Gustin Dominates, Hughes Tightens Point Battle As USMTS Returns To Tipton

When you go to a United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) event you know that you are going to see a professionally run program with a traveling band of Modified competitors where pretty much the entire starting grid has a legitimate shot at taking the feature win. And when you go to a USMTS race at Tipton, on a track that has been expertly manicured by Al Dlouhy, you can count on something special and that was the case on Thursday night as drivers found that they could run top-to-bottom around the quarter-mile at Tipton International Speedway.

Twenty-nine Modifieds would sign in for qualifying that would then set the field for four heat races with the four fastest in each heat inverted. Drivers would then earn points based upon their finishing position and how many cars that they passed to get there with the top twelve going directly to the A-Main while the remaining drivers would run one of two B-Main’s with the top five advancing from each. Two provisional starters would then complete the twenty-four car field for the forty-lap headliner. Qualifying the USMTS cars was something new to me, but by doing it in group fashion the session went quickly and whatever time was taken was more than worth it as the resulting heat race action was spectacular. Two of the four heats featured three-wide racing up front for the entire distance and in the third heat Bruce Hanford held off a late charge from Dan Chapman to win by just seven one hundredths of a second with Jeremy Payne right there as well looking for racing room.

Fourteen-year-old Trevor Hunt would bring the feature field to the green from the pole position and the youngster from Kearney, Missouri, would establish himself as the early leader. The first caution of the event would wave just three laps in when the two provisional starters, Jeff Conner and Daniel Hilsabeck would spin in turn one. On the restart Ryan Gustin made a quick move from fourth to second and was setting up to challenge Hunt for the lead before the caution waved again on lap six after the track tire in turn three had been punted out onto the speedway.

Once back to green the battle for the lead was interesting from the standpoint that Gustin, who currently holds the mark as the youngest driver to ever win a USMTS main event, was trying to keep Hunt from eclipsing that accomplishment and after chasing the teenager for a couple of laps “The Reaper” was able to motor by on the top shelf. As Gustin pulled away the focus was now on the two and three-wide action that was going on for second on back as Hunt tried to hold his ground, but he was soon overwhelmed by the series’ top two points contenders Rodney Sanders and Johnny Scott.

The caution waved one last time at the mid-race point when Stormy Scott started smoking badly and then stopped on the back straightway and on the realignment you found Jason Hughes now up into the top five. Hughes was part of that fantastic third heat race, but suffered front end damage early after contact with Dan Chapman and he was forced to qualify out of the first B-Main. In that event he started ninth and methodically worked his way to the victory putting him in the 13^th starting slot for the feature. On the restart Hughes went back to work and continued his march to the front where he would lock into a three car battle in the closing laps with Zack Vanderbeek and Johnny Scott. As the white flag was displayed Hughes had made his move into second, but there was no catching Ryan Gustin who was on cruise control to the checkers. Hughes who is third in points and still very much in contention in “The Hunt for the Championship” made up a few points on Scott and Sanders who finished third and fifth respectively wile Vanderbeek would cash in the fourth-place check.  Brad Dierks would head up the local contingent in sixth, Hunt would wind up seventh, Lucas Schott finished eighth while Kelly Shryock and Jeremy Payne would fill out the top ten.

The Hunt moves north to Chateau Raceway in Lansing, Minnesota, tonight (Friday), then look for a big field of cars on Saturday night at the Deer Creek Speedway and the four-race weekend wraps up on Sunday night when the USMTS returns to the Cresco Speedway. It was great to catch up with Todd and Janet Staley and their sons Ryne and Logan as it has been two years since I last saw them right here at Tipton. They always ask me when I am going to hit the road with them and while so incredibly tempting I also have to consider the marital consequences of doing so! Maybe someday I will convince Christine that ninety nights in a motorhome at a race track will be sooooo much more fun than she thinks it would.  It has also been two years since I have had a chance to be entertained by series announcer Lon Oelke and there is no doubt that he is one of the most entertaining race announcers in the business as he had all of us laughing out loud on a few occasions.

The Darkside also sprinkled in five support divisions that ran feature races only and while I am sure that they would have liked to have seen more cars sign in, the way that they did things was a perfect addition to the program. The Four Cylinders put on about as good of a four car race as they could as Steven Boyle held off Jake Benischek and Adam Gates to take the win. Lucas Short appeared to have the Hobby Stock main well in hand until he exited the race late and that then lead to a last lap showdown between Brian Carpenter and Sheldon Hunter. The two made some contact as they charged to the checkers with Hunter prevailing by a nose.

In the Legend Car feature Adrianne Hartman was the early leader before veteran Warren Ropp cruised by on the outside. Hartman did not give up though and regained the lead from Ropp late to win the 20-lap event. Ropp dropped out of the race with three laps remaining due to apparent rear axle issues so it was Tyler Kelley chasing the young lady Hartman to the checkers. Craig Peekenschneider would take the third spot just ahead of Tony Stewart’s father, Nelson Stewart.

Wayne Hora started last, fifth, in the Outlaw Super Bomber race and he would pass Josh Neal late to take the victory while the B-Modified main suffered through several cautions including a couple that resulted from a bump-and-bang battle between Ben Chapman and Tyler Soppe. Soppe would lead the race early before being passed by Dan Mohr and after two incidents with Chapman, Soppe would end up heading to the pits before the checkers. Mohr would go on to win the race with young Dustin Smith taking second. Kory Meyer finished third, Chapman was fourth and Mike McGarry recovered from an early caution to take fifth.

The temperatures were hot upon arrival but with the sunsets coming earlier this time of year coupled with a nice east breeze it was a very comfortable night in the stands with several of my racing friends. It was also great to finally meet Chad Seering with IowaStockCars and to do a little bench racing before the night’s action got underway.

We are right back at it tonight as the USAC non-wing or “traditional” Sprint Cars will be at 34 Raceway in Burlington along with 305 Winged Sprints and the Sport Mods. Maybe come and enjoy another beautiful sunset over a race track with us?