Davenport Dominates Round Seven at Bubba

By Mike Spieker

OCALA, FL (February 5, 2016) – With round six of the Sunshine State Modified Tour (SSMT) being rained out at North Florida Speedway in Lake City, the tour headed back to Bubba Raceway Park for the first of two consecutive nights at the egg-shaped 3/8th mile. Once again Tait Davenport drove to the front in the main event and became the first repeat winner of the SSMT.

Todd Neiheiser and Kevin “Buzzy” Adams lined up on the front row for the 30 lap feature. It took four attempts to get the first lap completed, but once they did Adams led the way in his Brandon Ford No. 40.

Neiheiser, Nick Allen and Davenport all fought for the second spot early on, but as things got sorted out Davenport took the position with a slider on Allen off of turn four. Neiheiser held tough in the top five throughout the first half of the race, but began to fade as the race wore on.

A yellow flag on lap 14 erased Adams comfortable lead and put the No. 18D of Davenport right on his rear bumper. The green flag was displayed once again and Davenport drove deep into turn one. Adams rode the low side of the speedway, but Davenport got a great run off the cushion and the two went door to door down the back straightaway. Davenport cleared Adams off of turn four to lead at the line where they were given the crossed flags.

Once out front Davenport could not be touched as he cruised out to a huge lead and led the final 15 laps to become the SSMT’s first repeat winner. Adams, Josh Harris, Johnny Broking, and Will Krup rounded out the top five.

Trent Young came into the night as the SSMT points leader, but a subpar qualifying lap and heat race put the Crofton, KY driver in the B-main. Young was able to grab a transfer spot, which put him inside row 12 for the A-main. Young wheeled his way up to seventh when the checkers flew in the A-main, but it wasn’t enough to retain his point lead. Heading into round eight Saturday night at Bubba Raceway Park, Adams holds a 14 point lead over Young as the hard charging Davenport sits in third 23 points behind Adams.

Catch every lap of the SSMT live on DirtNation.TV.

SUMMARY

A-Main: Tait Davenport, Buzzy Adams, Josh Harris, Johnny Broking, Will Krup, Mike Hansen, Ken Schrader, Trent Young, Nick Allen, Ray Bollinger, Tyler Clem, Kenny Wallace, Jeff Matthews, Lucas Lee, Allen Weisser, Ryan Fowler, Scotty Kincaid, Brian Papiez, Brad Goff, Bobby Gierke, Todd Neiheiser, Nate Zimmer, John Clippinger, Anthony Kinkade, Bob Broking

B-Main: Kinkade, Weisser, Young, B. Broking, Jeff Solinger, David Mitchell, Goff, Troy Girolamo, Robin Lashley, Frank Lewis, Jerome Dippel, Thomas Sigler

Heat 1: Adams, Neiheiser, Wallace, Brian Papiez, Ryan Fowler, B. Broking, Goff, Lewis

Heat 2: Allen, Bollinger, Gierke, Kincaid, Krup, Kinkade, Lashley, Young

Heat 3: J. Broking, Zimmer, Lee, Matthews, Clippinger, Mitchell, Solinger, Dippel

Heat 4: Davenport, Harris, Clem, Hansen, Schrader, Weisser, Sigler, Girolamo

Davenport Doubles Down at Bubba

By Mike Spieker

OCALA, FL (February 3, 2016) – The Sunshine State Modified Tour (SSMT) left East Bay Raceway Park and headed down the road to Bubba Raceway Park for round five on Wednesday night. The evening featured a 25-lap main event followed by the $1,000-to-win OctaneTrade.com King of the Sunshine bracket race. Both events were swept by Tait Davenport of Benton, Kentucky.

For the second night in a row, Peoria, Illinios’ Allen Weisser lined up on the front row with overall quick timer and heat race winner, Davenport, to his outside. Weisser jumped out to the lead as the initial green flag flew. Davenport and Trent Young battled for second as the top five raced around the bottom two grooves of the speedway.
Lap two proved to be disastrous for seven drivers as Kenny Wallace got loose in turn one and slid across the track. Nobody made contact with the No. 36 Toyota, but the field stacked up as a result and a big pile up ensued. Involved in the incident were Kenny Schrader, Jesse Hoskins and Todd Neiheiser, among others.

