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This past Saturday afternoon Lincoln Speedway came to life for its annual “Icebreaker 30” for 410 sprint cars. The event offered several twist and turns with 2008 track champion Brian Montieth eventually claiming. He won the title last season without ever winning a race.
“We struggled last year trying to get here,” stated Montieth in Victory Lane. “We picked up a title but we would rather have been here (victory lane) 10 times."
Montieth’s win came after Mark Smith and second place running car of Cody Darrah were involved in a final lap crash that took them out of the event along with fourth place running Sean Michael. They all got tangled when slow cars running at the tail of the field got together and spun right in front of the leaders.
"It’s unfortunately what happened to those guys,” said Montieth. “But traffic is traffic."
On the restart, Montieth held off Greg Hodnett to score the opening day win even though his left rear tire was starting to go soft.
Hodnett, Daryn Pittman, Fred Rahmer and Lance Dewease completed the top five.
News and Notes
- Pittman’s impressive run came after he was forced to come from the rear after contact on the opening lap with Doug Dodson’s flipping car damaged the front-end of his No.25…
- Jeff Busby was running in a qualifying spot in his heat race when he flipped his No. 47J off of turn two…
- Smith’s day nearly ended earlier in the event when he got together with 15 of Adam Wilt. Smith went to pass Wilt on the inside when the two came together. Smith had his right rear on Wilt’s left front and his left rear was on the inside retaining wall. He maintained the lead…
- Hodnett started 12th in the feature after qualifying in the third position in his qualifying event. He came from the back row to get the spot.
“I told these guys that I’d draw the last pill,” laughed Hodnett during the redraw...
- Chad Layton lost a drive shaft at the beginning of the feature ending his day prematurely…
- Chris Eash won the consolation event but was forced to scratch from the A-Main. He spot went to Gerard McIntyre Jr. He would finish 14th…
- Chris Knopp returned from his foray into modified racing at the Bridgeport Speedway. He did not qualify for the feature event.
- Hall of famer Keith Kauffman had problems in the consolation forcing him to the pits early…
- Even with the cold conditions, the track was very tacky. This led to numerous wheelies being pulled throughout the day.
Mike Mallett can be reached for comment at mikemallett@dirttrackdigest.com.
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