MYERS BECOMES FIFTH SMART MODIFIEDS WINNER IN 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Martinsville, VA (May 30, 2023) - Burt Myers is a winner once again on the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic. The Walnut Cove, NC driver made some late-race heroic moves to power his Citrusafe number-1 machine to victory in the Kenny Minter Classic on Friday (May 26) at Franklin County Speedway in Callaway, VA. Myers becomes the fifth different winner in as many events in 2023.
The two-time SMART Modified champ qualified 12th and worked his way methodically to the front of the field. Myers took over the lead on lap 98 from Joey Coulter and powered to his ninth career SMART victory. It was his first series victory since 2004. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The SMART Series did not exist from 2005 until 2020.)
“It’s redemption for us personally because we’ve been right there. We won the championship (2021) for crying out loud and didn’t win a race,” exalted Myers after the race. “To be able to win a race, a place like Franklin County where I watched my dad race while I was growing up, is pretty cool. I was at Caraway when Kenny Minter lost his life, so to win on a night honoring Kenny Minter, man, a lot of things came together to make this night pretty special.” “Joey Coulter and I have raced side-by-side so many times; I love racing him,” continued Myers, who won the Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger Award by advancing 11 positions. “Me and Joey can run door-to-door and we might bang off each other, but it’s just hard racing. We put ourselves in position at that late race caution. I don’t know if we got any better, it’s just that they fell off and once I got out front, man, that was it.”
Coulter, from Miami Springs, FL, led 29 laps in the race and finished second. Coulter inherited the lead on lap 70 from early race dominator and Pace-O-Matic Pole Award winner Tim Brown. Brown’s number-25 Modified lost power after leading the first 69 laps of the 110-lap race to become the Jostens Life Lap Leader of the race.
In addition to leading the most laps and setting fast time in qualifying, Tim Brown also won Bell Helmets Stage One (after 30 laps) and was the Banker’s Life Halfway Leader (at lap 55). Brandon Ward remains second in points after the event with a third-place finish. NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman, scored his second straight top-five finish with a fourth place run and defending series champion Caleb Heady rounded out the top-five.
Carson Loftin followed his second-place run at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) with a seventh place finish at Franklin County Speedway. For that performance, he captured the Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front Award for being the highest finishing driver that has not won a race in a Tour-Type Modified Series.
The MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap of the Race award was won by James Civali in the Hillbilly Racing 79-Modified. His lap of 13.214 on lap 10 was the quickest of the race. The SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic will be off for the next few weeks before visiting Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, NC for the Robert Jeffreys Memorial on Friday, June 23. For more information regarding the entire night, please visit the Ace Speedway website.
For the full SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic schedule, plus driver profiles and other information, please visit the series website at www.smartmodtour.com, and be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: SMART Modified Tour| Twitter: @SMARTMods_ | IG: @smartmods_).
By Bob Dillner - Twitter: @ShortTrackLife_ Media Group
SMART Modified Tour
The SMART Modified Tour captures the essence of one of the most legendary forms of racing in America, pavement Modifieds. Born in 1988, these ground-pounding, 600-horsepower missiles are a must-see for any racing fan.
In 2020, Chris Williams brought SMART Modifieds back to prominence after a brief hiatus. Due to the overwhelming popularity from its fan base, a four-race schedule in its initial year has given birth to an adventurous 14-race schedule in 2023.
This year will mark the third full-season of SMART Modified Tour racing. Many of Modified racing’s best drivers, from all over the country, will compete with the series, which visits 13 different racetracks in three different states in the Mid-Atlantic - North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
SMART Modifieds compete on grueling asphalt oval short tracks, embedded in quaint local communities, each spring, summer and fall.
Pace-O-Matic
Pace-O-Matic develops, produces, and licenses fun and entertainment in the form of skill games in various states, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Kentucky, Illinois and Texas, among others. Since its founding in 2000, the organization has built a talented leadership team and a culture defined by integrity, innovation, and compliance. Learn more at www.paceomatic.com.
