The second weekend of racing for the USMTS Modified Series would take place starting March 1st at the Rocket Raceway Park in northeastern Texas about half way between Paris and Bonham. Always a popular stop for the USMTS group, a big field of cars from a wide varied area would pull into Rocket for two nights of intense Modified racing with five grand to the race winner each night.
It would be a wild night of Modified racing with many unsuspecting twists and turns of fate as the night would progress with three cars getting upside down in racing incidents but when the final checkered flag flew, it would be local driver Jack Sartain that would find the fast line and drive all the way up from thirteenth starting spot to take the win. Sartain's win was wildly popular with the local crowd as Jack is a regular racer at the track, having placed eighth in track points for the 2023 season and he would be the one to find a fast lane around the track while all the traveling stars continued to grope for that preferred line.
Also racing on Friday night would be the Limited/B Mods, the Factory Stocks and the USRA Stock Cars. The Limited/B feature would be just as wild as the USMTS race that followed with lots of attrition, several leaders that dropped out for various reasons and Louisiana's Jake Haddox would take the win, having made the winning pass with just three laps to go. Kyle Blanton would top the Factory Stock feature and Iowa's Blake Adams would take the Stock Car feature to wrap up the evening.
A steady rain on Thursday would wipe out the practice night and lead to some of the drama on Friday. Despite much work by the track crew, a cloudy Friday allowed the moisture to sit in the race track and while it would provide a lightning quick and dust free surface for Friday racing, it was also almost too fast as the cars were all making blazing fast laps and with everyone going so fast, it was a recipe for racing accidents and we saw plenty of them. And when the corners started to roll up from the excess moisture, that made things even more challenging.
A great field of sixty five Modifieds would sign in to race along with thirty seven Limited/B Mods, fifteen Factory Stocks and thirteen Stock Cars which provided plenty of racing action on a night when the temperatures dropped quickly and with a stiff wind blowing, The "Spring Nationals" felt anything but.
Perhaps my greatest news going into the event was my discovery that USMTS is no longer qualifying the cars and then inverting six for heat race action before they then calculate passing points to determine further lineups. They have gone back to their original method where each driver just draws a number for a heat and then passing points determine what follows. I was so stunned to see this great development(at least for me anyway) that I wasn't able to find out if this plan was just for this event or for the season, but I intend to find out quickly.
This allowed the show to get started right on time and objectively speaking, provide some of the most entertaining heat races that I had seen in quite some time. A coincidence, I think not.
In any event, six heats and three large, Jeff Broeg sized B Features would set the running order for the main event. Throw in a few provisional starters and the twenty eight car, forty lap feature would be set.
And it would be a wild one. Kale Westover started on the pole and he would get the early lead over Jake Timm and Casey Fowler. Only three laps could be completed before the first wild wreck occurred as several cars got together down the back chute and the end result was USMTS point leader Jason Hughes taking a wild barrel roll up against the back stretch wall. He was hot as all the flipping drivers would be but all seemed to be just racing accidents where the offended car was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
Westover would continue to lead over what would be a grueling period of the race as the field was then able to race twenty nine laps straight without a yellow. Westover was weaving through traffic with Timm continuing to chase him along with Fowler, Carlos Ahumada and Mark Smith.
However, as the race neared the halfway point, Sartain suddenly found a line that suited him well and he came tearing to the front after starting thirteenth. He was running extremely low in the corners but was getting great grip and he drove by racers battling for top five spots like they were standing still. It was an awesome run by Sartain and by the halfway point of the race, he had moved up to second behind Westover and ahead of Timm, Terry Phillips and Gary Christian.
Sartain continued to charge and when Westover got hung up in traffic, Sartain was there to drive under him and take over the lead. Westover lost several spots in that mess with Phillips and Christian engaging in a wheel banging battle for second.
With eight laps to go, debris slowed the action and then on the restart, Ahumada bicycled in turn one and flipped, triggering another red flag. Sartain continued to lead and it looked like the race would be his but then, just as the yellow flag was ready to be waved, Westover broke in turn one and Joe Duvall hammered him, slowing the action once again.
The two lap sprint to the finish would find Sartain protecting his line and he would drive home the winner, much to the crowd's approval. Christian would win the wheel banging contest for second over Phillips with Dan Ebert keeping the wheels on his car to come from twentieth to finish fourth ahead of Tanner Mullens as only a dozen cars were still upright and running at the finish.
The Limited Modified/B Mod feature was just as crazy. Twenty four cars would start this race and only fourteen would finish. However, unlike the USMTS feature, there was only one yellow flag during this race as all the crazy happenings involved cars breaking and colliding with each other but not causing the race to be delayed because of it.
Colby Williams would take the early lead with Kort Morgan and Conner Williams chasing him. Colby would lead the first ten laps of the race until he suddenly slowed and dived into the infield, giving the race lead over to Conner who was being chased hard by Jake Haddox and a charging Dean Abbey.
Then things would get even crazier. Haddox was all over Conner for the lead, sticking a nose under him on several occasions. However, the leader got bogged down by traffic and the track and Haddox would get hard into the rear end of his car. Suddenly Conner Williams slowed with a flat tire but Haddox got caught up with him and also slowed with Abbey driving by both of them for the top spot.
However, that didn't last long as Abbey apparently blew a motor before another lap could be completed and he dived off the track, handing the lead back to Haddox. With just three laps to go, the first yellow appeared for debris on the track, despite all the action before that point that hadn't triggered a single yellow.
Haddox would find Morgan all over him for the final three lap dash but he would hold him off to take the win after starting fourth in the running order. Matt Riskey would finish third with Bobby Williams and Daniel Tarkington following as four of the first five finishers were B Mods.
After all the wild action from the open wheel cars, the full bodied Factory Stocks and Stock Cars ran off much tamer races. The Factory Stock feature had only a single yellow flag slow down and the Stock Cars ran off their main event nonstop.
While both classes ran off smoother events, there was still plenty of action. The first four laps of the Factory Stock feature would provide three different leaders with Deacon Redmon leading the opening lap, only to get passed by Rodney White for the lead.
White was only able to hold that spot for two laps though, before he was overtaken by Kyle Blanton. Blanton would then go on to lead the final eleven laps and take the win. He was, however, severely challenged by Brandon Stowell who could get a wheel up under Blanton but never complete the pass. White would hold of for third over Chad Hatton and Neil Kemp.
The Stock Car feature would also see three different leaders during its fifteen laps. Brent Fielder would show good speed as he took the early lead but he struggled to keep his car in the groove and he was passed by Jackson Vsetecka for the top spot.
However, Jackson was also struggling and when Adams came up from the third row, he was able to race under the leader just at the halfway point to claim the top spot. From there, he was able to pull away and build up the biggest lead of any driver all night. This nonstop race would allow him to pull away and drive home for the win.
Mason Martin, who started seventh, would make a late rush and drive up to second ahead of Jeffrey Abbey who worked the top side of the track throughout the race, Neil Kemp and Vsetecka.
The show was run off at a rapid pace with one race directly following the other so no complaints there. However, the frequent yellows and reds did, however, slow the eventual pace. The last two features did, however, help to complete the show by a decent hour and it would have been even better if the Texas wind had not decided to blow stronger as the evening progressed. Nevertheless, it was a very entertaining and dramatic evening of racing and all four classes, at least those that are able to cobble their race cars back together, will be at it again on Saturday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment