AUDIO/RECAP: Still On Top; Burt Myers Captures Ace Speedway Checkers for Second KOMA Series Win of 2015

ALTAMAHAW, N.C. — Audio, recap and photo by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman —

With his now-proven 2015 LFR chassis underneath him after a NASCAR-sanctioned win one week ago at Langley (Va.) Speedway, defending KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series champion Burt Myers continued to make the tour his personal playground on Saturday night.

Myers took the lead from brother Jason with 31 laps to go following a late-race restart in the AutismSmilesLLC.org 125 presented by KOMA Unwind and never looked back, running away from the field and exerting his dominance on a series of four late-race restarts to notch his second-straight series victory in the second race of the season.

The win was Myers’ fourth career KOMA tour victory and extends his series points lead. The Citrusafe No. 1 started second on the grid and in total, led 105 of the race’s 125 laps en route to the winner’s circle.

“It’s never easy [to win one of these], even if we make it look that way,” Myers said following the victory celebrations. “I knew Jason would be tough. You know, he’s got the same car, same chassis, same motor, same setup, but I could tell he was a little bit tight — so I used that to my advantage and pinched him down. I knew that if I could get outfront, set my pace and [run] my line that we’d be tough to beat.”

“This car was as good as I’ve ever had [at Ace,” Myers added. “It’s been pretty good for us. I think, even going back to last year, that this car has to be batting about .600 — and that’s a race car driver’s dream, is to have a car that good. Things are just working good for us right now, and all we can try to do is move on from here and try to keep it going.”

At the start, it was Sunoco polesitter Zach Brewer who led the field to the green flag, but Myers immediately jumped to the top spot from the high lane of the race track and stretched out a comfortable lead early on despite running into traffic on lap eight.

The caution flew for the first time on the night on lap 14 when Dan Speeney spun after an accordion-style checkup in turn two, allowing Brewer to close on the rear Nerf bar of Burt Myers, but Myers rocketed away on the restart, allowing Spencer Davis to slide through with him and take over the second spot.

The field remained green until lap 29, when a multi-car pileup in turn one involving Tom Buzze, Mike Norman, Jeremy Mayfield, Speeney and others blocked the track and slowed the pace again, forcing the leaders to park briefly to allow for those involved to restart their cars and rejoin the fray.

Almost as quickly as the field went back to green, the third caution of the event flew at lap 31 when Buzze and Josh Nichols crashed on the backstretch battling for sixth — though Nichols displayed a shower of sparks, both he and Buzze were able to roll away from the accident scene and continue.

Following that incident, a 43 green-flag run shaped up with Myers and Davis able to slot into the top two spots and break away from the field. However, Davis would find extreme trouble fighting through a gaggle of lapped cars, allowing Burt Myers’ lead to grow to a half-straightaway at the halfway point of the event

With the green flag run extending even further, the leaders began to get nervous as potential green-flag pit stops loomed for those who had not yet fulfilled their mandatory pit stop requirement. Those fears would be eliminated, however, when Nichols spun in turn four on lap 74, drawing the fourth caution of the night and allowing the front-runners to drop down to the attention of their crews for service.

As different teams elected different strategies, Jason Myers and Chris Pasteryak were the first two teams off pit road — and restarted first and third with 51 laps to go after the choose can was put out.

On the restart, Davis quickly muscled his way up to fourth — with Burt Myers pinned back in seventh — but the caution flew for the fifth time on the night when Bob Summers’ No. 65 burst into flame and stopped just past the start/finish line. Summers was able to climb from his car uninjured in the incident.

Under the caution, polesitter Brewer — running third at the time — made a second pit stop for adjustments to his No. 31 Chevrolet, and when the field lined up with 49 laps to go for the restart, Brewer lined up 11th on the grid.

As the field went back green, Jason Myers darted away from a battle for second between Davis and Pasteryak that drop-kicked Davis to fourth and allowed Burt Myers to begin making his charge back up to the front — the No. 1 had moved back up to third at lap 80, just four laps after the restart.

Myers’ run continued as he blew by Pasteryak for second at lap 86, but a caution six laps later for a spin between Zach Brewer (who had charged back up to sixth) and Josh Nichols set Myers up on the outside of the front row for the restart with 33 laps remaining.

From that position, Burt would try to get the jump on his brother Jason when the green flag flew again, but another Nichols spin in turn three created the seventh yellow flag, prevented a lap from being completed and set up another restart.

That restart was the one that Burt needed to accomplish his final power play, dueling wheel-to-wheel with his brother for two laps before completely clearing the No. 4 for the top spot at lap 95.

From there, after four more cautions, including a melee on lap 109 when Davis and Brewer made contact in turn four that spun Davis around and sent Brewer to the trailer with a broken suspension, Burt was able to hang on over brother Jason for the final 30 laps — giving both LFR Chassis and the Myers family a one-two finish on the night.

Despite the sweep of the top two spots, Jason Myers was disappointed with his result at the checkered flag, believing he could have pulled away had he been able to clear Burt on the final restart with 11 laps to go.

“I give it to Burt, he had a good car and he beat me on the [lap 93] restart there,” Jason said following the race. “I just had to clear him [if I was going to win the race] and when he got on the outside of me there, my car just got a little too tight. When I could run my line and take up the whole race track I was fine, but when he got to the outside I just could not throttle it and get up off the corner the way I needed to.”

“I’m glad we finished second, but I sure hate we were leading the race and just got beat. Got to hand it to LFR though, it’s still a one-two — and a dominant one-two at that. I’ll take second and we’ll go forward and try to get him at the next one.”

Chris Pasteryak came home third, with Dan Speeney fourth and Gary Putnam rounding out the top five at the finish. Davis was able to charge back to sixth despite stopping on the frontstretch to draw the 11th and final yellow flag.

Brian King and Gary Young Jr. won the twin 20-lap features for the Ace Speedway modifieds, who were the main support division on the night. King almost made it a clean sweep on the night, charging back up to second after tangling with Burt Myers (who was pulling double duty on the evening) on the opening start of race two, but could not pass Young in the final laps.

Johnny Johnson took the checkers first in the East Coast Flathead Ford feature, leading every lap to claim the trophy in that 20-lap event.

For more information on Ace Speedway, visit www.racetoace.com.

For more information on the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series, visit www.southernmodtour.com.

Audio with race-winner Burt Myers: