2-27 Page 9

Michael Leach, of Sun River, Montana, took home his first-ever UMP Modified victory during the Thursday night program at East Bay Raceway Park. Leach started 14th on the grid and blasted his way to the front for the monumental victory. Fellow WISSOTA-area traveler Ryan Gierke was fifth. (Tyler Carr Photo)

Montana’s Leach gets it done at East Bay, leading the field to the checkered from 14th

From Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing and
All The Dirt! Racing News Staff Reports

TAMPA, FL (February 1) - Drivers never forget their first feature win, and Michael Leach won’t soon forget his at the controls of a DIRTcar UMP Modified.

The 20-year-old from Sun River, Montana, who races among the WISSOTA ranks throughout the regular season, charged all the way from 14th on the starting grid, took the lead with five laps left and held on for his first career UMP Modified Winternationals victory Thursday night at East Bay Raceway Park.

The big smile couldn’t be wiped off Leach’s face in victory lane as he began to soak in his achievement, adding his name to the list of winners at the historic Tampa oval in the final edition of its famed Winternationals event.

“That’s one of the biggest reasons we came — it’s because we knew this place was shutting down and we had to come run it,” Leach said. “I’ve been watching people run at this place my whole life. To be here and race it — a tricky track like this, I didn’t know it was so difficult — is really, really cool.”

To come from seven rows back, Leach needed a big jump on the start and got exactly that, driving from 14th up to ninth in only two laps. From there, he began picking opponents off one-by-one, and by lap eight, had already broken into the top five.

At the head of the field was 18-year-old Cole Czarneski, who took the lead in the opening laps and quickly established himself as a serious contender. A few caution flags before the halfway point restacked the field multiple times, aiding in Leach’s charge to the front.

“Everyone left the top open, so we just went where everyone else wasn’t,” Leach said. “We were lucky enough to get the restarts when we did.”

A restart on lap 12 gave leader Czarneski his first test in keeping the top spot. Lucas Lee, who won Tuesday and Wednesday, found speed on the top lane and zoomed past Czarneski on lap 13, but Czarneski held strong on the bottom, finding the grip and passing Lee back for the lead on lap 15.

Lee’s sudden challenge sparked speed from Czarneski’s No. 21cz, as the young Wisconsin driver went on to open up nearly a full-second advantage on the field. However, by that time, Leach had completed his charge to the front and had only Czarneski in his sights with half of the race left.

For the next 10 laps, Czarneski paced the field around the 1/3-mile oval and soon entered lapped traffic with Leach starting to close in. As he began to sort through the slower cars, Leach drew closer to his rear bumper. When Czarneski came up on a car directly in his lane on the bottom, he stumbled, allowing Leach to shoot by underneath for the lead coming out of turn two.

“I couldn’t get around that lapped car on the bottom, and that pretty much ruined that deal for me,” Czarneski said. “He was able to sneak by; I had no clue he was coming. It’s part of racing.”

Leach was able to get by Czarneski and the lapped cars quickly, speeding off with the lead and the win with over a full second gap by the checkered flag.

“[Czarneski] had us a little bit; it was gonna be tough to pass him,” Leach said. “Thank God that lapped traffic came. If it wasn’t for that lapped traffic, I don’t know if we would’ve been able to get it done.”

Czarneski held on for second while Lee completed the podium. Behind them was a pair of hard-chargers in Kyle Strickler, who came from 15th to finish fourth, and Minnesota racer Ryan Gierke, who drove from 19th to finish fifth.

Gierke’s Florida teammate Joseph Thomas, of Glyndon, Minnesota, started the feature in 24th and picked his way forward to 14th.

SUMMARY

UMP Modifieds:

A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 09-Michael Leach[14]; 2. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[3]; 3. 12L-Lucas Lee[6]; 4. 8S-Kyle Strickler[15]; 5. 26G-Ryan Gierke[19]; 6. 88-David Pollen[9]; 7. 20-Brian Skaggs[7]; 8. 0-Damian Kiefer[13]; 9. 25W-Allen Weisser[12]; 10. 205-Travis Varnadore[8]; 11. 17-Chris Wilson[1]; 12. 2-Devin Dixon[2]; 13. 33-Jeff Mathews[23]; 14. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[24]; 15. 33W-Rodney Wing[18]; 16. 7-Brad Deyoung[21]; 17. 27T-Michael Turner[17]; 18. 77-Ray Bollinger[16]; 19. 8-Jimmy Lennex[11]; 20. B69-Bryan Bernhardt[4]; 21. 64-Austin Sanders[10]; 22. 99J-Treb Jacoby[22]; 23. 8A-Austin Holcombe[5]; 24. 72-Todd Neiheiser[20]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Chris Wilson[1]; 2. 88-David Pollen[3]; 3. 7-Brad Deyoung[5]; 4. M20-Mike Potosky[7]; 5. 27T-Michael Turner[4]; 6. 101-Hunter Feltner[8]; 7. 18C-Miles Cook II[6]; 8. E85-Jesse Strange[2]; 9. 4-Mike Halliday[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Devin Dixon[2]; 2. 64-Austin Sanders[6]; 3. 54H-Zachary Hawk[1]; 4. 10X-Billy Uptegraff[3]; 5. 43J-Jacob Hall[7]; 6. (DNS) 5-Bobby Bagley; 7. (DNS) 14L-Dalton Lane; 8. (DNS) 1W-Brian Wilburn; 9. (DNS) 119-Josh Sigler

