May 12, 2018…. Anderson, CA….. North State Modified Series, presented by Protect the Harvest, held its season opener at Shasta Speedway this weekend, and when the Sunoco checkered flag flew it was Kris Price of Sacramento who collected the lions share of the prize money with his impressive win. Price was also the winner of the final 2017 NSMS event at All American Speedway last October. Price collected $1000 for the win plus a $250 bonus from Ward Land Management and Development (WLM&D.)
Randy Houston of Medford, Oregon rebounded from an early-race incident to finish second. Cameron Austin of Santa Rosa, driving his brand-new Dana Stahl modified, finished third with Jason Philpot, Sacramento, also working his way back up after an altercation, finished fourth. And Cloverdale’s Dustin DeRosier stayed up front the entire race to take fifth place.
A record number of 27 cars traveled to the Anderson, CA 1/3 mile oval setting the stage for the first “B” main in the series history. Herman Pulyer of Wilderville, Oregon was the victor in this race followed by Dale Didoha and Rookie-of-theYear contender Don Shalla both from Sacramento, Kelsyville driver Donovan Cox, Redding driver John Baker and Stuart Campbell of Eagle Point, Oregon.
2017 NSMS champion Darrin Knight of Kelseyville set fast time of 16.378 seconds on the new Hoosier tires, earning the $100 WLM&D fast time award. Knight drew the number 4 chip for the line-up inversion putting Terry Deal and Austin in the front row for the feature event. Houston and Knight shared row two, and Philpot and Eric Price Jr. started in the third row.
Deal led the way the first six rounds as Houston and Knight were battling for second. Knight passed both Houston and Deal on lap seven, dropping Deal to third and Eric Price fourth. The race was halted on lap 19 when Sal Lopez spun in front of the leaders, and with no where to go, Deal slammed into hard Lopez in turn four. The incident also collected Eric Price with all three cars being towed to the pits. At the same time Brian Denton, Rick Avila and Dale Didoha retired their cars.
The double-file restart saw Houston make contact with Knight sending Knight spinning. This set up a chain-reaction that sent Philpot and Keith Bloom into the infield. When the action resumed Kris Price was the new leader followed by Austin, Darrin Sullivan, DeRosier and local favorite Guy Young.
Flagman Johnny Miskill flew the red flag on lap 28, stopping the cars when Oregon veteran driver Willie Thompson’s car developed an oil leak and caught fire, ending his run.
Knight had worked his way back up to second and was chasing down Price when his engine let go, oiling down the racing surface. Several more yellow flags flew in the final stages. With only three laps to go Houston passed Austin for second but did not have anything left for Price. The finishing order was Kris Price, Houston, Austin, Philpot, DeRosier, Young, Jake Andreotti, Bloom, Rich Cobb, Sullivan, Eric Johnson, P.J. Pedroncelli, Stuart Campbell, Adrianna Strugnell and Donovan Cox.
North State Modified Series travels over to the coast for race #2 at the Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka on Sunday, May 27.
The North State Modified Series is presented by: Protect the Harvest, Lucas Oil, Ward Land Management & Development, Hoosier Tire West, Sunoco Race Fuels, Naake Suspension, Five Star Bodies, Racer Bling, Keyser Racing Products, Scribner Plastics and Frank’s Radios.