BARROWS — Running with a new motor, Mod Four driver Gerrald Nohner exploded to an early lead and recorded his first win of the season during the fourth week of points racing Saturday, May 27, at North Central Speedway.

Nohner finished in front of Rowan Tramm and Chad Funt. Nohner sits in fourth place in the points standings. Nohner didn’t race last week.

Nohner did not record a win in 2023 but finished second in the points standings behind Nick McCann. Nohner tallied nine top-five finishes in 12 feature events last season.

He posted a sixth-place finish in the season opener May 4. Then disaster struck in Week Two as Nohner’s car left the track on the hook after blowing an engine.

“The motor evacuated everything out of the bottom of the pan. It just junked coming out of Turn Two,” Nohner said. “A rod broke and broke the starter, the oil pan and the block on both sides. You could shine a flashlight right through it. I called Roy Halls, my engine builder, and he had my spare motor getting refreshed. I called him on Monday and he had it for me by Thursday. He does a fabulous job keeping us in the points and on the track.

“I raced Thursday in Princeton in the “Mod Wars” and I think I finished seventh there. That was a really tough track. It was rough here tonight, too, but it was tacky here and that is one of my favorite kind of tracks.”

A shower passed through the area earlier in the evening. Nohner said it played in healing the track.

“I think the sprinkle helped a little bit as the top of the track sealed a bit and after rolling it a few times it came out pretty nice,” Nohner said.

Nohner jumped to the early lead and held it through the first 10 laps. With five laps to go it was Nohner, Rowan Tramm and Patrick Specht in the top three spots. Chad Funt caught Specht late in the race to finish third.

Though he finished outside the top three, Spect is enjoying a strong start. He leads the class with two victories and four top-five finishes. He started racing at NCS in 2019 and recorded his sixth overall win last week.

“I have a good crew behind me and I have to give a shout-out to Andy Needers,” Specht said. “I brought my car to him over the winter and I got it back and the car came out just as fast. Nothing had really changed. I have good sponsors too and a good team overall.”

Specht watched his uncle Don Wermter drive. A major life event motivated Specht to get into the car.

“I started Mod 4’s in 2019 so this will be my fifth year,” he said. “My uncle Don was my inspiration for getting into the car. He had a heart attack during COVID and kind of made me want to get a car. I watched a lot of him growing up and now I wanted to return that and have him be able to watch me.”

Specht is well thought of within his class. After winning his first race this season, his fellow drivers slowed to salute him before heading to the pits.

The racing has greatly improved in the Mod Four class in the last two years.

“Everyone puts the stupid button on when you put on the helmet but after that, we are all supporting and helping each other out within the class,” Specht said. “I help a lot of people and they help me. It’s a good class to be in for starters.

“It is getting a lot better than it was two or three years ago in the class because at first, no one was helping each other out, but now that has changed and when you do help each other out there are fewer cautions and better racing.”

Nohner echoed the sentiment but from a different angle.

“A lot of what brought it together was Chad Funt getting the Duratec motor in for Wissota racing and he put together a package for us where the initial cost is the same as a race motor but after that, it is $500 – $700 for a motor,” Nohner said.

“You just go to a junkyard and pick one out and stick it back in if you blow one up, but honestly I haven’t seen one blow up yet so that is getting the cost down. There are a lot more people that want to get into racing and this Mod Four class is more economical. And I like the fact that we tend to get a lot of women coming into our class. The compacts may be the only class that is larger than ours when it comes to women participating.”

Specht has his eye on racing in the Modified class next season. There was interesting action in that class.

Aaron Johnson was on the winner’s stand with what looked like his second win this season. Car issues in the tech shed dropped him to third behind Shawn Fletcher and Luke Hines. It was the third win of the season for Fletcher.

Johnson picked up his third win in the Stock Car class as he held off Brody Carlsrud who finished second.

Dustin Nelson battled lapped traffic after building a comfortable lead but he found his way through for a Super Stock feature win.

Sport Mod drivers had to deal with a 20-minute rain delay in the middle of their feature. Track staff repaired the track and Fritz Myers scored the win.

Ryan Kleinschmidt was the winner in the Hobby Stock class and Russell Kiker Jr. secured his first career win in the Sport Compact feature.