The race resumed and Weisser remained in the lead with Young and Davenport in tow. The top three drivers rode in that order until the caution flew with five laps to go. Under caution Weisser mysteriously retired his machine to the pit area, giving the lead to Young.

On the restart, Young and Davenport went door to door for the point. Young rode around the low side of the speedway, but Davenport charged by running the cushion upstairs. Once out front, Davenport opened up a comfortable lead over Young while Tyler Clem and Kevin Adams battled for fourth.

At the checkers it was Davenport taking the win as Young, Adams, Clem, and Josh Harris rounded out the top five.

After five rounds of the SSMT, Young leads Adams, Bollinger, Wallace, and Davenport in the points standings.

A quick intermission gave the drivers and crews a chance to fine tune their machines for the $1,000-to-win OctaneTrade.com King of the Sunshine bracket race. With two rounds in the books, the stage was set with the final four participants. The first and second place finishers in the A-main, Davenport and Young, faced off one more time and once again Davenport took the win and moved on to the final round. On the other side of the bracket, Kevin Adams went up against Billy Smith, who is the crew chief for Kenny Wallace and hopped in Jesse Hoskins’ No. 71. Smith was the Cinderella story of the bracket challenge as he charged through each round with his crate motor. His ride came to an end in the semis, however, as Adams charged on to the win.

That set up a final with Davenport and Adams. The two raced side by side on lap one, but as the white flag flew, Adams pushed off of turn four and that’s all Davenport needed to cash in once again and pick up another $1,000.

SUMMARY
A-Main: Tait Davenport, Trent Young, Buzzy Adams, Tyler Clem, Josh Harris, Kenny Wallace, Lucas Lee, Nick Allen, Ryan Fowler, Nate Zimmer, Ray Bollinger, Anthony Kinkade, Jesse Hoskins, Matt Holcomb, David Mitchell, Allen Weisser, Sean Monaghan, Brian Papiez, Jeff Matthews, Ken Schrader, Brad Goff, Thomas Sigler, Todd Neiheiser, Jason Gross, Troy Girolamo
B-Main: Neiheiser, Fowler, Mitchell, Girolamo, Johnny Broking, Jeff Sigler, Bob Broking, Robin Lashley, Jerome Dippel, Jason Gross
Heat 1: Harris, Papiez, Adams, Kinkade, Sigler, Fowler, B. Broking, Girolamo
Heat 2: Weisser, Wallace, Matthews, Clem, Allen, Neiheiser, J. Broking, Lashley
Heat 3: Schrader, Young, Lee, Zimmer, Hoskins, Mitchell, Dippel
Heat 4: Davenport, Bollinger, Goff, Holcomb, Monaghan, Solinger, Gross

Bronson Bullies His Way to East Bay Win

By Mike Spieker

TAMPA, FL (February 1, 2016) – The fourth and final night of racing at East Bay Raceway Park for the Sunshine State Modified Tour (SSMT) was capped off with a wild 25-lap main event. After being involved in a big pile up at the midpoint of the race, Kyle Bronson rallied to pick up the victory.

Allen Weisser and the winner of the inaugural SSMT A-main, Kevin Adams, lined up on the front row. Adams jumped out to the early lead in a race that was stricken early by multiple cautions. Devin Dixon looked strong at the get go as he made the pass on Weisser for second. Bronson, who started in the fifth position, looked to be the class of the field, however, as he quickly moved up to third on lap two.

As the leaders charged into turn one on lap three, Bronson made a bold move to the outside of Dixon, but got crossed up at the exit of the corner. Bronson slid across the race track in front of the field where he collected six other competitors before everybody came to rest. As a result, four drivers were forced to retire from the event due to extensive damage, including Sunday night’s winner Roger Crouse.

