Modified Nationals @ Rio Grande Spwy.

[rebelracewriter]

Scotty Brown and Howard Willis led the 24 car, 25 lap Modified field to green with Willis out-diving Brown into turn 1. Jason Hughes got inside Brown coming out of turn 2 and was challenging Willis for the lead in turns 3-4. Willis beat Hughes to the line, but a spin in mid-pack brought the yellow out for a complete restart. On the next try, Willis again got out front going into turn 1 with Hughes, David Trauernicht and Lawrence Mikulencak three wide for third.

 

Mikulencak, using the high side, then got by Brown for second and was challenging Willis for the lead. Lap 2 saw Mikulencak make his move and get by Willis to lead lap 2, while Bobby Maupin and Brown ran side by side for third. Maupin and Hughes the swapped spots for two laps as Mikulencak eased away from Willis, who had a gap back to Brown.

 

Robbie Starnes and Johno Whittington had their own scrap going on lap 6 as the ran wheel to wheel for sixth. Farther back in the field, Randy Timms, Steve Majek and David Grigg were swapping the eighth position corner for corner. Hughes began quickly closing on Willis by lap 10 and when Willis slid over the back stretch berm, Hughes took the spot.

 

At the crossed flags the top five were Mikulencak, Hughes, Willis, Brown and Maupin. Hughes reeled in Mikulencak for the lead on lap 12 as the lead duo ran into lap traffic. With the crowd on its feet, Mikulencak and Hughes ran three wide around a slower car on lap 14. The lead duet were still going at it when Hughes slid too high in turn 1 and lost a little ground.

 

The top five had just strung out when caution was out for debris on the track on lap 18. Hughes quickly capitalized on the restart as he got along side Mikulencak on the restart. Mikulencak fought back and still held the lead on lap 19, but Hughes kept the pressure on and wrestled the point away on lap 20. Willis also got by Mikulencak who looked to be fading slightly.

 

Willis closed the gap on Hughes in the final laps and was close enough to take a peek inside on the last lap. But at the checkers it was the two-time defending Modified Nationals champion, Hughes taking the win in his West Siloam Pawn, 10th Street Auto Parts, Hughes Chassis.

 

Modified A-main top 6 to Sat A-main (Unofficial after top six)

Pos/Car#/Driver/Start

1 12H Jason Hughes (3)

2 1 Howard Willis (2)

3 87 Lawrence Mikulencak (8)

4 4B Robbie Starnes (6)

5 5w Johno Whittington (7)

6 5T Randy Timms (13)

7 144 Scotty Brown (1)

8 82 Steve Majek (20)

9 91 Bobby Maupin (10)

10 44 David Grigg (5)

11 55 Danny Brown (17)

12 89 Steve Whiteaker jr (12)

13 45 David Trauernicht (4)

14 98TD Tracy Denby (11)

15 51 Eddie Martin (23)

16 19 John Armstrong (15)

17 56 David Horner (18)

18 9H Brent Nicholas (9)

19 31 Elias Anderson (14)

20 21w Greg Waugh (16)

21 96 Justin Raybourn (19)

22 98 TJ Huston (24)

23 210 Brandon Smith (21)

24 715 JP Dowell (22)

 

 

 

 

In the Limited Modified qualifying A-main, Ronny Gould and Howard Willis paced the 25 car field to green. Before green was shown, Jason Hughes was forced to give up his fourth row starting spot and make repairs to his transponder, sending him to the tail for the start. As green waved R. Gould was into turn 1 ahead of Willis, who was trying to make the high side work. The top five quickly sorted out with 2-3 wide racing back in the pack.

 

Johno Whittington had just made the move around Willis for second when Jeff Turner spun after contact with Jamie Burford. Turner stopped on track to bring out the yellow and both were placed at the rear for the restart. Willis was able to retake his spot in second. R. Gould was quickly off again as the race resumed and didn't waste any time in putting some distance on the Willis, Whittington battle. Lap 8 saw Hughes, working his way up, fighting three wide with David Kulhanek and Ben Haddox.

 

Whittington was again putting the heat on Willis when Bobby Fehring spun in turn 4 for a caution. On the restart, Adam Schach, D. Kulhanek and Haddox went three wide as R. Gould lengthened his lead. Rick Rogers moved into the top five getting by Ray Kulhanek on lap12. At halfway the top five were R. Gould, Willis, Whittington, Travis Evans and Rogers, with R. Kulhanek right on his bumper.

 

Hughes picked off a top ten spot on lap 13, but was still a ways out of the final transfer spot. With ten to go, R. Gould was increasing his margin over the battle still raging between long time Houston area combatants, Willis and Whittington. Aaron Hudgeons picked off a position as he got by Jeff Wood for eighth on lap 21. The top six transfers spots had pretty much been decided in the final laps despite the leader R. Gould running into traffic. At the checkers it was, R. Gould taking the victory by a comfortable margin.

 

Limited Mod Qualifier top 6 to Sat. A-main (unofficial after top 6)

1 1 Ronny Gould (1)

2 83 Howard Willis (2)

3 87 Johno Whittington (4)

4 4E Travis Evans (3)

5 02 Rick Rogers (13)

6 56 Ray Kulhanek (6)

7 7 Aaron Hudgeons (17)

8 C02 Jason Hughes (7)

9 98 Ben Haddox (19)

10 07 Adam Schach (20)

11 12 Art Rodriguez (18)

12 119 Jamie Burford (10)

13 86 Justin Collins (15)

14 27 Roger Faulkner (9)

15 57 Jensen Pray (22)

16 333 Jeff Wood (11)

17 562 David Kulhanek (14)

18 44T Jeff Turner (5)

19 31 David Karikoff (21)

20 24 Dennie Geiber (12)

21 6 Vince Louden (16)

22 33A Gary Rollo (8)

23 50 Greg Tillison (23)

24 21S Trent Sousa (25)

25 4 Tim Heatherly (24)