6-5-10 - MICHAEL STORMS HOLDS OFF A STOUT DIRTcar BIG BLOCK MODIFIED FIELD TO SCORE HIS FIRST EVER WIN AT BREWERTON SPEEDWAY

BREWERTON, NY June 4 (By Dave Medler) – The wait is finally over for Wantage, NJ driver Michael Storms. Storms who makes the weekly 3 ½ hour tow to Brewerton and Fulton Speedway finally paid off as he put his name in the record books as a first time Brewerton Speedway winner in the DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds Friday night. Storms held off challenges from Chuck Bower and late caution periods to park his Vinny Salerno owned, 4 Star Transmission, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, No. 4* Teo in Victory Lane after 35 hard fought laps.

Other winners on Canale Insurance, Novelis Can Collection Night were, Dale Caswell IMCA Modifieds, Larry Wight NAPA Late Models, Clayton Brewer III Beaver River Distribution ESDCA Mod Lites, Keith Shay Four-Cylinder Super Stocks and Ray Preston, Dr Phil Claussen, Mike Cole picked up wins in the Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club.

Chuck Bower and Michael Storms led the field down to the green flag with Bower grabbing the early lead in the 35 lap DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature.

On lap 5 Storms was able to drive around Bower to be scored the new leader of the race. Mike Bowman, Chad Phelps and Jason Rood were in the top-five on the SUNY Canton Scoreboard.

Storms still held a narrow lead on lap 10 over Bower as Mike Bowman started closing in on the top-two. Phelps and Rood still ran fourth and fifth.

With 15 laps completed Storms, Bower and Bowman drove away from the field as they started to catch back markers. Larry Wight moved into 4th with Phelps in fifth.

Two laps later, lap 17 Storms jumped the cushion in turn four letting Bower to drive under him to retake the lead. On the same lap 3rd place running Bowman suddenly slowed ending his shot for the win.

On the last double file restart Storms was able to regain the lead by inches over Bower. Wight, Rood and Phelps were still in the thick of the battle.

With 10 laps to go Storms and Bower ran side by side and nose to tail on different parts of the speedway. While those two battled for lead Billy Decker was running 3rd with Wight and Rood running fourth and fifth.

When starter Dave Farney gave the 5 to go sign Storms opened a five car length advantage over Bower as Decker, Jimmy Phelps and Wight were still in contention for the win.

With 3 laps to go the caution flew for Alan Johnson who came to a stop on the back straight. Over the final circuits Storms was able to open up a few car length advantage over Bower to be the first under the checkers. Chuck Bower, Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps and Matt Sheppard rounded out the top-five. Larry Wight, Pat Ward, Ryan Phelps, Jim Witko and Chad Phelps completed the top-ten.

After exiting his car and running down car owner Vinny Salerno with a leap into his arms, Storms had this to say about his win. “We started on the outside pole; it’s not easy to win here at Brewerton Speedway when you have Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps, Pat Ward and everybody else. It’s just awesome, I can’t thank everybody enough. I was getting nervous there with the cautions at the end. I saw Billy (Decker) and Phelps were there, this is awesome I’m glad I got the monkey off my back.”

“We have gone through up’s and downs and been and low as we could be.” Last year the team had everything stolen out of their hauler, $200,000 worth in Canada. “I can’t thank Four Star Motorsports enough for giving me the opportunity and drive it up here every single week, falling asleep behind the wheel asking ourselves why we do this, this is why we do this.”

3-27-10 - HAGERSTOWN SPEEDWAY - SDS Event #1

Possibly the proudest of the front-runners was third-place finisher Storms, who recorded a pair of top-10 finishes in 20 Series stops a year ago. He ended up 14th in the Big Diamond opener before climbing to 10th on the final Mr. DIRTcar points chart behind the wheel of Vinny Salerno’s Four Star Racing no. 4 Keizer Aluminum Wheels/TEO entry.

“The car was absolutely awesome tonight, our whole team really needed this,” declared Storms, who last season suffered through a combination of engine failures and racing wrecks along with having Salerno’s ride stolen near season’s end to elevate his level of appreciation even higher in his sophomore year of touring. “TEO gave us a great car, hopefully it will stay consistent the whole year.”

