Big Block Modified Pit Notes – Delaware State Championship Day 2

It was track regular Jordan Watson on the pole and he held off a long list of out of town drivers for 50 laps and survived 6 lengthy cautions and restarts to take the win in the DIS season finale.  Watson lead from green to checkered and had a healthy 3 second margin over 2^nd place HJ Bunting in the # 65.

The top 10 was rounded out by HJ Bunting, Rick Laubach, Ryan Watt, JoJo Watson, Brandon Grosso, Jim Britt, Stan Frankenfield, Rick Regalski and Ryan Charland.

The 602 crate feature was won by Greg Humlhanz coming from a 6^th starting position and taking the lead on lap 17 right into victory lane for the win. 

The top 10 was rounded out by Brad Tice, Adam White, Trent Willey, Scott Hitchens, Westley Smith, Justin Grosso, Matt Peck, Brandon Watkins and Richie Walls.

Modified Pit Notes

Jordan Watson delivered a dominating performance leading all 50 laps from the pole as the 2020 DIS modified points champion made his 4th trip into the DIS victory lane.

HJ Bunting had his best outing of the season in the Bobby Blades #65* entry with a 2^nd place finish from a 6^th place finish.

Watson and Bunting give the locals a 1-2 finish but the remainder of the top 10 were all cars and drivers visiting from other tracks.

Carson Wright had worked his way up to the 6^th position from a 14^th starting spot but on lap 36 the 91 entry got into a rut and proceeded to barrel roll and end up on his lid ending his night and retiring him to the pits.

Ricky Elliot in Gary Simpson had a great night going with a strong second place run for the first 36 laps only to pull off due to mechanical issues.

Rick Laubach decided to come south to Delmar instead of North to Middletown and it paid off for Laubach with two podium finishes. He brought the 1K small block entry and the big block # 7 to DIS but opted to run the 1K in both the small block and big block features.  Laubach finished 3^rd in the big block feature on Saturday from the 7^th starting spot while on Friday night he lead the first 25 laps on a flat left front and still came home with a 2^nd place finish.

Ryan Watt made his annual fall pilgrimage to Delmar and also had a great weekend of finishes.  On Friday night Watt finished 3^rd in the small block modified feature and on Saturday Watt got a 4^th place finish in the big block feature from a 16^th starting spot.

Jim Britt got a late start this season and has been running an outlaw schedule at all the tracks in DE, NJ & PA with trips to Bridgeport, New Egypt, Georgetown, Delaware International, Big Diamond and Grandview.  Another change for Britt this season is he has been running both a big block and small block entry as the particular track and track conditions dictate.  Britt has had some tough luck with finding his nights often ending in tangles recently.  But this weekend was his best outing of the season with a 7^th in the small block race on Friday night and a 7^th in the big block race on Saturday.  The Saturday big block effort was particularly impressive as the 118 entry ran 7^th from a 21^st starting position.

A big surprise for the weekend was the attendance of Rick Regalski from Slippery Rock, PA.  Regalski made the 5 hour tow to DIS with high hopes in both small and big block features. Regalski had two top 10 finishes with a 10^th place in the small block race and a 9^th place finish in the big block race. 

Jim Hill raced his familiar # 1 entry with the small blocks on Friday night and finished 9^th after coming from 22^nd place in the field for a good start to the weekend.  On Saturday Hill switched cars and jumped into the # 71 usually driven by Kevin Gardner for the 50 lap big block modified feature.  Hill again dropped early to the 22^nd position but was able to get back to a 12^th place finish for a solid weekend.

Crate Pit Notes

Greg Humlhanz came from the 7^th starting spot to claim his second 602 crate win of the season at Delaware International Speedway.

Brad Tice had only a limited outings in the 10 entry and his 2^nd place finish was his best finish of the season.

Trent Willey led the first 15 laps from his pole starting position and faded in the last 10 laps to a 4^th place finish but still a strong performance turned in by the 2^nd year crate driver.

Duane Rust in the 296 entry was the hard charge of the crate feature with an 11^th place finish from a 26^th starting position.

Wesley Smith keep his tradition of bringing out his old faithful #98 crate in the fall and despite the limited outings during the season his fall success continues from year to year.  Smith brought the 98 home with a 6^th place finish from a 14^th starting position.

The racing and wrestling part of the program was a match between 981 Rocky Whitley and 21P Pete Serra.  After racing contact the 981 and 21P cars got hooked together. Whitley exited his car and threw some punches at Serra who was still sitting in his car and then Whitley performed a flying double knee drop on the roof of Serra’s 21P entry.   Whitley was retired to the pits for the night and Serra continued on to a 12^th place finish.

Delaware International Speedway closes out their 2020 season with the Delaware State Championship and looks to a full 2021 season.