The last day of January 2024 found the Modified racers of UMP at the East Bay Raceway Park for night number three of their last ever Winternationals Series here at "The Clay by the Bay". It was another sunny day that turned into a cool evening for the fans but the action was plenty hot on the race track.
As announced on this blog in yesterday's report, officials of DIRTcar, along with management from EBRP, agreed to revert back to the long held formula for the racing program here one night earlier than had previously been announced. No specific reason was given for the early decision but I suspect that part of it had to do with the rather bumpy programs produced so far this week in terms of frequent yellow flags and crashes and the belief that they needed to start running programs that issued points so that the starting positions for Saturday night's big finale would be based on more than just two nights of preliminaries.
In any event, the program would look significantly different for Wednesday night. Cars would qualify only against those in their group, not against the entire field with the field being divided into eight groups, based on the seventy six Modifieds that signed in to race on Wednesday.
The heats would be lined straight up off qualifying times (no change or surprises there) with two drivers taken out of each heat. Everyone else would go into one of four B Features with again just the top two finishers making the main. So, instead of all seventy six drivers running a feature race, we instead would see only the top twenty four in one feature paying I believe a grand to win but also earning points for each finishing position that could better their starting spots for Saturday night's big finale.
Instead of seeing three feature races as the program, we instead got to see a total of thirteen races which would include the twenty five lap finale. And despite the fact that there were quite a few more races, the entire program would be completed in the same amount of time as it had taken to run off three races on the two previous nights. And if it were not for a difficult last few laps of the main where it took four attempts to get the last lap completed, the show would have been done significantly quicker.
Time trials seemed to go so much smoother on Wednesday and perhaps that was just that the drivers had finally started to figure things out and settle down but the first race hit the track just about a half hour earlier than it had on the previous two nights. And the rest of the program would go just as smoothly, except for the last five laps of the feature where things would get bogged down considerably with the checkered flag in sight and some drivers working just a bit too hard to try and improve their finishing positions.
Qualifying would produce a surprise as Montana's Michael Leach would turn the quickest overall lap with a time of 16.299 seconds and place himself on the pole for heat race number two. There were, however, no great surprises among the other seven drivers scheduled to start up front for their heats. While I must admit that I like this format better than the feature races only system, there is also no denying that qualifying, a part of any program I could do without, is a huge part of any show that uses that format, whether it be Modifieds, Late Models, Sprint Cars or Crown Vics. All heat winners would be starting on the front row of their heats and three of the four B Features would also be won by front row starters. Yes, and also the main event since you asked would be won from the front row so I guess any format isn't perfect. But to me, Wednesday night seemed to go much smoother that the previous two nights and perhaps that is just a coincidence.
There were plenty of good battles for position though to lead us to the point where twenty four drivers were set to go twenty five laps for the main event. I might point out that for a change, there were no provisional starters tonight as everyone had to race their way into the main event.
Lucas Lee would get the jump on Michael Turner as the two team mates, who part side by side back in the swamp behind the track, would dominate the early going. Kyle Strickler would move up to the third spot but then bobble off turn three and lose a couple of spots, eventually fading back into the field.
Austin Holcombe, the only double winner going into the Wednesday night show, would again show speed as he worked his way up from the fourth row after battling with Treb Jacoby and Brad DeYoung. DeYoung, who left the track on the wrong end of the wrecker on Tuesday with his front end dragging, made a nice recovery as he fought his way into contention.
The race remained under the green and by the halfway point, Lee was racing through traffic while building up a strong advantage as those five continued to show the way. In fact, twenty laps were completed before the first yellow waved when Austin Sanders rolled to a halt in turn two. Holcombe had moved past Turner for second and then things started to get kind of testy on the restart.
Lee pushed up the track in turn one, giving an opening to Holcombe who drove inside of him down the back chute and into the lead. However, Lee would get back inside of Holcombe in turn three and bulldoze his way back into the lead, moving Holcombe significantly up the track. The yellow would wave anyway and the whole move would be a moot point but it resulted in Holcombe giving multiple "one fingered salutes" to Lee under yellow with Lucas responding with some threatening buzzing moves of his own on Holcombe's car.
However, the end result was that this put Lee on alert and he never again during the race would give anyone a chance to get back inside him where he was making his hay, hugging the low groove. Holcombe tried too hard to get back past Lee and gave the second spot to DeYoung which he would hold the rest of the way.
Things got bogged down badly at the end with five yellows in the last five laps including four attempts to get the sole last lap in the books with Jacoby and Strickler victims who would give up decent finishes to the wall and a spin respectively.
Each time, Lee would power away from the field and leave no doubt as to who was going to win but the running order behind him was scrambled. DeYoung would drive on for a fine second place finish. Cole Czarneski, who didn't show in the top five until the final one lap restart, made up more ground as he passed two more drivers on the final lap to finish third. Holcombe would settle for a disappointing fourth while Devin Dixon, making his first start of the week, would round out the top five.
So far this week, eighty one different teams have raced in the series and all will be welcomed back for night number four on Thursday where, as some festering rivalries have now been rekindled, the fireworks are expected to increase as we get closer to the finale on Saturday night.
Wednesday night brought a new experience for me as for the first time ever here, I was able to sit up in the VIP (press area) here at EBRP thanks to an invite from announcer Larry Jewitt. It was a great view from up there and kept the cool night air off me. Good thing I got the chance this year because who knows what the place will look like by this time next year.
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