“It was pretty nerve-racking, I haven’t run with these guys like that … ever. I just kept looking up at the lap board, thinking how many laps to go, how many laps to go. We knew we were good after setting fast time in our group ahead of Brett and Billy, that was nice right there. So to come out of here with a top-3 finish it really means a lot, definitely a great way to start the season. This place is just awesome, easily the best series finish I’ve had so this is really a good day,” smiled Storms, who finished 4th the first time ever in Salerno’s Small-Block mount during Eastern States Weekend at Orange County before closing out 2007 at Hagerstown filling in for Vinny’s former first-string driver Hearn, who was sidelined then with a back injury.

Super DIRTcar Series Race #1: 1. Billy Decker 2. Matt Sheppard 3. Micheal Storms 4. Danny Johnson 5. Billy Dunn 6. Brett Hearn 7. Pat Ward 8. Justin Hears 9. Larry Wight 10. Jimmy Phelps 11. Ryan Phelps 12. Dale Planck 13. Steve Paine 14. Vic Coffey 15. Alan Johnson 16. Tom Sears Jr. 17. Gary Tomkins 18. Donnie Corellis 19. David Van Horn 99 20. Rick laubach 99 21. Lance Willixx II 99 22. Rich Scagliotta 98 23. Jeremiah Shingledecker 97 24. Rex King 97 25. Stewart Friesen 75 26. Ronnie Johnson 66 27. BIlly Pauch Jr. 61 28. Randy Chrysler 57 29. Frank Cozze 22 30. Jimmy Horton 15 31. Dan Vauter

3-19-10 - SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY - FRIDAY NIGHT

The Zemco Speed Equipment / Shiley Fabrication sponsored heat races for the 56 cars on hand were won by Billy Decker, Howard, Swinehart, Michael Storms, Strunk, and Ward.

RACE #1 INSINGER PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS 25 AT THE SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY
FINISH; Pat Ward, Doug Manmiller, Ronnie Johnson, Danny Johnson, Ryan Godown, Billy Decker, Ray Swinehart, Tom Umbenhauer, Richie Pratt, Jr., Stewart Friesen, Larry Wight, Danny Creeden, Paul Kinney, Alan Rudalavage, Colt Harris, Troy Wink, Craig Von Dohren, Jeff Strunk, Michael Storms, Kyle Weiss, Duane Howard, David Van Horn, Jr., Sean Merkel, Kevin Bates, Meme DeSantis, Bobby Varin, Rick Laubach.

10-17-09 - EASTERN STATES SMALL BLOCK CHAMPIONSHIP

Brett Hearn extended his Eastern States win record to 12 in the small-block modified division at Orange County Fair Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Hearn was running third and Michael Storms fourth when both drivers shot by Tommy Meier and Rick Laubach on the 69th lap. Hearn had little trouble holding his lead, Storms didn't have enough power to overtake him and Meier's damaged left wheel snapped off on lap 98, dropping him from third to 24th. Laubach finished third, David Van Horn Jr. was fourth, Tim Hindley was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Andy Bachetti, Pat Ward, Bobby Varin, Billy Decker and Jeremy Markle.

Eastern States 358 Modified
100-lap championship (extended to 104 laps due to cautions): 1. Brett Hearn; 2. Michael Storms; 3. Rick Laubach; 4. David Van Horn Jr.; 5. Tim Hindley; 6. Andy Bachetti; 7. Pat Ward; 8. Bobby Varin; 9. Billy Decker; 10. Jeremy Markle; 11. Danny Creeden; 12. Chuck McKee (103 laps); 13. Donnie Wilson (103); 14. Kirk Horton (103); 15. Mel Schrufer (102); 16. Erik Nelson (102); 17. Justin Holland (102); 18. Tim Bayles (102); 19. Matt Hitchcock (101); 20. John McGill (101); 21. Jimmy Spellmon (101); 22. Rich Coons (99); 23. Chris Stevens (98); 24. Tommy Meier (97); 25. Elmo Reckner (97); 26. Joe Giachinta (96); 27. Billy Eggers (95); 28. C.V. Elms (94); 29. John Ferrier (93); 30. Kyle Armstrong (89); 31. Chris Shultz (87); 32. Tim Fuller (66); 33. Jerry Higbie Jr. (57); 34. Richie Eurich (48); 35. Bobby Hentschel (29); 36. Kevin Ward (28); 37. Kenny Tremont (25); 38. Eddie Burgess (19); 39. Jeff Heotzler Jr. (6); 40. Kolby Schroder (5).