Nick Hoffman Records Perfect Night To Earn UMP Modified Win
Story By: COLBY GORNIEWICZ / DIRTcar NATIONALS MEDIA
Photos By: DAN DEMARCO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Barberville, Fla. – February 16, 2017 – Nick Hoffman led every lap he raced en route to his first win of the 46th Annual DIRTcar Nationals in DIRTcar UMP Modified action at Volusia Speedway Park on Wednesday night. The Mooresville, N.C. driver paced all 20 laps of the main event to earn his eighth career Volusia victory.
“This will just add to my pond. I have eight of them now,” Hoffman said in Victory Lane as he received his Gator trophy. “Nothing went wrong tonight. Last night was kind of a struggle, but it was awesome tonight. I knew the racetrack was going to be in my favor tonight. I just tried to hug the infield wall and make laps as smooth as I could.”
Hoffman was flawless in the bottom groove and proved too strong even for the field of talented veterans. He held off Arnold, Mo. driver Kenny Wallace in the opening laps and David Stremme of South Bend, Ind. following the final restart of the night on lap 17.
“I knew a couple of those guys would try the top, but most of the time here you’re married to the bottom,” Hoffman said. “I knew if I hit my marks those last two laps it was going to be hard to get around me.”
Stremme was happy to earn a podium finish after starting seventh and recording a sixth-place result on Tuesday night. However, the driver of the No.35 was adamant his team can still find more speed.
“We were just a little bit off last night and we’re just going to keep working on some stuff,” Stremme said. “Hats off to Nick. He was the best car last night and tonight. We’ll keep digging. There are a lot of great cars here. We had to pass a lot to get up here.”
Clarklake, Mich. driver Brian Ruhlman was among the top-three for the second straight night. Ruhlman had to dispatch of Wallace on the final lap to earn a third-place finish.
“We went harder on tire, I think, than anybody else here,” Ruhlman explained. “We got rolling in the middle. We didn’t need that caution at the end because I think those guys were slowing down, but a top-three, we’ll take it.”
Hoffman set fast time to start the night during group time trials with a lap of 18.218 seconds, topping Ruhlman’s Tuesday fast time of 18.747 seconds around the half-mile.
Hoffman was also a heat race winner, along with Ruhlman, Wallace, Garrett Stewart of Leesburg, Fla., Blake Spalding of Lima, Oh., and Jeff Leka of Buffalo, Ill.
Will Krup of Mount Carmel, Ill., Johnny Broking of Grand Rapids, Minn. and Kyle Strickler of Mooresville, NC were winners in a trio of B-Mains. Gene Nicholas of Lowell, Ark. qualified into the main event as the fastest 4th-place finisher in the three B-Mains.
The DIRTcar UMP Modifieds return to action alongside the Arctic All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint car series on Thursday night as the 46th annual DIRTcar Nationals continue at Volusia Speedway Park.
46th DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds Complete Results
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds A-Main – [20 Laps – Starting Position in Brackets]: 1. 2 Nick Hoffman [2], 2. 35 David Stremme [7], 3. 49 Brian Ruhlman [5], 4. 36 Kenny Wallace [6], 5. 67 Garrett Stewart [3], 6. 90 Jason Beaulieu[8], 7. 13 Jacob Hawkins [12], 8. 9 Ken Schrader [9], 9. 4 Mike Learman [10], 10. 65 Josh Rice[14], 11. K9 Will Krup [19], 12. 2×4 Chase Collins [18], 13. 7 Justin Allgaier [24], 14. 3L Jeff Leka [4], 15. 98 Shon Flanary [23], 16. 88 Matt Crafton [17], 17. 21C Taylor Cook [13], 18. 10Y Trent Young [17], 19. 11N Gene Nicholas [28], 20. 45J Johnny Broking [20], 21. 77 Ray Bollinger [13], 22. 25 Tyler Nicely [13], 23. D4 Dave Jamieson [26], 24. 1 Blake Spalding [1], 25. 3E Robbie Eilers [27], 26. 72 Todd Neiheiser [16], 27. 8 Kyle Strickler [21], 28. 69 AJ Fike [22].
B-Main 1 [10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature]: 1. K9 Will Krup, 2. 69 AJ Fike, 3. 77 Ray Bollinger, 4. 11N Gene Nicholas, 5. 43 Kyle Schmidt, 6. 12K Scotty Kincaid, 7. 9G Ernie Gingerich, 8. 23 Ryan Cripe, 9. 07 Jeff Thomas, 10. 2J Troy Johnson, 11. 83 Ray Ciccarelli, 12. 11T Dugan Thye, DNS. 17T Tyler Evans, 01 Jared Spalding, 25B Shawn Beasley.
B-Main 2 [10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature]: 1. 45J Johnny Broking, 2. 98 Shon Flanary, 3. D4 Dave Jamieson, 4. 00 Will Norris, 5. 8A Austin Holcombe, 6. 17JE J.E. Stalder, 7. 64JR Billy Workman Jr., 8. 23G Robbie Gates, 9. 71 Jessie Hoskins, 10. 9s Slater McCray, 11. 71M Shayne Meadows, 12. 2M David Mitchell, 13. 6B Dave Baldwin, DNS. 15 Hunter Gustafson.
B-Main 3 [10 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-feature]: 1. 8 Kyle Strickler, 2. 7 Justin Allgaier, 3. 3E Robbie Eilers, 4. 5 Jonathon Taylor, 5. 54 Larry Burkins, 6. 33 Jeff Mathews, 7. 28B Jason Brookover, 8. 24Z Zeke McKenzie, 9. 89W Rick Weitekamp, 10. Z06 Larry Mott, 11. 96J Matt Johnson, 12. 6 Dylan Browning, DNS. 22T Tony Anderson, 05 David Wietholder.
