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VINTON, Iowa (Oct. 1) –
Two wins on the final weekend of the 2010 race season made Zane DeVilbiss
IMCA’s national Modified champion. DeVilbiss won Sept. 24 and
Sept. 25 features at Utah’s Desert Thunder Raceway. The sweep gave him the
track title and another 24 bonus points – he’d gotten the same bonus by
winning the EQ Cylinder Heads Wild West Tour – allowed the Farmington, N.M.,
driver to leapfrog Keith White of Little River Academy, Texas, and David
Murray Jr. of Oberlin, Kan., into the top spot. The first IMCA national
champion from New Mexico in any division, DeVilbiss earns a $10,000 share of
the divisional point fund, plus another $2,500 for winning the ButlerBuilt
Western Region title and numerous contingency awards. His 21 feature wins came
in five states, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. With
opportunities to race for points closer to home few and far between, he
towed more than 50,000 miles in racing elsewhere around the region. “We started off running
for Wild West Tour points, then regional points,” said DeVilbiss, 23 years
old and in his fourth Modified season. “It went down to the wire and a lot
of things had to go right for us the last weekend of the tour and again the
last weekend at Desert Thunder, but we pulled it off.” DeVilbiss is the second
driver from the Western Region to win IMCA’s national Modified title. Scott
Pounds of Bakersfield, Calif., was the first, in 1994. A maximum of 24 bonus
points, based on average car counts, were awarded for each of as many as two
local track championships, or for one track and for one special series
title, in determining IMCA national and regional standings. White had 35
bonus points, Murray 34. White repeated as the top
driver in South Central Region points, while winning a record matching fifth
national crown in the Southwest Racing Specialties Southern SportMod
division, plus two track championships and the Allstar Performance State
title in each class. He also set a new single season IMCA record for total
feature victories in multiple divisions, 31 in a Modified and 19 in the
SportMod. Murray topped the Central
Region ranks with a single division record 44 checkers this season, upping
his IMCA best total for the Modified division to 482 career wins. He won
three local track titles and a special series championship, establishing
another IMCA mark with 22 career Modified track crowns. Scott Hogan of Vinton won
nine features and a pair of track titles enroute to the North Central Region
prize. Kevan Cook of Constantia, N.Y., had five wins and a track
championship to repeat as king of the Eastern Region. Mike Nichols of Harlan won
both national and Probe Industries Northern Region IMCA Sunoco Stock Car
trophies for the fourth time. He topped 29 features and earned three track
titles in besting defending champion Dustin Smith of Lake City for bragging
rights. Both Nichols and
Stephenville Starter Southern Region champion Duain Pritchett of Combine,
Texas, scored their 200th career feature wins this season.
Pritchett also paced points at two tracks to notch his fourth career
regional crown. Atlantic’s Shannon
Anderson became the first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock driver to earn three
straight national titles. Champion at two tracks, his 32 feature wins
included his career 100th in the class. David Bissonnette of
Stephenville, Texas, led the way in the Southern Region for Hobbies, with 15
wins and a track title. First time national
champions are Austin Kaplan of Ankeny in the Karl Chevrolet Northern
SportMods and Darick Lamberson of Grand Island, Neb., in the Mach-1 Sport
Compacts. Kaplan had 17 feature wins
and two 24-point track championships in taking the Northern SportMod crown.
Defending champion Jesse Sobbing was runnerup this time around, with 16
feature victories and two track titles of his own. Lamberson paced the Sport
Compacts with nine wins and a pair of track titles. Both classes have yet to
see a repeat champion, the Northern SportMods in six years, the Sport
Compacts over four seasons. Final point races for all
six divisions were held Sept. 26. Ray Guss Jr. of Milan, Ill., was IMCA’s
national Late Model champion; final point races in that class were in
August. National rookies of the
year are Jacob Waterman of Milan, Ill., Modified; Andy Eckrich, Late Model;
Nathan Wood of Keswick, Stock Car; Nick Meyer of Whittemore, Hobby Stock;
Tad Reutzel of Burt, Northern Sportmod; Jared Rady of Bertram, Texas,
Southern SportMods; and Justice Colson, Grand Island, Neb., Sport Compacts. Top rookies in the
Modified regions were Scott Smith of Cottonwood, Ariz., in the Western;
Waterman in the North Central; Zach Schultz of North Platte, Neb., in the
Central; Robert Black of Waco, Texas, in the South Central; and Matt Roberts
of Afton, N.Y., in the Eastern. Rookies of the year in the
Stock Car regions were Wood in the Northern and Richard Valentine of Harker
Heights, Texas, in the Southern. Rookies of the year in the
regions for Hobby Stocks were Meyer in the Northern and Aaron Elliott of
Hawley, Texas, in the Southern. Stock Car driver Robin
Batt of Harker Heights, Texas, had the highest point total among all female
competitors to earn the Lady Eagle award. All champions and rookies
of the year will be recognized during IMCA’s national awards banquet on
Saturday, Nov. 27 in Lincoln, Neb.
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