By David Smith, Jr.
 

HUMBOLDT, Kan. (May 16, 2008) - Dan Daniels waited for track conditions to fit the setup of his Dirt Works chassis before taking the lead late, then cruising to win the twenty-five lap O'Reilly/NCRA modified presented by ICM/Ethanol series feature Friday night at Humboldt Speedway.

 

Marc Hurd started on the pole for the feature but it was third starting Brian Bolin taking the lead as the race went green. Brandon Morton settled into second followed by Hurd, Daniels and Jesse Folk, Jr. the top five after the first lap was complete. Bolin opened up a slim two car length lead by lap two while behind him, Morton and Hurd battled for the second position atop the 1/4 mile dirt oval.

 

The first of two cautions fell on lap three when Ryan McAninch looped it to a spin in turns one and two.

 

Once racing resumed, Bolin continued out front and by lap six had stretched his lead to five car lengths. Behind him, Daniels began working his way into the runner up position as he contested Morton for several laps before finally taking over the spot on lap ten..

 

Daniels began to reel in the leader and with ten laps to go, begin pressuring Bolin for the lead. Daniels was working the top of the track and would gain on the low running Bolin in the corners, only to see the leader pull away. That would change late on lap nineteen when Daniels stuck in the middle of turns three and four and drove around Bolin to take the lead.

 

Daniels would open up a five car length lead and looked to be on his way unchallenged. But the final caution flag would fall on lap twenty-two when Mike Jarvis spun to a stop in turn four.

 

Bolin would look to regain the top spot on the final restart but to no avail as Daniels would go the final three laps uncontested to pick up his third career series victory and the early points lead.

 

"The track started taking rubber there in turns three and four and I was thinking it was then a good time to try to take the lead," said the local Humboldt resident whose sponsors include Cactus Cattle Company, H&H Grill and Dirt Works. "We'll see if we can't do this again tomorrow night at Enid."

 

Bolin finished second, eight car lengths behind while seventh starting Justin Folk worked his way up to finish third. Ninth starting Brian Franz would finish fourth while "B" feature winner Brenden Gemmill would come up from his fourteenth starting position to round out the top five.

 

The ten lap heat races for the thirty-eight car field were won by Jimmie Hobbs, Jesse Folk, Jr, Daniels and Bolin. Hobbs was to start the feature finale on the outside front row but problems before the start of the race ended his night early. O'Reilly/NCRA modified rookie of the year contender Tyler Propps won the "C" feature.
Gemmill took advantage of race long leader Johnny Bone, Jr.'s misfortune with a lap car late in the race to win the twelve lap "B" feature.

  

HEAT 1 - 1, Jimmy Hobbs. 2, Brandon Morton. 3, Brendon Gemmill. 4, Brian Casey. 5, Tyler Propps. 6, Troy Gemmill. 7, Jeremy Green. 8, Gene Hogan. 9, Jordan Whitehead. 10, Greg Stephens.

HEAT 2 - 1, Jesse Folk, Jr.. 2, Brian Franz. 3, Ryan McAninch. 4, Ryan Whitworth. 5, Brian McGowen. 6, Don Renfro. 7, Josh Poe. 8, Tony Foster. 9, Mike Jarvis. 10, Grant Junghans.

HEAT 3 - 1, Dan Daniels. 2, Marc Hurd. 3, Marlin Farr. 4, Shane Gerber. 5, Brian Powers. 6, Mark Crough. 7, Ross Shipman. 8, Dennis Bishop. 9, Bob Lane.

HEAT 4 - 1, Brian Bolin. 2, Justin Folk. 3, Steve Becker. 4, Johnny Bone Jr. 5, Daniel Anders. 6, Travis Patch. 7, Casey McClaskey. 8, Mike Bennett. 9, Jim Pearcy.

C FEATURE - 1, Tyler Propps. 2, Travis Patch. 3, Troy Gemmill. 4, Mike Jarvis. 5, Jordan Whitehead. 6, Bob Lane. 7, Tony Foster. 8, Casey McClaskey. 9, Mike Bennett. 10, Greg Stephens. 11, Jeremy Green. 12, Ross Shipman.

B FEATURE - 1, Brendon Gemmill. 2, Brian Casey. 3, Marlin Farr. 4, Ryan Whitworth. 5, Brian McGowen. 6, Troy Gemmill. 7, Steve Becker. 8, Daniel Anders. 9, Don Renfro. 10, Mike Jarvis. 11, Travis Patch. 12, Mike Bennett. 13, Greg Stephens. 14, Tyler Propps. 15, Jordan Whitehead. 16, Bob Lane. 17, Johnny Bone Jr. 18, Tony Foster. 19, Brian Powers. 20, Casey McClaskey.

A FEATURE - 1, Dan Daniels. 2, Brian Bolin. 3, Justin Folk. 4, Brandon Morton. 5, Brian Franz. 6, Brendon Gemmill. 7, Brian Casey. 8, Mike Jarvis. 9, Marc Hurd. 10, Brian McGowen. 11, Troy Gemmill. 12, Ryan Whitworth. 13, Marlin Farr. 14, Ryan McAninch. 15, Steve Becker. 16, Daniel Anders. 17, Don Renfro. 18, Shane Gerber. 19, Jesse Folk, Jr.. 20, Jimmy Hobbs.