Hamm dominates, comes up short at Bullring

Doug Hamm did everything he wanted but win his second straight Lucas Oil Modified race.

The Las Vegas veteran led the first 71 laps; unfortunately for him, the race Saturday night was for 75 laps at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring.

"Those laps don't count," Hamm said of those he led.

His open-wheel modified lost low gear in what Hamm called a "heartbreak" when he couldn't start his car after the race was stopped with five laps left so drivers could conserve fuel after a crash.

Jim Mardis of Moreno Valley, Calif., inherited the lead and held it to win before an estimated crowd of 2,000.

Hamm, who finished 16th, still was smiling after the race. The popular driver at the Bullring for 14 years had won about 50 Modified races at the track with the No. 4 team he owned.

But after being laid off from his job late last year he wasn't preparing to compete this season. That's when another veteran Las Vegas racer, Sonny Beckman, stepped in to hire Hamm to drive for his Discount Dumpster business and to drive Beckman's new No. 42 Modified in the regional Lucas series.

"Sonny's letting me live my dream," said Hamm, 37.

It's the third time Hamm dominated a Lucas race this year but the second one in which his car broke. He won the previous race with crew chief Jimmy Parker, another local racing mainstay.

Mardis stopped a streak of wins by Las Vegas drivers. Until Hamm broke it looked like a Southern Nevada driver would win for the third time in three races. Dylan Kwasniewski, 15, won the opener and moved behind Hamm on lap 34 but was taken out on lap 67 when Hamm's transmission problem forced Kwasniewski to slow. Scott Winters, running third, crashed into Kwasniewski, who placed 21st in the 26-car field with a mechanical problem.

The top finishing Southern Nevadan was Aaron McMorran, who placed fifth after starting last because an engine failure kept him from qualifying.

In other featured races: Jacob Gomes of Manteca, Calif., won the 121-lap Spears SRL Southwest Tour regional stock-car race; and David Anderson survived several crashes to win the Super Late Models title when only three of 11 cars finished 40 laps.

Pete Meyer was first in Bombers, Travis Boyle won Thunder Cars and C.J. Hulsey and Justin Irwin won their respective Legends Cars races.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.