Merritt Speedway 34th annual Woodtic/Dan Salay memorial $34k to win

[jensenracing1818]

big weekend in northern Michigan, should be a pretty good field of cars, I see Devin Moran is making the trip up, any other big names heading this way instead of Cedar lake for $34,000 to win Saturday? https://i.ibb.co/fXWkv22/295897499-5642063912524438-1640754313805647712-n.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)

[MittenMadman]

Merritt is a different kind of track. I feel the bigger names might not want to bother with it knowing how hard the locals are there. Lot of money up for grabs. Track has been better than other years too.

[Pennsboro32]

Moran is going.

[i-pod]

Ryan Missler is going.

[i-pod]

Ryan Unzicker is headed up.

[TerryM]

This event confuses me. It pays almost crown jewel type money to win, but barely draws a regional field of cars. What is it that keeps this from being a more attractive draw? Does it always run the same weekend as Cedar Lake?

[Pennsboro32]

If I remember correctly, the start money was very low last year. I haven't seen a payout this year.

[Jim11h]

My guess.....small track, quite ways north in Michigan, and it's a track in Michigan

[TerryM]

Being kind of a southern man, I incorrectly assumed these two northern events were somewhat in the same region. Turns out, they’re 9+ hours apart lol. My bad.

[jog49]

It's on the edge of the Earth for most of the big name drivers, requiring long drives. I'm reasonably sure none of them are scared of any local drivers.

[Highside Hustler25]

Best scenario would be that a local takes home the biggest check ever.
I like Moran but I hope he doesn't win.

[jensenracing1818]

honestly I would put my money on a local over Moran at a place like Merritt.. guys like Spangler, Thirlby, Marcoullier or Schlenk just to name a few that have a ton of laps around that place and the equipment to compete with guys like Moran on a small tight track.

[Dlmfan123]

Anybody know what the purse looks like? Haven’t been able to find it

[TerryM]

Great finish. Moran wins night one.

[over4T]

...and good regional driver Jeep Van Wormer wins the other half of an unusual odd and even format for the two 25 lappers tonight. Moran was the only "big" name driver to show up but there were a lot of very good regional and near unknown others who may make Devin earn it tomorrow night.

Will this make Moran the newest to be called cherry picker?

[Jim11h]

Looks like Spangler drove around Moran for convincing win

[TerryM]

Spangler started mid pack, got to 2nd around halfway, then took Moran to school to take the lead — and was untouchable after that. The track was really good and the racing was too.

[HoosierDirtFan]

Final Results from the Wood Tic 100 at Merritt Speedway

01. #27 Eric Spangler
02. #9 Devin Moran
03. #24 Ryan Unzicker
04. #42 Chad Finley
05. #50 Greg Gokey
06. #4s Travis Stemler
07. #19x Cody Bauer
08. #15 Dave Baker
09. #m14 Brandon Thirlby
10. #21B Rich Bell
11. #55 Jeep Van Wormer
12. # 6m Dona Marcoullier
13. #80 Rich Dawson
14. #44s Colin Shipley
15. #11x Ryan Lanphierd
16. #4 Andrew Terrill
17. #50 Ryan Missler
18. #21N Logan Nickerson
19. #21 David Hilliker
20. #51 Steve Fairbanks
21. #18 Chase Burda
22. #33 David Mielke
23. #56 B.J. Gregory
24. #24 Chad Foster
25. #07 Rylee Knoll
26. #7L Logan Love
27. #22s Brian Speelman
28. #91 Rusty Schlenk

[Drop Shock]

MasterSbilt

[Morgs153]

Watched this one on Flo. For sure the 27 has that place figured out as he looked fast and very smooth.

I gotta say from some of the shows I've been able to watch online this season, Ryan Unzicker has probably made the most competitive passes for race track position than almost any other driver I can think of. That was a good run to watch that 24 car. How you can corner a car that well when the tires are bouncing off the surface like a trophy truck was fun to see.

[nc mudcat]

Agreed about Unzicker. But making the most passes means he always start mid-pack or worse. Fix that and he'll have a lot more wins.