Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Knight Claims Third North State Modified Championship



Via NSMS PR

Darrin Knight of Kelseyville skated to his third consecutive championship in the North State Modified Series, presented by Protect the Harvest, beating out Upper Lake's Charlie Collins by only 10 points.

The battle went right down to the wire during the final race at All American Speedway in Roseville. Going into the race Knight had a 16 point lead over Collins. But when Knight was bumped from the rear while leading, forcing him to restart at the back of the 24 car field, Collins was running fourth and moved into the points lead. This put Knight on a mission to get back up front. Knight rebounded, counting 2 points for every car he passed, and finished sixth to clinch the championship.

Knight won the first two races this season: the Sinister Diesel Gene Welch Classic at All American Speedway and the NCRA/NSMS 60 at Lakeport Speedway. His third win came at Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka. Collins was the winner of the Protect the Harvest Nor Cal 60 at Ukiah Speedway in July.

Finishing third overall was 2016 Rookie of the Year, Darrin Sullivan of Kelseyville. Sullivan had 2 North State victories in his second season with NSMS, the Memorial Day O'Reilly Nor-Cal 60 at Redwood Acres, and the Lloyd Burton Against the Wind Challenge at Shasta Speedway in Anderson.

Fourth place in points went to another Kelseyville driver, Eric Johnson. Johnson's best runs were a second at Lakeport and a third at Ukiah. His ten top-10 finishes and five top-5 finishes kept him high in the points standings all year.

Our top female competitor, Sierra Furia of Lakeport, improved at every event, driving to a fifth place finish in the final standings. Furia's best track seemed to be Redwood Acres Raceway where she placed third in May and fourth in September. She was credited with seven top-10 finishes.

Sixth through tenth overall went to Dustin DeRosier of Cloverdale, Jason Philpot of Sacramento, Richie Potts of Petaluma, Adrianna Strugnell of Kelseyville, and Cody Braund of Redding.

These top-10 and all the other 58 NSMS competitors will be honored at the 2017 North State Modified Series award banquet on January 27 at Granzella's in Williams.