GRANITE CITY, Ill. — A forecast of inclement weather Friday night into Saturday afternoon prompted first-time promoter Gordy Gundaker to cancel this weekend’s inaugural Summer Cup Clash at Tri-City Speedway.

The May 31-June 1 weekend for Super Late Models was set to include twin 25-lap semifeatures paying $5,000-to-win each on Friday night and a 50-lap, $20,000-to-win finale on Saturday evening. Over $200,000 in purses were laid out for the blockbuster DIRTcar-sanctioned weekend, which would have been the richest race in Tri-City’s history.

With no suitable dates available on the jam-packed 2024 racing calendar, the event will not be rescheduled this season.

“There’s nothing more I wanted than to see this event take place and succeed, but unfortunately the weather doesn’t look favorable for us now Friday night and on into Saturday,” said Gundaker, a 31-year-old Super Late Model driver from St. Charles, Mo., who announced last November that he was taking on the challenge of his first event promotion at his family’s 3/8-mile oval. “I’m beyond disappointed for the racers, the fans and all of the great supporters I have, but this is the nature of the business. It’s a hard decision, but as a racer the last thing I would want to do is drive all the way to a big race and then sit all weekend and get rained out.

“Although we are cancelling this weekend, I look forward to promoting an event in the near future.”

Fans who purchased advance sale tickets and camping spots for the Summer Cup Classic will be refunded through their point-of-sale at MyRacePass.com.