By Morgan Colegrove
SUSQUEHNNA, Pa. (Sept. 14, 2024) – A Friesen Performance IMCA Modified rookie reigned at the Sean Lias Memorial, part of the King of the Can show Saturday at Penn Can Speedway.
Brad Delamater earned $1,037 for his career first win in the division while becoming eligible for 2025 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying. The 57-year-old from Wyalusing was making his fifth Close Racing Supply NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series presented by Insinger Performance start.
“This was probably one of my most exciting wins ever, especially with how competitive this class is,” said Delamater, who had a goal of getting a heat race win this season and got a feature win instead. “We’ve had some decent starts and knew we had the car (a 2014 Victory) to win. We just had to keep ourselves out of trouble and stay smart.”
Brandon Smith and A.J. Hunsinger made last-lap moves in their respective heats to get into the redraw for the feature and drew the front row starting spots to lead the field to green in the main event.
2023 King of the Can winner Rodney Morgan was charging from his sixth place starting spot and made an outside move to take second on the fourth lap, but a right rear tire going soft put him sideways in turn one. The multi-car incident retired Hunsinger, Morgan, and past Penn Can winner Jakub Ingham from the event.
Delamater dropped in behind Smith on the restart, with Matt Roberts, who was making his first start of 2024, and Tyler Stoddard debating third.
Tyler Belcher, who had started 15th, took over fifth on lap eight. With Smith leading, the top five remained unchanged through the middle portion of the race, until Stoddard and Roberts dropped from contention on lap 17.
Smith began to have handling problems on the restart and both Delamater and Belcher got by. Belcher pulled alongside and took the top spot on a couple of occasions, but a flurry of late race yellows negated the pass each time.
By series officials’ decision, the race ended under yellow on lap 23, with Delamater leading. Belcher settled for second with Mike Wilcox third. Keith Lamphere made a steady run after starting 12th to get fourth and hang onto the series points lead, with Smith salvaging a fifth place finish.
Delamater had returned to racing three years ago after a 28-year hiatus, winning the rear wheel drive open class track title at The Hill Speedway in 2022.
“I really like being part of the tight group of guys around here racing the IMCA Modified,” he said. “They’re real competitive but not one of them wouldn’t give you the tire off their car if you needed it.”
Twenty-one cars were on hand for the Saturday show. The Sean Lias Memorial honored the eight-time Eastern Region champion, who passed away in 2015.
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