HIGHLAND - Jordan English of Benton, Ill., won the 50-lap feature race for the second time in the past three weeks, while Nick Hoffman won the 25-lap Modified race as the DIRTCar Summer Nationals series races Saturday night at Highland Speedway.
In the Modified race, Hoffman won despite breaking his left-real shock absorber and suspension, leading hims to run the final 14 laps of the race without his suspension. Despite the trouble, Hoffman held off six-time Modified champion Mike Harrison of Highland to take the checkered flag.
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Hoffman started on the outside pole in row one and quickly built a big lead over Harrison, but trouble ensued on lap 11 when Hoffman's suspension let go. One lap later, the race was temporarily stopped to clean up a wreck in turn two, but once the race resumed, Hoffman had little trouble despite his suspension problems in going on to the win over Harrison, gaining his 68th career win in the series.
Hoffman was the winner, with Harrison coming in second, Rick Conoyer finished third, Willy Myers was fourth, placing fifth was Chris Smith, Bret Elierman came in sixth, Zeb Moake was seventh, T.J. Eilers came in eighth, ninth place went to Joe Mercurio and Mark Clary rounded out the top 10.
In the feature race. St. Jacob's Jordan Bauer, a regular at Highland, started on the outside pole and led for the first 33 laps, while English, who started fourth on the grid, looked for ways to pass both Bauer and pole sitter Bobby Pierce, especially during laps three through 20, the longest green flag racing of the night. English took advantage of a restart to pass both Bauer and Pierce to take the lead, then multiple caution periods during the final 15 laps helped English form a strategy that helped him go on to take the checkered flag to win the race.
English won the race, with Shannon Babb coming in second, Jason Feger was third, Pierce ended up finishing fourth, Rusty Schienk was fifth, Matt Bailey came in sixth, Brian Shirley was seventh, Cody Bauer was eighth, Rusty Griffaw was ninth and Payton Freeman rounded out the top 10. Jordan Bauer was 14th in the field.
The series moved to Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. for races on Sunday night and are scheduled throughout the month, ending in Fairbury, Ill. July 29-30.
