After becoming the youngest winner in DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals history two years ago, a now 16-year-old Hunt Gossum has doubled down at Oakshade Raceway, winning the Modified portion of the Birthday Race for the second time in his career.
“I love this place,” Gossum, of Mayfield, KY, said in Victory Lane. “Every time we come here, it’s always a great racetrack.”
Gossum started on the outside pole and made his trip around the 3/8-mile look easy, despite some tough competition from behind. With Modified big dogs like Chad Bauer, Dylan Woodling and Curt Spalding in his rearview the entire time, Gossum never cracked once under the pressure.
Several cautions were thrown over the 25-lap affair, which meant Gossum had to play superb defense on the restarts. Which, he did. Five times, to be exact. His biggest challenge came from veteran racer Spalding, who chased the #99 in the closing laps but could not get close enough to attempt the pass.
“On the race receiver, I heard ‘5CS’ behind me, so I knew it was Spalding. I know he’s fast, so I was just trying to protect the bottom and it worked out,” Gossum said.
Gossum sailed across the line with a 1.5-second gap to collect his first $1,500 check of the season, while Spalding, Woodling, Brian Ruhlman and Bauer completed the top-five.
Feature (25 Laps) 1. 99-Hunt Gossum[2]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[6]; 3. 3W-Dylan Woodling[4]; 4. 49-Brian Ruhlman[10]; 5. 19-Chad Bauer[1]; 6. 53S-Bobby Stremme[8]; 7. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[5]; 8. 12M-John McClure[9]; 9. 117-Kevin Reeve[3]; 10. 65-Todd Sherman[23]; 11. 22T-Tony Anderson[16]; 12. 45-Robby Henderson[19]; 13. 9-Garrett Rons[21]; 14. 1X-Brad Keckler[13]; 15. 23-Luke Hubbell[17]; 16. 66W-Jack Waldfogel[24]; 17. 114-Clayton Bryant[11]; 18. 4G-Bill Griffith[22]; 19. 25-Josh Lolmaugh[14]; 20. 9PG-Percy Gendreau[15]; 21. 8C-Corey Bevard[7]; 22. 71-Drew Smith[12]; 23. 4T-Hillard Miller[18]; 24. 60-Shannon Fisk[20]
Qualifying Group 1 (2 Laps) 1. 99-Hunt Gossum, 00:16.444[13]; 2. 8C-Corey Bevard, 00:16.627[16]; 3. 12M-John McClure, 00:16.635[4]; 4. 117-Kevin Reeve, 00:16.729[12]; 5. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum, 00:16.845[1]; 6. 114-Clayton Bryant, 00:16.973[18]; 7. 9-Garrett Rons, 00:17.089[20]; 8. 74D-Craig Dippman, 00:17.112[8]; 9. 92-Zach Stotz, 00:17.202[19]; 10. 9C-Troy Cattarene, 00:17.202[14]; 11. 23-Luke Hubbell, 00:17.379[11]; 12. 86-Louis Miller, 00:17.408[7]; 13. 45-Robby Henderson, 00:17.409[6]; 14. 9PG-Percy Gendreau, 00:17.585[10]; 15. 1X-Brad Keckler, 00:17.623[15]; 16. 32H-Dan Hubbell, 00:17.706[17]; 17. 32-Scott Boyd Jr, 00:17.937[9]; 18. 87Z-George Zieman, 00:17.985[5]; 19. 53-Brad Johnson, 00:18.027[2]; 20. 77T-Thomas Doty, 00:18.356[21]; 21. (DNS) 53D-Pete Dotson
