Bobby Pearish or Oronogo won his third USRA Modified feature of the season Saturday at the Springfield Raceway.

SRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Oronogo's Bobby Pearish took to the high side and passed early leader Brian Williams on lap 6 en route to grabbing his third Budweiser USRA Modified feature win of the season Saturday along with a $800 victory on Military Salute Night at the Springfield Raceway.

The field of 22 cars saw the top 8 passing points cars drawing with high point driver Brian Williams of Fayetteville, Ark., drawing the pole as current track points leader Mitch Keeter rdrew the outside front row. At the drop of the green flag, it was Williams dicing to the bottom of the racetrack to lead the opening laps as Keeter went top side with Jackie Dalton, Pearish and Erik Maggard completing the top 5 rundown.

Dalton and Keeter went to battle for second as Williams was setting a fast pace. The first yellow waved on lap 5 for Fred Slagle going sideways bunching the action up even more. Points runner-up John Yeoman pulled in on the caution and out of the action. On the double-file restart, Keeter, who was running second, picked the top lane putting Dalton down low with Pearish and Maggard still the top 5. Pearish rocketed on the extreme high side of the smooth surface, shot around Keeter and then ran down Williams to lead on lap 6.

Caution waved on lap 8 as Brian Green went around in turn 1 while battling Maggard for position for a top 5 spot after starting ninth. With Pearish having a clear track ahead, Dalton pulled even with Williams in the battle for second by lap 9 as Jerry Lankton was moving up the leader board. At the halfway mark, Maggard began his charge and grabbed second front Dalton and began his charge on leader Pearish as the feature stayed green.The lead pack began to get into lapped traffic on lap 21 and Maggard was riding the top cushion and gaining quickly on Pearish as cars battling for spots were right in front of the leaders.

With 2 laps remaining, Maggard closed to within two car-lengths of the lead. Pearish cleared the traffic and was able to withstand Maggard's charge to grab win number 3 and close to within six points of Keeter in the championship chase as Dalton won the battle for third while Keeter, a fast-moving Lankton, early leader Williams, Dustin Campbell, Robbie Bryant, Dairan Hendrix and Green completed the top 10 as 17 of the 22 starters completed the lead lap.

Mike Hailman won his first USRA B-Mod main event of the season Saturday at the Springfield Raceway.

In support action, the Reliable Chevrolet USRA B-Mods found a new winner in victory lane and got the points chase even closer as Mike Hailman grabbed the lead from Brandon Maggard on lap 11 and then took his first feature win of the season. A very rough start saw current points leader Scott Drake and last year's champion Bobby Maggard Jr. get involved in an opening-lap incident and restart at the rear of the field.

Don Luna paced the opening five laps before giving way to hard-charging Derek Watson only to see Luna take back the lead the following lap. On lap 8, last week's winner Brandon Maggard took over as lap 9 saw the red flag displayed as rookie Thomas Hylton got sideways in turn 2 and collected the cars of Watson and Andy Beauchamp. With Maggard leading the pack, young Jared Thulin and Hailman went back and forth as Hailman ran Maggard down on the low side and took over on lap 11 and never looked back in grabbing the win.

Great racing followed Hailman as Maggard, Kaleb Copher, Luna and Thulin completed the top 5 as 12 of the 18 starters completed the lead lap. With Hailman's win he narrowed the points gap behind Scott Drake to 13 markers as Copher and Maggard closed-up the gap also.

Up next Saturday night, June 2, will be the Reliable Chevrolet 25 for the USRA B-mods paying $500 to win and $100 to start the feature event. This will be an open draw for B-Mods using passing points to set the field along with a Transport Graphics points event. There will be a $25 car entry fee for the B-Mods along with full points races for USRA Modifieds, Midwest Modz, Legends, Young Lions, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks with hot laps at 6:00 and racing at 7:00. Grandstand gates open at 5:00.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series
Springfield Raceway, Springfield, Mo.
Saturday, May 26, 2012

USRA MODIFIEDS

Feature: 1. Bobby Pearish, Oronogo; 2. Erik Maggard, Brighton; 3. Jackie Dalton, Carthage; 4. Mitch Keeter, Webb City; 5. Jerry Lankton, Lampe; 6. Brian Williams, Fayetteville, Ark.; 7. Dustin Campbell, Nevada; 8. Robbie Bryant, Willard; 9. Dairan Hendrix, Joplin; 10. Brian Green, Pierce City; 11. Danny DeMasters, Neosho; 12. Dave Elson, Springfield; 13. Jody Tillman, West Branson; 14. Rob Muilenburg, Sparta; 15. Billy Dalton, Exeter; 16. Jason Hillard, Texas; 17. Tim Simon, Neosho; 18. Scott Symmonds, Bolivar; 19. Fred Slagle, Pierce City; 20. Chris Cole, Texas; 21. Corey Weir, Nixa; 22. John Yeoman III, Granby.

Heat #1: 1. Williams; 2. Keeter; 3. Hendrix; 4. Weir; 5. Campbell; 6. Hillard; 7. Simon; 8. Slagle.

Heat #2: 1. Pearish; 2. Lankton; 3. Bryant; 4. Yeoman; 5. Elson; 6. Cole; 7. Muilenburg.

Heat #3: 1. Maggard; 2. J. Dalton; 3. Green; 4. Tillman; 5. DeMasters; 6. B. Dalton; 7. Symmonds.

USRA B-MODS

Feature: 1. Mike Hailman, Reed Springs; 2. Brandon Maggard, Springfield; 3. Kaleb Copher, Webb City; 4. Don Luna, St. James; 5. Jared Thulin, Oklahoma City; 6. Bobby Maggard Jr., Republic; 7. Jon Yeoman Jr., Granby; 8. Sean Williams, Willard; 9. Scott Drake, Webb City; 10. Blake Ellis, Sarcoxie; 11. Ryan Hendrix, Joplin; 12. Willie Oxedine, Monett; 13. Steve Bias, Everton; 14. Aaron Speck, Republic; 15. Derek Watson, Willard; 16. Andy Beauchamp, Springfield; 17. Thomas Hylton, Joplin; 18. Jeremy Thulin, Miami, Okla.

Heat #1: 1. Williams; 2. Luna; 3. Drake; 4. Brandon Maggard; 5. Ellis; 6. Thulin.

Heat #2: 1. Yeoman; 2. Hailman; 3. Hendrix; 4. Bias; 5. Beauchamp; 6. Speck.

Heat #3: 1. Copher; 2. Thulin; 3. Maggard Jr.; 4. Watson; 5. Oxedine; 6. Hyton.