Friday night, April 28th, the United States Modified Touring Series(USMTS) was at it again with night two of the annual Spring Classic at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City Iowa. Despite battling some Spring showers during the afternoon, track and USMTS officials prevailed and the program was held and Tom Berry Jr was one pleased driver that they did.
He came back from last night's disappointing finish when a potential victory turned instead into a DNF on the final lap of the feature to take the lead on lap thirteen tonight and then pull away from the field for a convincing victory in tonight's USMTS feature race. And while he started on the pole, it took some hard driving early for him to finally get past Jason Hughes to take over the top spot but when he did, he claimed the point and never let anyone get close enough to make a series challenge, despite multiple yellow flags that allowed the field to bunch behind him.
Showers at mid afternoon put the program in a questionable mode and while it didn't rain to any large degree, the amount of moisture that fell made the track slimy on top and turned the pits into a challenging mudhole that everyone would endure. However, USMTS head Todd Staley and the crew from Hamilton County were confident that they could whip the track back into shape and they were successful a doing so as one thing Hamilton County Speedway has is plenty of equipment and they made lap after lap, finally able to get cars on the track and to eventually get the qualifying completed.
All the track packing put the program behind schedule wise but that was a small price to pay to get to see racing action with a five grand to win Modified feature slated to top off the evening agenda which would also feature USRA classes that would include Stock Cars, B Mods, Hobby Stocks and the Tuners were in full throat also on Friday night.
The car count was down slightly in the Modified class on Friday but they still had forty one drivers ready to race on what turned out to be a lightning fast track and one that pushed the drivers and their equipment to the limit. In fact, the track was so tacky that USMTS photographer Tyler Renken had his shoe sucked right off his foot as he tried to cross the track during the preliminaries.
Staley was at it again, making yet another change in the qualifying format for the Modifieds. On this night, they divided the field up into four heats, not five and only inverted four in each heat, not six like they had done earlier this season as Todd continues to experiment to find the method that satisfies him and the drivers and seems most fair. Lots of luck however on reaching any kind of consensus among the drivers who generally can't reach agreement on anything. They did qualify all ten or eleven drivers as one large group and while it seemed to work out OK on Friday, I see that as a problem area in the future, particularly on tracks smaller than the huge Hamilton County oval. It does, however, speed up the entire qualifying ordeal. Dan Ebert, by the way, last night's winner, would be quick qualifier at 19.418 seconds.
Four heats and a pair of B Features would again set the order for the Modified feature with their event running as the finale for the night, unlike recent weeks when the Modified feature has been inserted earlier in the feature running order. There would be only twenty four drivers to take the green on Friday as apparently more drivers eligible for provisional starts actually earned their way into the green or perhaps some eligible opted out, as there was quite a bit of mechanical issues that arose during the heats.
Friday night's feature was trimmed from thirty five to thirty laps, no doubt because of the track conditions which were so demanding on the equipment with the high speeds and mud that tended to plug up radiators with a number of cars running hot over the course of the night. Despite starting on the pole, Berry Jr. was beaten into the first turn by veteran Jason Hughes who took the early lead. Only three laps were completed before a hard collision eliminated Dylan Thornton and Tanner Mullens who is having a very forgettable weekend to this point.
Hughes would continue to lead with Berry Jr. challenging him hard for the top spot as Ebert moved into third ahead of Dereck Ramirez and Rodney Sanders. Berry Jr. continued to pressure for the lead and on lap thirteen he swept past Hughes with an impressive move to take over the lead.
Sanders was on the move as he closed in on Ebert for second and they had quite a battle for second as both got past Hughes while Berry Jr put some distance on the field. By the halfway point of the race, Sanders had gotten by Ebert to take over second. Hughes, who eventually slumped back out of the top five made an impressive charge back up into contention and when the last yellow flew with only two laps to go when Tyler Wolff got dumped out of a top five spot on the front chute, it would be a quick race to the checkers.
