Sports
Schill locks up modifieds championship
Matthew Semisch
08/19/2014
There were no big surprises Sunday for Lance Schill during the Wissota Midwest modifieds feature race at Thunder Mountain Speedway (TMS), and he doesn’t mind that one bit.
That’s even less of a problem than usual now, as he became over the weekend the Bottineau track’s mods champion-elect.
Schill, who races out of Langdon, came into Sunday’s Harvest Classic event at Bottineau’s quarter-mile dirt track with a healthy lead in the mods point standings.
Sitting on 304 points, he came into Sunday enjoying a 33-point advantage over second-place Cody Smith and a 35-point gap over Ray Smith in third.
After winning comfortably in Sunday’s mods feature race, however, and only having one race left in the form of Championship Night on Aug. 31, Schill is a lock to take home the 2014 TMS mods points title.
Even better, Schill is on course to pick up two trophies this season. Rugby’s Geographical Center Speedway is his only other regular stomping ground as a driver, and he’s currently enjoying a healthy lead there, too.
“We only run two tracks regularly between here and Rugby, and we have a 60-point lead out there and they’re coming to a close just as quickly as Bottineau is,” Schill said after his victory at TMS on Sunday.
“Hopefully, if everything goes the way I hope it does, we’ll finish out strong and finish with two championships. One title’s always good to get, but to have a chance this late at winning both is making this year something really special.”
On top of locking up the season crown at TMS, Schill tasted victory twice on Sunday alone.
Not only did he take the checkered flag at the end of the feature race, but he also tore past the competition during the six-car mods preliminary heat.
Normally the mods and sport stocks have two heats. The mods prelims on Sunday were cut to just one 10-lap race, though, as only six cars – normally there’s more than twice that many – were on hand.
There had been questions earlier in the afternoon over whether the day’s races would go ahead, as off-and-on showers threatened to wash the drivers out.
Once they were given the green light, however, Schill found the tackier than normal track conditions to his liking and credited them in part for his title-clinching victory.
“The track was actually really good today and I kind of felt like it was playing to some of my strengths,” Schill said.
“It was dry on the bottom and there was a good amount of moisture up on the high side, and usually it’s not like that up there as it’s usually the other way around at Bottineau.
“With the smaller amount of cars we had today, the moisture stayed up top nicely, and while you usually have to have your inside game on point on this track and make do with the bottom of the track, for once here I was able to try out some things that usually work for me on the high side, and they thankfully did again today.”
ROMFO ON THE BRINK
Whereas Schill had for a while been the clear favorite to win this year’s TMS mods title, two sport stock drivers have for weeks been neck-and-neck at the top of their classification’s standings.
Steve Beckedahl of Landa came into Sunday’s races with a razor-thin 321-318 lead over Bottineau’s Chris Romfo.
That meant that if, as expected, either Beckedahl or Romfo won the day’s sport stock feature race, then that driver would be in prime position to win the season-long points chase.
Those expectations were met during the 10-car, 20-lap feature, although the high point came over the final three quarters of a mile.
Beckedahl and Romfo battled for position between turns three and four in the third-to-last lap. It was in that gap, however, that Beckedahl spun out and prompted the yellow caution flag to come out, thus putting Beckedahl at the back of the pack.
Once the green flag returned, Romfo took care of business over the final two laps of the race and put himself in the driver’s seat to win the TMS sport stock points championship.
“Even going back the past few races, heading down the stretch like we did today was about where I expected us to be,” Romfo said of his rivalry with Beckedahl.
“Steve and I have had some pretty good battles out there all season and, although I guess you couldn’t have made up a situation quite like what we found ourselves in (on Sunday), that’s what happened. It was a close one, to be sure, but I’m really happy to have won that.”
All that stands between Romfo and the title now is Championship Night. While it’s yet to be seen how things will turn out, of course, come that showcase event at the end of the month, Romfo will enter that day with plenty of confidence.
“Knowing I’m in the situation I’m in is such a huge boost,” Romfo said.
“With as close as it’s been with me and Steve lately, I’m sure I’m going to sleep a little bit better now after winning this, because (the championship’s) all set to go now as long as everything goes how I want it to here in a couple of weeks.”
Notes: Bottineau Farmers Elevator served as the title sponsor of this year’s Harvest Classic. The 2014 Championship Night event’s first sport stock preliminary heat is set to start Aug. 31 at 4 p.m...There was a race date set aside on Sept. 7 in case any events this season were washed out by rain. Unless Championship Night is set upon by the skies, that extra night will not be necessary...Following Championship Night, there will be a special doubleheader Sept. 27-28. Both events are set to start at 2 p.m.