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PARK CITY , Kan. (Aug. 2, 2007) – With just four shows remaining, the guy who hadn’t planned to run the full season has a hefty lead in the O’Reilly NCRA Modified Series, presented by ICM/Ethanol.
Brian Franz has won a record four straight championships. Before the season started, Franz said he wasn’t going to try for another title because of family and business commitments.
The Halstead, Kan. , driver is the series’ career leader with 22 wins, but has taken the checker just once this year. Consistency is what allowed him to take the top spot and stay there, leading by 200 points.
In six shows, Franz has one win, four top fives and six top 10s. In the first four races he had a win, two seconds, and a third. He was sixth in each of the last two shows.
Three groups of drivers are contending for the remaining top 10-positions. The first group is battling for the runner-up spot, where only 50 points separate second through fifth.
Brian McGowen from Frontenac , Kan. , is currently second. He finished third and second the last two races. He has three top fives and four top 10s this year to lead Jeremy Massey by 10 points.
Massey, of Park City , Kan. , has been plagued with inconsistency. He began with a seventh, 10th, and first before a DNS slowed him. He won the next race but followed with a 20th-place finish.
Greg Stephens from Wichita , Kan. , sits fourth. He has five top 10 finishes in as many features. Although Stephens missed his first A-feature in years, he is only 30 points behind Massey.
In fifth is Troy Gemmill of Ponca City, Okla., 10 points behind Stephens. Gemmill failed to make the first feature of the season and was 20th at the second race. He followed that with a pair of ninth-place finishes and a fourth, then won the last show.
With 1390 points, Marc Hurd is sixth. Trailing him by 15 is Brian Powers in seventh. Mike Jarvis is eighth, 25 points out of seventh.
Casey McClaskey sits ninth with 1235 points, just 15 markers better than Brian Casey and Greg Burt, tied for 10th.
The next chance to derail the Franz Express is Aug. 11 at 81 Speedway , where Massey and three-time series champion John Allen have both won. Each has two wins on the season.
For more information about the NCRA, either visit their Web site at www.ncraracing.org or call the NCRA office at (316) 755-1781.
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