Berry Jr. would be giving no one the opportunity they had Thursday night as he pulled away from the field on the green with ironically it being Ebert who was in second. However, no repeat of last night was forthcoming with Berry Jr maintaining a nice advantage and driving on for the win. Ebert would settle for second with Hughes working his way back up to third. Will Krup had a nice consistent race as he would march up to fourth with Sanders slipping back to fifth at the conclusion. Sixteen cars would complete the race with all on the lead lap and the yellow flew on six occasions.
The support classes were again marked by small fields of cars but they still produced some interesting racing which included two drivers coming from the back to win their events and a thrilling last corner pass to take another checkered.
Nine Tuners were available for their ten lap feature and on this big track and with the tacky surface, the Tuners were all singing in the pitch of "High C." Tyler Crimmins would lead the first lap before Oliver Monson blew past him for the lead. However, Monson would roll to a halt on lap five when he rolled a drive tire off the wheel and pitted for service.
This gave Crimmins the lead back but with the small field and the speed of Monson, it took him only a couple laps to scream back up through the field and to Crimmins rear bumper. He blew past Tyler with two laps to go and then resumed his big lead, which this time he held to the checkers over Crimmins and Levi Volkert.
A strong run in the Hobby Stock feature would see Jeremy Crimmins lead from start to finish in their fifteen lap main. He would start on the outside pole, establish an early advantage and not relinquish it throughout the race. Only one yellow would slow this event with the race running for a considerable length following the early stoppage. Chris Hovden would move into second after starting eighth but he simply couldn't close the distance on the leader and Crimmins would drive on unchallenged to take the win. Zack Smidt would settle for third.
The Stock Car feature was probably the support class highlight of the night. We would see three different leaders, six exchanges of the lead and a final corner pass for the win. This was a lot going on, especially considering that there were only ten Stock Cars to take the green.
Miles Michehl would take the early lead but he could only hold it for a single lap until last night's winner Derek Green would blow past him for the top spot. It seemed like that might be the end of the race right there but just one lap later Green would slow with a flat tire and this threw the race into a whole different light.
Michehl would get the lead back but he could only hold off Bill Crimmins for a lap before Crimmins would take over the point. As Crimmins continued to lead, Green was tearing back up through the field after changing a tire and by lap ten he had moved into second place and then starting stalking Crimmins for the lead.
With a power move down the chute, Green would blow past and take over the top spot once again and for a second time it appeared the race was over. But wait a minute! With only two laps to go, there was a spin that bunched the field and Green got a poor restart with both Crimmins and Michehl getting past him. Derek quickly repassed Miles for second but it looked like Crimmins would hold him off for the win.
However, Green made a bold move on the last corner, going to the top side of the track, holding his accelerator to the floor and trying to squeeze by Crimmins on the outside. You wouldn't be reading this if he didn't succeed and he did, slipping past Crimmins right at the line and winning the race by .025 seconds of a chagrined Crimmins, making it a repeat win for the Granada MN driver. Michehl would settle for third.
The B Mod feature would also see plenty of passing with four different leaders in sixteen laps and a late pass for the win. Just a dozen cars in the B Mod feature but they put on a good show with the top six running in tight formation for most of the contest. Bryer McCoy would lead the opening lap but two laps later Jerid Ratzke would get past him to take over the top spot. However, McCoy would have none of that and fought back to pass Ratzke and regain the lead.
The lone yellow would fly with five laps complete and one lap later as they raced in a bunch, Brandon Hare would make a pass for the top spot. While Hare would continue to hold the lead, Joe Chisholm would suddenly start to charge forward as he languished back in sixth during the early going but suddenly found a line higher up the track that allowed him to charge to the front.
He closed in on Hare and with a breathtaking move in turn one, powered past Hare on the top side of the track to take over the lead and once in front, he quickly pulled away. Joe appeared to be "flat footing" it through the turns and he simply left the field in his wake as he rattled the chip in his car's motor and flew away from the field.
The seventeen year old would complete the impressive run with a comfortable margin at the line over Hare and Thursday night winner Ty Griffith.
Thanks to all that worked like demons to get the track back in shape on a night when many promoters would have just bunched the program. It was cold and windy and certainly not the night to draw a big crowd, yet they persevered against the odds and out fought Mother Nature to deliver a racing program to the fans and for the drivers.
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