MADERA >> Darrin Knight and Jeremy Doss extended their points leads, taking touring series victories on a busy night Saturday at the LoanMart Madera Speedway.
Knight, from Kelseyville, won the Sunoco Fuels 60 during the North State Modified Series (NSMS) main event presented by Protect the Harvest. Doss, of Upper Lake, finished first in the Pacific Challenge Series (PCS) Late Model main event presented by PenneyLawyers.com.
Modifieds
Knight’s NSMS victory came despite a solid challenge from Charlie Collins, who stayed close to Knight in the closing laps.
Nick Lyons started on the outside pole at the start of the 60-lap main event and took the lead from Terry Deal on the initial start. Charlie Collins and Mike Collins navigated through the pack, going from the eighth and sixth starting positions, respectively. Knight lined up on the fifth row with Jason Philpot of Sacramento, the winner at Madera the last time NSMS visited the track on June 11. Knight was on the move and pushed into third on lap five using the outside line.
Knight then moved up to second with Charlie Collins in third place by lap 10. Four rounds later Knight moved to the high side and made the outside pass on Lyons to gain control and take the lead.
Knight, Lyons and Collins staged a nice battle before a red flag came out for Benny Moon’s blown engine in turn one. Knight chose the outside groove on the restart and jetted ahead again as Collins went to work on Lyons for second. The battle continued until Lyons was finally shuffled to the outside line and freight-trained back to sixth place.
At the halfway point of the 60-lap race, Knight held the lead with Charlie Collins in hot pursuit. Philpot was next followed by Mike Collins, Darrin Sullivan, Lyons, Joe Rhodes Jr, Sierra Furia and Terry Deal.
Heavy lapped traffic in the final five laps allowed Charlie Collins to get within a half-second of Knight but never closer. Knight got the $1,000 win over Charlie Collins, Philpot, Mike Collins and Darrin Sullivan. Lyons eventually finished sixth followed by Rhodes, Furia and Kevin Coburn. Moon and Josh Stewart suffered mishaps and did not finish.
In the Lucas Oil Dash for Cash, Coburn collected $100 for the win while Moon received $50 for second.
Knight clocked in fastest at 14.940 seconds to earn the Penney Racing Supply/Sunoco Fast Time Award. He also took home the Wenteq Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
Lyons collected the Naake Suspension award, and the DJ Safety Certificate went to Rhodes. The Scribner Plastics award went to Stewart and Moon.
The NSMS rolls back into Ukiah Speedway on Aug. 27th for the American Racer PRS 60.
NSMC is presented by: Protect the Harvest, Swartz Diesel, Lucas Oil, Sinister Diesel, Penney Racing Supply, American Racer Tires, Naake Suspension, Sunoco Fuels, Five Star Bodies, Wrap Star Pro, Wenteq, Scribner Plastics, DJ Safety, and the Buckhorn Bar and Grill.
Late Models
Doss’ win at Madera was his 18th career victory in the PCS. Jason Romero made his first career Madera start after sweeping both Roseville races this year. He set a new track record at 14.162 seconds and proceeded to win the American Racer Tire dash for a set of tires and the pole position.
Romero’s pole was shortlived at the start of the feature as Valley Springs’ Tracy Bolin swept around the outside to lead lap one. Romero fell into the clutches of Doss for second in a back-and-forth battle until Doss spun with contact from Ross Strmiska on lap five. Lodi’s Matt Wendt suffered a flat right front tire and sustained slight damage trying to avoid the spin. Mike Beeler also was caught up in the incident.
Doss took over the lead from Bolin on the restart and Bryan Herzog used the restart to get around Jeff Bishofberger for third. Travis Milburn started turning up the heat as he got around Chris Scribner for sixth on lap 24 and then passed Shannon Mansch for fifth on lap 32.
The Herzog and Bischofberger battle proved very aggressive as the drivers snaking three-wide through lapped traffic. A caution period on lap 40 slowed the race. Lap 41 resulted in a series of spins, most notably one involving Matthew Wendt, who suffered damage when he tangled with Strmiska.
Colby Potts suffered heavy damage to the front end of his Camaro and a few laps later tangled hard with Don Swartz’ Mustang for a lap-45 caution. Potts was done for the evening.
All the ensuing restarts were single file, which gave Doss a cushion over the continuing battle between Bolin and Herzog. Herzog got around on the outside for second place on lap 49 and finally turned his attention to Doss. Mansch spun with contact from Strmiska for a lap-51 caution that set up the battle to the finish.
Herzog dove inside of Doss several times to take the lead on lap 55. Doss charged back on the outside to regain the lead on lap 56 and he went on to post a 1.7-second win over Herzog.
Bolin, Bischofberger and Romero rounded out the top five.
