Burt Myers recorded his third consecutive SMART Modified Tour win on Friday night at Ace Speedway. Photo: Phil Cavali
Burt Myers drove to his third straight SMART Modified Tour victory on Friday night at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina.
With the win, Myers became the first driver to record three straight series victories since L.W. Miller in 2003. Miller went on to win six in a row.
“That sounds good,” Myers said. “L.W. used to kick out butt on a regular basis. “Jason (Myers, brother) told me before the race he was worried. I said, ‘What do ya mean? We qualified 10th.’ He said, ‘When you don’t qualify good, your car is good in the race.’
“We knew we were good too, but we got into that altercation early in the race. We came in and the left rear trailing-arm was about to fall off the thing. Who knows if we would have had anything for the 7 (Caleb Heady). I don’t know what happened to him, but once we got that clean air we were hard to beat.”
Myers took the lead Heady when the shifter broke on Heady’s car during a restart on lap 81 of the 99-lap race. Myers then held off NASCAR Cup Series veteran Ryan Newman for the victory.
“This feels good. We waited a long time,” said Myers, who had not won a race on the SMART Tour since 2004 prior to this string of victories. “Guys like Ryan (Newman), the two Bobby’s (Measmer and Labonte, the 7 (Heady), this southern Modified group with the SMART Tour is really strong. So to be able to come out here and win this race tonight, to honor Robert Jeffreys, and win three in a row after that dry steak, it tickles my heart to see this going so good.”
For Newman, the race resulted in a runner-up finish. It was his fourth top 6 finish in as many starts this season.
“We were loose the whole night. We got it better and we just held on,” explained Newman. “Thanks to all the fans for coming tonight. I think we put on a pretty good show for them. We put up a fight on the outside for some of those restarts and that is not the place to be.”
Bobby Measmer, Jr., finished in third, with Brandon Ward in fourth, and Carson Loftin in fifth.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Labonte, Dawsonville, Georgia’s Spencer Davis, Zach Brewer, Jeremy Gerstner, and Jason Myers rounded out the top 10.
The SMART Modified returns to Carteret County Speedway in Swansboro, North Carolina on Saturday, September 2. For more information, visit SMARTModTour.com.
SMART Modified Tour
Ace Speedway – Altamahaw, NC
Race Results – August 25, 2023
1. Burt Myers
2. Ryan Newman
3. Bobby Measmer, Jr.
4. Brandon Ward
5. Carson Loftin
6. Bobby Labonte
7. Spencer Davis
8. Zach Brewer
9. Jeremy Gerstner
10. Jason Myers
11. Tom Buzze
12. Tim Brown
13. Dennis Holdren
14. Cody Norman
15. Bussy Beavers
16. Caleb Heady
17. Brian Loftin
18. Jimmy Wallace
19. Jonny Kay
20. Joey Coulter
21. Gary Young, Jr.
22. Brian Weber
23. Michael Ritch
24. Lee Jeffreys
25. Daniel Yates
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.