By Carol D. Haynes, ISMA PR; photos by Jim Feeney
Delaware, Ont. - August 19, 2016 – Mike Lichty and Dave Shullick Jr. have been locked in a battle for the 2016 ISMA championship for most of the season. Lichty had lost some headway at Lee USA in early August but came back to gain some by winning at the New London Waterford Speedbowl the next day. Shullick, with four feature wins coming into Delaware was ahead by a mere six points. Having won the last two races at the Ontario, Canada oval, he might have been considered the favorite to repeat.
Lichty, with two feature wins to his credit, had not had not fared well in the June Delaware show, finishing sixteenth. The tide turned Friday night for Lichty. Starting seventh in the field, he had some exciting duals with both Mike Ordway Jr. and Timmy Jedrzejek on his way to the front to become the leader of the Harvey Lennox Memorial 75 on lap 54.
Waterford, CT (Aug. 6, 2016) - Ohio's Mike McVetta led two-thirds of the Ollie Silva Memorial 
Lee ,NH (Aug. 5, 2016) – Last season Dave Shullick won his second Ollie Silva Memorial 75 on his way to a first-ever ISMA championship. He was battling Mike Lichty for that ISMA title. In 2016 he and Lichty were again in a title battle going into Lee. Shullick, starting 10th, had to run down a high-flying duo up front in Mike McVetta and Mike Ordway Jr. to put the 95 into a position to pounce. But Lichty was also in the mix past halfway, moving by Shullick on lap 49 and then McVetta on lap 50. McVetta had a wheel break and pitted shortly thereafter leaving Lichty and Shullick to battle up front. Shullick went high and low looking for a way by the 84, finally taking the lead on lap 56. The second generation Ohio driver had control from there on in, taking the checkered with a healthy margin less than 20 laps later. Shullick had the race mapped out prior to the race, and 75 laps after the green dropped, Shoe II was right where he wanted to be - in victory lane.