Three-time SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic champion Burt Myers scored his first win of 2024, in the Battle of SOBO, on Hitachi Energy Power-Up Raceday, Saturday at South Boston Speedway in Virginia. Myers, from Walnut Cove, NC, took the lead for the second and last time during a restart on lap 86 from Mike Speeney, from Newtown, PA. The Citrusafe Grill Cleaners number-1 then held off Ryan Newman, from South Bend, IN, and Jake Crum, from Statesville, NC, for the victory, his first at the southern Virginia race track.

“I’ve always wanted to win here at SOBO,” said Myers, who now has 12 wins with SMART. “Nick (Igdalsky) and Brandon (Brown) and these people give us a facility that is head and shoulders above so many places that we go to. I’ve seen my dad (Gary) win here (in 2001); I grew up here; the old southern tours have been here. So, to finally get a win here, this is going to be a good one.”

After the 99-lap race, drivers and teams gathered around officials to express questions regarding a previous series bulletin about engines utilized on the Tour. One of the engines discussed was that of Burt Myers No. 1 car. SMART Modified Tour Director Chris Williams offered this statement. 

“We try to do everything up front and in full transparency,” said Williams. “We were made aware of a bulletin for an 18-degree engine, using a short booster. That rule was made so that the engine can be more competitive with other engines on tour. Our interpretation of the bulletin issued in January didn’t match our internal documents we were working off of.

SMART Tech Director Alan Shepard added further details about the rule and his interpretation of It. 

“My interpretation of the rule included all built engines,” explained Alan Shepard, Tech Director for the SMART Modified Tour. “We looked at the engine at the last race at Dominion (Raceway) and we deemed it a built engine that is legal with a short booster. One of our officials brought to our attention a bulletin that wasn’t specific to our current document.”

With all of this to consider, the SMART Modified Tour has expanded the drivers battling for the championship in the season finale from three to all five that had a shot to enter the title equation during the race at South Boston.

“At the end of the day, we think it's best for both our fans and our drivers that the five playoff contenders from South Boston should now have a chance to race for the championship at the final race at North Wilkesboro,” stated Williams.

The championship for the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic will be decided this Saturday, October 19, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina. The event is a doubleheader with the CARS Tour Late Model Stock Cars and Pro Late Models. Tickets are available via the North Wilkesboro Speedway website. Grandstands open for spectators at 3:00 PM (ET), with qualifying for the SMART Modified Tour at 3:30 PM. A driver autograph session is being held at 4:00 PM, with driver introductions at 5:00 PM. 7:15 PM is the scheduled start time for the SMART Mods, with CARS Tour races before and after it. 

All SMART races are streamed live on FloRacing, the official streaming broadcast partner of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic.