Rollins digs up a $3,000 payday at Diamond Park in First Annual Mod Lite Mayhem

5/29/2022

Diamond Park Speedway

Rollins digs up a $3,000 payday at Diamond Park in First Annual Mod Lite Mayhem

(MURFREESBORO, AR) May 29, 2022 -- James ‘Big Daddy’ Rollins and his Pest Plus/Arkadelphia Tire an Outfitters/Sidewinder No. 47R brought home his biggest payday of his career this past Sunday at the Diamond Park Speedway at the conclusion of the first annual Mod Lite Mayhem.

Rollins qualified in the top (10) from the previous night's A-Main by way of a fourth-place finish. Rollins would be joined by Mesa, Arizona’s Gary DeWitt, Chris Robinson, Steve Sweere, Barry Nolan, Chad Kirkpatrick, Paul McCollett, Larry Hubbard, Jr., Paul Alban, and Dubberly, Louisiana driver Andrew Lincoln in the Joker Chassis “Dirty Draw”.

Rollins was able to top the field in that dash from his fourth place starting spot to garner the pole for the (30) lap finale. Cape Coral, Florida, driver Larry Hubbard, Jr. took the “Joker” in the draw and that gave him the pole automatically while the remainder of Saturday night's top 10 were given an opportunity to draw for a starting position and “do someone dirty“ and trade all the way down the line in order to lineup for a 10-lap dash to determine the starting order for the $3,000 to win (30) lap A Main.

The field was set after (2) B Features transferred the remaining (10) spots and two provisional starts were given. Cameron Beene and his Beene Towing & Recovery/Pest Plus NXS/Pro would get the provisional from the Manufacturers Dash for Cash and roll off in the 21st spot. Arkadelphia driver “Juicy J” Justin Hughes would be the Lucky Dog recipient by way of a lottery draw from all non-qualifiers and he would roll off in position 22.

The starting grid rolled onto the front straight for driver intros and the common theme of the night was FAMILY. Actually, the whole weekend was filled with families camping at the track, kids having water balloon and water gun fights in the pit area, and the absolute best of the Mod Lite community coming together for fellowship and family.

The star-studded field of the (30) lap A Main reflected that just the same. Rollins would start the race from the pole while his 14 y/o son, Grant, would roll off in the 18th spot. Larry Hubbard, Jr. would get to race with his nephew, Darrick Hubbard, Jr. who would start from the 14th following a 2nd place finish in a B Feature.

Not lost on the hearts or minds of anyone in attendance was the absence of Caleb McCollett and his familiar blue and red #94. Caleb was a son, brother, father, friend, and prankster to anyone he met. Several members of the “RCM Racing” team paid tribute during driver intros and his father, Paul McCollett, would roll off 8th with KB riding shotgun. The elder McCollett had a piece of the last car his son owned on his #94KB tribute entry.

After parade laps and pageantry, the field quickly got underway and Rollins went to work. After a few cautions and restart attempts on lap 6 the field got racing action going with green flag laps until a competition caution for fuel only on lap 15. During that time, the Velocity RPM/Superior Race Cars 5X of Codey Benoit, winner from the $1,000 ‘Prelude’ at the Centerville Super Speedway on Friday, had quietly and methodically made his way from his 7th starting spot to third. Up from his 14th starting spot, Darrick Hubbard, Jr. sat in fifth with his #11H Velocity RPM/Superior Race Car sponsored hot rod.

Back underway there would be some intense racing for the final 15 laps as they went caution free. On the white flag lap, Benoit laid it all on the line and got a huge run on the inside down the front stretch and he and Rollins made heavy contact – both drivers kept it straight and decided to duke it out one more time around the red clay speed plant. Coming out of turn number four with a face full of checkers – Rollins pushed allowing Benoit one last shot and the drag race to the line went to Rollins by a slim .071 margin of victory over Benoit. Steubenville, Ohio’s Chris Robinson brought home his Joker Chassis #20 in third followed by D. Hubbard, Jr. in fourth.

In victory lane, Rollins had this to say “I want to thank Jay Neal with BSB Shocks for some last-minute setup advice and Shon with Sidewinder Chassis for giving me the equipment I need to compete at this level. I have to thank my wife Tara for pushing me every day to be better” and he finished with “This one’s for KB” and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Fifth through tenth went to #45 Jace Reid, fast time on day one #KO Chad Kirkpatrick, #29A Gary DeWitt, #56 Larry Hubbard, Jr., #3T Titan Crump and #39 Steve Sweere in his retro dwarf truck respectively.

