By Marty Czekala
CENTER LISLE, N.Y. – When Mikey Smith first joined CRSA, heads immediately swiveled toward him, knowing he would be a winner someday.
It came on the same track his brother Johnny had won at a month before.
“The Music Man” played a symphony to perfection, passing Billy VanInwegen with eight laps to go for his first career CRSA victory at Thunder Mountain Speedway.
“Coming from go karts to 600 [micros] to 305s. I didn’t believe, but we’re here and I’m beyond happy and blessed that we’re here,” said Mikey in victory lane. “From that last race [at Thunder Mountain] of Johnny winning and now we’re here, I can’t be blessed to have this happen this way.”
As his victory lane interview was concluding, Johnny came sprinting from his trailer down the turn one banking into victory lane to give his brother the biggest hug ever.
“Mikey has been searching for one of these for a long time, like I was searching,” said Johnny. “With enough success at what I can bounce off both these cars, we can bounce enough knowledge off each of us. I told him what to do and it panned out well for him.”
Vince Chicklets and Billy VanInwegen made up the front row. Right out of the gate, VanInwegen opened up his lead to over a second. Mikey Smith immediately moved up to second using the high side that has worked well for the Smith family over the years.
The top two were both in lapped traffic up to lap 10 for the first yellow of Kevin Predmore, who was making his CRSA debut.
On the restart, Mikey threw the kitchen sink at VanInwegen to grab the lead, but the No. 56V held serve for the time being. The former would stay on the tail tank of the leader before another yellow with nine to go, for Vince Chicklets stopped in turn one.
Following the cleanup, the top two would trade slide jobs and crossovers, with Mikey Smith gathering the lead with eight to go. He would try to open up the lead, but the race’s final yellow flew for Tomy Moreau and Bailey Boyd spinning.
One final shot for Billy V and it didn’t work, as Mikey Smith ran away in a hard-fought battle to become the 86th different winner in series history.
“I was happy that we were able to get clean racing and I was happy for the restarts to keep getting some chances,” said Mikey. “I got to thank him (Billy) for running me clean. He was a bad fast car the whole race and I snuck in there at the right time and made that move on the restart and it held.”
Another excellent finish for Billy VanInwegen again, but not the result he wanted. A fourth last month, preceded by two runner-up finishes in Center Lisle, seemed like the great night for him to become the second multi-time winner in CRSA Thunder Mountain history, not tonight.
“Definitely gonna process that one,” said VanInwegen. “Brought a different car and we got really close with it. Hard to complain about second place, but it’s three [of the last four] here. Second sucks sometimes. We just got to close the deal out.”
Behind them, an incredible race for third between Dillon Paddock and Jordan Hutton, with “The Show Stopper” closing the deal to get his fourth straight podium finish and cut the deficit on Zach Sobotka’s points lead.
“We were all just kind of waging war,” said Paddock. “I think it was really all about the restart, getting those positions. We went from sixth to third pretty quick. These guys are pounding the top and can just move around middle to bottom. Can’t seem to finish better than third here. Hopefully next time we’ll be two spots better.”
Like many other tracks and series, CRSA, in conjunction with Thunder Mountain Speedway, hosted a pink-out night to support Ransomville Speedway’s general manager and Land of Legends Raceway’s operations and marketing director, Tana Robinson, and all those affected by breast cancer. The series, its drivers and crews made a significant donation toward an Angel Fund that is a part of Roswell Park. Our thanks to Alysha Bay, Wendy, and Darryl Ruggles for helping us set up this night.
The Ruggles World of Autobody & Graphics Hard Luck award went to Vince Chicklets after he started on pole and had an accident with 10 to go.
Johnny Smith won the Powdertech Powdercoating Hard Charger award. It was a down-and-up night for “The Firecracker Kid.” After flipping in his heat race, Johnny moved from the back to a transfer spot in his B-Main. After that, he climbed 17 spots from 22nd to fifth this evening.
29 drivers signed in this evening.
While it was listed as the final race of the Joe’s Garage Southern Tier Series, Mike Emhof Motorsports is working with Penn Can Speedway on getting one of the two races rescheduled after postponed due to rain. Stay tuned to CRSA’s media platforms for updates.
