ROSEVILLE >> Darrin Knight of Kelseyville collected his third consecutive championship in the North State Modified Series, presented by Protect the Harvest, beating out Upper Lake’s Charlie Collins by only 10 points.
The battle went right down to the final points race Saturday night at All American Speedway in Roseville. Going into the race Knight had a 16-point lead over Collins, but when Knight was bumped from behind while leading the race, he had to restart at the back of the 24-car field. Collins was running fourth at the time, essentially moving him into the points lead had things remained the same. This put Knight on a mission to get back up front and he rebounded nicely. Gaining two points for every car he passed, he finished sixth to hold off Collins and win the overall points championship.
Knight began the 2017 season with back-to-back wins at the Sinister Diesel Gene Welch Classic at All American Speedway and the NCRA/NSMS 60 at Lakeport Speedway. His third and final win came at Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka. Collins’ lone win came in the Protect the Harvest Nor Cal 60 in July at Ukiah Speedway.
Finishing third overall in the point standings was 2016 Rookie of the Year David Sullivan of Kelseyville. Sullivan had two North State victories in his second season driving with NSMS – the Memorial Day O’Reilly Nor-Cal 60 at Redwood Acres, and the Lloyd Burton Against the Wind Challenge at Shasta Speedway in Anderson.
Fourth place in the point standings went to another Kelseyville driver, Eric Johnson. Johnson’s best runs were a second at Lakeport and a third at Ukiah. Ten top-10 finishes and five top-five finishes kept him near the top of the point standings all season.
The top NSMS female competitor, Sierra Furia of Lakeport, improved at every event and finished fifth in the final standings. Furia’s best track seemed to be Redwood Acres Raceway where she placed third in May and fourth in September. She had seven top-10 finishes.
Sixth through 10th in the standings went to Dustin DeRosier of Cloverdale, Jason Philpot of Sacramento, Richie Potts of Petaluma, Adrianna Strugnell of Kelseyville, and Cody Braund of Redding.
The top 10 in the point standings and all the other 58 NSMS competitors will be honored at the 2017 awards banquet on Jan. 27 at Granzella’s in Williams.
