7/15/2012
Mount Pleasant Speedway
As people came to celebrate a man they watched a race
It was just the way it should have been with one of the biggest nights in Mt. Pleasant Speedway history. It was a night to celebrate a man’s life who had done so much for racing and his community. Jake started coming to Mt. Pleasant Speedway when he was a young man with his grandfather Carl McCrumb. Jake did anything he could to help the drivers out especially the younger drivers and not to mention what he did off the track writing for the Morning Sun as well as helping his longtime friend Alvie Haynes start up Cans From Race Fans. Cans From Race Fans is a non-profit group that collects nonperishable food for communities all over the state of Michigan. With the stands packed and a party deck full of Jake's family they would watch some of the best Late Model and Mods in the state of Michigan and Canada. Every driver got a chance to put down two of their fastest laps qualifying in groups.
The night started off with the Late Models taking to the track in heat #1 with the top three taking the checker like this 1st #21S Tom Sprague Jr., 2nd #9R Curtis Roberts, 3rd 49R Brian Ruhlman. Heat #2 would take the stripe like this 1st #85 Mark Andersen, 2nd X1 Justin Robinson, 3rd 13B Scott Baker. With the track being super-fast on the high side come feature time it was hard to pass but the cars were rocket ships on the 3/8 high banked track. When the green flag dropped we would see the cream of the crop make their way to the front. With Brian Ruhlman starting outside row he would jump to the outside and jump right to the front. Brian would take that early lead and keep it til the checkers would fly winning the 1st ever Jeremy "Jake" Dickman Memorial and the $3000 dollar 1st place prize money. Curtis Roberts in the 9R would come from 4th to pick up 2nd place and a nice payday of $1750. Also finishing in the top three would be the #23 of Ryan Vanderveen finishing 3rd and taking home $1200. The rest of the top ten would finish the night in this order 4th #13B Scott Baker, 5th #X1 Justin Robinson, 6th #21S Tom Sprague Jr., 7th #85 Mark Andersen, 8th #91 Adam Thrush, 9th #87K Josh Knoll, 10th #94B Bill Bray.
Mods would put on an awesome show with 30 of the best mod drivers in the mid-west coming to help celebrate Jake's race. With four heats of racing with the top 4 transferring to the A-main and 4 coming out of the B-main. Heat #1 would see these top 4 drivers transfer 1st #87M David Mielke, 2nd #82P Jacob Poel, 3rd #04 Aaron Raby, 4th 75 Roy Harvey. Heat #2 would see these top 4 drivers transfer 1st #18F Todd Feutz, 2nd #15R Rich Robinson Jr., 3rd #3t John Taylor, 4th #2sTravis Stemler. Heat #3 would see these top 4 transfer 1st #14D Stan Dodds, 2nd 43A Mark Anderson, 3rd B1 Brennan Bowen, 4th 5F Justin Fleming. Heat #4 would see these top drivers transfer 1st #19B Cody Bauer, 2nd #63R Donnie Roberts, 3rd #1M John McClure, 4th #21W Greg Wilson. With the heats over it was time to go to the B-main with the top 4 moving onto the A-main and the rest would load up and go home. These would be the lucky four to make it out of the B-main 1st #4T Andrew Terrill, 2ND #39 Chad Spencer, 3RD #43M Kevin Miller,4TH 49R Brian Ruhlman. With the A-main set we would move into the 39 laps of Feature. When the checker flag would drop we would see #82 Jacob Poel to be the first one under it. Jacob Poel held the $2000 check above his head. The next one to come through would be Mt. Pleasant's own #15 Rich Robinson Jr. coming in second taking home $1250. 3rd place would see the #43 of Mark Anderson finishing the race with a front right broken shock taking home $650. There still would be many more great drivers finishing out the top 10 starting with 4th #14D Stan Dodds, 5th #87M David Mielke, 6th #63R Donnie Roberts, 7th #1M John McClure, 8th #18F Todd Feutz, 9th #04 Aaron Raby,10th #49R Brian Ruhlman.
The stock 4 minis would also race on this very special night. It would prove to be a very exciting race with them running for $200. Joe Allen #23 started out with a very early lead. Kyle “The Storm Chaser” Galgoci would be taking chase in his #13 with the #21 of Kenny Patterson right in the mix but losing a wheel and taking it to the pits. Joe Allen in the #23 would have a tire go down on the last lap and going to the pits. This is how this exciting race would finish out 1st #2B Steve Workman, 2nd #13 Kyle Galgoci (R), 3rd #77 John Williams (R),4th #D7 Tasha Decker, 5th 42S Shelby Shank, 6th #71 Scott Boyd (R), 7th #95 Brendan Powell (R), 8th #50 James Wright, 9th #57 Brandon Weber, 10th #23 Joe Allen.
With the night coming to an end the dirt flew and the tears fell but a great man was remembered. Jeremy "Jake" Dickman will never be forgotten for all he has done for Mt. Pleasant Speedway. He will be honored along with a long list of great racers and owners to pass on. We thank you Jeremy "Jake" Dickman. I thank you my friend til we meet again at that great dirt track up in the sky.
Friday, July 20 make it out to watch Jim's Body Shop Specials for Mods $750 to win and Pro Street/truck $525 to win. We will also have Street Stocks, Mod 4, and Stock 4. No Late Models this night.
Article Credit: Chris Ryan
Submitted By: Anthony Boyd
