars most race nights. Staszak, who also has a TCMS Mini Wedge Championship, once again showed his patience behind the wheel of his XLT Engineering, Defender Racing Products machine and never let the pressure to perform get to him. Staszak entered Championship night three points behind sophomore driver #01tk Brad Treichel , who was looking for his first Championship. The Kawkawlin, Michigan teenager managed to finish the final feature with a 2nd place finish putting him in a point tie with Treichel who finished fifth. It was Staszak’s three victories that earned Staszak his second TCMS Bomber Stock Championship in a row.
With the two-time defending Champion Eric Lake moving up a class in 2019, it opened the door for the possibility of a new Champion in the Suspension MAXX Street Stocks. That was exactly what happened as it was Mt. Morris driver Kyle Thomas leading the charge. After a previous season finishing fourth in the standings, Thomas made sure that there was never a doubt on who the best driver in the street stocks. With over thirty cars per night coming to compete, it was tough just to make the 20-car feature field every night. Of the 68 drivers that competed in the Street Stocks in 2019, Thomas was one of four drivers that made the feature all ten nights. Thomas motored his Tribodyn Performance Lubricants, Hi-Flush Pro Shop, Thomas Racing #20 near the front every night collecting one win and six top five finishes. His consistency helped him wrap up his first TCMS Championship a week prior to the final point night.
Both youngsters in the two Walker’s Ideal Trophies Mini Wedge Divisions were runner-up point finishers in 2018. Last season, Kawkawlin’s Kyron DeShano missed the Championship by one point. This season he did one better by taking the Championship in the Junior Division of 6-9 year olds. Kyron picked up a career high five feature wins in his Defender Racing Products, CV Amusements #28 picking up his first TCMS Championship. For Midland’s Easton Murray, the 2019 Champion in the Senior Division for 10-14 year olds, it was a matter of being able to compete every night and keeping her equipment running as she cruised to her first TCMS Championship. She picked up two feature checkered flags in her Black Ball Tattoo, KJP Sales, Terry’s Auto Service, B&B Auto Tech #2e out of five attempts this season. Both drivers show great promise to be the next generation of great racers.
The TCMS team congratulates the 2019 Champions and look forward to honoring them along with the other top drivers of TCMS at the annual dinner and awards banquet on January 25th,, 2020 at the Great Hall in Midland. The weekend prior, the Champions will be recognized along with other race Champions from across Michigan and Northern Ohio at the annual Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club racing banquet in Warren. For more information on the final point standings, check out www.tricityracetrack.com .
Article Credit: Roger Williams
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