After weighing our options and checking the weather we decided to stick with our original plans and head to Humboldt, Kansas, for the Sunday afternoon USMTS show rather than return to Springfield for the three remaining feature events. It was my first trip to Humboldt and I was very impressed with the neatness of this facility from the new tower atop the grandstands all the way down to some of the cleanest restrooms I have ever seen at a dirt track. Toss in a well configured racing surface and the fans of east central Kansas have a hidden gem to attend every Friday night.
Fifty-three USMTS Modifieds stars, including Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader, had their cars at Humboldt this afternoon along with a good field in both the B-Mods and the Factory Stocks. The track was packed down hard after Saturday night's show and despite a pretty stiff south wind along with a good amount of sunshine it produced one of the best afternoon shows that I can ever remember attending. This was evidenced by Steve Holzkamper coming from the back row to win the sixth and final Modified heat race. Yes, the track did lock down come feature time, but there was still plenty of action and a bit of drama to send the fans home buzzing.
Johnny Fennewald was another driver who came from deep in the starting grid to win his heat race and when he drew the pole position for the forty-lap main event he instantly became the man to beat. When Fennewald slipped up on an early restart fellow front row starter Brian Bolin seized the advantage with Bryan Rowland glued to his back bumper. The two new leaders opened a nice advantage until Holzkamper slipped past Fennewald for third and started to close the gap. With just eight laps remaining Bolin slipped a little high off of turn two and Rowland charged to his inside down the back straightaway. The two entered turn three wheel to wheel and they both drifted up the racetrack. This was exactly what Steve Holzkamper was hoping for as he stayed glued to the bottom and prepared to rocket from third to first. But, when Bolin got too high in turn four, he spun out and the caution flag flew.
The officials ruled that both Rowland and Bolin would be charged with the caution and both drivers would have to go to the back for the restart. Rowland stopped on the front stretch to plead his case and by his hand gestures you could tell that he felt that since he had entered the turn even with Bolin he should not be penalized for the incident. Initially I would have agreed with Rowland, but he did drive into turn three deeper than he had been and had he kept the car on the bottom line Bolin would not likely have spun. Besides, the final selling point for me was the fact that if Rowland had not also been credited for the caution he would have restarted the race in front of Holzkamper, something that would not have been the case if the caution had not been needed as the Gentry, Arkansas, driver would have definitely taken the lead off of turn four. In other words, Rowland would have directly benefitted from the caution flag. It was a tough call to make as Rowland clearly was not trying to "take out" the leader Bolin, but the call was made and was made without hesitation, something that you can always expect at a USMTS event.
Holzkamper walked away from the field over the final eight laps as fellow Arkansas driver Johnny Bone Jr., who had started from row five, slipped past Fennewald to finish second. Bone told me earlier that he hated daytime racing so perhaps his thoughts may have changed after collecting that nice second-place check. Dustin Boney, who started alongside Bone finished fourth behind Fennewald while Gary Langworthy turned in an impressive fifth-place performance.
You will note that this top five does not include any of the names that we are used to seeing near the top of a USMTS event results list. Kelly Shryock's day ended abruptly after one lap when he must have clipped one of the infield track tires in turn four sending him sliding to the infield with a broken left front suspension. Jason Hughes pulled the snowman (the eight) in the redraw so he tried the freshly watered top groove in the early laps and actually made a bit of progress before that moisture went away. Zack VanderBeek used a provisional and was not a factor all day while last week's winner in Nebraska, Tommy Myer, and former series champion Jason Krohn failed to make the show. I will be interested to see how this event shuffles up the early season point standings after three events.
The United States Modified Touring Series is one of the top touring events going right now regardless of whether you are talking about Late Models, Sprint Cars or Modifieds. You are virtually guaranteed a diverse field of cars including touring regulars, regional stars and local heroes, and the format lends itself to plenty of on-track action. Plus with Todd and Janet Staley, their sons Ryne and Logan, Ron Reefer, Lon Oelke and the rest of the traveling crew you know that you are going to get a tight, well presented racing program. Check out their schedule and make sure that you pick up one or more of their shows when they are in your area.