CRSA now sets its sights on Weedsport Speedway next Saturday for another edition of the I-90 Pit Stop Challenge. The series will be on the undercard to the Super DIRTcar Series’ Hall of Fame 100. Can’t make it? Action can be seen live on DIRTVision.
A Main (25 Laps): 1. 4ST-Mikey Smith[4]; 2. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[2]; 3. 8-Dillon Paddock[6]; 4. 66-Jordan Hutton[5]; 5. 4S-Johnny Smith[22]; 6. 10C-Shayne Spoonhower[8]; 7. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[7]; 8. 33-Scott Landers[21]; 9. 38-Zach Sobotka[10]; 10. 29-Dalton Herrick[11]; 11. 18-Timmy Lotz[14]; 12. 9K-Kyle Pierce[17]; 13. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[16]; 14. 4-Cliff Pierce[24]; 15. 61-Johnny Scarborough[18]; 16. 48A-Alysha Bay[12]; 17. 22-Tomy Moreau[3]; 18. 15B-Spencer Burley[20]; 19. 22M-Aaron Shelton[15]; 20. D9-Dustin Sehn[26]; 21. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[25]; 22. (DNF) 3-Bailey Boyd[19]; 23. (DNF) 10VC-Vince Chicklets[1]; 24. (DNF) 10-Nathan Pierce[9]; 25. (DNF) 1R-Kevin Predmore[13]; 26. (DNF) 121-Steve Glover[23]
B Main (10 Laps): 1. 61-Johnny Scarborough[1]; 2. 15B-Spencer Burley[4]; 3. 33-Scott Landers[6]; 4. 4S-Johnny Smith[11]; 5. 121-Steve Glover[8]; 6. 4-Cliff Pierce[3]; 7. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[7]; 8. 77-Matt Rotz[9]; 9. D9-Dustin Sehn[2]; 10. JD33-Joshua Landers[10]; 11. 55-Michael Hart[5]
Elab Smokers Boutique Dash (4 Laps): 1. 10-Nathan Pierce[1]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka[5]; 3. 29-Dalton Herrick[6]; 4. 48A-Alysha Bay[2]; 5. 1R-Kevin Predmore[3]; 6. (DNF) 18-Timmy Lotz[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4ST-Mikey Smith[2]; 2. 56V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[5]; 3. 10-Nathan Pierce[3]; 4. 22M-Aaron Shelton[4]; 5. 38-Zach Sobotka[7]; 6. 3-Bailey Boyd[1]; 7. D9-Dustin Sehn[6]; 8. 4-Cliff Pierce[9]; 9. 55-Michael Hart[10]; 10. (DNF) 4S-Johnny Smith[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 10C-Shayne Spoonhower[1]; 2. 19EM-Emily VanInwegen[3]; 3. 22-Tomy Moreau[4]; 4. 1R-Kevin Predmore[5]; 5. 29-Dalton Herrick[7]; 6. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[8]; 7. 61-Johnny Scarborough[9]; 8. 121-Steve Glover[2]; 9. 77-Matt Rotz[6]; 10. JD33-Joshua Landers[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Dillon Paddock[3]; 2. 10VC-Vince Chicklets[1]; 3. 48A-Alysha Bay[2]; 4. 18-Timmy Lotz[5]; 5. 66-Jordan Hutton[8]; 6. 9K-Kyle Pierce[7]; 7. 15B-Spencer Burley[4]; 8. 33-Scott Landers[6]; 9. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[9]
The CRSA Sprints are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2025 and are brought to you by A-Verdi Storage Containers. Associate sponsors include Pit Stop Convenience Stores, DisBatch Brewing Company, Dandy, Joe’s Garage, Westward Painting Company, Elab Smokers Boutique, iFreeze Storage & Distribution Center, Maguire Automotive Group, Powdertech Powdercoating, Ruggles World of Auto Body, PJC Business Ventures, Profab Enterprises, Magsarus Ignitions, Highside Racewear, Hoosier Racing Tire, Insinger Performance with their Stinger Race Fuel, My Race Pass and is owned and operated by Mike Emhof Motorsports.
For more information on the series, results and points, please visit our website, www.crsa.myracepass.com.
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