By Ben Deatherage
RAPID CITY, S.D. (July 12, 2024) – The final checkers thrown Dakota Classic Modified Tour powered by Industrial Electric, Eric Mass made a beeline for his home turf and the .38 Special for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds at Black Hills Speedway.
Then he made a beeline for victory lane to collect the $1,000 payday and accompanying Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility.
Mass led from lap 14 to the green, white, checkered finish, the win his ninth of 2024. Brent Nielsen and Travis Tooley were next across the stripe.
Nielsen had grabbed the initial race lead going into the first set of corners and held on to first place while a melee for second occurred. Tooley stayed ahead of Connor Friske and Mass on the second circuit, with Mass in close proximity.
On lap three, Friske ripped the top to get around Mass and then worked on Tooley. With four circuits complete, Friske got a little too close to the outside wall, which killed his momentum, resulting in Mass getting around him for third.
Mass was still working as he transitioned to the high side, shortly after dispatching Friske and overtook Tooley for second at the line of lap five. Through all of this Nielsen had established a healthy gap over the rest of the pack but it would evaporate due to a stoppage with eight down.
With the field bunched up, Mass went on a charge to the front. Mass blitzed to the front to become the new race leader on lap nine. Nielsen stuck with him and made it a close contest and retrieved the position with seven to go.
The race’s see-saw nature did not stop, as Mass had a slight advantage at the line with 14 down. Mass got in a good rhythm, created a healthy lead, and was on his way to winning, but the yellow came out for the final time, setting up a green, white, checkered finish.
On the restart, Mass jetted out in front of the rest of everyone else and scoring the triumph.
John Garrigan Jr. continued his winning ways in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature, collecting the checkers from eighth starting.
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