Jeff Mathews Collects First SSMT Victory at East Bay
GIBSONTON, Fla. (February 10, 2017) – For the second night in a row the Sunshine State Modified Tour brought in a record-tying 56 Modifieds to East Bay Raceway Park for round six of eight. After Kyle Strickler and Kevin Adams dominated the tour in the first five events, a new driver found victory lane by night’s end. Jeff Mathews picked up his first career SSMT feature win, turning in a dominating performance of his own.
Polesitter, Kenny Wallace led the opening circuit before getting surpassed by a hard charging Kevin Adams. The Cameron, Wis. driver maneuvered by Wallace on the outside in turn two to secure the point on lap two. Once out front, Adams looked poised to secure his third win of the tour, but as the race advanced it became clear that he no longer had the fastest car.
Apollo Beach, Florida’s Jeff Mathews not only reeled in Adams, but made a bid for the lead on lap 10. After sizing up Adams for a couple of circuits, Mathews cleared the Brandon Ford No. 40 for the lead exiting turn four, but just as he did the caution wave and negated the pass.
On the restart, Mathews went right after Adams once again and was able to successfully take the lead at the halfway point of the 30-lapper. From there Mathews put his Vivid Graphics No. 33 on cruise control and picked up his first career SSMT feature win.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t think I had anything for [Adams] at the beginning,” said Mathews in victory lane. “Then we started running right through the middle and we stayed stuck to the race track. Then I knew we had something for him there.”
Adams hung on to take second over Wallace, Brad Goff and Mavrick Varnadore.
Round seven of the SSMT will take place Saturday, February 11th at East Bay Raceway Park and will play host to a $5,000-to-win main event and the overall points championship.
The top six in weekend points are locked into Saturday night’s main event and will redraw for the top three rows. They include Kevin Adams, Jeff Mathews, Kenny Wallace, Brad Goff, David Reutimann, and Mavrick Varnadore.
Be sure to watch tomorrow night’s races LIVE on XSAN.TV!
RESULTS:
Feature – 1. Jeff Mathews, 2. Kevin Adams, 3. Kenny Wallace, 4. Kyle Strickler (DQ), 5. Brad Goff, 6. Mavrick Varnadore, 7. Trent Young, 8. Lucas Lee, 9. Ray Bollinger, 10. Todd Shute, 11. Todd Neiheiser, 12. Ashley Newman, 13. Preston Seratt, 14. David Reutimann, 15. Roger Crouse, 16. Travis Varnadore, 17. Dale Kelley, 18. Nathon Loney, 19. Curt Myers, 20. Rick Conoyer, 21. David Wietholder, 22. Mike Potosky, 23. Jason Gross, 24. Shon Flanary, 25. Allen Weisser
