BROWNSTOWN, Ill. — They met once already this season in DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals feature action, and Thursday night’s clash of Nick Hoffman and Mike Harrison at Fayette County Speedway was another one for the record books.
The two multi-time champions won their Heat Races and rolled to the track for the feature on the front row. At the drop of the green, Hoffman got the jump into the lead and began playing defense against Harrison’s big run on the top.
Hoffman stuck mostly to the bottom lane in the 25-lap event, taking heed from the late model race before the modified feature.
“Just watching that Late Model Feature, I judge a lot of what I do off of what those guys end up doing,” Hoffman said. “The Late Model race was won on the bottom, so I did the same.”
Though Harrison gave it everything the car had on the top, he was unable to catch Hoffman in the end. Hoffman cruised across the stripe for his 66th career Summit Modified victory and ninth of the season in 11 starts.
“I was more worried about Kelly Kovski and those Elite [Chassis] guys that could roll around the infield pretty well,” Hoffman said. “Kelly ended up third, Kyle [Steffens] ended up fourth, so it was a good night for us.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 2-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison[1]; 3. 10K-Kelly Kovski[4]; 4. 8-Kyle Steffens[3]; 5. 87Z-Zeb Moake[9]; 6. 63-Bret Eilerman[11]; 7. 33S-Steve Stevenson[6]; 8. 7-Willie Gammill[7]; 9. 88-Chris Bolyard[10]; 10. 4M-Clint Martin[12]; 11. 26- Anthony Carter[13]; 12. 27-Keith Harre[14]; 13. 71-Rayce Baker[16]; 14. 51-Phil Bible[17]; 15. 36-Kenny Wallace[5]; 16. 0- Damian Kiefer[15]; 17. 21M-Willy Myers[8]