By DAVID SMITH JR.

NCRA

Hutchinson, Kansas - Marc Hurd of Wichita, Kansas took was awarded the victory after Kyle Schmidt of Farmington, Missouri was light at the scale to win the opening night of the 54th Annual Hutchinson Grand Nationals as the O'Reilly/NCRA modified north division competed atop the famed Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas on Friday night.

Schmidt started on the pole for the twenty lap feature and wasted little time jumping out into the lead. Outside front row starter Jarrod Reimer settled into the runner up position as Schmidt opened a three car length lead early.

The leader would open a fifteen car length lead by lap five and had things well in hand while behind him, Hurd caught and passed Reimer for the runner up position.

The first caution of the feature fell on lap eleven when Dan Powers came to a stop at the top of turns three and four.

The attempted restart saw problems on the Todd Doty machine as he came to a stop on the front stretch.

From there the race stayed green the final distance with Hurd attempting several challenges on the leader. However, there would be no passing Schmidt as he led the rest of the way for the apparent victory.

Brian Powers started sixth and officially finished in the runner up position while eighth starting Greg Stephens, eleventh starting Ryan McAninich and Dan Danials rounded out the top five. Those five drivers are locked into the first five rows for Saturday nights Hutchinson Grand Nationals finale.

Heat races for the 29 car field were won by Burkhart, Schmidt and Reimer while McAninich commanded the ten lap "B" feature.

O'Reilly/NCRA Modified North

Hutchinson Grand Nationals/Kansas State Fairgrounds

29 Cars

A Feature: 1) Marc Hurd 2) Brian Powers 3) Greg Stephens 4) Ryan McAninich 5) Dan Danials 6) Brent Burkhart 7) Jason Scniepp 8) Tyler Davis 9) Marlin Farr 10) Jim Johnson 11) Jim Graves 12) Jeremy Green 13) Brad Johnston 14) Jim Cleveland 15) Jim Pearcy 16) Ross Shipman 17) Dan Powers 18) Todd Doty 19) Jerrod Reimer DQ Kyle Schmidt

B Feature: 1) Ryan McAninch 2) Jim Johnson 3) Marlin Farr 4) Jim Pearcy 5) Tyler Davis 6) Jeremy Green 7) Jim Graves 8) Todd Doty 9) Jim Cleveland 10) Brad Johnston 11) Casey McClaskey 12) Jeremy Massey 13) Shawn Langhover, Jr. 14) Cody Gearhardt 15) Brian Casey 16) Josh Loffland 17) Brandon Massey DNS: Shane Gerbes, Tyler Shearhod

1st Heat: 1) 13 Brent Burkhart 2) 91 Ross Shipman 3) 3d Dan Danials 4) 96 Jim Johnson 5) 12g Jeremy Green 6) 94 Jim Graves 7) 719 Joe Cleveland 8) 93b Brandon Massey 9) 28 Shawn Langhover, Jr. 10) 1m Cody Gearhardt

2nd Heat: 1) 10K Kyle Schmidt 2) 4 Dan Powers 3) 44 Brian Powers 4) 48 Jim Pearcy 5) Ryan McAninich 6) 90 Shane Gerbes 7) 93 Jeremy Massey 8) 66 Todd Doty 9) 95 Josh Loffland 10) 22b Brian Casey

3rd Heat: 1) 75 Jarrod Remier 2) 10 Marc Hurd 3) 15 Greg Stephens 4) 29 Marlin Farr 5) 21j Jason Schniepp 6) 65 Tyler Davis 7) 77b Brad Johnson 8) 09 Casey McClaskey 9) 9t Tyler Shearhod