BARBERVILLE, Fla. — The addition of the inaugural Battle in Barberville at Volusia Speedway Park gave drivers one more shot at ending the season with a trophy and extra money in their pockets.
Saturday night, Dalton Lanich and Wryan Shaffer made the most of the opportunity.
Lanich finished second in track points at Volusia for the DIRTcar UMP Modified division but had yet to score a victory.
After finishing second in Heat 2, luck decided to go his way. With a draw determining a four-car invert, instead of starting fourth, Lanich was placed on the pole for the 25-lap, $1,500-to-win, feature.
However, the win didn’t come easy.
On the initial start, second-place David Reutimann got the better jump on the start and took the early lead. Lanich looked under Reutimann entering turn one a couple times in the first two laps, but the No. 00 Modified was strong enough to pull ahead at the exit of turn two.
Lanich didn’t give in, though. Side by side going into turn one on lap six, with slower cars blocking both of their lanes, neither driver was willing to lift. However, luck, again, fell into Lanich’s way as a lane opened for him around the bottom. Diving low, making a three-wide pass under the two slower cars, he powered ahead to the lead.
“I went with a hard tire tonight and really started second guessing myself,” Lanich said. “But it started coming back in about the third or fourth lap and caught back up to [Reutimann].”
From there, Lanich went unchallenged. Bryan Bernhardt and Reutimann swapped second a couple times throughout Feature, but neither were strong enough to challenge Lanich.
When the checkered flag flew, Lanich claimed his first win of the season as the inaugural Battle in Barberville winner, while Reutimann finished second and Bernhardt finished third. Paul Shead scored the $100 Hard Charger Award from Allen Plumbing.
“It’s been going better and better every couple of weeks,” Lanich said. “I bought this new car… about a couple months ago. We ran it about five times and kept working at it and working at it and it finally came through.
“Man, it’s awesome. That’s a cool ass trophy. I have to thank the track. They had a perfect track tonight. Thanks to the fans for coming out, my sponsors, my dad, my stepdad, my mom, my wife, my kids. This is awesome. I really needed this win.”
Shaffer topped the 3/4 modified feature, beating Dustin Peterson to the checkered flag.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 51-Dalton Lanich[1]; 2. 00D-David Reutimann[2]; 3. B69-Bryan Bernhardt[4]; 4. 17G-Nevin Gainey[3]; 5. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[6]; 6. 3S-Josh Sanford[7]; 7. 80-Paul Shead[10]; 8. 99-Zane DeVilbiss[5]; 9. 6B-Dave Baldwin[11]; 10. 33-Kenny Mihalik[13]; 11. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[8]; 12. 12-Robert Gast[9]; 13. 1P-Mike Phillips[15]; 14. (DNF) 34P-Jim Passino[12]; 15. (DNF) N8-Nate Huffingham[17]; 16. (DNF) 11P-Charlie Phillips[18]; 17. (DNF) 3-Tony Campbell[16]; 18. (DNF) 222-Cory Hupp[19]; 19. (DNF) 2-Joshua Kunstbeck[14]