After many attempts and starts in his veteran career, Chad Bauer is now a DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature winner.
The Farwell, MI-native scored his first victory with the tour Saturday night at Oakshade Raceway, taking the lead from polesitter Dylan Woodling on Lap 2 and holding off the field the rest of the way to etch his name into the Summit Modified history books.
Bauer (19) getting by Woodling (3w) on Lap 2 (Terry Page Photo)
“It feels great to finally get one, for sure,” Bauer said.
He redrew the outside pole for the Feature and wasted no time in his pursuit of the lead, sneaking by Woodling on the bottom of Turns 1-2 after completing the opening circuit. From there, Bauer played defense, battling through restart-after-restart to keep the lead.
“I wanted to try to get the lead early because I knew it was going to be tough to get by,” Bauer said. “[Woodling] just kinda slid up a little bit and I got under him, and that was it.”
In the final laps, Bauer met a worthy opponent in Brian Ruhlman, who came soaring through the field on the bottom and even threw a pair of slide jobs at Bauer to try and take the spot.
“I was worried about him,” Bauer said. “He got in there and slid up, and it allowed me to get back under him again. I tried to hold it down a little bit more to keep him from doing it again, and it worked out.”
Bauer fends-off Ruhlman’s (49) challenges for the lead (Terry Page Photo)
In the end, Bauer was able to outdrive Ruhlman’s efforts and pick up the $1,500 payday.
Ruhlman crossed the stripe in second, followed by Dalton Lane, Andrew Smith and Bill Griffith.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summit Modifieds are back in action Sunday, July 17, for the tour debut at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, OH. If you can’t be there in person, watch every lap live on DIRTVison.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)
Feature 25 Laps | 00:27:56.415
- 19B-Chad Bauer[2]; 2. 49-Brian Ruhlman[9]; 3. 82-Dalton Lane[6]; 4. 86-Andrew Smith[11]; 5. 4G-Bill Griffith[14]; 6. 22T- Tony Anderson[17]; 7. 54-Zachary Hawk[20]; 8. 9-Garrett Rons[15]; 9. 5A-Jerry Bowersock[7]; 10. 1-Brian Przeporia[12]; 11. 32-Scott Boyd Jr[13]; 12. 3W-Dylan Woodling[1]; 13. 114-Clayton Bryant[4]; 14. 5CS-Curt Spalding[5]; 15. 65-Todd Sherman[3]; 16. 52-Nate Hutchison[24]; 17. 9C-Troy Cattarene[10]; 18. 55-Justin Matson[8]; 19. 25M-Brian Mcfeeters[16]; 20. 9PG-Percy Gendreau[18]; 21. ZERO-Brent Hole[22]; 22. 12M-John McClure[19]; 23. 60-Shannon Fisk[21]; 24. (DNS) 53-Pete Dotson