Qualifying Group 2 (2 Laps) 1. 49-Brian Ruhlman, 00:16.411[4]; 2. 65-Todd Sherman, 00:16.444[21]; 3. 3W-Dylan Woodling, 00:16.576[18]; 4. 19-Chad Bauer, 00:16.667[19]; 5. 5CS-Curt Spalding, 00:16.674[20]; 6. 53S-Bobby Stremme, 00:16.754[15]; 7. 60-Shannon Fisk, 00:16.839[3]; 8. 4G-Bill Griffith, 00:16.842[5]; 9. 25-Josh Lolmaugh, 00:16.904[8]; 10. 22T-Tony Anderson, 00:16.914[7]; 11. 4T-Hillard Miller, 00:16.952[16]; 12. 71-Drew Smith, 00:17.139[17]; 13. 98-Timothy Meine, 00:17.252[2]; 14. 71S-Joe Smith, 00:17.395[10]; 15. 96J-Derek Michaelsen, 00:17.480[9]; 16. 17-Nick Felkey, 00:17.503[13]; 17. 4-Logan Beckwith, 00:17.593[6]; 18. 55D-Casey Keyosky, 00:17.917[1]; 19. 622-Jacob Gamber, 00:18.072[11]; 20. 66W-Jack Waldfogel, 00:18.075[12]; 21. 27-Andrew Jones, 00:18.481[22]; 22. 71H-Chris Hicks, 00:18.547[14]
Heat 1 (10 Laps) 1. 99-Hunt Gossum[1]; 2. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[3]; 3. 12M-John McClure[2]; 4. 1X-Brad Keckler[8]; 5. 23-Luke Hubbell[6]; 6. 45-Robby Henderson[7]; 7. 9-Garrett Rons[4]; 8. 92-Zach Stotz[5]; 9. 32-Scott Boyd Jr[9]; 10. 53-Brad Johnson[10]; 11. (DNS) 53D-Pete Dotson
Heat 2 (10 Laps) 1. 117-Kevin Reeve[2]; 2. 8C-Corey Bevard[1]; 3. 114-Clayton Bryant[3]; 4. 9PG-Percy Gendreau[7]; 5. 9C-Troy Cattarene[5]; 6. 32H-Dan Hubbell[8]; 7. 77T-Thomas Doty[10]; 8. 74D-Craig Dippman[4]; 9. 87Z-George Zieman[9]; 10. 86- Louis Miller[6]
Heat 3 (10 Laps) 1. 3W-Dylan Woodling[2]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[3]; 3. 49-Brian Ruhlman[1]; 4. 25-Josh Lolmaugh[5]; 5. 4T-Hillard Miller[6]; 6. 60-Shannon Fisk[4]; 7. 622-Jacob Gamber[10]; 8. 98-Timothy Meine[7]; 9. 96J-Derek Michaelsen[8]; 10. 27-Andrew Jones[11]; 11. (DNS) 4-Logan Beckwith
Heat 4 (10 Laps) 1. 19-Chad Bauer[2]; 2. 53S-Bobby Stremme[3]; 3. 71-Drew Smith[6]; 4. 22T-Tony Anderson[5]; 5. 17-Nick Felkey[8]; 6. 71H-Chris Hicks[11]; 7. 66W-Jack Waldfogel[10]; 8. 55D-Casey Keyosky[9]; 9. 4G-Bill Griffith[4]; 10. 65-Todd Sherman[1]; 11. 71S-Joe Smith[7]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps) 1. 23-Luke Hubbell[1]; 2. 45-Robby Henderson[3]; 3. 9C-Troy Cattarene[2]; 4. 92-Zach Stotz[7]; 5. 32-Scott Boyd Jr[9]; 6. 32H-Dan Hubbell[4]; 7. 53-Brad Johnson[11]; 8. 87Z-George Zieman[10]; 9. 9-Garrett Rons[5]; 10. 77T-Thomas Doty[6]; 11. (DNS) 74D-Craig Dippman; 12. (DNS) 86-Louis Miller; 13. (DNS) 53D-Pete Dotson
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps) 1. 4T-Hillard Miller[1]; 2. 60-Shannon Fisk[3]; 3. 622-Jacob Gamber[5]; 4. 66W-Jack Waldfogel[6]; 5. 71S-Joe Smith[14]; 6. 71H-Chris Hicks[4]; 7. 55D-Casey Keyosky[8]; 8. 27-Andrew Jones[11]; 9. 98-Timothy Meine[7]; 10. 96J-Derek Michaelsen[9]; 11. 17-Nick Felkey[2]; 12. 65-Todd Sherman[12]; 13. 4G-Bill Griffith[10]; 14. (DNS) 4-Logan Beckwith