Troy Regier back home in Winner’s Circle

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Car owners Tom Silsby and Steve Shaw recently made a few changes to the chassis and set-up of the racecar in hopes of bringing

better handling to the baby blue No. 98. The hard work by the team paid off tremendously as Regier drove one of his best races to add another Vukovich Classic trophy to his mass collection.

“Those guys went on one heck of a ride tonight,” said Shaw. “But it was well worth it. They were two great guys.”

A field of 15 supermodifieds too the green flag for the 50-lap main event. Pole-sitter Pat Whittet of Boise, Idaho took the early lead after beginning on the front row. Lonnie Adamson of Salt Lake City challenged and gained the lead 11 laps out. As Jim Birges, who hails from Fresno, charged inside of Whittet for the fifth position, Birges tapped the inside of Whittet causing Whittet to spin in turn 2. At the restart it was Adamson in the lead, Bobby Dalton of San Martin,Calif. in second, Regier third, A.J. Russell of Clovis, Calif. fourth and Birges fifth.

The battle for second was on between Regier and Dalton with Regier inching his way inside Dalton on lap 14 for second. Regier then set his sights on Adamson as the crowed cheered for both driversw. Both Adamson and Regier worked through lapped traffic, splitting between cars on the front and back stretches and in the turns. As Adamson and Regier counted down the laps, Birges had made his way to them to make it a three-way fight for the lead.

As Adamson approached the lapped car of Lance Jackson, Regier chose the low line going down the back straight and was able to shut out Adamson behind Jackson taking the lead in turns 3-4.

As the caution flew on lap 43 for Whittet’s spin in 3-4, Regier found Birges on his tail in the second spot. At the restart, Birges got a better jump on Regier coming out of turn 4 and took a slight advantage for the lead. Not ever going down without a fight, Regier came back on the inside and the two battled side-by-side bringing the crowd to its feet for the remainder of the race.

“Troy drove such an excellent race, he takes full advantage of whatever he can and of the car to get up front and win the race,” Shaw said. “And the other drivers did an excellent job, too. Lonnie and Jim both.

“When I got Troy on that restart, I thought I had him. But his car was working well on the bottom of the track and he got me back. This was a great race for the fans. One to remember.”