The race hard charger went to the #2C Tribal/BNCRacing/Sidewinder of Justin Hughes and the Hard Luck award went to #75 of Brandon Staggs.
This weekend at #ThePark the IMCA Mod Lites and the Arkansas Factory Stocks will be racing for $1,000 to win and $50 to start plus a regular night of points racing in USRA Tuners, USRA Factory Stocks, and Sportsman divisions.

If you couldn’t join the action live – the event was streamed on DoneRightTV via pay per view. You can check out that and get all the racing action from your living room by going to www.DoneRight.tv and picking the REPLAY PASS option!

For more information on Diamond Park Speedway you can check them out online at www.DPSDirt.com or find them on Facebook at @DiamondParkSpeedway

A Feature 1 30 Laps | 01:12:29.133 | Joker Chassis

47R-James Rollins[1]; 2. 5X-Codey Benoit[11]; 3. 20-Chris Robinson[3]; 4. 11H-Darrick Hubbard Jr[14]; 5. 45-Jace Reid[12]; 6. KO-Chad Kirkpatrick[2]; 7. 29A-Gary DeWitt[5]; 8. 56-Larry Hubbard Jr[4]; 9. 3T-Titan Crump[13]; 10. 39-Steve Sweere[6]; 11. 2C-Justin Hughes[22]; 12. 916-Grant Rollins[18]; 13. 9B-Barry Nolan[10]; 14. 74PK-Paul Alban[9]; 15. 56B-Cameron Beene[21]; 16. (DNF) 7-Shane Jenkins[17]; 17. (DNF) 41JR-Joe Butler Jr[19]; 18. (DNF) 005-Boogie Krajca[15]; 19. (DNF) 7H-Riley Clem[16]; 20. (DNF) 28-Dylan Hollingshead[20]; 21. (DNF) 94KB-Paul McCollett[7]; 22. (DNF) 327-Andrew Lincoln[8]

B Feature 1 15 Laps | 00:06:11.361 | Superior Race Cars

5X-Codey Benoit[2]; 2. 3T-Titan Crump[3]; 3. 005-Boogie Krajca[5]; 4. 7-Shane Jenkins[4]; 5. 41JR-Joe Butler Jr[9]; 6. 75-Brandon Staggs[1]; 7. 12P-Steven Plyler[8]; 8. (DNS) 11C-Carson Hubbard; 9. (DNS) 69-David Rodriguez

B Feature 2 15 Laps | 00:08:07.037 | KMTB B99.5

45-Jace Reid[4]; 2. 11H-Darrick Hubbard Jr[3]; 3. 7H-Riley Clem[5]; 4. 916-Grant Rollins[1]; 5. 28-Dylan Hollingshead[2]; 6. 90-Justin Uchtman[8]; 7. 56B-Cameron Beene[7]; 8. 2C-Justin Hughes[6]

Manufacturer Dash 10 Laps | 00:03:54.565 | Manufacturers

5X-Codey Benoit[7]; 2. 3T-Titan Crump[1]; 3. 11H-Darrick Hubbard Jr[2]; 4. 20-Chris Robinson[8]; 5. 7H-Riley Clem[5]; 6. 69-David Rodriguez[4]; 7. 56B-Cameron Beene[6]; 8. (DNF) 11C-Carson Hubbard[3]

States Race Dash for Cash 10 Laps | 00:08:02.180 | HPGWraps.com

11H-Darrick Hubbard Jr[2]; 2. 5X-Codey Benoit[5]; 3. 7H-Riley Clem[1]; 4. 7-Shane Jenkins[3]; 5. 327-Andrew Lincoln[4]; 6. 39-Steve Sweere[6]; 7. 29A-Gary DeWitt[7]

Dirty Draw Dash 10 Laps | 00:05:29.729 | Joker Chassis

47R-James Rollins[4]; 2. KO-Chad Kirkpatrick[2]; 3. 20-Chris Robinson[9]; 4. 56-Larry Hubbard Jr[1]; 5. 29A-Gary DeWitt[3]; 6. 39-Steve Sweere[5]; 7. 94KB-Paul McCollett[8]; 8. 327-Andrew Lincoln[7]; 9. 74PK-Paul Alban[6]; 10. (DNF) 9B-Barry Nolan[10]

Photo credits Chaz Brzeski and RFS Photography.\

Article Credit: Justin Newman