The United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) kicked off a six-night run in fine fashion Tuesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa drawing an interesting mix of thirty-eight drivers from throughout the middle part of the country. In the end though they were all chasing the local hotshoe who took the $3,000 top prize home to New Sharon about twenty miles up the road.
Al Hejna accumulated the most passing points through the heat races and then drew the number one pill to start from the pole position of the thirty-lap main event. The “A-Train” chugged to the front at the drop of the green with row two starter Brad Pinkerton in hot pursuit. Behind them there were some big time moves being made in the early laps by a couple of drivers. Derek Ramirez had motor problems in his heat and used a provisional to start in row eleven, but by lap five he was already into the top ten. Young Ryan Gustin was also on the charge as he too cracked the top ten quickly after starting in row nine.
Back up front Pinkerton was all over Hejna and when the leader left the cushion open on lap seven, Pinkerton took advantage. A couple of cautions, including one for Gustin who coasted to a halt with a flat tire, kept the field close to the new leader, but on each restart Pinkerton would gradually put some distance between himself and Hejna. On a lap eighteen restart as the field went three and four wide down the back stretch Ron VerBeek got shuffled out and drilled the track tires protecting the start of the turn three guardrail head on. The red flag flew as it appeared that VerBeek had been knocked unconscious and after a few tense moments the veteran driver from Oskaloosa climbed from his mangled car under his own power.
Once back to action Hejna was able to keep pace with Pinkerton and with just seven laps to go he pulled even with the leader as they charged side-by-side into turn one. Pinkerton nailed the cushion perfectly though regaining the advantage exiting turn two and there was no stopping him the rest of the way from collecting big dollar checkered flag. Hejna had a nice cushion on the third-place finisher of Jason Hughes at the checkers while Jason Krohn and Tim Donlinger rounded out the top five. Jon Tesch challenged Hejna for second mid-race only to drop to sixth at the end, Ramirez settled for seventh and another New Sharon resident, Zack VanderBeek, made a nice run coming from row eleven to finish eighth.
The night also served as the season championship event for the track’s other three classes and they provided great support action throughout the evening. Tyler Groenendyk is a youngster to keep your eye on for the future as he walked away from the twenty-four-car B-Modified field to take a dominating win as an exclamation point to his track championship. Andrew Schroeder came from tenth to run second, rookie driver Drew Lawson was solid again in third, Bobby Greene finished fourth and Mike Shelton moved from row six to complete the top five.
The USRA Stock Cars have been a little short on numbers this year at Osky, but in the events that I have seen here in 2009 the class has never been short on action and it was the same story again tonight. The thirteen-car field went three and sometimes four wide with much of that action occurring right up front as Mike VanGenderen held the advantage for lap number one. Brian Mitrisin looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he moved quickly from row four to take the lead from VanGenderen on lap two, but then everybody seemed to be able to keep pace with Mitrisin once out front. Shane Weller started in row five and while his move to the front was not quite as dramatic, it wound up being more effective as he slipped past Mitrisin with four laps remaining to take the lead and the win. Mitrisin fought off several challenges from VanGenderen late to be the runner-up, Kyle Flack made the trip down from Decorah to run a competitive fourth and Matt Greiner was fifth.
Nineteen Hobby Stocks made the call on Championship night and they too provided the fans with some fantastic racing just prior to the Modified finale. Kris Walker looked like he was leading a drafting pack at Talladega for the first seven laps of the fifteen-lapper until “Mighty Mouse” Jason McDaniel was able to slip by. Don Nunnikhoven made a late bid for the lead pulling even with McDaniel with two laps to go, but he couldn’t make it stick to the bottom and had to settle for second at the checkers. Nathan Wood started on row five and finished third, Dustin Griffiths came from the ninth row for fourth, while Danny Thrasher also came from row five to take fifth.
Osky-SIS-USMTS Notes……”The Hunt” for the USMTS championship is sponsored by Casey’s General Stores and continues tonight (Wednesday September 2nd) at the Highway 3 Raceway in Allison. I showed my appreciation by filling my tank at Casey’s on the way to the track and I can personally recommend their pizzas. If you have seen my physique lately you’ll know why I can be considered an expert on pizza……The fast track appeared to be hard on motors early in the night as not only did Ramirez suffer problems but so did Mike Hansen and Texas driver Morgan Bagley…..Rodney Sanders of Happy Texas started in the sixth row of the first Modified B-Main and charged up to the third transfer spot…..Other long distance visitors in the Mod field included R.C. Whitwell of Tucson, Arizona, Darrell Nelson from Hermantown, near Duluth, Minnesota, and Bumper Jones from New Mexico…..Todd Narveson made the trip down from Deer Creek Speedway in Racine, Minnesota, to provide the call for the USMTS Mods joining regular track announcer Tony Paris to form an entertaining duo……Bert McDaniel Jr. was driving the B-Modified #98 formerly driven by Corey Brown tonight and was smooth finishing in the top ten. Bert told me that he might be through racing the Stock Car as he has really enjoyed the couple of nights that he has been in this B-Mod. That may be a tough move to make for a driver who has been so solid in the Stock Cars for the past several years…..Kurt Krauskopf also made the long trip down from Decorah with his Stock Car only to drop out of the main event with mechanical issues…..A big thanks to Todd and Janet Staley and all of their crew at Oskaloosa for the hospitality that they have shown us throughout the 2009 racing season. This was my seventh visit this season to one of their shows and my ninth overall this year to the Southern Iowa Speedway. Obviously one of my favorite stops, the Speedway will close out its 2009 schedule on Friday and Saturday October 9th and 10th with the annual Fall Challenge......For continued coverage of "The Hunt" for the USMTS National Championship be suree to check out TapFan's Tours at http://www.positivelyracing.com/
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