Sunday, March 28, 2021

Ahumada Jr. Picks Great Time for First USMTS Victory During KOA at Humboldt

 It was a very busy weekend at the Humboldt Speedway located in Southeastern Kansas. With the sixth annual Battle of the Bullring for B Mods having been weathered out several weeks ago, the decision was made to attach that event to the tenth annual King of America Modified race for the warriors of the USMTS. What this would eventually mean that on the final night of racing, these two classes would be battling for first place checks that would add up to thirty thousand dollars between the two classes. That, folks, is a lot of money to be fought over at this small little quarter mile bullring located near a town of about a thousand people modestly placed in the center of no where. But if you have a racy track, put on a good show, pay the drivers well then the fans will follow, and that is the formula for a successful event. 

Of course, the weather had to make things even more challenging than was already planned, as a steady all afternoon rain on Thursday, March 25th backed up the opening night of racing by twenty four hours. And to the credit of the promoters, rather than just dropping that show which had no implications for "The King" but would affect the line up procedure for the "Battle of the Bullring", a doubleheader program was scheduled for Saturday which would prove to tax the resources of the workers, drivers and crews but everyone stood to the challenge and three full shows were accomplished. 

Preliminary action would open up on Friday night, March 26th, with Modifieds, B Mods and Stock Cars all in action. All three would run full shows with this being a change from previous years for "The King" Modifieds as in previous years one night would be just double heats preceding the last night feature races while this year it was three full shows with three full qualifying events. As expected, a huge field of cars was on hand even with the twenty four hour delay and many drivers were making their first appearances at "The Hummer." Opening night action would see an even two hundred race cars on hand and when three more trickled in on Saturday, the final totals were ninety one Modifieds, eighty four B Mods and twenty eight Stock Cars. All three classes had some of the strongest racers from across the Midwest and beyond and this would surely be one of the top events of the year.. 

The Modifieds time trialed as they have done for all their USMTS shows so far this year with seven big heat races and four B Features setting the twenty eight car starting field for the USMTS finale, with five grand to go to the winner of the Friday night finale. 

The fifty lap Modified main would produce a first time winner in USMTS action and provide one of the "feel good" moments of the weekend. Carlos Ahumada Jr has been racing the USMTS circuit for several years and from where he lives in El Paso Texas, many of the races are extremely long tows for him but he has made the majority of the races since joining the series. He already had a strong finish to an earlier event this Spring in Texas so it was clear that his program has improved measurably but on Friday night he showed just how far he has come as he would lead the first lap and more importantly, the fiftieth lap as he took his first ever USMTS feature race. 

Doing well in his heat race and by benefit of the redraw, he would start on the pole of the main event and would be out front for the opening lap. However, he was quickly then overtaken for the lead by Brooks Strength, also looking for his first ever USMTS feature. Strength would show good speed as he maintained the lead but Ahumada Jr stayed with him as they were joined in the lead pack by Terry Phillips, Ricky Thornton Jr and eventually, Rodney Sanders. 

Lap twenty eight saw Ahumada Jr, working the low line, get back inside Strength to take the lead back and he would be in front for another four laps before the first yellow would wave when Jake O'Neil would blow his motor and slow the action. 

Things got exciting then as Strength and Phillips would wade into the deep end of the pool with each other. T,P would run Strength up the track in turn one as he wanted the top side but Strength would respond, perhaps not in a smart way, by then dumping Phillips in turn three and triggering a yellow. Strength would go to the tail while Phillips would retain his spot. But then Phillips, Sanders and Thornton Jr would get into a tough battle and Ahumada Jr would take advantage of this to drive away from them. One more yellow would set up a four lap dash to the finish but Carlos was up to the task as he again drew away from those battling so hard behind him and he drove home unchallenged for the significant win. Phillips would finish second and Tanner Mullins would make a late charge to grab third. 

The B Mods would also run seven qualifying heats with the top twenty in passing points moving to the feature. The next twenty in points would run a B Feature and then top four would move on to the main also, setting up a twenty four car starting field going twenty five laps for two grand but none of this having anything to do with the "Battle of  the Bullring."

Reece Solander and J.C. Morton would share the front row with Morton taking the early lead. Solander would hang with Morton but the driver on the move was Tony Bahr who started fifth but working the low line well, gaining ground on every lap. As other drivers slipped up the track, Bahr would drive under them and gain positions. 

He caught Morton and J. C. couldn't hold his car down either, and Bahr drove past him to take over the lead and once in front, he gradually pulled away, despite Morton's best efforts to catch him. Bahr clipped one of the infield tractor tires with his left front, making his car's handling more suspect but he was still able to hold off the pack and take the win. Solander would finish a strong third in a race stopped only three times and only once for a collision. 

Stock Cars would have some fireworks to conclude their main event after three heats set the grid for their twenty five lap finale. Chance Hillman would lead the opening lap before he was passed by Kyle Falck for the lead. Falck would then lead the rest of the contest until the fateful last lap. A number of yellows would slow this event, most for one car spins as the Stock Cars, new to this facility and event, struggled to keep the wheels underselves. 

All this time, Falck would continue to hold the top spot but Derek Green, who started on the pole, would move back up to challenge. Lap after lap, he would stick a nose under Falck in the corners but always come up just short down the chutes and then back off. However, when the white flag waved, the gloves came off. Depending on who you believed, either Falck didn't give Green room on the back chute on the final lap or Green moved up into the leader. Either way, contact was made, both cars when spinning out of control, and both were knocked out of the race. 

Defending USRA National Champ Mitch Hovden inherited the lead and he would not falter on the one lap race to the finish and would take the win. Hillman would finish second with Kevin Donlan trailing. For the Stock Car class, these kind of last lap fireworks are more the norm than the unusual. 

It was a long night of racing with twenty five races ending up being on the card including one hundred laps of feature racing. With all that racing, several sessions of track "farming" were required which took time also and the final checkered flag waved just after 1 a.m. With the Saturday afternoon session of racing scheduled to open gates at 8 am, for many there was just time to change clothes and get back to the track, much less the poor track  workers and other employees, who it was reported later did not in many cases get any sleep at all. Especially with the bank playing until four a.m. But this is not just a race; it is an event. 

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