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[1]; 2. 8-Jimmy Lennex[2]; 3. 12-Jeff Parsons[4]; 4. 11R-Jeremy Rayburn[3]; 5. 99J-Treb Jacoby[9]; 6. 75R-Jason Russell[5]; 7. 9-Cory Balkey[6]; 8. 14-Skyler Douglas[8]; 9. 16H-Justin Hart[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. B69-Bryan Bernhardt[2]; 2. 25W-Allen Weisser[3]; 3. 33W-Rodney Wing[1]; 4. 9A-Austin O’Dell[4]; 5. 87Z-George Zieman[9]; 6. 81-Jeremy Owens[5]; 7. 0NO-Jamie Layton[6]; 8. 77C-Jason Cox[7]; 9. 19A-Thomas Sigler[8]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 8A-Austin Holcombe[1]; 2. 0-Damian Kiefer[3]; 3. 26G-Ryan Gierke[4]; 4. 33-Jeff Mathews[2]; 5. 14M-Mavrick Varnadore[5]; 6. 14C-Rick Conoyer[7]; 7. 27G-Jason Garver[9]; 8. 37-Devin Wright[6]; 9. (DNS) 23B-Scott Bane

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 12L-Lucas Lee[2]; 2. 09-Michael Leach[1]; 3. 6B-Dave Baldwin[5]; 4. 82-Gary Dillon[4]; 5. 90-Tim Gay[9]; 6. 25-Josh Lolmaugh[8]; 7. 4SA-Kevin DeYoung[7]; 8. 64M-Tim McCafferty[6]; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie[3]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Brian Skaggs[2]; 2. 8S-Kyle Strickler[8]; 3. S21-Seth Daniels[3]; 4. 1H-Ben Harmon[1]; 5. 23Z-Austin Self[5]; 6. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[4]; 7. 05-Dave Wietholder[6]; 8. 15K-Chris Kittle[7]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 205-Travis Varnadore[1]; 2. 77-Ray Bollinger[3]; 3. 72-Todd Neiheiser[6]; 4. A85-Brandon Hutchinson[5]; 5. 8C-Corey Bevard[4]; 6. 11-Tyler Morehouse[8]; 7. 333-Wade Rookard[7]; 8. 3F-Rob Fuqua[2]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 27T-Michael Turner[5]; 2. 7-Brad Deyoung[1]; 3. 18C-Miles Cook II[9]; 4. 1W-Brian Wilburn[12]; 5. 5-Bobby Bagley[8]; 6. 54H-Zachary Hawk[2]; 7. 10X-Billy Uptegraff[4]; 8. E85-Jesse Strange[11]; 9. M20-Mike Potosky[3]; 10. 43J-Jacob Hall[6]; 11. (DNS) 101-Hunter Feltner; 12. (DNS) 14L-Dalton Lane; 13. (DNS) 4-Mike Halliday; 14. (DNS) 119-Josh Sigler

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 33W-Rodney Wing[2]; 2. 99J-Treb Jacoby[5]; 3. 11R-Jeremy Rayburn[3]; 4. 75R-Jason Russell[7]; 5. 14-Skyler Douglas[11]; 6. 16H-Justin Hart[13]; 7. 81-Jeremy Owens[8]; 8. 9-Cory Balkey[9]; 9. 77C-Jason Cox[12]; 10. 12-Jeff Parsons[1]; 11. 87Z-George Zieman[6]; 12. 9A-Austin O’Dell[4]; 13. 19A-Thomas Sigler[14]; 14. 0NO-Jamie Layton[10]

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 26G-Ryan Gierke[1]; 2. 33-Jeff Mathews[3]; 3. 27G-Jason Garver[9]; 4. 6B-Dave Baldwin[2]; 5. 14M-Mavrick Varnadore[5]; 6. 37-Devin Wright[11]; 7. 90-Tim Gay[6]; 8. 25-Josh Lolmaugh[8]; 9. 14C-Rick Conoyer[7]; 10. 82-Gary Dillon[4]; 11. 64M-Tim McCafferty[12]; 12. 23B-Scott Bane[13]; 13. (DNS) 4SA-Kevin DeYoung; 14. (DNS) 24-Zeke McKenzie

B Feature 4 (12 Laps): 1. 72-Todd Neiheiser[2]; 2. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[7]; 3. 1H-Ben Harmon[3]; 4. 3F-Rob Fuqua[12]; 5. 05-Dave Wietholder[9]; 6. 11-Tyler Morehouse[8]; 7. 8C-Corey Bevard[6]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[1]; 9. 23Z-Austin Self[5]; 10. 333-Wade Rookard[10]; 11. 15K-Chris Kittle[11]; 12. (DNS) A85-Brandon Hutchinson