Bronson was able to continue racing despite damage to the front end of his Brandon Ford number 40B and restarted back in the 13th position. Within six laps Bronson had moved up into the top three and set his sights on Adams and Dixon. On lap 10 Bronson moved by Dixon for second and flew by Adams for the lead on the following lap.

Not far behind Bronson was 17th place starter, Ray Bollinger, who cracked the top three on lap 15. With just five laps to go, Bollinger had moved into second and gave Bronson a serious challenge for the point. The two drivers battled side by side for two consecutive laps, but Bronson was able to fend off Bollinger’s threat.

From there Bronson pulled out to a substantial lead and took the checkers by a margin of two-and-a-half seconds over Bollinger. Hometown driver, Steve Miller, came home third, with Devin Dixon in fourth. After falling back to 21st early on, Mike Van Genderen rounded out the top five and regained the SSMT point lead.

The Sunshine State Modified Tour will resume February 3rd at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida. Catch very lap on DirtNation.tv and on-demand at RacinDirt.com.

SUMMARY

A-Main: Kyle Bronson, Ray Bollinger, Steve Miller, Devin Dixon, Mike Van Genderen, Rodney Wing, Jeff Matthews, Buzzy Adams, Trent Young, Scott Heeren, Kenny Wallace, Lucas Lee, Anthony Kinkade, Allen Weisser, Nick Hoffman, Matt Miller, Kyle Strickler, Jason Gross, Troy Girolamo, Josh Harris, Brad Goff, Roger Crouse, Preston Seratt, Nick Allen, Tait Davenport

B-Main 1: Bollinger, M. Miller, Lee, Kinkade, Mike Potosky, Ryan Fowler, Jesse Hoskins, Nick Allen, Jeff Solinger, Thomas Sigler, KC Burdette, Brian Papiez, Mavrick Varnadore

B-Main 2: Hoffman, Wallace, Van Genderen, Gross, Buzzie Reutimann, Kennard, Chris Osborne Jr., David Mitchell, Dennis Haven, Robin Lashley, Matt Holcomb, Todd Neiheiser

Heat 1: Harris, Adams, Wing, Davenport, Bollinger, Kinkade, Fowler, Potosky, Allen, Solinger, Varnadore

Heat 2: Crouse, Matthews, Strickler, Girolamo, M. Miller, Lee, Burdette, Sigler, Hoskins, Papiez

Heat 3: Bronson, S. Miller, Heeren, Seratt, Gross, Wallace, Van Genderen, Reutimann, Lashley, Holcomb

Heat 4: Dixon, Weisser, Goff, Young, Hoffman, Kennard, Osborne Jr., Mitchell, Neiheiser, Haven

Crouse Cruises to Sunshine State Modified Tour Victory at East Bay

By Mike Spieker

TAMPA, FL (January 31, 2016) – Round number three of the Sunshine State Modified Tour, presented by Dirt Nation and Hoosier Racing Tire, had 43 Modifieds signed in to battle at East Bay Raceway Park for the Sunday night showdown. Roger Crouse put his Beak Built Chassis in victory lane with a dominating performance in the 30 lap A-main.

Crouse and Trent Young of Crofton, KY sat on the front row of the 25 car main event. Crouse grabbed the early advantage as Young and Tait Davenport ran door to door for the second spot. Young retained the position, but a relentless Davenport stole the position while running along the cushion on lap nine.

A series of cautions then plagued the race as Crouse was forced to hold off Davenport and Young time after time on the restarts. Crouse did so successfully and with relative ease, as he chose to run in the moisture on the low side of the speedway each and every time.

As the race approached the closing stages, Mavrick Varnadore showed his muscle as he looked for his second podium finish of the tour. Both Young and Varnadore maneuvered past Davenport, who seemed to lose speed and fade away in the closing laps. Young and Varnadore put on a great show as they battled for the runner-up spot, but it was over a second-and-a-half behind Crouse’s #15.

Crouse took the checkered flag without pressure and extended his streak of winning at least one race at East Bay 30 of the last 31 years by leading all 30 laps. Varnadore came home second, while Young, Nick Hoffman, and Jason Gross rounded out the top five.

