June 17, 2013
06/18/13 Five NASCAR drivers who came to Plymouth Speedway Saturday night to challenge the regular season Modified drivers found themselves with a top ten finish while two others suffered equipment issues.
It rained most of the afternoon and caused a bit of a delay to the start of the evening, but that didn’t put a damper on the excitement on the dirt track.
Nationwide driver, Justin Allgaier, had the best starting spot at fifth out of the four NASCAR drivers that started in the 30-lap feature and was running second by lap four. He was challenging the leader, Frank Marshall, toward the last part of the race. Allgaier had scraped the straightaway wall earlier in the race and was getting back track position when he experienced an issue on lap 27and went into the pits finishing thirteenth.
Kenny Wallace and David Stremme had a great battle for fifth and sixth on lap 27 and David Reutimann had a late race run that got him up to the seventh spot. Wallace finished fifth, Stremme was sixth and Reutimann was seventh.
Ken Schrader had an equipment issue during hot laps and was unable to drive in the feature. Disappointed, he had to pack up his modified machine and guide it into the hauler.
Frank Marshall, the points leader in the Modifieds class, was the race winner with Adam Williams in the second spot and Tommy Beezley II rounding out the top three.
“I like it up here,” smiled Marshall when he spoke from the top of the podium. “It was a great night and I want to thank the fans who stuck around until we got the race underway. Thank you also to the servicemen and veterans. It’s a nice night to be on top here!”
Four caution flags flew early in the race and pole sitter Zeke McKenzie made a sharp turn to the pit area on lap four for a flat tire. He was the race leader at the time.
One caution caused a red flag situation when cars tangled on lap three coming out of turn four. Just as he got the checkered flag, Steven Pena hit the wall which created lost wheel and a lot of damage to his race car.
The entertainment didn’t stop there.
The Super Street feature leaders were three wide in turn four on the first lap. The first caution came on lap four for debris and several other cautions directly following that lap caused a lap-shortened race.
Bobby Hinkle was leading for most of the race when Brandon Roundtree took the lead on lap 9 and didn’t look back. Roundtree won the 12-lap feature with Bob McLean in second and JC Moldovan in third.
It was a race to the finish in the Thunder Stock feature where the top three finishers wrecked at the start/finish line as the checkered flag flew. Dennis Freeland was scored the winner, Joe Rhoads the runner-up and Bryce Shidler third. Freeland and Shidler were battling for position around lap six when Freeland took the lead. Freeland, Rhoads and Shidler were coming upon lapped traffic coming out of turn four on the last lap and found out there wasn’t enough room on the track for all of them in the same spot.
It was Randy Shilling pulling out the win in the USAC 600 Sprint Open Division. The caution-free race found Rodney Stealy in second and points leader Billy Cribbs in third.
USAC 600 Restrictors points leader Garrett Saunders adds to his points lead with his feature win. He took the lead from Jason Montel on lap 10 after Montel got out of his groove. Montel ended up second with Deaven Bolten in the third spot.
Thank you to Wings Etc. for sponsoring Saturday’s race and to the fans for your patience. We’ll have more racing on the dirt track on June 22!
By: Anita Soltis