On
Saturday evening of June 14, the race that many
consider to be the crown jewel of pavement Modified
Open shows; the fourth annual SBM 125 IV will take
place at Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire. The
total purse has grown to more than $44,000 as a
result of unprecedented support from race fans and
small businesses, with still ten more days for it to
increase further.
This premier event for tour-type Modifieds has grown
each season since it began in 2011 to help bring
teams extra purse money and this fourth annual will
be no different. It brings the most diverse field of
Modified talent all season to the two-groove
quarter-mile oval known as the track, "Where
Champions are Made," because it is where Champion
drivers such as Chris Perley, Russ Wood and Bobby
Santos learned to win races.
Car counts for the SBM 125 have increased each
season, from 16 in 2011, to 28 and then 32 of the
best last year. That field of 32 had multiple
drivers from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the
Valenti Modified Racing Series and Race of Champions
tour teams competing against the best from Star
Speedway weekly competition.
The combination of this talent level, a two-groove
quarter-mile race track with surface grip, Hoosier
Racing Tires and an optional pit stop for a new
right rear tire forces drivers to race hard to win,
and race fans are the beneficiary of that.
"I consider the SBM 125 to be one of the top ten
races of the year in all of racing," states upstate
New York dirt track race fan Jim Osterhoudt. "Like
the end on year races on the dirt at Penn Can,
Accord and Five Mile Point, the drivers come from
all regions and are not tied down with points and
such.
"Put the best of the three tours on a competitive
track and you have a race that is reminiscent of the
old Oswego 200's. These are not guys that normally
race against each other, and that makes it old time
racing that is missing in many of today's pavement
races. Something the dirt tracks realize is
important, but it seems lost with the tour pavement
races."
This combination of stars, along with a good base
payoff of $25,000, plus an unmatched number of
monetary bonus awards last year that reached nearly
$20,000 in all, make this a race like no other.
Thanks to Long Island race fan Jim Schaefer, every
qualified car this year will have earned $1,000 just
to start the race. Last year's feature winner Matt
Hirschman earned a more than $9,800 payday.
Drivers, such as NWMT Champion Ryan Preece, VMRS
Champion Rowan Pennink, RoC Tour Champion Matt
Hirschman, NWSMT star Andy Seuss, past Star Speedway
Champion Josh Cantara will be challenged by other
champions in their own right.
Kirk Alexander, Andy Jankowiak, Chris Pasteryak,
Todd Szegedy, Woody Pitkat, Jon McKennedy, Max
Zachem, Richard Savary, Tommy Barrett, Steve Masse
and Todd Annarummo are just a few of the names
already making plans to compete at this one of a
kind spectacle.
A majority of the competing race teams will also be
racing for the $10,000 Tri-Track Open Modified
Series Crown, open to those who competed at Lee,
N.H. in May, this event on June 14, and the Seekonk,
Mass., event in July.
Drivers will be racing hard to stay on the top ten
all race long, putting them in position for close to
$7,000 in lap money paid half to the leader and half
to another top ten car on every lap run. An
additional halfway bonus has just been confirmed
that will pay out more than $2,000 in all, split
among the top ten running race teams on lap 63.
Pit gates swing open on this one day Modified show
at 12:00 noon, with practice and qualifying to
follow. Star Speedway weekly division qualifying
that includes the Allen's Outlaw Late Models,
Woody's Strictly Stocks and Kimball Auto Body Road
Runners are tentatively scheduled to begin at at
5:15 PM.
The four quality and very competitive heat races
qualifying five cars each, begin at 6:00 PM, with
features, the SBM 125 B-Main and then the fourth
annual SBM 125 IV scheduled to go green at
approximately 8:30 PM following a few very special
awards during the prerace ceremony.
Mark your calendars now for what promises to be the
one of the best events ever held at Star Speedway,
and likely the highest paying race ever held at the
Epping, New Hampshire oval, located on Route 27,
just off NH Route 125 and 101.
For more information, directions and a list of the
many generous lap and bonus award sponsors to be
updated by this weekend, log onto:
www.star-speedway.com. You can also find
more information on this Tri-Track Open Modified
Series race #2 at:
www.tritrackopenmodifiedseries.com.
Admission is only $25 for adults, $20 for juniors
and seniors, and kids 10 and under are admitted
absolutely FREE with a paid adult. Late breaking
updates can also be found on the Star Speedway or
Tri-Track Open Modified Series facebook pages. |