By Mike Spieker
MESQUITE, Texas (May 30) – A wild Wednesday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway was capped off by an upset win in round four of the IMCA Red River Modified Tour. Mark Carrell started on the pole and picked up the $1,000 payday.
Entering the night, Carrell hadn’t had the best luck with the Red River Mod Tour, making just one A-main appearance through the first three rounds. Devil’s Bowl was a different story for the Redmond, Ore. driver. By night’s end, he pocketed $1,000 and added his name to the Fast Shafts All Star Invitational ballot.
“It was nerve-wracking,” said Carrell of leading the field to the green. “[Devil’s Bowl] is my kind of race track. I was really happy with my car all night. We made a few little adjustments and I just tried to hit my marks and not do anything squirrelly.”
Carrell grabbed the lead on the opening lap as Bo Day, Colin Deming and Chase Allen raced three wide for third behind him.
Max Thomas looked to the inside of Carrell on lap two as both drivers fought for the bottom groove, but Carrell slammed the door shut.
The lone caution of the race flew two laps in, setting up a restart.
“I was a little bit nervous on that restart. My car wanted to drift out to the wall and I figured that’s where they were going to get me, but it all panned out for the best,” said Carrell.
Carrell extended his lead over Thomas as the race reached the halfway point. He had little lapped traffic to contend with on the big half-mile clay oval.
With four to go, Day found an opening and drove to the inside of Thomas down the back straightaway to take the second spot. Day quickly set his sights on Carrell, but he ran out of time as Carrell became the fourth different winner in as many nights of the tour.
Day and Thomas rounded out the podium.
The tour continues Thursday at Grayson County Speedway in Bells, Texas. Stream every lap live on IMCA.TV.
