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Harrison Closing In on Second DIRTcar Summit Modified Nationals Crown! Former DIRTcar UMP Modified champion nearing a repeat title

Summit Modified NationalsCONCORD, N.C. – July 10, 2012 – For the second consecutive year, Mike Harrison enters the final week of the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals looking to close out the championship.

Harrison, of Highland, Ill., earned his lone victory on this year’s tour at his hometown Highland Speedway, but has been consistent enough build a 42-point advantage over Ray Bollinger, of Kewanee, Ill., and is now keeping a close eye on the standings. The formula for determining the champion takes a driver’s 10-best finishes during the tour, which features 29 races in 32 days from June 13 to July 14. It also factors in the car count at each venue. Of the 10 races that have Harrison atop the standings, he’s earned more than 70 points in six of them.

“I’m not really convinced it’s in the bag just yet so I’m going to sit here and watch the points a little bit and see how it’s going to play out,” Harrison said. “If I have to go run a couple more I do, but the plans are to be done right now. I came back to work yesterday and I need to get back and do “normal work” again.”

Meanwhile, second-place Bollinger has also run 10 events but has earned more than 70 points on only three occasions, including a victory on July 5 at Macon Speedway

Gabe Menser, Steve Lach, Aaron Draege and Donovan Lodge are sitting third through sixth in the championship standings but will have their work cut out for them this week to catch Harrison.

Seven drivers have competed in at least 10 events so far this season, with two more having raced in nine events entering this week.

Harrison will certainly be on edge this week as DIRTcar UMP Modified drivers take aim at his points lead. Even Harrison admits this year’s chase to the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals title has been more challenging than his initial title run last season, but values the attention it brings to his team.

“It’s the main thing we want to do for our program,” Harrison said. “It gets you so many more little sponsors. I mean Summit Racing Equipment was really good to us last year after we won the championship, and there are some many other little things that come your way after the fact that you can show all the people who help you out. Any time you win championships it’s always a plus for the team and getting deals on equipment. This definitely ranks right up there, obviously the national championships are what we chase but this is definitely up there if I truly end up winning it again. These DIRTcar Late Model guys have been doing this for years and there’s a reason they call it The Hell Tour, now that I’ve done it for two years and I haven’t even ran the full 29 races like they do. Last year I think I did 12 in a two-and-a-half week stretch, and when you combine that with the travel and the heat we’ve had this year, I’m telling you it’s truly The Hell Tour and I give my respect to those guys that do the whole thing because it’s hard on everything. It’s hard on everybody, its hard on equipment, it’s just hard on everything.”

The schedule closes out with races tonight at Florence (Ky.) Speedway; Wednesday at Brushcreek Motorsports Park in Peebles, Ohio; Thursday at Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track; Friday at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park; and Saturday’s finale at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio.

DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Point Standings – Top 20 – July 10, 2012

Pos

 

Car#

 

Driver

 

Total

 

Diff

 

Count

 

Avg

 

Low

 

1

 

24

 

Mike Harrison

 

654

 

10

 

65.40

 

38

 

2

 

77

 

Ray Bollinger

 

612

 

-42

 

10

 

61.20

 

40

 

3

 

G1

 

Gabe Menser

 

528

 

-126

 

10

 

52.80

 

44

 

4

 

42

 

Steve Lach

 

461

 

-193

 

10

 

46.10

 

10

 

5

 

1A

 

Aaron Draege

 

407

 

-247

 

10

 

40.70

 

27

 

6

 

32

 

Donovan Lodge

 

405

 

-249

 

9

 

45.00

 

31

 

7

 

36

 

Kenny Wallace

 

386

 

-268

 

6

 

64.33

 

49

 

8

 

12

 

Jeff Curl

 

381

 

-273

 

8

 

47.63

 

35

 

9

 

O5

 

Steven Brooks

 

380

 

-274

 

9

 

42.22

 

34

 

10

 

66T

 

Tommy Sheppard Sr.

 

376

 

-278

 

10

 

37.60

 

31

 

11

 

66s

 

Tommy Sheppard Jr.

 

368

 

-286

 

10

 

36.80

 

29

 

12

 

79

 

John Demoss

 

315

 

-339

 

7

 

45.00

 

34

 

13

 

72

 

Brian Lynn

 

293

 

-361

 

7

 

41.86

 

30

 

14

 

22

 

Matt Mevert

 

245

 

-409

 

4

 

61.25

 

35

 

15

 

O5

 

Dave Wietholder

 

220

 

-434

 

4

 

55.00

 

30

 

16

 

18

 

Michael Long

 

220

 

-434

 

3

 

73.33

 

65

 

17

 

D1

 

Lance Dehm

 

220

 

-434

 

4

 

55.00

 

33

 

18

 

0

 

Brad Crosby

 

220

 

-434

 

6

 

36.67

 

29

 

19

 

59

 

Chad Evans

 

215

 

-439

 

6

 

35.83

 

32

 

20

 

41

 

Brent Mullins

 

211

 

-443

 

4

 

52.75

 

10

 

 

 

 

 

For more on the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, click ModifiedNationals.com .

The Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Summit Racing Equipment (Title Sponsor), Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Racing Electronics (Official Communications), Vicci (Official Uniform), VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors: Auto Meter, Bell Helmets, Beyea Headers, Bilstein Shocks, Chevy Performance Parts, Shafer Enterprises’ Cool Shirts, Dominator Race Products, Eibach Springs, Fast Shafts, FK Rod Ends, Fragola Performance Systems, Impact Race Products, Intercomp, KSE Racing Products, Landrum Springs, MSD Ignitions, QA1 Motorsports, Quartermaster, Schoenfeld Headers, UNOH (University of Northwestern Ohio), and XS Power Racing Batteries.

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