Brother Battles Brother for the Win
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ- The Modified Microstocks gathered at Wall Stadium Sunday to find out who would be crowned season champion. What no one expected was that the Hall brothers, James and Mike, would have one of the most exciting races of the year.
Heat race winners Tom Ervin and James Hall lV started on the front row, Mike Hall started in third on his brother’s bumper. At the drop of the green J. Hall darted to the lead with the Ervin and M. Hall hot on his tail. Ervin took the lead a lap later but a lap later Ervin suddenly drove to the high bank and slowed to a stop. J. Hall assumed the lead with M. Hall looking inside for a chance to take the lead. He found the opening he was looking for on lap five. J. Hall battled back and took the lead back a lap later. Two laps later M. Hall retook the lead.
Behind the Hall brothers, Jim Van Dine and Brian Russell battled fiercely for third. Tom Ervin came into the day with a 20-point advantage over Jim Van Dine and just needed to finish the race to comfortably take the title. With Ervin out of the race, the title was now in reach of Van Dine. Van Dine held off the challenges of Russell until lap seven when Russell made the inside pass to take third. Russell held on to the position to record a season best finish.
Up front M. Hall and J. Hall battle tooth and nail. M. Hall held onto the lead until two laps to go when J. Hall took the lead for the last time. He held off his brother to take his first win of the season.
As far as the championship went, when the points were tallied Ervin took the championship by two points over Jim Van Dine. This is Ervin’s 35th career Modified Microstock championship.
Finishing order: James Hall lV, Mike Hall, Brian Russell, Jim Van Dine, Pete Soldano, Jay Smith, Josh Conklin, Alex Rogers, Ritchie Ptaszynski, Leo Kinney, JC Fajardo, Mike Haskins, Tom Ervin (DNF), Eric Platt (DNS)
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