UKIAH – Saturday night was the third appearance of the Pro-4 Modifieds Series and when it was all over, Marty Lewis of Santa Rosa was the man of the hour beating the 14-car field and capturing his first feature event at Ukiah Speedway.
Lewis also won the fast heat race. Jake Tillman, of Cobb, was fast qualifier for the series clocking in at 13.627 seconds. Timber Cookson, of Windsor, won heat race No. 1.
During the Pro-4 Modified main event, Cookson pulled ahead of Vincent Sanchez at the drop of the green flag and when Marty Plumb ducked under Sanchez, Lewis drove on the high side of Sanchez making a difficult three-wide move. But the trio pulled it off with Lewis settling into second and Plumb claiming third. In the next round both Sanchez and Scott Brown lost ground to Nick King, Joe Aiken and Neo Nuno.
King drove under Plumb for third on Lap 8 as Cookson was pulling away from the pack. Lewis caught up to Cookson on Lap 10 and when Cookson pushed high, Lewis drove low to take the lead. Two rounds later, Cookson drove high again allowing King, Aiken and Tillman to gain position.
The first caution period came on Lap 25 when Plumb made contact with Kevin Barba causing Barba to spin. Lewis and King were side-by-side for the restart with Tillman sitting in third.
As King faded, Tillman pulled alongside of the leader, but an Aiken spin on Lap 28 slowed the action again and allowed Lewis to keep the lead.
The final two laps saw Tillman alongside of Lewis, but at the checkered flag it was Lewis with a slight edge over Tillman for the win. Greg Van Cleave got by King to finish third with King fourth and Curt Lewis fifth.
The Pro-4 Modifieds will return to Ukiah Speedway on the Labor Day weekend.
In other racing action Ron Duke Jr., of Redwood Valley, claimed his seventh victory in the Bud Bomber class.
Duke trailed several cars early and waited patiently for an opening, which came when Brandon Verde”s car broke loose and he spun in Turn 2. Duke eventually got the lead and stayed there through three yellow flags to take the win.
Terry Pittman of Ukiah enjoyed his second consecutive win, making it a total of five for the season in the Speedy Signs Street Stock division.
Excitement came when Ross English, who was alongside Pittman, broke loose and slid into Pittman”s path. Pittman later lost control and went for a wild slide, but recovered to claim the victory.
Tim Buzzard Jr. of Willits held back Trystan Mucci to earn his second season victory, this time in the Dennis Furia Heating & Air Bandoleros. And in the twin 20-lap 4-Bangers features went to Jesse Hutchins of Ukiah and Aiken.
Auto racing continues at Ukiah Speedway this Saturday night with the Bill Binns Machine Shop Modifieds and the Nor-Cal Hard Tops joining the Airport Auto Brokers Legends Cars, the Bud Bombers and the 4-Bangers.
Gates open at 5 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. A complete schedule can be found online at www.UkiahSpeedway.com.
