After five years of being neglected a second Gator trophy, Curt Spalding was not going be denied another on Thursday night.
The Watervliet, MI driver commanded all 20 laps of the opening DIRTcar UMP Modifieds Feature while fending off former marquee winners at the Barberville, FL racetrack.
Spalding and Shirleysburg, PA driver George Dixon brought the field of 24 UMP Modifieds to the green flag, with the two competitors immediately going to battle for the lead in the opening stages.
Dixon used the bottom lane in Turn 1 to attempt a slide job around Spalding, but could not hold traction and slipped up the track – creating a one-second gap for Spalding to take full advantage.
A caution at the halfway point of the Feature erased Spalding’s gap and created new opportunities for the top UMP Modified drivers to contend for the Feature win, including Kyle Strickler, David Stremme, and Michael Altobelli.
On the restart, Strickler took over second place from Dixon, then used the high line of the track to slice down to the bottom of the turns to trim the lead interval of Spalding’s No.5CS Lethal Chassis.
Spalding continued to roll through the bottom of the track while Dixon and Strickler’s door-banging fight for second place solidified Spalding’s second-career Gator trophy – his first since 2020.
“For sure, I could hear them,” Spalding said. “But, I never saw them. I don’t know if they got that close enough, but we did everything we could. We were on a little different deal here. I gotta thank my son, Tyler, I didn’t even know what he was doing on shocks and I said ‘Uh, where are we at on this?’ And he said ‘Don’t worry about it, you’re gonna like them.’ Sure enough, his little shock business is helping propel us up here.”
Strickler finished second after Dixon spun through Turns 3 and 4 from a slide into the cushion. While the Mooresville, NC driver is now the current UMP Modified Speedweeks points leader, he does not like coming short of a Gator trophy.
“First off, congrats to Curt,” Strickler said. “He supported this deal for a long time, and he was smarter than us. He went with a softer tire and every time I got alongside, the caution would come out. It is what it is, I hate to be negative, but second sucks. I felt like we really had a good racecar and can’t thank everybody enough that puts this deal together.”
Stremme, of Mifflintown, PA, came home with the podium finish as a beneficiary to Dixon’s spin on the final lap. The Lethal Chassis owner showed an effort that saw him race inside the top five throughout the 20-lap Feature.
“I just thought it was hard racing,” Stremme said. “I was watching them, it’s so hard to pass because they are so dirty and we had to work on our car a little bit. I was a little too free, but pretty happy with everything. I’m just proud of all the efforts, a lot of our (Lethal Chassis) customers are running well, but it’s a long week. We got a lot of work to do still.”
Owensboro, KY’s own Cole Falloway finished in fourth. Altobelli, of Saxton, PA, rounded out the opening night’s top-five finishers.
Up Next: The DIRTcar UMP Modifieds return to Volusia Speedway Park for the second night of racing with the American Sprint Car Series at the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Friday, January 31. Tickets are available here:
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVIsion – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 5CS-Curt Spalding[1]; 2. 8S-Kyle Strickler[4]; 3. 35-David Stremme[6]; 4. 66-Cole Falloway[12]; 5. 35A-Michael Altobelli[3]; 6. 97-Mitch Thomas[5]; 7. 45H-Kyle Hammer[11]; 8. 777-Trevor Neville[17]; 9. 77-Ray Bollinger[13]; 10. 05-David Wietholder[16]; 11. 51-Dalton Lanich[7]; 12. 24-Zeke McKenzie[20]; 13. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]; 14. 114-Jordan Koehler[18]; 15. 25-Greg Belyea[22]; 16. 17C-Coleman Evans[8]; 17. 27-Michael Turner[14]; 18. 77D-George Dixon[2]; 19. 27G-Jason Garver[19]; 20. 316-Stephen Pedulla[10]; 21. 36-Kenny Wallace[24]; 22. 18-Miles Beaulieu[21]; 23. (DNF) 12L-Lucas Lee[9]; 24. (DNF) 5-Jonathan Taylor[15]