Fifty-three USMTS Modifieds stars, including Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader, had their cars at Humboldt this afternoon along with a good field in both the B-Mods and the Factory Stocks. The track was packed down hard after Saturday night's show and despite a pretty stiff south wind along with a good amount of sunshine it produced one of the best afternoon shows that I can ever remember attending. This was evidenced by Steve Holzkamper coming from the back row to win the sixth and final Modified heat race. Yes, the track did lock down come feature time, but there was still plenty of action and a bit of drama to send the fans home buzzing.
Johnny Fennewald was another driver who came from deep in the starting grid to win his heat race and when he drew the pole position for the forty-lap main event he instantly became the man to beat. When Fennewald slipped up on an early restart fellow front row starter Brian Bolin seized the advantage with Bryan Rowland glued to his back bumper. The two new leaders opened a nice advantage until Holzkamper slipped past Fennewald for third and started to close the gap. With just eight laps remaining Bolin slipped a little high off of turn two and Rowland charged to his inside down the back straightaway. The two entered turn three wheel to wheel and they both drifted up the racetrack. This was exactly what Steve Holzkamper was hoping for as he stayed glued to the bottom and prepared to rocket from third to first. But, when Bolin got too high in turn four, he spun out and the caution flag flew.
The officials ruled that both Rowland and Bolin would be charged with the caution and both drivers would have to go to the back for the restart. Rowland stopped on the front stretch to plead his case and by his hand gestures you could tell that he felt that since he had entered the turn even with Bolin he should not be penalized for the incident. Initially I would have agreed with Rowland, but he did drive into turn three deeper than he had been and had he kept the car on the bottom line Bolin would not likely have spun. Besides, the final selling point for me was the fact that if Rowland had not also been credited for the caution he would have restarted the race in front of Holzkamper, something that would not have been the case if the caution had not been needed as the Gentry, Arkansas, driver would have definitely taken the lead off of turn four. In other words, Rowland would have directly benefitted from the caution flag. It was a tough call to make as Rowland clearly was not trying to "take out" the leader Bolin, but the call was made and was made without hesitation, something that you can always expect at a USMTS event.
Holzkamper walked away from the field over the final eight laps as fellow Arkansas driver Johnny Bone Jr., who had started from row five, slipped past Fennewald to finish second. Bone told me earlier that he hated daytime racing so perhaps his thoughts may have changed after collecting that nice second-place check. Dustin Boney, who started alongside Bone finished fourth behind Fennewald while Gary Langworthy turned in an impressive fifth-place performance.
You will note that this top five does not include any of the names that we are used to seeing near the top of a USMTS event results list. Kelly Shryock's day ended abruptly after one lap when he must have clipped one of the infield track tires in turn four sending him sliding to the infield with a broken left front suspension. Jason Hughes pulled the snowman (the eight) in the redraw so he tried the freshly watered top groove in the early laps and actually made a bit of progress before that moisture went away. Zack VanderBeek used a provisional and was not a factor all day while last week's winner in Nebraska, Tommy Myer, and former series champion Jason Krohn failed to make the show. I will be interested to see how this event shuffles up the early season point standings after three events.
The United States Modified Touring Series is one of the top touring events going right now regardless of whether you are talking about Late Models, Sprint Cars or Modifieds. You are virtually guaranteed a diverse field of cars including touring regulars, regional stars and local heroes, and the format lends itself to plenty of on-track action. Plus with Todd and Janet Staley, their sons Ryne and Logan, Ron Reefer, Lon Oelke and the rest of the traveling crew you know that you are going to get a tight, well presented racing program. Check out their schedule and make sure that you pick up one or more of their shows when they are in your area.
Kenny Wallace takes on the USMTS regulars at several shows on the 2009 TourThanks for stopping in and checking us out! Don't forget to add http://www.positivelyracing.com/ to your "favorites" and stop by often. If you would like to learn more about the theme behind this website, plus hear some other other random race discussion go to http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/ and listen to their March 14th podcast.
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