Story By: EVAN CANFIELD / NY PENN IMCA MODIFIED SERIES – BLOOMSBURG, PA – In the racing world, most drivers have that one big race that got away.
For NY Penn IMCA Modified Series driver Rodney Morgan, that race was Bloomsburg Fair Raceway in 2021. After leading much of the event, invader David Stremme would slip by Morgan late and take the win.
Coming back to Bloomsburg, PA on June 19th, Morgan was determined to get back the one he missed out on a year ago.
Series points leader Keith Jack Lamphere would set the pace for the beginning of the 25 lap feature, with Ray McClure starting to his outside. Once the green flag waved and the 15 IMCA Modifieds in attendance came to life, Lamphere would take off like he was shot out of a cannon and take the race lead. McClure would fade back as Rodney Morgan would slide up to 2nd, bringing David Stremme a d Brad Sites along with him.
The caution would wave on lap four as Shawn Bruce would find the turn one wall, ending his day and hurting his hopes at the season championship. That would set up a restart with Lamphere in the top spot followed by Morgan, them David Stremme and Brad Sites. Morgan would get the advantage on Lamphere on the restart, taking the lead away on the top. Meanwhile down on the bottom, Stremme would be looking to get to the front under Lamphere, taking the spot away.
Laps would tick away as Stremme would continue to try to close in on Morgan. He would get close before the caution would fly on lap 10, as Jacob McConnell would go around after contact with Eddie Sites. Setting up another restart, Stremme would be the one to utilize the high side and take away the top spot, leaving Morgan in his tracks.
Once losing the lead, it was beginning to seem as though Morgan was going to relive his unfortunate loss to Stremme in 2021 once again. As Stremme got to the clean track, he began to run away with the lead, with Morgan on second and Lamphere in third. But it wouldn’t stay that way. On lap 16, Stremme would show heavy smoke getting into turn three, getting to the bottom and pulling into the infield. That would hand the lead back to Morgan.
The final caution of the race would wave on lap 18 as Jason Sullivan would have a single car spin in turn four. This would set up one more restart for Lamphere to wrestle the the lead away from Morgan. Although he would try, it wouldn’t work as Morgan would blast off and score the victory with a substantial lead over Keith Jack Lamphere and Eddie Sites. The win was Morgan’s second of the year, winning at Penn Can Speedway earlier in the season. The win would be the redeption he was after from his bitter loss in 2021.
The next event for the NY Penn IMCA Modified Series will be Saturday, June 25th with the second trip of the season to the Skyline Raceway Motorsports Park for the Sean Lias Memorial. Eddie Sites claimed the victory in the first trip to The Virgil, NY facility this season.
Bloomsburg Fair Raceway Race Results:
1. Rodney Morgan 89 (1,000)
2. Keith Jack Lamphere 98K
3. Eddie Sites 15
4. Brad Sites 115
5. Jared Spalding 11
6. Tyler Stoddard 23
7. Aaron Benjamin 5
8. Jacob McConnell 777
9. Ray McClure 15M
10. Jason Sullivan 39
11. Bobby Maynard 29
12. David Stremme 35
13. Jake Maynard 69
14. Shawn Bruce 7*
15. Lance Garvey 69c