Farmington, MO (September 24) – The Fourth Annual Modified Mania was on tap Saturday evening at St Francois County Raceway. Previous winners Brent Thompson and Billy Smith would start the event from the front row. At the drop of the flag Smith would get the jump on Thompson, with Mike Francis, Bill Nickelson and Matt Dotson in close pursuit. By the first caution on lap five for the spinning car of Adam Parmeley, both leaders were looking for a runaway. On the restart the same group took off, but an immediate caution came out for Mark Hunter as his brakes looked as if they had locked up and forced the spin. Smith took off on the next restart and looked as if he was in command. Just before a caution on lap 15 Smith’s machine went up in a cloud of smoke. Reports coming from the pit indicated a loose oil filter. After leading the first eleven laps, Billy’s chance a repeat were finished. This handed the lead over to Thompson who was hot challenged by Brian Worley. Worley actually took the lead for one lap. Thompson got back by and took over on lap 18. Coming to the end a big crash between Billy Craig, Bill Nickelson, Danny Resinger and Chad Heady almost blocked the track at the entry to the home straight. Smith lead the first eleven laps, Thompson led laps twelve through sixteen and laps eighteen through twenty. Worley got credit for leading lap seventeen. Thompson gained his second win in the event as he also won 2009. Matt Dotson, Bill Nickelson and Billy Smith won there respective heats. Smith took the dash honors. Special Thanks to Ron Boyd of Ron’s Tire, Jerry Reeves of Reeves Rush Hour, Jerry West of Boyer Lumber, Kevin Politte from Southpaw Graphics, Tim and Joey Montgomery of the Parts Store in Fredericktown, Mike and Michelle Francis from the Flower Box and Hurricane Motorsports and Jeremy Greenwalt and Brian Blair of Extreme Radiator for their sponsorship for this years Modified Mania.
In a tune up for next week’s Queen’s Roylae, Tommy Worley, Jr drove by Tim Montgomery on the twenty-second lap of the twenty-five lap affair for his seventh win of the season. Rod Crabdrfee led the field to green and would hold the lead until Tim Montogmery got around to take the top slot. Caution flew for Joey Montgomery as his car was out of power. Tim Montgomery, Tommy Worley, Kasey Burch, Steve Short and Crabdree took the restart after a caution for a lost tire from Brad Yoder’s machine. The final caution came out on lap twenty for Jason Keith as he spun his car, did the wheel stand and lost power. He restarted and finished tenth. Kasey Burch, Tim Montgomery, and Rod Crabdree won heats. Tim Montgomery also claimed the dash.
What started out to be a two horse race in the B-Modified Division was change very quickly and Greg Swearingem picked up win number two of the season. Billy Smith driving for Tim Nash and Shane Blair looked as if they were going to be the class of the field. Blair got the jump on Smith and headed down the back straight and roared into turn three. The car then a barrel roll and landing on its top. Blair would climb out of the car and walk away. In speaking to Shane, he told us his throttle stuck wide open and he hit the hole that formed in turn three and four. Just before the roll he reached over and hit the emergency kill switch cutting the power. After the cleanup of this incident the race continued with Smith once again gaining control. Mike Savage and Smith were racing hard and coming up on the slower machine of Josh Reed. Reed then proceeded to spin his car in front of Smith. Billy had nowhere to go and hit Reed. Mike was directly behind Smith and hit him flush in the rear of the car sending steam high into the air. Both lead cars were disabled at this point. Greg Swearingem would assume the point and survive several challenges from Brian Blair to secure his second win of the season. Smith, Swearingem, and Savage all won heats.
