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Franz Opens NCRA Modified
Season with Victory
By David Smith, Jr.
PARK CITY, Kansas (April 11, 2009)
- Former five-time series champion Brian
Franz of Halstad, Kansas took the lead at the
start and held off a late race charge from Greg
Stephen's to win the O'Reilly/NCRA modified
season opener Saturday night at 81 Speedway in
Park City, Kansas.
Franz and Casey McClaskey started on the
front row for the twenty-five lap Cherokee
Casino-Resort feature with Franz and his Shadow
Racing Engines powered Bills Built chassis
taking the lead as the green flag fell. Fifth
starting Rodney Dodd fell into the third
position behind McClaskey as the leader would
open a three car length lead by lap two.
Mike Jarvis quickly moved through the
field from his ninth starting position and into
the third position by lap three and closed on
the two front runners one lap later. The first
caution flag of the race fell on lap five when
Nic Baalman came to a stop at the bottom of turn
two.
The restart saw Franz again power away
from the field and by lap six had opened a ten
car length advantage over McClaskey. Eighth
starting Stephen's worked his way up into the
top three and was challenging McClaskey
and Jarvis for the runner up position when the
caution waved on lap eight when Shawn Govern
slid to a stop off turns one and two.
Once racing resumed for the Cherokee
Casino-Resort feature, Franz again pulled away
while Jarvis over took McClaskey for the runner
up position on the restart. With Franz pulling
to a ten car length lead by lap ten, the caution
would again wave on lap eleven when
2008 NCRA modified champion Marc Hurd and Randy
Woodside got together and spun in turn two.
Stephen's would move into the runner up
position on the restart while Jarvis, McClaskey
and Dan Daniel's battled for the third position.
Franz and his Pro Motor Sports/RCG Graphics
sponsored modified looked to have things under
control approaching the five laps to go signal.
But the final caution for debris on the front
stretch would close the front runners for the
five lap dash to the checkered flag.
The final restart saw Franz, who worked
all race long at the bottom of turns one and two
and high entering turns three and four, slow a
bit coming out of turn two allowing the top
running Stephen's to nudge up the the leaders
bumper. Franz would maintain the lead in
turns three and four, only to have Stephen's
again close in turns one and two.
But Stephens could never get close
enough to get around the leader and Franz went
on to claim the five car length victory. Jarvis
finished in the third position with Grant
Junghans coming home fourth. Dan Daniel's worked
his way up from his thirteenth starting position
to round out the top five.
For Franz it was his series best 27th
career NCRA modified victory, this one with a
little help from his crew. "They kept signaling
to me that they were getting a run on me in
turns one and two," said Franz in victory lane."
But I didn't want to go moving around the race
track because if felt pretty comfortable with
the line I was running." With the former
five-time series champion picking up the point
lead and leading point standings, will he
attempt to become a six time series champion?
"We are just taking this one race at a time and
then see where we are at in the end."
The eight lap heat races for
the 44 car field were won by Franz, McClaskey,
Jason McGehee, Ryan McAninch and Ken Sweet. The
12 lap "C" feature was won by defending series
champion Marc Hurd while Brian Powers picked up
the fifteen lap "B" feature honors.
The next stop for the NCRA
modifieds will be back at 81 Speedway in Park
City, Kansas on Saturday night, May 23rd.
The O'Reilly/National Championship
Racing Association would like to thank the
following sponsors for their support of the 12th
consecutive season for the NCRA modifieds during
this 2009 race season:
SPONSORS: O'Reilly Auto Parts, Hoosier
Race Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, Cherokee
Casino-Resort
CONTINGENCY: Design 500, Hoffman Race
Cars, Billsbuilt Chassis, Racing Optics, BSB
Manufacturing, Belleville Motor Sports,
Schoenfeld Headers, Hatfield Racing Engines,
Taylor Cable Products, Bassett Wheels, Pro
Shocks, Ultra Shield, Pro Motor Sports, AFCO
Race Products, The Brake Man and Arizona Sport
Shirts.
81 Speedway
Park City, Kansas
April 11, 2009
1st Heat: 1, Brian Franz.
2, Grant Junghans. 3, Cody Gearhart. 4, Bill
Siemers. 5, Ryan Heger. 6, Joe Cleveland. 7,
Jason Roe. 8, JD Greshman. 9, Marlin Farr.
2nd Heat: 1, Casey
McClaskey. 2, Rodney Dodds. 3, Don Renfro. 4,
Jason Schniep. 5, Marc Hurd. 6, Jeremey Massey.
7, Bo Key. 8, Kevin Patton. DQ: Bob Bills (Light
at Scales).
3rd Heat: 1, Jason
McGehee. 2, Brian Casey. 3, Ross Shipman. 4, Dan
Daniels. 5, Dustin Briley. 6, Jim Johnson. 7,
Nic Baalman. 8, Travis Govern. 9, Kirk Coleman.
4th Heat: 1, Ryan
McAninch 2, Mike Jarvis. 3, James Lutkie. 4,
Jason Schniep. 5, Strawn Taylor. 6, Spud Ferrill.
7, Ron Heger. 8, Gary Whitmore.
5th Heat: 1, Ken Sweet.
2, Greg Stephens. 3, Brian Powers. 4, Craig
Miller. 5, Shawn Govern. 6, Adam Schrag. 7,
Randy Woodside. 8, Bill Stahl. 9, Jim Pearcy.
C Feature: 1, Marc Hurd.
2, Dustin Briley. 3, Randy Woodside. 4, Jim
Johnson. 5, Nic Baalman. 6, Jeremey Massey. 7,
Bill Siemers. 8, Strawn Taylor. 9, Bill Stahl.
10, Marlin Farr. 11, Travis Govern. 12, Bobby
Bills. 13, JD Greshman. 14, Adam Schrug. 15,
Kirk Coleman. 16, Ryan Heger. 17, Gary Whitmore.
18, Ron Heger. 19, Joe Cleveland. 20, Bo Key.
21, Jim Pearcy. 22, Jason Roe. 23, Kevin Patton.
DNS: Spud Farrell.
B Feature: 1, Brian
Powers. 2, Ross Shipman. 3, Dan Daniels. 4, Don
Renfro. 5, Randy Woodside. 6, Jason Schiep. 7,
Cody Gearhart. 8, Marc Hurd. 9, Travis Govern.
10, Nic Baalman. 11, Jeremey Massey. 12, Marlin
Farr. 13, Strawn Taylor. 14, Bill Siemers. 15,
Jim Johnson. 16, Craig Miller. 17, Bill Stahl.
18, Jerry Schniep. 19, Dustin Briley. 20, Jason
Lutkie.
Cherokee Casino A Feature:
1, Brian Franz. 2, Greg Stephens. 3) Mike Jarvis
4, Grant Junghans. 5, Danny Daniels. 6, Brian
Powers. 7, Casey McClaskey. 8, Ryan McAninch. 9,
Jason McGehee. 10, Rodney Dodds. 11, Marc Hurd.
12, Randy Woodside. 13, Ross Shipman. 14, Cody
Gearhart. 15, Shawn Govern. 16, Brian Casey. 17,
Don Renfro. 18, Ken Sweet. 19, Jason Schniep.
20, Nic Baalman.
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