SMART Modified Tour Race #5
Official Race Results for the Kenny Minter Classic - 5/26/2023
Franklin County Speedway - Callaway, VA - 0.375 mile
Race Length: 110L - 41.25 M - 66.38 KM
Fin - Str - Car - Driver
P1 - P12 - 1 - Burt Myers
P2 - P8 - 02 - Joey Coulter
P3 - P3 - 2 - Brandon Ward
P4 - P4 - 39 - Ryan Newman
P5 - P14 - 7NY - Caleb Heady
P6 - P6 - 15 - Brian Loftin
P7 - P17 - 23 - Carson Loftin
P8 - P11 - 55 - Jeremy Gerstner
P9 - P15 - 48 - Jonny Kay
P10 - P9 - 07VA - Dennis Holdren
P11 - P5 - 18VA - Bobby Labonte
P12 - P19 - 8NY - Wes Gilbert
P13 - P1 - 25 - Tim Brown
P14 - P7 - 14 - Bobby Measmer Jr.
P15 - P2 - 4 - Jason Myers
P16 - P20 - 21NC - Dwight Sauls
P17 - P10 - 79 - James Civali
P18 - P16 - 18 - Daniel Yates
P19 - P13 - 24 - Jonathan Brown
P20 - P21 - 01 - Brian Weber
P21 - P18 - 07NC - John Smith
Time of Race: 1h:25:48
Margin of Victory: 1.436 seconds | Cautions: 5 for 24 Laps
Lap Leaders: T. Brown 69, Coulter 29, B. Myers 12
Pace-O-Matic Pole Award: Tim Brown - 13.076 seconds
Bell Helmets Stage Winner: Tim Brown
Jostens Lap Leader: Tim Brown
Bankers Life Halfway Leader: Tim Brown
Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger Award: Burt Myers (+11 Positions)
Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front: Carson Loftin
MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap: James Civali (13.214 - Lap 10)
Martinsville, VA (May 30, 2023) - Burt Myers is a winner once again on the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic. The Walnut Cove, NC driver made some late-race heroic moves to power his Citrusafe number-1 machine to victory in the Kenny Minter Classic on Friday (May 26) at Franklin County Speedway in Callaway, VA. Myers becomes the fifth different winner in as many events in 2023.
The two-time SMART Modified champ qualified 12th and worked his way methodically to the front of the field. Myers took over the lead on lap 98 from Joey Coulter and powered to his ninth career SMART victory. It was his first series victory since 2004. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The SMART Series did not exist from 2005 until 2020.)
“It’s redemption for us personally because we’ve been right there. We won the championship (2021) for crying out loud and didn’t win a race,” exalted Myers after the race. “To be able to win a race, a place like Franklin County where I watched my dad race while I was growing up, is pretty cool. I was at Caraway when Kenny Minter lost his life, so to win on a night honoring Kenny Minter, man, a lot of things came together to make this night pretty special.” “Joey Coulter and I have raced side-by-side so many times; I love racing him,” continued Myers, who won the Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger Award by advancing 11 positions. “Me and Joey can run door-to-door and we might bang off each other, but it’s just hard racing. We put ourselves in position at that late race caution. I don’t know if we got any better, it’s just that they fell off and once I got out front, man, that was it.”
Coulter, from Miami Springs, FL, led 29 laps in the race and finished second. Coulter inherited the lead on lap 70 from early race dominator and Pace-O-Matic Pole Award winner Tim Brown. Brown’s number-25 Modified lost power after leading the first 69 laps of the 110-lap race to become the Jostens Life Lap Leader of the race.
In addition to leading the most laps and setting fast time in qualifying, Tim Brown also won Bell Helmets Stage One (after 30 laps) and was the Banker’s Life Halfway Leader (at lap 55). Brandon Ward remains second in points after the event with a third-place finish. NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman, scored his second straight top-five finish with a fourth place run and defending series champion Caleb Heady rounded out the top-five.
