Friday, March 24, 2023

Phillips and Jackson Take Opening Night Wins at "The Hummer"

 The twelfth annual King of America for the USMTS Modifieds and the eighth annual Battle at the Bullring for the B Mods opened up on Thursday night, March 23rd at the Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt Kansas. On a very blustery and cold March night on the plains, it would be Terry Phillips and Kris Jackson that would find victory lane, with both exhibiting dominating runs against big fields of cars. 

As is the norm here for this event, big fields of cars were on hand in both classes although it must be pointed out that the B Mod portion of the show saw quite a drop in entries from last year and most year's show. It's not known just exactly what caused the drop, but a forecast not full of optimism might have had much to do with that. 

For those that don't like a lot of extraneous classes running with a big special(I would be one of those), this event is perfect for them. Just two classes of cars, big fields in both and the focus just on those two groups of racers. After qualifying for the Modifieds was complete, it was heats, B Features and the two main events. Slam, bam, thank you mam. Just the way it should be. And on a cold, cold night, the three hour program was much appreciated. 

Sixty three Modifieds signed in to race with twenty three of the top twenty five in the current point standings among those entered. The usual USMTS format would be used on this, the first of three full shows with increased pay offs each night. The full shows for both classes  also makes it more interesting for the fans while giving the drivers that have bad luck or mechanical issues more than just one chance to shine. 

Jake Timm, current point leader in USMTS, would be the quickest of the sixty three drivers on hand with a lap of 16.272 seconds. Apparently the track was heavy and fast for the Wednesday night practice session but would kindly be described as having lots of "character." However, plenty of work in the meantime was performed on the track by Ryan Whitworth and his crew and the track would be smooth and slick for Thursday night's show. The USMTS format of inverting the top six in each group of qualifiers for the heat races might just be too many these days, as only half of the quick qualifiers would move directly into the feature with half having to run B Features as the quality of the fields is so strong that starting sixth and trying to garner enough passing points to move directly into the main has often been challenging this year. 

Six heat races would determine the top twelve in passing points with everyone else moving to one of three B Features. Much like mini features, these seventeen car events would move up just four cars out of each, giving the field twenty four starters. Throw in five provisional starters and the field of twenty nine would be set for thirty five laps of racing. 

Things got off to a slow start when Timm, starting on the inside of row two, would lose his power steering a get a flat tire, all before a lap could be completed and he would be done for the night. Timm had to decide whether to race his Modified or his Late Model this weekend, as there were big attractive shows for both this weekend. That choice was eliminated when the Late Model event got cancelled on Thursday morning due to the weather. 

Phillips, who started on the pole, would grab the lead and he would then be scored the leader for all thirty five laps, although it wasn't an easy win. Jason Hughes quickly moved into second and would stalk Phillips the entire race. Early on, Johnny Scott, another refugee from the Late Model wars this weekend, and Dan Ebert would be fighting for position. Jim Chisholm, the promising rookie driver, would challenge for a top five spot until he got into the turn four wall and was done. 

Through the mid portion of the race, there would be a long period of green flag racing and Phillips would catch the back of the pack, crowded with so many cars on this tight quarter mile. Terry would have some real problems getting past the slower cars and Hughes pulled right up behind him with Ebert, Scott and Tanner Mullens not far behind. 

A two car collision solved Phillips' dilemma with the yellow waving and an open track awaiting Terry for the restart. Ebert and Scott continued to have a dynamic battle for third while Ryan Gustin creeped into the top five after starting twelfth. Gustin, another of those Late Model drivers caught without a race due to the weather, jumped into the Hughes chassis car of Chris Kratzer and you'd have thought he was racing it all his life, the way he made it perform. 

Phillips would continue to hold the lead on the open track with Hughes still looking for a route past him. Just when it appeared that the race would be completed, the yellow waved for a fifth time for a tangle and a two lap sprint to the finish was called for. The veteran Phillips would not get caught up in any late race surprises, and he pulled away from Hughes to get the win. Gustin continued to charge and he passed Ebert at the end to get third ahead of Dan and Darren Fuqua who came from fourteenth to get the top five finish. Only five cars didn't complete the distance and all were on the lead lap. 

In victory lane, I was disappointed to hear from Phillips that he had retired from Late Model racing, having sold off all his Late Model equipment while he will now focus on his Modified stuff. With the bad comes some good though, as this win was the first for the new Bloodline chassis that Terry is now building. Look for more drivers to spring up with this chassis now soon. 

The Battle at the Bullring is always one of the biggest races of the year for the B Mods/Midwest Mods/ Sport Mods as this race always attracts a lot of drivers. This year instead of qualifying on two nights for the big show on Saturday, they split up the purse money and will be running three full shows with the money getting progressively bigger by Saturday night. This seems fairer for the drivers but is this why the car count was down substantially this year? I can't say but it was significantly down. 

It is refreshing not to have any cars with ridiculously big spoilers and Modified motors masquerading as B Mods such as has to be tolerated with out in New Mexico as no big spoilers are allowed at this event except for those on the IMCA Sport Mods. The B Mods run their USRA rules and the Midwest Mods run their WISSOTA rules and all seem pretty competitive. The IMCA cars seem to shy away from this event and I'm not sure why but I only spotted one IMCA variety car on hand. Many drivers come all the way from Canada, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin to race this race as it remains a big event on their schedule. 

Lots of people surprised their weren't more of the B Mods on hand but they still had enough for six heats and three B Features as their portion of the program mirrored the Mods, except for no time trials as they drew for position and qualified using passing points. After all the preliminaries were completed, there would be a twenty four car starting field for the main event. 

Michael Taylor III would take the early lead from the pole for the twenty five lap event with Brian Bolin, Terry Schultz, Kris Jackson and Lucas Rodin in the lead group. Jackson was working well and he moved to the low side of the track and quickly moved up from his sixth starting spot to challenge for the lead. 

With a strong move on the inside line, he drove into the lead and quickly began to pull away. However, the battle behind him was excellent with about five cars trading spots. Rodin moved to the outside and quickly began making time. Just as he was about to make a group pass and take over second, Tye Hollingsworth pulled up lame on the back chute. Rodin, blocked behind another car, couldn't see the slowing car and he couldn't get out of the way quick enough, peeling off the whole right side of his car and giving himself a flat tire and he was done. 

Jackson would pull away on the restart and he truly would never be challenged again for the lead. The best race would see Shadren Turner try to get past Bolin for second. Turner had started twelfth and was marching to the front and would perhaps have been the only driver to challenge Jackson, if only he could get past Bolin. 

However, Bolin, who managed to win a heat race by making his car as wide as the track and blocking any passing attempt, used the same technique on Turner and despite many attempts by Shadren, who would have a good run on Bolin, they all were halted by Bolin's wide car and the wall that was pinching on Turner. 

Jackson would drive on for the win, seeing the checkered flag wave from 81 Speedway starter Jake Schroeder, while  Bolin would hold off Turner for second. A big late race burst would see Jon Sheets move up to fourth with Any Bryant completing the top five. Only three yellows would slow the action in this race. 

Overall it was an incredibly smooth night of racing. The first yellow flag of the night didn't fly until the seventh race and when was the last time you saw six B Mod heats without a single yellow flag? There was not a single race all night that was yellow flag dominated and the smoothness of the program certainly played a part in the early evening which was welcomed by all due to the cold conditions. One day removed from a practice night with eighty degree temperatures, the opening night saw temps hover in the mid forties with a blistering wind out of the North. I would say that the crowd was the smallest ever seen for a KofA-BofB event but not surprising given the conditions. 

Friday night the same two classes will be in action as the ante is raised for both. 

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