Heat Race 1 [8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-Feature; Winner redraws]: 1. 67 Garrett Stewart, 2. 35 David Stremme, 3. 21C Taylor Cook, 4. K9 Will Krup, 5. 69 AJ Fike, 6. 11N Gene Nicholas, 7. 12K Scott Kincaid, 8. 07 Jeff Thomas, 9. 2J Troy Johnson, 10. 11T Dugan Thye, 11. 25B Shawn Beasley.
Heat Race 2 [8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-Feature; Winner redraws]: 1. 2 Nick Hoffman, 2. 90 Jason Beaulieu, 3. 65 Josh Rice, 4. 23 Ryan Cripe, 5. 83 Ray Ciccarelli, 6. 77 Ray Bollinger, 7. 17T Tyler Evans, 8. 01 Jared Spalding, 9. 9G Ernie Gingerich, 10. 43 Kyle Schmidt.
Heat Race 3 [8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-Feature; Winner redraws]:1. 49 Brian Ruhlman, 2. 9 Ken Schrader, 3. 10Y Trent Young, 4. 45J Johnny Broking, 5. D4 Dave Jamieson, 6. 17JE J.E. Stalder, 7. 8A Austin Holcombe, 8. 9S Slater McCray, 9. 2M David Mitchell, 10. 15 Hunter Gustafson.
Heat Race 4 [8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-Feature; Winner redraws]: 1. 1 Blake Spalding, 2. 4 Mike Learman, 3. 72 Todd Neiheiser, 4. 64JR Billy Workman Jr., 5. 98 Shon Flanery, 6. 6B Dave Baldwin, 7. 00 Will Norris, 8. 23G Robbie Gates, 9. 71M Shayne Meadows, 10. 71 Jesse Hoskins.
Heat Race 5 [8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-Feature; Winner redraws]: 1. 3L Jeff Leka, 2. 25 Tyler Nicely, 3. 88 Matt Crafton, 4. 3E Robbie Eilers, 5. 7 Justin Allgaier, 6. 8 Kyle Strickler, 7. 89W Rick Weitekamp, 8. 54 Larry Burkins, 9. 96J Matt Johnson.
Heat Race 6 [8 Laps – Top 3 finishers transfer to the A-Feature; Winner redraws]: 1. 36 Kenny Wallace, 2. 13 Jacob Hawkins, 3. 2×4 Chase Collins, 4. 33 Jeff Mathews, 5. 22T Tony Anderson, 6. 5 Jonathan Taylor, 7. 28B Jason Brookover, 8. 24Z Zeke McKenzie, 9. 6 Dylan Browning, 10. Z06 Larry Mott.
Qualifying Group No. 1: 1. K9 Will Krup [18.454], 2. 35 David Stremme [18.724], 3. 21c Taylor Cook [18.819], 4. 67 Garrett Stewart [18.889], 5. 69 AJ Fike [18.932], 6. 07 Jeff Thomas [18.967], 7. 25B Shawn Beasley [19.203], 8. 2J Troy Johnson [19.311], 9. 11N Gene Nicholas [19.464], 10. 12k Scott Kincaid [19.747], 11. 11T Dugan Thye [20.261].
Qualifying Group No. 2: 1. 2 Nick Hoffman [18.218], 2. 77 Ray Bollinger [19.059], 3. 90 Jason Beaulieu [19.087], 4. 65 Josh Rice [19.131], 5. 17T Tyler Evans [19.231], 6. 43 Kyle Schmidt [19.408], 7. 01 Jared Spalding [19.565], 8. 23 Ryan Cripe [19.612], 9. 83 Ray Ciccarelli [19.668], 10. 9G Ernie Gingerich [19.942].
Qualifying Group No. 3: 1. 49 Brian Ruhlman [18.477], 2. 10Y Trent Young [18.847], 3. 45J Johnny Broking [18.921], 4. 9 Ken Schrader [18.922], 5. 8A Austin Holcombe [18.928], 6. D4 Dave Jamieson [19.040], 7. 9S Slater McCray [19.076], 8. 17JE J.E. Stalder [19.117], 9. 2M David Mitchell [19.190], 10. 15 Hunter Gustafson [19.551].
Qualifying Group No. 4: 1.72 Todd Neiheiser [18.695], 2. 98 Shon Flanary [19.188], 3. 4 Mike Learman [19.245], 4. 1 Blake Spalding [19.251], 5. 64Jr Billy Workman Jr. [19.294], 6. 00 Will Norris [19.478], 7. 6B Dave Baldwin [19.610], 8. 71 Jesse Hoskins [19.617], 9. 23G Robbie Gates [19.713], 10. 71M Shayne Meadows [19.769].
Qualifying Group No. 5: 1. 7 Justin Allgaier [18.805], 2. 25 Tyler Nicely [18.892], 3. 3L Jeff Leka [18.994], 4. 88 Matt Crafton [19.043], 5. 54 Larry Burkins [19.122], 6. 3E Robbie Eilers [19.144], 7. 8 Kyle Strickler [19.398], 8. 89W Rick Weitekamp [19.878], 9. 96J Matt Johnson [21.100], 10 05 Dave Weitekamp [No Time].
Qualifying Group No. 6: 1. 36 Kenny Wallace [18.762], 2. 13 Jacob Hawkins [18.863], 3. 33 Jeff Mathews [18.899], 4. 2×4 Chase Collins [19.265], 5. 28B Jason Brookover [19.298], 6. 24Z Zeke McKenzie [19.340], 7. 5 Jonathan Taylor [19.392], 8. 22T Tony Anderson [19.652], 9. Z06 Larry Mott [19.781], 10. 6 Dylan Browning [19.815].