Carson Loftin followed his second-place run at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) with a seventh place finish at Franklin County Speedway. For that performance, he captured the Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front Award for being the highest finishing driver that has not won a race in a Tour-Type Modified Series.
The MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap of the Race award was won by James Civali in the Hillbilly Racing 79-Modified. His lap of 13.214 on lap 10 was the quickest of the race. The SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic will be off for the next few weeks before visiting Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, NC for the Robert Jeffreys Memorial on Friday, June 23. For more information regarding the entire night, please visit the Ace Speedway website.
For the full SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic schedule, plus driver profiles and other information, please visit the series website at www.smartmodtour.com, and be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: SMART Modified Tour| Twitter: @SMARTMods_ | IG: @smartmods_).
By Bob Dillner - Twitter: @ShortTrackLife_ Media Group
SMART Modified Tour
The SMART Modified Tour captures the essence of one of the most legendary forms of racing in America, pavement Modifieds. Born in 1988, these ground-pounding, 600-horsepower missiles are a must-see for any racing fan.
In 2020, Chris Williams brought SMART Modifieds back to prominence after a brief hiatus. Due to the overwhelming popularity from its fan base, a four-race schedule in its initial year has given birth to an adventurous 14-race schedule in 2023.
This year will mark the third full-season of SMART Modified Tour racing. Many of Modified racing’s best drivers, from all over the country, will compete with the series, which visits 13 different racetracks in three different states in the Mid-Atlantic - North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
SMART Modifieds compete on grueling asphalt oval short tracks, embedded in quaint local communities, each spring, summer and fall.
Pace-O-Matic
Pace-O-Matic develops, produces, and licenses fun and entertainment in the form of skill games in various states, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Kentucky, Illinois and Texas, among others. Since its founding in 2000, the organization has built a talented leadership team and a culture defined by integrity, innovation, and compliance. Learn more at www.paceomatic.com.
SMART Modified Tour Race #5
Official Race Results for the Kenny Minter Classic - 5/26/2023
Franklin County Speedway - Callaway, VA - 0.375 mile
Race Length: 110L - 41.25 M - 66.38 KM
Fin - Str - Car - Driver
P1 - P12 - 1 - Burt Myers
P2 - P8 - 02 - Joey Coulter
P3 - P3 - 2 - Brandon Ward
P4 - P4 - 39 - Ryan Newman
P5 - P14 - 7NY - Caleb Heady
P6 - P6 - 15 - Brian Loftin
P7 - P17 - 23 - Carson Loftin
P8 - P11 - 55 - Jeremy Gerstner
P9 - P15 - 48 - Jonny Kay
P10 - P9 - 07VA - Dennis Holdren
P11 - P5 - 18VA - Bobby Labonte
P12 - P19 - 8NY - Wes Gilbert
P13 - P1 - 25 - Tim Brown
P14 - P7 - 14 - Bobby Measmer Jr.
P15 - P2 - 4 - Jason Myers
P16 - P20 - 21NC - Dwight Sauls
P17 - P10 - 79 - James Civali
P18 - P16 - 18 - Daniel Yates
P19 - P13 - 24 - Jonathan Brown
P20 - P21 - 01 - Brian Weber
P21 - P18 - 07NC - John Smith
Time of Race: 1h:25:48
Margin of Victory: 1.436 seconds | Cautions: 5 for 24 Laps
Lap Leaders: T. Brown 69, Coulter 29, B. Myers 12
Pace-O-Matic Pole Award: Tim Brown - 13.076 seconds
Bell Helmets Stage Winner: Tim Brown
Jostens Lap Leader: Tim Brown
Bankers Life Halfway Leader: Tim Brown
Pace-O-Matic Hard Charger Award: Burt Myers (+11 Positions)
Carolina Drilling Blast to the Front: Carson Loftin
MJ Printing & Graphics Fastest Lap: James Civali (13.214 - Lap 10)