Pure Street division action left nothing on the table. The newly crowned Champion, Jimmy Farris would start on the front row with past Champion Chris Boyd for this battle. Side by side and door to door was not uncommon. Things got tight as they battled for the position. Caution came out for Mike Williams as his car was unable to exit the track. On the restart Farris pulled a slight advantage over Boyd with Robbie Williams and Robert Hicks in close proximty. Coming off turn two Farris and Boyd got together and the pushing and shoving was on. Both cars received the black flag and were disqualified from the race. This left Robbie Williams in control of his own destiny and a win. Robert Hicks turned in best performance with a second place run. Bill Skaggs had a different motor and finished third. Jason Neel and Eric Sarakas finished the top five. Boyd and Williams won the heats.
The season has come down to the final night next Saturday. The annual running of the Queens Royale. The questions to be answered for this running. Can Ian Madsen from the land down under come back and repeat his triumph of 2010? Will Tommy Worley pick up his second title? Or maybe the Montgomery brothers taking another crown. How about this! Can the “Dude” Danny Lasoski come in and clean all their clocks?? Come in next Saturday October 1st and find out. Last season qualifying produced three driver breaking the track record. Keith Burch now owns the standard and the title of the fastest driver in St Francois County Raceway history. This event is always one to attend and enjoy the last event before the winter begins.
Gates for the event will open at 4:00 pm. Hot laps for the divisions will begin around 6:00 pm. Qualifying for the Sprints at 6:30 and racing to follow.
SPRINT DIVISION
Heat #1: 1. Kasey Burch 2. Tommy Worley, Jr 3. Steve Short 4. Jimmy Bridgeman
Heat #2: 1. Tim Montgomery 2. Joey Montgomery 3. Jeff Wurst 4. Ryan Kempin
Heat #3: 1. Rod Crabdree 2. Brad Greer 3. Joey Boyd 4. Danny Long
Dash: 1. Tim Montgomery 2. Rod Crabdree 3. Brad Greer 4. Kasey Burch
A-Main: 1. Tommy Worley, Jr 2. Tim Montgomery 3. Steve Short 4. Kasey Burch 5. Brad Greer 6. Rod Crabdree 7. Joey Boyd 8. Jimmy Bridgeman 9. Kory Bales 10. Jason Keith
A-MODIFIED DIVISION
Heat #1: 1. Matt Dotson 2. Chad Heady 3. Matt Dickerman 4. Billy Joe Beard
Heat #2: 1. Bill Nickelson 2. Brent Thompson 3. Matt Eaton 4. Adam Parmeley
Heat #3: 1. Billy Smith 2. Mike Francis 3. Brian Worley 4. Mark Hunter
Dash: 1. Billy Smith 2. Brent Thompson 3. Mike Francis 4. Bill Nickelson
A-Main: 1. Brent Thompson 2. Brian Worley 3. Mike Francis 4. Matt Eaton 5. Matt Dotson 6. Kent Nations 7. Kasey Nations 8. Chad Heady 9. Danny Resinger 10. Matt Dickerman
B-MODIFIED DIVISION
Heat #1: 1. Billy Smith 2. Greg Swearingem 3. C J Wright 4. Mark Dickerson
Heat #2: 1. Shane Blair 2. Eddie Gross 3. Kenny Harris 4. Josh Reed
Heat #3: 1. Mike Savage 2. Jeff Whitter 3. Brian Blair 4. Danny Resinger
A-Main: 1. Greg Swearingem 2. Brian Blair 3. Eddie Gross 4. Danny Resinger 5. C J Wright 6. Jeff Whitter 7. Jeff Frohwitter 8. Josh Reed 10. John Hahler
PURE STREET DIVISION
Heat #1: 1. Chris Boyd 2. Jimmy Farris 3. Bill Skaggs 4. Eric Sarakas
Heat #2: 1. Robbie Williams 2. Robert Hicks 3. “Rooster” Griffin 4. Greg Chilton
A-Main: 1. Robbie Williams 2. Robert Hicks 3. Bill Skaggs 4. Jason Neel 5. Eric Sarakas 6. Brad Sutton 7.Greg Chilton 8. Mike Williams 9. “Rooster” Griffin