Massey Cruises in NCRA Modified Series Opener
By David Smith, Jr.
PARK CITY, Kan. (May 3, 2008) - The O'Reilly NCRA
Modified Series presented by ICM/Ethanol opened it's
eleventh consecutive season Saturday night at 81 Speedway in
Park City, Kansas and it was last years divisions rookie of
the year Jeremy Massey taking the lead on lap three, then
cruising the rest of the way to win the thirty lap feature
event.
Jim Johnson started on the pole with former three-time
series champion Johnny Allen along the outside as the pair
paced the field before the green flag fell. When the race
started, it was a free for all entering turn one as Johnson,
Allen and Massey raced three wide exiting turn two
before Allen took the lead for good entering turn three and
lead the first lap. Johnson would return the favor next time
around to lead lap two before Massey drove around Johnson
exiting turn two to take the top spot.
Massey would jump out to a quick six car length lead by
lap five and by the halfway point, would be out to a
comfortable half stretch advantage. The leader would begin
to approach the lapped car of Shane Gerber on lap eighteen
but his lead would never be in jeopardy as his Bills Built
chassis stayed glued atop the three-eighths mile oval and
would be never challenged the rest of the distance.
Massey would go unchallenged to take his third career
NCRA modified victory in the caution free feature finale.
"I want to say thanks to my brother (Brandon) for the
opportunity to drive his car," said a jubilant Massey in
victory lane. "I waited to see where those other two were
going to go there on the start and then just picked my spot
and made my move too the front. I really want to thank my
sponsors Corduroy's Bar, Rodriguez Concrete, Ford Sand and
Gravel, Inc., BSB Race Parts and, of course, Bills Built
chassis for their help or this wouldn't be possible."
Johnson would hold off Allen for the runner up position
while Marc Hurd and Jordan Whitehead rounded out the top
five.
The six heat races for the 57 car field were won by
Allen, Brenden Gemmill, Brian Casey, Jim Pearcy, Massey and
Nic Baalman. The "E" feature was won by Brent Burkhart with
Mike Bennett taking the "D" main honors. Kenny Sweet would
take the ten lap "C" feature while Brian McGowen led the way
in the fifteen lap "B" feature.
Local track regular Greg Stephens of Wichita would play
the alphabet soup and earned the nights hard charger honors.
Problems in his heat race found him lined up tenth in the
"E" feature and finished sixth to transfer to the "D"
feature. Stephens would transfer from there and make it
through the "C" feature and "B" feature to earn himself a
twentieth and final starting position. He would then go on
to finish the night in fourteenth.
The O'Reilly NCRA presented by ICM/Ethanol modified
series will take one week off before heading to Humboldt
Speedway in Humboldt, Kansas on Friday night, May 16th and
Enid Speedway Park in Enid, Oklahoma for a Saturday night
event.
O'Reilly
Finish Line
HEAT 1 -
1, John Allen. 2, Brandon Morton. 3, Jason Teague. 4, Grant
Junghans. 5, Tyler Propps. 6, Danny Moss. 7, Tony Foster. 8,
Brent Burkhart. 9, Jeremy Green.
HEAT 2 -
1, Brendon Gemmill. 2, Brian McGowen. 3, Ryan McAninch. 4, Don
Renfro. 5, Kirk Coleman. 6, Tyler Davis. 7, Rodney Dodds. 8,
Mark Crough. 9, Mike Miller.
HEAT 3 -
1, Brian Casey. 2, Jim Johnson. 3, Brad Johnston. 4, Jason Yager.
5, Patrick McManus. 6, Mike Bennett. 7, Rick Leatherman. 8, Jim
Berends. 9, Greg Stephens.
HEAT 4 -
1, Jim Pearcy. 2, Jordan Whitehead. 3, Brian Franz. 4, Dan
Daniels. 5, Mike Jarvis. 6, Bill Stahl. 7, Clint Smith.
8, Bob Lane. 9, Travis Govern.
HEAT 5 -
1, Jeremy Massey. 2, Shane Gerber. 3, Marlin Farr. 4, Troy
Gemmill. 5, Kenny Sweet Jr. 6, Brian Powers. 7, Richard Wilson.
8, Cody Gearhart. 9, Cecil Dymond.
HEAT 6 -
1, Nic Baalman. 2, Marc Hurd. 3, Casey McClaskey. 4, Ross
Shipman. 5, Jimmy Hobbs. 6, Brad Moriarty. 7, Rick Mueller. 8,
Rick Trammell. 9, Ryan Whitworth.
E FEATURE -
1, Brent Burkhart. 2, Cody Gearhart. 3, Mark Crough. 4, Mike
Miller. 5, Rick Mueller. 6, Greg Stephens. 7, Jim Berends. 8,
Jason Teague. 9, Ryan Whitworth. 10, Bob Lane. 11, Jeremy Green.
12, Cecil Dymond. 13, Rick Trammell.
D FEATURE -
1, Mike Bennett. 2, Brian Powers. 3, Richard Wilson. 4, Brent
Burkhart. 5, Bill Stahl. 6, Tony Foster. 7, Mike Miller. 8, Mark
Crough. 9, Greg Stephens. 10, Jason Teague. 11, Cody Gearhart.
12, Ryan Whitworth. 13, Clint Smith. 14, Jim Berends. 15, Rodney
Dodds. 16, Rick Leatherman. 17, Bob Lane. 18, Rick Mueller. 19,
Danny Moss.
C FEATURE -
1, Kenny Sweet Jr. 2, Tyler Propps. 3, Don Renfro. 4, Greg
Stephens. 5, Ross Shipman. 6, Brent Burkhart. 7, Brian Powers.
8, Kirk Coleman. 9, Patrick McManus. 10, Tyler Davis. 11, Mike
Bennett. 12, Richard
Wilson. 13, Jason Teague. 14, Mark Crough. 15, Tony Foster. 16,
Bill Stahl. 17, Mike Jarvis.
18, Marlin Farr. 19, Mike Miller. 20, Jimmy Hobbs.
B FEATURE -
1, Brian McGowen. 2, Jason Yager. 3, Dan Daniels. 4, Brandon Morton.
5, Troy Gemmill. 6, Casey McClaskey. 7, Shane Gerber. 8, Grant
Junghans. 9, Kenny Sweet Jr. 10, Greg Stephens. 11, Ryan McAninch.
12, Brad Johnston. 13, Don Renfro. 14, Tyler Propps. 15, Kirk
Coleman. 16, Patrick McManus. 17, Tyler Davis. 18, Ross Shipman. 19,
Brent Burkhart. 20, Brian Powers.
A FEATURE -
1, Jeremy Massey. 2, Jim Johnson. 3, John Allen. 4, Marc Hurd. 5,
Jordan Whitehead. 6, Brian Casey. 7, Brian Franz. 8, Brendon Gemmill.
9, Nic Baalman. 10, Brandon Morton. 11, Casey McClaskey. 12, Kenny
Sweet Jr. 13, Dan Daniels. 14, Greg Stephens. 15, Troy Gemmill. 16,
Jim Pearcy. 17, Shane
Gerber. 18, Grant Junghans. 19, Brian McGowen. 20, Jason Yager.