Davenport had to settle for sixth, the “Herminator” Kenny Wallace was seventh, and Ray Bollinger drove from 23rd to eighth as Preston Seratt wheeled his way from 17th to ninth. Last night’s $5,000 winner, Mike Van Genderen, rounded out the top 10.

SUMMARY

A-Main: Roger Crouse, Mavrick Varnadore, Trent Young, Nick Hoffman, Jason Gross, Tait Davenport, Kenny Wallace, Ray Bollinger, Preston Seratt, Mike Van Genderen, Lucas Lee, Dale Kelley, Steve Miller, Devin Dixon, Jeff Matthews, Todd Neiheiser, Matt Miller, David Mitchell, Anthony Kinkade, Brett Kennard, Josh Harris, Rodney Wing, KC Burdette, Kyle Strickler

B-Main 1: Seratt, Wing, Matthews, Bollinger, Austin Sanders, Jesse Hoskins, Eric Moon, Allen Weisser, Brian Papiez, Lance Dehm, David Mitchell, Dennis Haven, Scott Heeren, Robin Lashley

B-Main 2: Kelley, Adams, Burdette, Stickler, Mike Potosky, Goff, Weber, Allen, Sigler, Osborne Jr., Girolamo, McLaughlin, Fowler

Heat 1: Dixon, Wallace, Gross, Van Genderen, Matthews, Seratt, Hoskins, Weisser, Papiez, Heeren, Dehm

Heat 2: Davenport, Hoffman, Neiheiser, Kennard, Bollinger, Wing, Mitchell, Sanders, Moon, Haven, Lashley

Heat 3: Young, Kinkade, Harris, M. Miller, Strickler, Potosky, Goff, Allen, Sigler, Adams, Fowler

Heat 4: Crouse, Varnadore, S. Miller, Lee, Burdette, Kelley, Girolamo, McLaughlin, Weber, Osborne Jr.

Van Genderen’s Crate Dominates 75-Lapper at East Bay

By Mike Spieker

TAMPA, FL (January 30, 2016) – A Sunshine State Modified Tour (SSTM) record 56 Mods were signed in for round number two at East Bay Raceway Park. Heat race wins went to David Reutimann, Mavrick Varnadore, KC Burdette, Max McLaughlin, and Tait Davenport.

Reutimann and Kevin “Buzzy” Adams lined up on the front row for the 75 lap, $5,000-to-win A-main as Mavrick Varnadore and Trent Young sat in row two. Reutimann beat Adams into turn one and pulled out to the early lead. Varnadore settled into the third spot as Friday night’s podium once again held the top three positions. Adams kept up with Reutimann’s blistering pace in the early running and made the pass for the lead on lap seven. It looked as through the four-time and defending WISSOTA national champion was destined for another SSMT victory. Following a lap 15 restart, however, Adams drove his RealTruck.com #40 to the low side of turn number one and looped his car right in front of the field.

As a result Reutimann inherited the lead once again as B-main winner Mike Van Genderen lined up right behind him in second from the 22nd starting position. The green flag flew and a great battle between Reutimann’s open motor and Van Genderen’s crate engine ensued. The two drivers swapped the lead back and forth for the next eight circuits. Van Genderen stayed loyal on the low side of the speedway while Reutimann banged the cushion upstairs. On lap 30 Van Genderen took the lead for good as Dyersburg, Tennessee’s Preset Seratt battled Reutimann for second.

Reutimann’s night came to an end on lap 35 when the powerplant on his Beak Built #00D expired down the backstretch, bringing out the caution. With five laps remaining before the mandatory fuel stop, Devin Dixon came from the 19th position and showed his muscle to challenged Van Genderen for the point. At the completion of lap 40 Dixon led Van Genderen to the line by a mere three-one-thousandths of a second as the race took a brief intermission.

Rockin’ Ronny Luckock displayed the green flag as Dixon and Van Genderen paced the field to kick off the final 35 laps. Once again Van Genderen ran the bottom of the race track, which seemed to get a lot rougher as the race wore on, as Dixon had his deuce wound up along the cushion.

