Blackburn best in Callaway County Fair Race


FULTON, Mo.—Friday night, Aug. 5, Callaway Raceway hosted the 2016 Callaway County Fair Race.

Racers and fans alike were treated to some great racing action in all classes as the night also represented the final night to earn track points.

In the USRA Modified division, 12 cars signed in to battle it out.

In the heat race action, it was Jason Russell capturing the first heat race win over Tyler Shaw and Kevin Blackburn, while Ryan Middaugh went on to win heat two over Robbie Reed and Matt Dotson to set the front row for the 25-lap main event.

Russell jumped out to the early lead and paced the field around the top side while Blackburn battled to his inside from his third row starting position.

An early caution bunched the field back up only to see Blackburn and Russell side by side for the lead once again

Just behind them, Middaugh and Dotson waged war for the third position.

Again, yellow waved on lap seven with Russell still leading the field with Blackburn and Middaugh in tow.

The two front-runners had it out again while Robbie Test and Robbie Reed challenged Dotson for the fourth position.

At the front, Blackburn powered his way around Russell on the extreme low side of the speedway and took the lead at lap 12.

The final yellow flag waved at lap 15 just as track points leader Reed moved into third ahead of Middaugh and Dotson.

Unfortunately for Dotson, his night ended one lap later as he pulled his machine to the pits.

Meanwhile, Middaugh discovered Blackburn's low line to his liking as he moved back past Reed and began to hunt down Russell.

As Blackburn comfortably stretched his lead, the battle was behind them as Middaugh dove below Russell with two laps remaining and looked poised to take over the runner-up spot.

Unfortunately for the rookie in the USRA Modified division, contact was made as the veteran Russell dove low to protect the bottom lane, resulting in a flat right front tire for Middaugh as they came off of turn four to take the checkers.

Blackburn won the race for the second week in a row, but narrowly missed out on the championship by four points behind Reed who, along with Ronnie Woods, nipped Middaugh at the line as they rounded out the top five.

Next Friday, Aug. 12, will be championship night at the speedway as all of the 2016 track champions will be crowned at intermission. Hot laps are at 7:00 with racing at 7:30.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Racing Association
USRA Weekly Racing Series
Callaway Raceway, Fulton, Mo.
Friday, Aug. 5, 2016

USRA MODIFIEDS

Feature:
1. 26k Kevin Blackburn
2. 2j Jason Russell
3. 5 Robbie Reed
4. 53 Ronnie Woods
5. 21 Ryan Middaugh
6. 27t Robbie Test
7. 10 Patrick Mahnken
8. 48 Cal Carter
9. 28 Lewis Clark
10. 88d Matt Dotson
11. 14 Kyle Graves
12. 85s Tyler Shaw