BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The SPEARS Modified Series is headed to Irwindale Speedway this Saturday for the General Tire 60 presented by OPTIMA Batteries.
It is the third appearance at Irwindale for the series this year, but it will be the first visit on the big ahlf-mile. Jeremy Doss and Travis McCullough have split victories on the inner course this season, while Eddie Secord leads the championship standings.
Entering the series fifth event of the season, the championship standings have tightened up after championship leader Jeremy Doss had overheating issues at All American Speedway, dropping him from the championship lead.
Doss had scored victories in the first two events of the season, but a runner-up finish to McCullough at Irwindale and a 15th-place finish at Roseville knocked Doss from the top spot.
Doss’ modified record on the half-mile shows a win and a third-place effort, both in 2020. He will look to get back to the top spot in the series.
“I feel like we are in a great position,” Doss said. “We’ve had a great car all year, but a couple little problems took us out of lead. But I think we will be able to regroup this weekend at Irwindale, hopefully taking back over the points lead. The last time we were on the half-mile in the Mod, we picked up the win so I’m hoping to do the same this weekend.”
Secord finds himself in the championship lead after four events. Secord battled Doss down to the wire last year, but settled for second. This season there is a new point system for the modifieds, which mimics the system in place for the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series.
Secord believes consistency will be the key to winning the championship.
“I think the new points layout will award a more consistent year.” Secord explained. “You can’t have a bad race, or you will get set back a lot more. We look at it as if we can just finish top 1-5, have those other teams have one more bad race, and we can make a run at the Championship. Last year I made one bad racing deal, in a race that cost us a shot at the Championship in 2020. I don’t want to make that mistake again.”
That consistency has led to a 655 to 648 lead in the championship standings. McCullough sits third with 639 points with Travis Thirkettle fourth at 625 points.
“The year started off slow for me,” Secord admitted. “We just didn’t have the speed we had the year before. We tried some new setups, but they just didn’t work. So, before Roseville we went back to what we had been running last year and BAM, the car was back, and the speed was there.”
To win the championship, Secord knows that he and the RBK Secord Motorsports team will need to be at the top of their game.
“The teams involved in this tight battle are all awesome teams,” Secord said. “I just need to out-run them this weekend. The Irwindale ½-mile hasn’t been a track I race well at. I have had some good finishes, second beginning the best. I think we can make a run at the win this weekend, we just need to beat three other cars and the rest of the field.
“It should be a great race on the half-mile, which is a little change from the small tracks. But we have two and a row on half-miles, with Kern (County Raceway) being my better track.”
Secord, Doss, McCullough, and Thirkettle will be challenged by top rookies Sam Jacks, Andrew Anderson and Kyle Jacks as well as veterans Jim Mardis, Jimmy Sloan and William Guevara.
The General Tire 60 presented by OPTIMA Batteries will roll off on Saturday, June 12 and will pay $2,500 to the winner. The modifieds will be joined by NASCAR Late Models, INEX Legends, Truck Tire Enduros, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, YouRaceLA Spec Racers and the BMR Drivers Academy.
Admission Gate open at 5:00 pm with main events scheduled to roll off at 7:00 pm. The SPEARS Modified Series will lead off the main event schedule.
Fans unable to attend in person will be able to watch live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Low Budget TV.