Ryan Gustin became the first repeat winner in the King of America Modified special which wrapped up on Saturday night at the Humboldt Speedway. The feature race proved to be an excellent way to wrap up three nights of intensive racing at the quarter mile track in Southeast Kansas.
With all the bad weather that ragged this week throughout much of the country, it was a minor miracle that racing was able to be completed at Humboldt. Other than the last night rain on Friday that forced the conclusion of that show to be completed before Saturday night's racing could be run, the rest of the weekend went off totally as planned.
That, however, doesn't mean that things weren't a little bit dicey for Saturday's events though. Light rain started in the early afternoon and continued for several hours before it finally let up. While it wasn't heavy by any means, it still threatened to stop the show although Todd Staley had told us that they were going to complete the show on Saturday, even if we had to be there all night! Fortunately, that wasn't necessary although the program did get a one hour late start due to some extra packing that was needed.And then, the second race of the night, the makeup B Mod feature, had to be stopped due to some heavier mist falling, but everyone stayed the course and once it let up, the track was repacked and racing continued.
While all this made things a bit tedious for awhile, in retrospect it might have been the best thing possible as the track ended up being in fantastic condition for the racing, and in particular, the seventy lap main event for the Modifieds. Some years have seen much track prep go right out the window with the track going one lane and rubbering up quickly, but there was none of that on Saturday. Cars were able to run multiple lanes all over the track and the surface didn't seem to give up on any of the racers, no matter what lane they were using. and on top of all that, there wasn't a whisper of dust throughout the evening. Both the track prep crew and "Mother Nature" probably deserve equal credit for this.
The ladder racing to get into the main event for other than the top twelve in points was brutal with many good cars fighting for very few spots. There was much "take" and very little "give" as drivers fought tooth and nail to try and make the main event.
A couple very quirky things happened early in the evening with one driver able to recover from his bad luck and the other not able to. Stormy Scott was leading the rain delayed last heat race and looked to be gathering valuable points when his hood broke loose and blocked his vision. He had to stop for repairs and ended up a weak eleventh. This buried him in a C feature but with two determined drives, he was able to make it to the main event where he came from deep in the field once again to work his way all the way up to sixth at the finish.
Not so lucky was USMTS rookie contender Billy Vogel. He was leading a Last Chance race with only two laps to go when he looped his car and his two lap banzai to get back to the front ended up one position short and his night was done.
As for the Modified main event, it was one of the best features seen so far this season with plenty of passing and side by side racing. Seldom do you see drivers surge and then fade and then surge again but this race featured plenty of that as drivers lost time in traffic but then recovered while others adjusted their racing line to make all the difference in the work. There were also multiple leaders in the seventy lapper and that is often not the case in such an event.
Terry Phillips got the jump on the start but Gustin barreled the cushion to drive past him for the lead. Soon, Rodney Sanders started to move up in the low groove and he was able to drive into the lead. He started to check out on the field but he eventually started to loose ground when he got to the pack of the field.
Lapped traffic was intense and Sanders seemed to be slowing as he may have set too quick a pace and started to wear out his tires. Gustin moved in to challenge and eventually take over the lead but it was a short lived breather until Cade Dillard quickly moved in.
They swapped the lead a couple of times as they worked through the heavy traffic and just when it seemed that Dillard might take over the top spot for good, the lone yellow of the race flew. They had made fifty three green flag laps before the yellow, a remarkable performance by all.
Gustin went back to pounding the cushion however he seemed to make a slight adjustment to his line and it seemed to help as he started to stretch his lead on Dillard. Cade tried very hard but a couple times he over drove the corners in an all out effort which gave Gustin more breathing room. While all this was happening, Johnny Scott and Lucas Schott were also on the move and they climbed into the top five.
Gustin was home free and he motored home for the win. The race ended just in time for Schott as he lost a driveshaft on the last corner and while he lost third to Scott, he was still able to ease across the line and not lose more positions. Jason Hughes also picked up the pace the second half of the race as he came from twelfth to fifth at the finish. Sanders and Phillips both faded last in the race but did hold on to top ten finishes.
Besides Scott, the other driver that put on a lot of laps to earn his money was Kent Arment. He won a Last Chance race, moved on to an eighth place in a C Feature and then followed that up with a second in the B Feature. This gave the SoDaker the fourteenth starting spot in the main and he finished rounding out the top ten.
The B Mods had a busy night as they had two main events to complete. In the makeup race from Friday night, it was J.C. Morton who continued with his hot streak at this track as he earned a hard fought win. Curt Drake led for much of the race but Morton continued to press him and eventually would get under him and make a turn one pass for the win. Andy Bryant, Brian McGowen and South Dakota's D.J. Tesch completed the top five in that race.
The second feature race for the B Mods was a patience tester as after three nights of pretty smooth racing action, the B Mods got stuck in the mud on this one and it took seven yellows before they settled down enough to complete their twenty five lap main.
It was another pole sitter, Kris Jackson, that won this race. Jackson led all the way and was never seriously challenged. A fine run was turned in by Minnesota racer Alex Williamson who came from thirteenth to finish second ahead of Bryant. Mike Striegel, after struggling terribly here at Humboldt for the better part of two weekends which also included two major wrecks, finally got things together and grabbed a top five finish.
The crowd was by far the biggest on Saturday on any night of the three race nights but it still didn't come close to some of the crowds that Humboldt has hosted for this event. But to be truthful, the weather looked so grim that many certainly had to have made the decision that racing simply wasn't going to happen and it did appear that way for quite some time.
It was a tough three nights for many of the track employees as they fought through many weather related issues. However, they were rewarded with an excellent final event and certainly a good way for everyone to remember the KOA. Rumors were running rampant that this might be the last KOA held at Humboldt but nothing could be confirmed during the weekend. One must remember that lots of things can happen between now and 2018 and we will take a wait and see attitude and see what happens. For the time being, VII will be fondly remembered by Gustin and the fans on hand who were pleased by an entertaining main event.
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