LAS VEGAS — Kollin Hibdon battled through stiff competition to claim the 25-lap, $2,500-to-win modified feature on night two of the Las Vegas Dirt Nationals at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Austin Holcombe and Ricky Alvarado swapped the lead early, trading sliders before Holcombe prevailed and lengthened his advantage on the field. As Holcombe struggled in lapped traffic, Alvarado and Hibdon’s No. A machine closed in, with Hibdon getting second spot from Alvarado, then finally taking the lead with a slider on Holcombe with six laps to go.
The Las Vegas Dirt Nationals is Hibdon’s first chance at driving an Open Mod, as he usually runs under IMCA rules. His Modified was converted to fit the USRA rule set this week.
Holcombe barely beat Alvarado – who’s running a crate engine – for second.
Thursday night’s winner, Rodney Sanders, finished fourth and Travis Mosley was fifth.
Ridge Abbott came from the back to the front and claimed victory in the Dwarf Car feature.
After mechanical issues in his heat race, Abbott – who’s from nearby Henderson – started last in a field of 24 cars and maneuvered his No. 4X into the 15-lap, $500-to-win feature’s Top 5 in just a handful of laps. As Dillon Coyne, Dylan Budnik, John Foster and David Teves swapped the lead, Abbott methodically drove past them all, took the top spot with seven laps to go and went on to victory. Before Abbott joined the party, those four took turns at the front, with Teves leading when Abbott came to call.
Teves finished second, Budnik third, Coyne fourth and Stacy Woods finished fifth.
Luke Ramsey grabbed his second feature in two nights, fending off charges from John Watson and Solomon Bennett in the 15-lap, $500-to-win Hobby Stock main event. Ramsey (Bedford, Iowa) started on pole, but relinquished the lead on the break, as Watson snuck by on the bottom. It took just a handful of laps for Ramsey to re-take the lead, though, and Ramsey’s No. 17 held serve through two caution periods. After a lap-eight incident Solomon Bennett tried to snatch the lead away with an aggressive dive to Ramsey’s inside. He wouldn’t succeed, however, and Ramsey drove away over the final seven laps.
Watson finished second, Bennett third, Brent Ricker finished fourth and Adam Tiscareno fifth.
Seth Christian held off a proverbial hornet’s nest of challengers to win the 15-lap West Coast Sport Compact $500-to-win feature.
Christian beat Greg Baronian by 0.072 as Baronian rolled the top and nearly nipped Christian at the line.
Due to high winds, the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series feature scheduled for Friday will be moved to Saturday.
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