HIGHLAND, Ill. — There are few things that are as automatic as Mike Harrison is at Highland Speedway.
Harrison, the six-time DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals champion, led all 25 laps of Saturday’s main event to bank his ninth career Summit Modified triumph at Highland and his 64th career series victory.
“I’ve got more laps around this place than anybody in the Modifieds here,” Harrison said. “This is like home to me. I literally live right here in town, I made my first start here and I’ll probably make my last start here. It’s always fun coming back home and especially when you’re racing in front of a Summer Nationals crowd. It’s always fun winning in front of the hometown.”
Harrison shot to the lead at the drop of the green flag, turning away a challenge from Ray Bollinger to lead the opening lap. A multi-car stack-up in Turn 1 forced a restart on Lap 2, which Harrison swiftly handled as Zeke McKenzie took the runner-up spot from Bollinger behind him.
For the next 23 laps, Harrison put on a clinic, extending his gap on the field up to over three seconds at its largest before crossing under the checkered flag nearly two-and-a-half seconds over McKenzie in second.
Bollinger, Jacob Steinkoenig and Damian Kiefer rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 24H-Mike Harrison[1]; 2. 24-Zeke McKenzie[3]; 3. 77-Ray Bollinger[2]; 4. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[6]; 5. 0-Damian Kiefer[5]; 6. 14C-Rick Conoyer[18]; 7. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[8]; 8. 95S-Rick Salter[4]; 9. 87Z-Zeb Moake[7]; 10. 51-Timmy Hill[11]; 11. 94-Mark Clary[10]; 12. 787-Cody Zobrist[15]; 13. T23-John Toppozini[14]; 14. 21T-Talen Beard[16]; 15. 88L-Christian Lee[22]; 16. 19S-Nathan Schmitt[20]; 17. (DNF) 52-Billy Knebel[17]; 18. (DNF) 25X-Kyle Helmick[9]; 19. (DNF) 29-Chris Spalding[13]; 20. (DNF) E55-Chad Sellers[12]; 21. (DNF) 816-Travis Raterman[19]; 22. (DNF) 45S-Chandler Smith[21]
