3/3/2018
Humboldt Speedway
Skeeter Estey Captures Battle at the Bullring IV!
Skeeter Estey Captures Battle at The Bullring IV!
By Sam Stoecklin
For Immediate Release
Humboldt, Kansas (March 3, 2018) A field of 120 B-Mods was narrowed down to 25 Saturday night for the finale of Battle at the Bullring IV presented G-Style Transport and powered by Yeoman Race Engines. Skeeter Estey became the first driver to collect a second victory in the country’s premiere B-Mod event.
B-Mod drivers participated in four rounds of preliminary heat races to establish the lineups for the four last-chance qualifiers, E-main, D-main, C-main, and B-main before establishing the final grid for the $8,500-to-win, 50-lap main event.
Dustin Daniels, Kale Westover, Cody Jolly, Skeeter Estey, and Kris Jackson each collected three of four wins in heat-race action; however, with all four heat races counting towards accumulative passing points, winning three of four heats did not necessarily equate to a locked-in position for the main event. The 12 locked in drivers after heat races were Dustin Daniels, Skeeter Estey, Kale Westover, Jamie Davis, Cole Searing, Andy Bryant, Ethan Isaacs, Kelly Estey, Cody Jolly, Ryan Schroeder, Andrew Schroeder, and Brennon Weight.
In the four Last-Chance Qualifiers, Wade Skindelien, Donald McIntosh, Josh McGaha, and Dan Christopher drove to victories to make the E-Main grid. Jeffery Lien, Jr. took the E-main, Shane Collins nabbed the D-Main, J.C. Morton won the C-main with the B-Main going to Kris Jackson.
A strong field of 41 NASCAR Modifieds were also on hand for competition during the evening. Jim Body, Tyler Davis, Dan Ebert, Jesse Willard, and Tanner Mullens collected heat-race wins with the B-mains going to Michael Maggard and Zack VanderBeek. For the $1,000-to-win, 20-lap main event. Mullens and Body led the field to the initial green flag for the Modifieds with Mullens setting a blistering at the front. Dan Ebert of Minnesota advanced from sixth to put pressure on Mullens late in the event but Mullens was too strong and capped off a solid weekend where he finished second, third and first to close the weekend. Ebert finished second with Cody Skytland third, followed by fourteenth-starting Zack VanderBeek in fourth and Ryan Mikkelson fifth.
When the stellar field of B-mod talent returned to close the night, it was Daniels and Skeeter Estey leading the way. Daniels led the opening two laps before Estey, the 2016 winner, moved to the front and established himself as the driver to beat. Behind Estey, Daniels held strong in second with a furious battle with Kale Westover through lap 21 until Westover moved forward to second on lap 22 and set his sights on Estey in heavy lapped traffic. Lap-by-lap, Westover ate into Estey’s lead until the intense racing came to a halt for a caution flag at lap 36. With the field closed back in for the restart, Estey and Westover resumed their battle but Estey pulled away and left Westover to battle with Michael Truscott, who started fourteenth. As the laps wound down, a quick set of cautions occurred and slowed the field but Estey was too strong and eventually pulled away for his second career Battle at the Bullring title. Truscott earned the hard-charger award and came away second with Westover third. Daniels ran strong all race long and finished fourth with Ryan Schroeder rounding out the top five.
B-Mod King of America IV (50 Laps): 1. 37X-Skeeter Estey, 2. 22T-Michael Truscott, 3. 44-Kale Westover, 4. 33-Dustin Daniels, 5. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, 6. 65-Kris Jackson, 7. 88-Chad Wheeler, 8. 85-Jamie Davis, 9. 37K-Kelly Estey, 10. 0-Cole Searing, 11. 88XXX-Randy Klein, 12. RED1-Dan Wheeler, 13. 27XX-Tommy Richards, 14. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel, 15. 66-Ethan Isaacs, 16. 18-JC Morton, 17. 33X-Justin Froemming, 18. 28-Andy Bryant, 19. 21B-Brandon Kenny, 20. 00-Cody Jolly, 21. 02-Andrew Schroeder, 22. 39-Stephen Muilenburg, 23. 3E-Robbie Eilers, 24. 31S-Cody Smith, 25. 28W-Brennon Weight.
Modified A-Feature (20 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens, 2. 60-Dan Ebert, 3. 75S-Cody Skytland, 4. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek, 5. 15-Ryan Mikkelson, 6. 1M-Mitch Keeter, 7. 9H-Evan Hubert, 8. 71-Jim Body, 9. 18JR-Chase Sigg, 10. 160-Michael Maggard, 11. 2G-Troy Girolamo, 12. 21T-Lance Town, 13. 73B-Mickey Burrell, 14. 75-Tad Davis, 15. 55-Tyler Davis, 16. 87-Darron Fuqua, 17. 40-Jesse Willard, 18. 20-Dev Malmlov, 19. 9D8-Paden Phillips, 20. 9F-Jerad Fuller.
Action resumes at Humboldt Speedway on March 14th with a practice session for the USTMS King of America VIII. The event will feature a stand-alone USMTS event on March 15th followed by two nights of action on March 16th and 17th before the crowning of the King.
Stay tuned to social media and the track website for up-to-the-minute race status and news at www.humboldtspeedway.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thehumboldtspeedway. The speedway is located at 1663 Georgia Road, Humboldt, Kansas. General Track Phone is 620-473-3694 or 620-433-7180. Technical inspection questions may be addressed with Carl Flower at 785-640-6104.
Submitted By: Ryan Whitworth