After winning the first two nights of the 25th annual Dakota Classic Modified Tour, Jeff Taylor just needed to be consistent the rest of the way.
He was, and on Friday night in Jamestown, Taylor raised the championship trophy for the first time.
The Cave City, Ark., driver was never really threatened after his back-to-back wins in Minot and Estevan July 6-7, as he entered Night 6 on Friday with a 17-point lead.
A third place finish on the tour's final night distanced Taylor even further from challenger Jordan Grabouski of Beatrice, Neb., and he won by 26 points.
Taylor finished third in Williston on July 8 and second in Dickinson the next night. His only off-night on the tour was on July 10 in Mandan, when he finished 14th, but he had built up enough of a lead that it didn't hurt him.
Grabouski finished second, one point ahead of Minot's Steven Pfeifer, who finished second to Taylor on the Estevan stop.
Ryan Ruter of Kanawha, Iowa, and Brian Mullen of Seymour, Wisc., rounded out the top five.
Defending tour champion Aaron Turnbull was Estevan's top finisher this year, taking 10th place. His best finishes were seventh place in Minot and Jamestown.
Other local drivers who raced all six nights of the tour were Les McLenehan (43rd) and Kyle Scholpp (51st).
Meanwhile, Dalton Flory of Minot was the winner of the stock car division of the tour. He finished five points ahead of Elijah Zevenbergen of Ocheyedan, Iowa. They finished 1-2 in Estevan on July 7.
Zevenbergen, who won three of the six stops, led Flory by 10 points entering the final night, but Flory finished fourth and Zevenbergen wound up all the way back in 19th, giving the title to Flory.
Kody Scholpp of Lampman was the top local finisher in sixth place. He was in the top 10 on each of the first five nights and was among the leaders until a 24th place finish on championship night.
Estevan's Austin Daae finished 13th. His best result was third on the final night.
