HUMBOLDT — Stormy Scott didn’t just win his career-first USMTS Modified feature Wednesday night at the Humboldt Speedway, he simply overwhelmed the entire field and guaranteed himself the pole position for Saturday’s $15,000-to-win main event here at the King of America II Modified Nationals.
Dubbed “The New Mexico Nightmare,” Scott’s performance will certainly keep the competition from getting some shut-eye as they work to figure out a way to catch the driver from Las Cruces three days from now.
The night began with group time trials where Scott recorded fast time among his fellow heat race competitors, putting him sixth on the grid for his eight-lap heat race.
After winning his heat, he earned the most passing points to garner the pole position for the 35-lap Allen’s Automotive “A” Main Qualifier and that was as close as anybody would get.
Three cautions kept the pack nearby early on, but each restart saw Scott storm out to a huge lead, taking the checkers with more than two seconds to spare over defending King of America winner and nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock.
2010 USMTS National Champion Jason Hughes – winner of 11 USMTS feature races at the 3/8-mile clay oval – came from the 13th starting spot to finish third, with 2007 USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn fourth and Zack VanderBeek fifth.
Rick Beebe, Bryan Rowland, Al Hejna, Jacob Gallardo and Jeremy Payne completed the top 10.
While Scott earned the most points possible with his sweep of the night’s festivities, five other drivers – Shryock, VanderBeek, Beebe, Hughes and Krohn – also locked themselves into one of the first 18 starting spots in Saturday’s finale.
Action continues at ‘The Hummer’ tonight for River’s Edge Scrap Management Qualifying Night. Group time trials will once again kick off the program, followed by heat races and main events with drivers earning points for their performances in each. The top six points earners tomorrow and Friday night will each earn one of 18 guaranteed starting spots in Saturday’s championship race.
Saturday’s program will feature an “alphabet soup” of main events that will culminate with a 30-car starting field for the championship race that will feature a three-wide start. Even if a driver has some tough luck during qualifying, he or she still has the chance to climb the ladder of main events on Saturday to earn a spot in the finale.
Nearly $80,000 has been earmarked for Saturday’s “A” Main alone, with a total purse of more than $130,000 posted for the four-day extravaganza.
USRA B-Mods will be part of the event too, racing for a stout purse and national points in the American USRA Weekly Racing Series.
Shawn Strong captured Wednesday night’s race to pocket the $300 top prize. The next three nights will pay $400, $500 and $1,000 to win, respectively. USRA rules will apply except that B-Mods must utilize a solid pull bar.
King of America II Modified Nationals
Humboldt Speedway
