MTS News: June 14th

Irwin Takes wild one at Butler

Homestate driver Steve Irwin made his way to victory lane on Saturday as the Michigan Traditional Sprints (MTS) made a visit to Butler Speedway during Round 2 of the Michigan vs. Ohio challenge. Matt Westfall, the winner of the opening round a week earlier at Waynesfield Motorsports Park, drove to a third-place finish in the feature event. Doug Zimmerman was the top Butler regular in the finishing order, taking second.
Irwin took over the point and led the final lap when race-long leader Ryan Ruhl
flipped, with second-place Landon Simon also knocked out of the event. It was the third red flag period in an event that was shortened to 15 laps and saw four cars upside down. Mike Astrauskas and Gary Hayward flipped on the backstretch on the start. Defending MTS champion Mike Galajda also flipped on lap 6. No one was hurt.
Ohio's Mike Burkin started on the pole, with Ruhl on the outside. Ruhl led throughout and took the white flag in the lead, only to see fate snatch the victory from his grasp. Irwin started sixth on the grid, and held fourth with five laps remaining. He made his way around Zimmerman in the late stages, putting him in position when Ruhl and Simon were knocked out of the event. It was the second week in a row that the driver to take the white flag in the lead was unable to gain the victory. Sean Robinson beat Nathan Bevard to the line a week earlier.
Zimmerman's second-place finish is his best effort of the season. The rest of the top 5 were Westfall, John Watson, and Kyle Simon. Completing the top 10 were Keith Love, Nic Rogers, Sean Robinson, Mike Burkin, and Roger Hunyady. Westfall won the 'B' Main


Matt Westfall claimed the 2009 Ohio vs. Michigan title over Kyle Simon and Steve Irwin.

Lane Automotive Heat 1
1. Steve Irwin, 2.Sean Robinson, 3.Gary Hayward, 4.Keith Love, 5.Mark Irwin, 6.Mike Astrauskas, 7.Jim Payne, 8.Danny Foulk, 9.Mark Strpko

Hoosier Racing tire Heat 2
1.Mike Galadja, 2.Doug Zimmerman, 3.Ryan Ruhl, 4.Nick Rogers, 5.Mike Baker, 6.Jerry Evilsizer, 7.Roger Hunyady, 8.Jeff Rankin, 9.Matt Westfall

Comp Cams Heat 3
1.Landon Simon, 2.John Watson, 3.Mike Berkin, 4.Tim Evilsizer, 5.Kyle Simon, 6.Brent Smith, 7.Jim Girard, 8.Rock Lopresto

Lane Automotive B main
1. Matt Westfall, 2.Jim Payne, 3.Mike Astrauskas, 4.Roger hunyady, 5.Danny foulk, 6.Mark Strpko, 7.Jerry Evilsizer, 8.Jim Girard, 9.Jeff Rankin, 10.Brent Smith, 11.Rock Lopresto(dns), 12.Joe Irwin(dns)

Engine Pro / CompCams Amain

1.Steve Irwin, 2.Doug zimmerman, 3.Matt Westfall, 4.John Watson, 5.Kyle Simon, 6.Keith Love, 7.Nick Rogers, 8.Sean Robinson, 9.Mike Berkin, 10.Roger Hunyady, 11.Jim Payne, 12.Tim Evilsizer, 13.Landon Simon, 14.Ryan Ruhl, 15.Mike Baker, 16.Mark Irwin, 17.Mike Galajda, 18.Danny Foulk, 19.Gary Hayward, 20.Mike Astrauskas