June 23, 2001
Montpelier Speedway hosted the UMP Thunder and Lightning Series Modified race today. Forty-five cars were on hand. The team spent all day Saturday getting the damage repaired from Gas City last night. They did not get out of the shop until 5 p.m., and would not have gotten all repairs made without a fantastic team effort. Qualifying was the first order of the day for the 4S as the team was the next to last car out for the session. Lee Hobbs had set the pace with a lap of 17.71. Doug rolled out and just missed fast time with a lap of 17.73. Six heat races were run with Doug on the pole of heat two. On the green, Doug took command and led flag to flag for the win. A redraw for the heat winners was held to determine the top six spots for the feature. Lady Luck shined on the team with Doug drawing the pole for the feature.
The best of the best started the front 3 rows for the 30 lap A-main. Darren Davis in the 6A was outside the 4S on the front row. Illinois hot shoe Wes Steidinger and T&L point leader Brian Shaw, along with Lee Hobbs and Daryl Herbert made up the rest of the front three rows. The field took the green and Doug jumped out front going into turn one. Doug had the 4S locked to the bottom of the track as Herbert made his way around the 4S on the high side about lap 8. Steidinger followed Herbert, as the high groove seemed to be the fast way around. Doug stayed on the bottom, content to ride there thinking that the top groove may go away. Just before the halfway mark, Doug was still hanging close to the two leaders. Doug went into turn three still locked on the bottom when he was drilled in the left rear corner by the 8Z of Oren Zook. The 4S went very sideways and Elvin Herschberger spun to avoid the mess Zook started, but could not get away from getting collected in the mess. Herschberger has his night ended with a busted front end, and Doug was sent to the tail even though he did not totally stop. Lady Luck had gone away from the 4S with the exception of the fact Zook went to the pits with a flat right rear. After the restart, the 4S could not go forward and was locked into a battle with Don Short. Back up front, Herbert led with Steidinger and Davis each taking shots at him. A late caution for the 40 of Terry Hull bunched up the field. Herbert ran a high and low line and pinched off Davis many times coming off turn two to hold Davis back. The race ended with Herbert the winner. Second went to the 6A Darren Davis and third was the fastest car in the field the S9 of Wes Steidinger. Brent Sutton in the 6S was fourth and Lee Hobbs rounded out the top five. All in all it was not a bad race considering the track conditions. The track was dry slick on the straight-aways and resembled a plowed field in the corners. Doug managed to finish 11th with a torn up car, but that is racing and the team will fix the car and be back this Friday night at Limaland.
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