PONTOON BEACH, IL – July 10, 2020 – In a milestone year for the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, it was only fitting that its six-time champion hit a milestone of his own Friday night at Tri-City Speedway.
Mike Harrison brought his A-game into the 25-lap Feature and showed everyone why he is the tour’s only 50-time winner, putting the moves on mid-race leader Kyle Steffens just after halfway and driving off with the $1,000 check in his fourth career victory at Tri-City in Summit Modified action.
“We actually found something that we had screwed-up the other day on my other car, and we had it screwed up on this one too. Ever since we fixed that [problem], we’re back in business,” Harrison said in Victory Lane.
Harrison began his run to the front from outside Row 4 and quickly jumped into the podium, making the move for second on Michael Long on a Lap 9 restart. After several laps of digging to leader Steffens’ inside, Harrison finally got enough momentum down low and threw a big slide job into Turn 3 to take the top spot as they completed Lap 14. From that point onward, Harrison put it on cruise control.
Steffens, Long and polesitter Rick Conoyer were chasing Harrison down late in the race when they all came together after contact in Turns 3-4, ending each of their nights with results of 16th, 15th and 18th, respectively.
Dean Hoffman and 15-year-old Hunt Gossum assumed the podium spots on the restart and held them back around to the checkered for their best finishes with the Summit Mods this season.
A big 50th time in Summit Modifieds Victory Lane for the six-time champ begged the question of his plans to race on the tour this season and how those plans would affect his chances of a seventh championship. To that, Harrison put it very simply.
“I work for a living, so I have to go to work sometimes to pay the bills at home. But I will go to the races that I can physically go to that’s right for my team. The other ones, I just don’t, and I let the points play out the way they’re gonna play out,” Harrison said.
The DIRTcar Summit Modifieds racing action continues Saturday night at the Fairbury Speedway with a $2,000-to-win show, broadcasted LIVE on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
Qualifying Flight-A
1. 14-Rick Conoyer, 16.687; 2. 22-Wade Wenthe, 16.818; 3. 25W-Allen Weisser, 16.822; 4. 18L-Michael Long, 16.861; 5. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 17.083; 6. 21M-Willy Myers, 17.154; 7. 11X-Don Grimm, 17.235; 8. 1-Steve Stevenson, 17.295; 9. 327-Chuck Goodman, 99.999
Qualifying Flight-B
1. 3L-Jeff Leka, 16.434; 2. K19-Will Krup, 16.572; 3. 24H-Mike Harrison, 16.632; 4. 77-Ray Bollinger, 16.705; 5. 128-Zach Schantz, 16.886; 6. 1Z-Zach Hoffman, 17.076; 7. 4A-Dave Wietholder, 17.254; 8. 75X-Charles Day, 17.867
Qualifying Flight-C
1. 8-Kyle Steffans, 16.567; 2. 1D-Dean Hoffman, 16.78; 3. 99-Hunt Gossum, 16.849; 4. 59R-Jacob Rexing, 16.856; 5. 87Z-Zeb Moake, 17.063; 6. 117-Frankie Wellman, 17.153; 7. 79D-Caleb DeMoss, 17.325; 8. 9H-John DeMoss, 17.415
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 14-Rick Conoyer [1]; 2. 18L-Michael Long [4]; 3. 25W-Allen Weisser [3]; 4. 22-Wade Wenthe [2]; 5. 24-Zeke McKenzie [5]; 6. 21M-Willy Myers [6]; 7. 1-Steve Stevenson [8]; 8. 11X-Don Grimm [7]; 9. 327-Chuck Goodman [9]
Heat #2 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. K19-Will Krup [2]; 2. 3L-Jeff Leka [1]; 3. 24H-Mike Harrison [3]; 4. 77-Ray Bollinger [4]; 5. 128-Zach Schantz [5]; 6. 1Z-Zach Hoffman [6]; 7. 4A-Dave Wietholder [7]; 8. 75X-Charles Day [8]
Heat #3 – Flight (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 8-Kyle Steffans [1]; 2. 99-Hunt Gossum [3]; 3. 59R-Jacob Rexing [4]; 4. 1D-Dean Hoffman [2]; 5. 87Z-Zeb Moake [5]; 6. 117-Frankie Wellman [6]; 7. 9H-John DeMoss [8]; 8. 79D-Caleb DeMoss [7]
Last Chance Showdown #1 (8 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer
1. 21M-Willy Myers [1][-]; 2. 1Z-Zach Hoffman [2][-]; 3. 117-Frankie Wellman [3][-]; 4. 327-Chuck Goodman [10]; 5. 1-Steve Stevenson [4]; 6. 4A-Dave Wietholder [5]; 7. 11X-Don Grimm [7]; 8. 75X-Charles Day [8]; 9. 9H-John DeMoss [6]; 10. 79D-Caleb DeMoss [9]
Feature (25 Laps)
1. 24H-Mike Harrison [8]; 2. 1D-Dean Hoffman [12]; 3. 99-Hunt Gossum [6]; 4. 3L-Jeff Leka [5]; 5. 128-Zach Schantz [14]; 6. 77-Ray Bollinger [11]; 7. 87Z-Zeb Moake [15]; 8. 59R-Jacob Rexing [9]; 9. 9H-John DeMoss [19]; 10. 21M-Willy Myers [16]; 11. 24-Zeke McKenzie [13]; 12. 79D-Caleb DeMoss [22]; 13. 22-Wade Wenthe [10]; 14. 1Z-Zach Hoffman [17]; 15. 18L-Michael Long [4]; 16. 8-Kyle Steffans [2]; 17. K19-Will Krup [3]; 18. 14-Rick Conoyer [1]; 19. 327-Chuck Goodman [21]; 20. 117-Frankie Wellman [18]; 21. 25W-Allen Weisser [7]; 22. 4A-Dave Wietholder [20]
KSE Hard Charger Award: 1D-Dean Hoffman[+10]