Tuesday, October 30, 2018

North State Modified Series Season Recap

Kris Price led Randy Houston across the finish line at the season opener at Shasta Speedway to jump-start his run for the 2018 North State Modified Series championship.

Via Nadine Strauss/NSMS Media

North State Modified Series (NSMS), presented by Protect the Harvest, now has five years of history in the record books. The series traveled from Redwood Acres Raceway on California's north coast in Eureka, up Highway 5 to Shasta Speedway in Anderson, over the mountains to Lakeport Speedway on the west shores of Clearlake, west to Highway 101's Ukiah Speedway, back down the valley to All American Speedway in Roseville, and all the way to the middle of the state of California to Madera Speedway. The schedule will once again expand to Stockton 99 Speedway in 2019.

NSMS dedicated its 2018 racing season to cancer awareness and research, and the “Driving Out Cancer Tour” collected and donated over $5,500 toward cancer awareness.

The 2018 season saw 49 different drivers compete with a high car count of 27 and an average of 20 cars per event. There were six different feature winners this year and seven different winners in the Lucas Oil Dash for Cash. Eight drivers shared the Ward Land Management and Development Fast Time Award. The fields were close all season long with usually less than one second per lap separating the fastest and slowest cars.

Kris Price of Sacramento was the dominant force in 2018, taking home four NSMS wins and capturing the North State Modified Series championship. He won both the season opener in May and the September race at Shasta Speedway. Price also had back-to-back victories in July at All American Speedway and Ukiah Speedway. He only finished out of the top 5 one time.

Other feature winners in 2018 were Jason Philpot of Sacramento (Redwood Acres Raceway, May 27), Cameron Austin of Santa Rosa (Madera Speedway, June 9), Kyle Tellstrom from Ukiah (Ukiah Speedway June 23), Darrin Sullivan of Kelseyville (Redwood Acres Raceway, July 21), and Eric Price II of Rio Linda (All American Speedway, October 13.)

Dustin DeRosier of Cloverdale finished second in the 2018 championship race chalking up six top-5 finishes. His season bests were two third place runs at both Ukiah and Roseville.

Eric Price II's big October Classic win at All American Speedway boosted him from fifth in the standings to third. Eric Johnson and Darrin Sullivan, both from Kelseyville, placed fourth and fifth.

Sixth through tenth in points went to Terry Deal of Roseville, Cameron Austin, Jason Philpot, Ian Elliott from Lakeport, and Rick Avila of Pleasanton.

The 2018 NSMS Championship Awards Banquet and End of the Year Celebration will be held at Granzella's Restaurant in Williams, California, on January 26.

The North State Modified Series is presented by: Protect the Harvest, Lucas Oil, Ward Land Management & Development, Hoosier Tire West, Sunoco Race Fuels, Naake Suspension, Five Star Bodies, Racer Bling, Scribner Plastics, and Frank's Radios.