STEP ONE: Defending Champ Hoffman Collects First Victory in Pursuit of Wins Record at Brownstown
Picking up right where he left off in 2020 aboard the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals tour, Nick Hoffman put on yet another dominating display in the season opener Tuesday night at Brownstown Speedway for his 37th career victory with the tour.
“This place is just so badass – it fits my driving style, fits our racecars, and it’s always in tip-top condition every time we come here,” Hoffman told DIRTVision Pit Reporter Georgia Henneberry in Victory Lane.
Hoffman led flag-to-flag and went largely unchallenged through 25 laps but took a big risk in traffic that turned some heads in the grandstands.
Once he reached lapped traffic on the final green flag run, the defending tour champion decided thread the needle and go right through the middle of two slower cars getting into Turn 3 late in the race.
“I couldn’t really see my stick guy very well over there, so I didn’t really know how big of a lead I had. I just pressed the issue and [the lapped cars] left me a big enough hole right through the middle, so I was just going to try and slide that guy,” Hoffman said.
He made it through cleanly and cruised away from the rest of the top-five – Tyler Nicely, Steven Brooks, Jacoby Hines and John DeMoss – to collect his first $1,500 winner’s check of the season.
As he chases a fourth Summit Modified championship this year and a 14-win season to break the single-season wins record of 13, which he reached last year, he’s got a great outlook for the rest of Week #1.
“Every track [on the schedule] this week I’ve already won a Summit Modified race at, so that really gives us a lot of confidence going into this week,” Hoffman said.
UP NEXT
The Summit Modifieds are back in action Wednesday night at Peoria Speedway for Round #2 of the 2021 campaign. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
30 entries
DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIEDS
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Travis Kohler[1]; 2. 79-Caleb DeMoss[3]; 3. 3W-Dylan Woodling[4]; 4. 16C-John Clippinger[10]; 5. 11S-Zach Stalker[7]; 6. 118JR-David Winters[8]; 7. 28B-Lucas Pace[5]; 8. 9-Garrett Rons[6]; 9. 81-Rick Swartout[13]; 10. 11J-Jarod Fleetwood[2]; 11. 19-Travis Thrasher[9]; 12. 2ND-Jake Leitzman[12]; 13. 242-Brandon Bollinger[15]; 14. 118L-Bill Lewis[14]; 15. 11JB-Joey Baker[11]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. D48-Derek Groomer[7]; 2. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[2]; 3. 5-Steven Brooks[3]; 4. 9H-John Demoss[4]; 5. 59R-Jacob Rexing[1]; 6. 0-Travis Kohler[6]; 7. 3W-Dylan Woodling[8]; 8. 11S-Zach Stalker[9]; 9. 16C-John Clippinger[5]; 10. 81-Rick Swartout[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 3. 21A-Nick Allen[3]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer[4]; 5. 46-Tim Rivers[9]; 6. 11J-Jarod Fleetwood[6]; 7. 28B-Lucas Pace[5]; 8. 118JR-David Winters[8]; 9. 11JB-Joey Baker[7]; 10. (DNS) 118L-Bill Lewis
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Cole Falloway[2]; 2. 115-Jacoby Hines[1]; 3. 29J-Jordan Weaver[3]; 4. 22-Matt Boknecht[5]; 5. 8K-Levi Kissinger[7]; 6. 79-Caleb DeMoss[4]; 7. 9-Garrett Rons[8]; 8. 19-Travis Thrasher[10]; 9. 2ND-Jake Leitzman[9]; 10. 242-Brandon Bollinger[6]
Qualifying Group 1 (3 Laps): 1. 59R-Jacob Rexing, 00:14.933[6]; 2. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:14.943[3]; 3. 5-Steven Brooks, 00:14.946[8]; 4. 9H-John Demoss, 00:15.055[2]; 5. 16C-John Clippinger, 00:15.164[4]; 6. 0-Travis Kohler, 00:15.186[9]; 7. D48-Derek Groomer, 00:15.203[5]; 8. 3W-Dylan Woodling, 00:15.243[10]; 9. 11S-Zach Stalker, 00:15.692[7]; 10. 81-Rick Swartout, 00:16.270[1]
Qualifying Group 2 (3 Laps): 1. 25-Tyler Nicely, 00:14.786[9]; 2. 2-Nick Hoffman, 00:14.829[2]; 3. 21A-Nick Allen, 00:14.847[10]; 4. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:15.503[8]; 5. 28B-Lucas Pace, 00:15.881[6]; 6. 11J-Jarod Fleetwood, 00:16.041[1]; 7. 11JB-Joey Baker, 00:16.096[3]; 8. 118JR-David Winters, 00:16.602[7]; 9. 46-Tim Rivers, 00:16.602[5]; 10. 118L-Bill Lewis, 00:16.602[4]
Qualifying Group 3 (3 Laps): 1. 115-Jacoby Hines, 00:15.034[2]; 2. 66-Cole Falloway, 00:15.038[3]; 3. 29J-Jordan Weaver, 00:15.213[10]; 4. 79-Caleb DeMoss, 00:15.403[4]; 5. 22-Matt Boknecht, 00:15.449[9]; 6. 242-Brandon Bollinger, 00:15.494[5]; 7. 8K-Levi Kissinger, 00:15.616[6]; 8. 9-Garrett Rons, 00:15.699[1]; 9. 2ND-Jake Leitzman, 00:15.953[7]; 10. 19-Travis Thrasher, 00:16.461[8]