YesterYear Icebreaker Won By The Iceman

It was only fitting that when the checkered flag flew on the third annual YesterYear Icebreaker race at Thompson Speedway, the Iceman would come away victorious. James Lowe isn't flashy, doesn't always start on pole or set the fastest lap of the race, and doesn't always lead a huge number of laps. But Lowe is the definition of consistent and you can count on him being there at the end of almost every race he runs. That is what happened Tuesday night at Thompson Speedway in Round #3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified Series. "We ran into some issues during the pit stops we did in the first two races. I saw Luke and a few others stay out at Concord and South Boston, so I thought we would give that a shot here. It paid off," Lowe said in his post-race interview. Lowe qualified fourth and ran near the front all night in the 150-lap event.

Around lap 100, a caution came out where a major decision had to be made by the drivers to pit or not. Lowe and his teammate Chris "Whirlwind" Worrell both chose to stay out, as did point leader Luke Allen and a handful of other cars. Eric Stout, who started on pole and was fast all night, chose to pit as did some of the drivers from the mid-pack on back. "Restarting on the outside was a huge advantage all night. I was not in a position to do that on the next restart even though I was running up front, so I chose to pit and get fresh rubber to hopefully work my way back to the front," said Stout after the race. Stout came back out and restarted ninth, but weaving through the field proved tricky, which allowed Lowe, Worrell, and a hard charging Eric "Double E" Essary to stretch things out a bit. Essary, who had pitted on lap 46 for tires, looked to be faster than both Lowe and Worrell as the laps began to wind down. But on the back stretch Essary and Lowe touched tires which sent Essary back a few positions, but which Worrell was able to recover from. When the checkered flag flew, it was Lowe, Worrell, and a hard-charging Eric Stout on the podium. Stout was able to pick off Todd Liston, Essary, and Luke Allen in the waning laps.

Points leader Luke "The Kid" Allen, for his part, led 83 of the 150 lap race and looked to be in a position to continue his marvelous run of late. But he got loose coming off of turn four late in the race and took a trip through the infield grass. This set him back from the leaders, but he still managed to come home in fifth place after coming out on top of a very physical battle with Essary for the position. Liston drove his "Toad Design" Tour Modified to fourth place in another solid finish. Liston has been the model of consistency with a 7th, 5th, and 4th place finish in the first three round of the Series.

Twenty-one drivers took the green flag Tuesday night at Thompson. The race saw five cautions for twenty laps and took 53 minutes to complete. The Series takes next week off before returning to Lanier National Speedway on Tuesday, April 21 for Round #4. James Lowe and Luke Allen are tied for the points lead with 530 points each, while Chris Worrell sits in third with 490 points followed by Todd Liston at 462 points.