Van Genderen, running “the little crate that could” mustered past Dixon on lap 43 and took a lead that he would not relinquish. Despite valiant efforts from 12th place starter, Seratt, 14th place starter Kenny Wallace, 16th starter Rodney Wing, and Tait Davenport, Van Genderen proved that he was the class of the field and backed up his B-main win by taking the checkers and the $5,000 check that went along with it. Wing, Seratt, Trent Young, and 23rd place starter Lucas Lee rounded out the top five.

“This is the biggest win of my career,” said an elated Van Genderen in victory lane. “I’ve never been to East Bay before in my life, this is awesome. I’ve been getting text messages all week saying, ‘What are you doing bringing a Hornet to a UMP show?’, but the little motor is what we needed on this type of night.”

SUMMARY

A-Main: Mike Van Genderen, Rodney Wing, Preston Seratt, Trent Young, Lucas Lee, Mike McKinney, Matt Miller, Kenny Wallace, Dale Kelley, Steve Miller, Tait Davenport, Max McLaughlin, Devin Dixon, Ray Bollinger, Jeff Matthews, David Pollen Jr., Kyle Herbert, Kyle Strickler, Jeff Leka, Allen Weisser, Mavrick Varnadore, David Reutimann, Roger Crouse, Kevin “Buzzy” Adams, KC Burdette, Nick Hoffman

B-Main 1: Bollinger, Lee, Brett Kennard, Ryan Fowler, S. Miller, Austin Sanders, Buzzie Reutimann, Chris Osborne Jr., Lance Dehm, Anthony Kinkade, Nick Allen, Scott Heeren, Jerry Bruce, Tim Lambert, Thomas Sigler, Zac Oedewaldt, Mike Hansen, Rich Pratt

B-Main 2: Van Genderen, Pollen Jr., Jason Gross, M. Miller, Todd Neiheiser, Troy Girolamo, Eric Moon, Brad Goff, Jesse Hoskins, Mike Potosky, Josh Harris, Dennis Haven, David Mitchell, Robin Lashley, Mike Weber, John Clippinger, Zane Oedewaldt, Bill Howard

Heat 1: Varnadore, Weisser, Matthews, Wing, Bollinger, Pollen Jr., B. Beutimann, Moon, Dehm, Clippinger, Hansen

Heat 2: Burdette, Young, Seratt, Hoffman, Neiheiser, Sanders, M. Miller, Kennard, Potosky, Osborne Jr., Lashley

Heat 3: McLaughlin, Crouse, McKinney, Kelley, Bruce, Harris, Zac Oedewaldt, Weber, Sigler, Girolamo, Lambert

Heat 4: Davenport, Adams, Wallace, Dixon, Gross, Heeren, Mitchell, Kinkade, Hoskins, Fowler, Goff

Heat 5: D. Reutimann, Leka, Herbert, Strickler, Lee, Van Genderen, All, Zan. Oedewaldt, S. Miller, Haven, Pratt, Howard

Kevin Adams Nets Sunshine State Mod Tour Opener

By Mike Spieker

TAMPA, FL (January 29, 2016) – After having the opening night washed out due to rain, the inaugural Sunshine State Modified Tour commenced with 55 Mods signed in to battle for the top prize of $1,500.

Three inches of rain over a 48 hour period left the East Bay Raceway Park racing surface soft and soggy, but the track crew did a phenomenal job giving the drivers multiple smooth and racy grooves.

Kevin “Buzzy” Adams lined up on the pole for the 24 car, 30 lap A-main with Concord, North Carolina’s Kenny Wallace to his outside. Adams jumped out to the early lead as Mavrick Varnadore and David Reutimann harassed Wallace for the second position. As a result, Wallace fell back to the fourth position and the race for the lead was on.

In a race plagued by 11 caution flags, neither Varnadore or Reutimann were able to mount a serious charge on Adams during the initial stages of the race. Reutimann put his Beak Built #00D into the runner-up spot on lap five, but relinquished the position back to Varnadore two circuits later.

