8/3/2024
Ryan Unzicker
Ryan Unzicker claims Dan Salay Memorial victory at Merritt Speedway
Ryan Unzicker trekked north over the weekend to compete in the 36th annual Ed VanDuinen Wood Tic at Merritt (MI) Speedway aboard his RJR Transportation No. 24 Late Model.
With the Dan Salay Memorial on Friday kicking off the two-day weekend, Unzicker topped the 41-car field in time trials with a blistering 14.291-second lap before placing first in his heat. Rolling off on the pole for the A-Main, Ryan tracked down race-long pacesetter Rusty Schlenk with a turn-four slider on lap 16 and paced the remainder of the 40-lapper to secure his fourth win of the season and the $3,000 winner’s payday. He finished 1.750 seconds ahead of Schlenk with Don Marcoullier rounding out the podium.
“Rusty (Schlenk) fired off strong, I knew he was gonna be tough, obviously,” Unzicker said. “He just maybe faded a little bit, I’m not sure, but obviously I got a little lucky with that (lap-17) caution when I passed him in lapped traffic. That’s what racing is about, a little give-and-take and a little luck on our side tonight.”
On Saturday, Ryan raced into the $36,000-to-win Ed VanDuinen Wood Tic A-Main with a runner-up showing in his heat race. Capping off the weekend with another solid run, Unzicker climbed four positions in the 75-lap affair to register a second-place finish. He chased Frank Heckenast Jr. to the checkers with Travis Stemler, Rusty Schlenk, and Ryan Lanphierd rounding out the Top-5.
Full results from the events are available at www.MerrittSpeedwayMI.com.
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