CORTLAND, N.Y. (Sept. 20-21, 2024) – Going into the two night Turbo Blue Weekend at Skyline Motorsports Park, Rodney Morgan was second in points in the Close Racing Supply NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series standings with two wins on the season.
At the end of the second night of racing, he had doubled his win total and was not only the points leader but his two feature wins clinched the title of the 2024 series for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds.
Morgan also becomes the first driver to have two championships in the four-year history of
the series.
Prior to this weekend’s racing, Morgan trailed Keith Lamphere by 15 points, but Lamphere became a new father this weekend and did not make the trip north.
Twenty-two cars signed in for the Friday night show. The redraw put heat winners Tyler Belcher, Rich Michaels Jr. and Morgan all mid-pack.
Logan Terry and Jason Butler led the lineup to the green flag. Butler was on top during the early laps, but Terry kept the pressure on and had the lead on a couple circuits.
On the ninth lap, Butler made contact with the wall exiting turn two, and with a tire going down, headed pit side and handed the lead to Terry. At that point, Belcher was just inches off Terry’s back bumper, with Morgan a close third and Michaels solidly in fourth.
That quartet kept fans on the edge of their seats for a number of laps as first Belcher, then Morgan
and Michaels, improved their position, moving Terry back to fourth.
On the 19th lap, Belcher slipped high on the exit of turn four, and the lead trio took the five to go signal three-wide. Morgan took over the top spot, with Michaels keeping the pressure on, but he was unable to stop Morgan’s run to the win.
Belcher was a close third at the finish, with Shawn Bruce coming from the back of the pack
to grab fourth. J.J. Courcy rounded out the top five.
Nimble Hill Media Solutions added to the payout for second and third-place finishers in each of the three heats.
Saturday saw 19 cars return to the speedway for night two. Precision Hydraulic and Oil added to the MIDOSA USA Ltd. heat purse for the evening’s qualifying.
After the redraw, Mike Wilcox and Jacob McConnell brought the feature field to green, and after a spirited battle, McConnell led the way. The top two cars from Friday, Morgan and Michaels, started side-by-side in the fifth row, and immediately started their march to the front.
A couple multi-car incidents in the early going shuffled the field, but by the ninth lap, the lead pack was McConnell, Morgan and Michaels.
On a lap nine restart, contact between Michaels and Terry put both to the back with Terry retiring for the night on the next lap. Morgan and McConnell then began a side-by-side battle for the lead that lasted nearly three laps.
Morgan persevered and two laps later, McConnell’s night ended with handling problems. Michaels was on the charge from the back and by the 18th lap was third and challenging Mike Wilcox for
second.
With five to go, Michaels was on the leader’s bumper but couldn’t quite pull off a pass before the checkered flag, settling for second behind Morgan for the second night in a row.
Some great racing in the next group shuffled the running order a bit, as Shawn Bruce finished third, Wilcox held on for fourth and Tyler Stoddard was fifth.
With two wins on the weekend, Morgan mathematically clinched the 2024 series championship but there is room for movement in the remaining points order.
The Close Racing Supply NY-PENN IMCA Modified Series presented by Insinger Performance will be featured at Woodhull Raceway this coming Saturday, Sept. 28, for the series final points show of the 2024 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season.
The first green flag of the night flies at 5:30 p.m.
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