From John Naida
ERIE, MI (September 1, 2018) –Chad Blonde (Litchfield, Michigan) picked up his third 2018 King Engine Bearings King of Michigan win at Hartford Speedway Friday and wrapped up the 2018 KoM Championship with an exciting 0.177 second win over Ryan Ruhl (Coldwater, Michigan).
The SOD Kids Feature Draw put Shawn Valenti (Fostoria, Ohio) and Mark Aldrich (Addison, Michigan) on the front row for the feature with Blonde, the current SOD point leader, starting sixth. Before a lap could be completed, Michael Schumacher (Constantine, Michigan) brought out the red with a turn three crash. Blonde charged into the lead on lap 2 while fifth starter Ruhl took second on lap four. Ruhl did everything he could to reel in the leader, but Blonde was strong, holding onto a narrow lead as they weaved through lapped traffic and held on to win by less than two-tenths of a second. Both Blonde and Ruhl utilized Krieger Racing Engines powered Maxims.
Zane DeVault (Plymouth, Indiana) led all qualifiers after returning to SOD competition. DeVault picked up his first SOD victory on April 28 at Crystal Motor Speedway before sitting out most of the season due to an injury. For the third time in 2018, Quentin Blonde (Litchfield, Michigan) was the KSE Hard Charger with +7.
As 2018 King Engine Bearings King of Michigan, Blonde will received $1,000 at the Sprints On Dirt Awards Banquet on October 27. Also collecting part of the point fund will be Shawn Valenti, Jay Steinebach, Dustin Shriver, and Ricky Ferkel.
Engine Pro Sprints on Dirt presented by ARP
Hartford Motor Speedway
Hartford, MI
Friday August 31, 2018
Heat Race #1: 1. 5B – Chad Blonde, 2. 7Z – Zane Devault, 3. 7J – Joe Swanson, 4. 70 – Eli Lakin, 5. 3 – Dustin Shriver, 6. 46 – Robert Huisken, 7. 8 – Justin Ward, 8. 10J – Chris Jones.
Heat Race #2: 1. 71H – Ryan Ruhl, 2. 7 – Shawn Valenti, 3. 1A – Mark Aldrich, 4. 10S – Jay Steinebach, 5. 5QB – Quentin Blonde, 6. 24+ – Mike Schumacher, 7. 8W – Josh Ward, 8. 3G – John Gurley, 9. 33 – Jeremy Ferguson, 10. 0 – Ricky Ferkel.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 5B – Chad Blonde, 2. 71H – Ryan Ruhl, 3. 5QB – Quentin Blonde, 4. 7Z – Zane Devault, 5. 10S – Jay Steinebach, 6. 7 – Shawn Valenti, 7. 1A – Mark Aldrich, 8. 3 – 70 – Eli Lakin, 9. 3 – Dustin Shriver, 10. 46 – Robert Huisken, 11. 10J – Chris Jones, 12. 3G – John Gurley, 13. 8W – Josh Ward, 14. 7J – Joe Swanson, 15. 33 – Jeremy Ferguson, 16. 8 – Justin Ward, 17. 0 – Ricky Ferkel, 18. 24+ – Michael Schumacher.