Buzzie Reutimann showed his hand on lap nine as he moved into the fourth spot and was all over Varnadore and David for second. A series of cautions made for a dramatic finish as Adams was forced to hold off Varnadore and the Reutimann’s time and time again.

The third attempt at the lap 27 restart proved disastrous for both Buzzy Reutimann and Wallace as they were involved in a four car pileup in turn four. The drivers who were running in the fifth and sixth positions were forced to tag the tail of the field where they finished 12th and 13th, respectively.

On the final restart Adams and Varnadore got a great jump and it became a two horse race to the finish. As they came off of turn four and headed towards the checkers, Adams took the victory by a 0.308 second margin over Varnadore. David Reutimann, Steve Miller and Jeff Matthews rounded out the top five.

SUMMARY

A-Main: Kevin Adams, Mavrick Varnadore, David Reutimann, Steve Miller, Jeff Matthews, Max McLaughlin, David Pollen Jr., Mike McKinney, Matt Miller, David Mitchell, Ray Bollinger, Buzzie Reutimann, Kenny Wallace, Mike VanGenderen, Nick Allen, Bill Howard, Eric Moon, Dale Kelley, Josh Harris, Lucas Lee, Tait Davenport, Kc Burdette, Roger Crouse, Rodney Wing

B-Main #1:  Lee, Harris, Trent Young, Brett Kennard, Kyle Strickler, Jerry Bruce, Mike Potosky, Austin Sanders, Mike Hansen, Lance Dehm, Zane Oedewaldt, Chris Osborne Jr., Mike Weber, John Clippinger

B-Main #2: McKinney, Kelley, Devin Dixon, Jeff Leka, Allen Weisser, Jessie Hoskins, Tim Lambert, Preston Seratt, Robin Lashley, Ryan Fowler, Dennis Haven,

Heat #1: Adams, Bollinger, D. Reutimann, VanGenderen, Harris, Seratt, Bruce, Dixon, Zan. Odewaldt, Fowler, Sigler,

Heat #2: B. Reutimann, Wing, Miller, McLaughlin, Kelley, Dehm, Leka, Kennard, Hoskins, Weber, Neiheiser

Heat #3: Wallace, Strickler (DQ’d), Howard, Moon, Mitchell, Osborne Jr., Lashley, Girolamo, Haven, Sanders,

Heat #4: Varnadore, Crouse, Matthews, Davenport, McKinney, Lee, Weisser, Clippinger, Hoffman, Young, Lamber

Heat #5: Allen, Burdette, Miller, Pollen Jr., Potosky, Pratt, Kinkade, Herbert, Hansen

Sunshine State Modified Tour Readies For Inaugural Run

East Bay Raceyaw Park, Bubba Raceway and North Florida Speedway unite to bring the biggest Modified Speedweek that the Southeast has ever seen!

The Sunshine State Modified Tour will now kick off on Friday, January 29th and run four consecutive nights at East Bay Raceway Park just outside of Tampa, Florida, paying $1,500 to win on Friday; $5,000 to win on Saturday; $1,500 to win again on Sunday night and $1,000 to win on Monday before moving to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida on Tuesday night for a practice and then run a complete $1,000 to win event on Wednesday (Feb 3). The series then travels up I-75 to the North Florida Speedway in Lake City, Florida on Thursday night for a $1,500 to win event before heading back to Bubba Raceway for back to back events on Friday and Saturday nights, paying $1,500 to win Friday night and $3,000 to win on Saturday night and then the tour returns to North Florida Speedway on Sunday night for the series finale, which pays $2,000 to win.

Custom mini door panel trophies, big checks, bags of Florida oranges and a $2,500 to win point fund that pays back 15 places is also on the line for series competitors during the 9 race series that kicks off on Friday!

Series Director Chris Stepan of FYE Motorsports Promotions said ‘rains may have put a damper on practice night and shifted our schedule a bit, but we are ready to get after it starting on Friday. Lots of teams are already camped out around the Tampa area ready for the series to kick off at the clay by the bay!’

For more information, log on to www.SunStateModTour.com.