Modified South Series

John Webb and Penrod started on the front row for the 30 lap Hard Rock Hotel-Casino feature with Penord taking the lead as the green flag fell. Fourth starting Greg Burt quickly moved into the second position followed by Matt French, Thomas Tillison, Jr. and Chad Davis after the first lap was completed. By lap three the Davis resident had opened up his lead over Burt to ten car lengths and set a torrid pace throughout the early stages of the race. But the pace would slow on lap twelve when Alan Sharpensteen went for a spin in turn two for the races first caution.

On the restart it was still Penrod out front but behind him the action was heating up as Robbins, who restarted third, over took Burt for the runner up position and began setting his sights on the leader. At the races midway point it was Penrod, followed by Robbins, Burt, seventh starting Mickey Lassiter, Tillison and French as racing action resumed and a four car battle waged for the third position with drivers running top to bottom across the perfectly prepared three-eighths mile oval.

Lap eighteen saw Robbins on Penrods rear bumper and coming down the front stretch, would overtake the leader to lead lap nineteen. Penord would have nothing of the sort and retook the top spot with a strong move exiting turn two and heading down the back stretch.

A couple of cautions slowed the pace the last ten laps but none the final five and that is where things heated up. Penrod, dealing with lapped traffic with five laps to go, then had to deal with Robbins who was now starting to make his move. On lap twenty-six Robbins got a run down low exiting turn two and shot passed the leader down the back stretch to take the lead.

From there he was never headed as Robbins went on to claim the six car length victory.

“I just waited for the laps to wind down before I started to make my move,” stated Robbins in victory lane. “I didn’t want to show him (Penrod) that the top was fast and kind of showed him there at one point but then the caution fell. I started to get my rhythm there at the end and I felt pretty comfortable after I got out front. I got to thank my DIRT Performance Parts and Tires, Michaels Welding, H&H Trucking and Comet Go Kart for their help and especially Herring Services.”

Penrod would settle for a strong second place finish while French earned a hard fought four car battle for third. Lassiter came home fourth with Tillison rounding out the top five.

Chris Cole of Lawton earned the C&E Performance Parts 12^th place finish of the feature.

The ten lap heat races for the 36 car field were won by Webb, Lassiter, Tillison, Penrod and 2009 inaugural division champion Gene Weaver. The ten lap twin “B” features were won by Logan Cabbell and Jeremy Gossett.

The next sanctioned event for the O’Reilly/NCRA modified south division will be a return trip to Cowtown Speedway in Kennedale, Texas on Saturday night, May 15^th.

The 2010 race season is the 40^th anniversary year for the O’Reilly Auto Parts National Championship Racing Association, sanctioning races for the late model, sprint car, modified north, modified south and southern modified divisions. For more information on the modified south division, contact steward Chris Smith (918) 625-6200. For information on the series including schedules, point standings, driver profiles and stats on the history of the series, check them out on the world wide web at www.ncraracing.org.

The National Championship Racing Association would like to thank the following for their contribution and involvement with the modified south division for 2010: O’Reilly Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, Hard Rock Hotel-Casino.

Official 2010 Modified South Contingency Sponsors: Arizona Sports Shirts, Bassett Wheels, Belleville Motor Sports, Billsbuilt Race Cars, C&E Performance, Hooker Harness, The Joie of Seating, On Another Level Designs, M&M Custom Graphics, Pro Shocks, Racing Optics, Rod End Supply, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Taylor Cable Products and Ultra-Shield Race Products.

Elk City I-40 Speedway - Elk City, Oklahoma - March 13, 2010

HEAT 4 - 1, Travis Penrod. 2, Matt French. 3, Zach Gossett. 4, C.A. Nix. 5, Nathan Bichsel. 6, Chris Roach. 7, Dustin Allen.

HEAT 5 - 1, Gene Weaver. 2, Greg Burt. 3, Chad Howell. 4, Calvin Bonner. 5, Jeff Rowland. 6, Ricky Roush. 7, Randy Heston.

B FEATURE - 1, Logan Cabbell. 2, C.A. Nix. 3, Chris Cole. 4, Alan Oliva. 5, Chad Howell. 6, Cam Case. 7, Nathan Bichsel. 8, Jay Sale. 9, Chris Roach. 10, Dustin Allen. 11, Jaymon Gregory. 12, Ed Dunn. 13, Tommy Kirk.

B FEATURE - 1, Jeremy Gossett. 2, Alan Sharpensteen. 3, Casey McClaskey. 4, Brian Miller. 5, Jason Hillard. 6, Zach Gossett. 7, Jeff Rowland. 8, Jim Pearcy. 9, Humberto Rocha. 10, Randy Heston. 11, Calvin Bonner. 12, Colt Goodman. 13, Ricky Roush. 14, Brian Wolfe.