EUREKA, Calif. — The 2019 North State Modified Series champion, Scott Winters of Tracy, narrowly escaped a scary crash that saw current points leader Kyle Tellstrom of Ukiah go airborne and slam the wall hard in turn four.

Winters then passed eight more cars on his way to win his first season victory in the North State Modified Series, or NSMS, presented by Protect the Harvest, at Redwood Acres Raceway Saturday night.

Sixteen NSMS teams made the long and winding tow to Eureka for the O’Reillys 60 lap feature.

Tellstrom was once again fastest in the qualifying runs with a 16.276 second lap. Second fastest was Darrin Knight of Kelseyville with a 16.313 on his first 2021 run with NSMS, followed by Winters (16.315), and two more Kelseyville drivers Darrin Sullivan (16.315) and Jeremy Nowlin (16.389.)

Ten cars were inverted for the start of the race with Oregon driver Rich Cobb and Anderson’s Keith Bloom sharing the front row.

Before even one lap was in the record books, second row starter Foryst Souza of Modesto slapped the turn three concrete in the Sal Lopez backup car.

The restart saw Cobb and Bloom side-by-side the next seven laps, but when Bloom started to lose ground on the high side, Medford, Oregon’s Randy Houston stuck his nose in the hole and moved into second.

Meanwhile Tellstrom had started his outside run, picking off Winters on lap 10 and moving alongside Knight the following round. On lap 13 the outside lane disappeared when Bloom’s car temporarily lost power in the low lane.

Several cars moved high trying to occupy the same real estate resulting in Tellstrom’s car hitting the wall hard, ending his winning streak. Tellstrom walked away without injury, but the car suffered severe damage.

The next two rounds saw the race halted twice, the first for a Kylei Keown spin in turn one, and the second when Dustin DeRosier tagged Knight turning Knight around.

Houston pulled ahead of Cobb on the restart, and this time it was Winters on the move. Knight was also charging back through the pack, and at the “Super Cuts 30 halfway mark” was Houston, Cobb, Bloom, Winters, Sullivan, Ian Elliott, Knight, Keown, DeRosier, Nowlin, Trevor Kollenborn and Mike Neilson. Early retirees were Orion Mosher, Sal Lopez and Souza.

Winters swapped places with Bloom on lap 31 and drove under Cobb for second the following round. Knight passed Sullivan on lap 41 but retired to the pits several laps later after spilling fluid around the track. Lap 46 and 47 saw Elliott pass both Bloom and Cobb as Houston and Winters were pulling away.

Just when it looked like it was Houston’s race, his car ran out of fuel and stopped on the front stretch to bring out the final yellow flag. Winters took control and drove the distance to take the Sunoco checkered flag and the $1000 win.

Elliott finished a strong second with Cobb third, Bloom fourth and Sullivan fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Kylei Keown, DeRosier, Kollenborn, Nowlin and Neilson.

The Naake Hard Charger Award also went to Winters. DeRosier collected $100 for his win in the Lucas Oil Dash for Cash, and Houston got $50 for second. The Frank’s Radios certificates went to Winters, Elliott and Cobb. All drivers received tow money from Lucas Oil and Vogel’s RVs of Ukiah.

The next race for the North State Modified Series will be at Shasta Speedway in Anderson on June 19. Then the series continues on to the All American Speedway in Roseville on July 10.

The North State Modified Series would not be possible without the support of Protect the Harvest, Lucas Oil, Sullivan Construction and Masonry, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Supercuts at the Bayshore Mall, Hoosier Tire West, Sunoco Race Fuels, Naake Suspension, Five Star Bodies, Racer Bling, Mark & Sharon Baldwin, Scribner Plastics, Mort Houston, McMurray & Sons Roofing, Frank’s Radios, and Economy Heating & Air.

O’REILLY AUTO PARTS MAIN EVENT:

Scott Winters, Ian Elliott, Rich Cobb, Keith Bloom, Darrin Sullivan, Kylei Keown, Dustin DeRosier, Trevor Kollenborn, Jeremy Nowlin, Mike Neilson, Randy Houston, Darrin Knight, Orion Mosher, Kyle Tellstrom, Sal Lopez, Foryst Souza

LUCAS OIL DASH FOR CASH:

Dustin DeRosier, Randy Houston, Keith Bloom, Kyle Tellstrom, Scott Winters, Rich Cobb

HOOSIER QUALIFYING:

Kyle Tellstrom (16.276), Darrin Knight (16.313), Scott Winters (16.315), Darrin Sullivan (16.339), Jeremy Nowlin (16.389), Ian Elliott (16.405), Foryst Souza (16.412), Randy Houston (16.465), Keith Bloom (16.561), Rich Cobb (16.571), Mike Neilson (16.632), Dustin DeRosier (16.635), Kylei Keown (16.694), Trevor Kollenborn (16.730), Sal Lopez (16.979) and Orion Mosher (17.028)