After watching Jacob Blees somehow squeeze between the front stretch wall and three other cars that were battling side-by-side below him USMTS PR whiz Jeff Nun shouted out to series President Todd Staley, "why did it take twenty-two years for us to come here?" The Stuart Speedway welcomed the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) in for the first time Tuesday night to give the Modified pros their first crack at the racy quarter-mile oval and I would have to think that the drivers, and the large gathering of fans that were on hand to enjoy the debut felt the same way as Dereck Ramirez pulled into victory lane to put a wrap on a great night of racing.
Twenty-four cars for fifty laps was the finale for the evening with defending champion and the current USMTS point leader Rodney Sanders drawing the pole from the eight drivers who had accumulated the most passing points during the three qualifying heat races. Rookie-of-the-Year contender Calvin Iverson would start to his outside and it would be the series rookie that would gain the advantage at the drop of the green. Sanders would apply the pressure though and on lap eight he would take the point leaving Iverson to now deal with Jason Hughes in the battle for second.
Two laps later, as Hughes drove up in front of Iverson exiting turn four causing him to stab the brakes, Iverson then drove through Hughes entering turn one sending the veteran driver from Oklahoma for a spin and bringing out the first caution of the race. Officials sent Iverson to the rear for the incident while Hughes would stay in second for the restart. Two more laps were completed before Casey Skyberg stopped on the back stretch after smacking the universal barriers in turns one and two and on this restart Tanner Mullens would take over the second spot and pickup the chase of Sanders.
Two distinct grooves, high and low, were soon expanded to a couple more in between leading to a few "edge of your seat" moments including the one mentioned in the opening paragraph as drivers grappled for position. Up front Mullens was trying just about everything with no luck until lap twenty-five when he had a run on Sanders entering turn one. With the leader committed to the cushion, the soon to be lapped car of Cole Ferguson climbed the outside barrier with his right side just in front of him and when Sanders made contact it brought Ferguson down off the wall. Amazingly Ferguson continued down the back stretch as Mullens took the lead and when the damaged car pulled into the pits off the top of turn four, the race stayed green with Mullens now setting the pace.
After starting sixth Dereck Ramirez was now in the hunt running a lower line and he soon dropped Sanders back to third while reeling in Mullens. With sixteen laps remaining, Mullens found himself briefly pinned behind the slower car of Iverson and that was the break that Ramirez needed to take the point.
Mullens tried to mount a comeback, but over the final ten laps the track locked down a bit and once Ramirez slipped around one more lapped car he would be on his way to victory. Mullens was close behind in second, Kyle Brown rallied mid-race to come from twelfth to third, Jason Hughes finished fourth and Sanders held on for a top five finish.
The USRA Ironman Series for Stock Cars and B-Modifieds were also in action with those drivers getting their first-ever look at Stuart as well and doing battle with several of the track regulars.
Chalk one up for the travelers in the B-Mods. Corning's Josh Sink would lead the way for the first four laps in the twenty-lap race before Decorah's Dan Hovden swept around the outside. Brayton Carter who makes the trip over from Oskaloosa often worked his way up from fifth to second, but was not closing the gap much on Hovden until a pair of cautions flew on laps fourteen and sixteen.
Now with the leader in his sight, Carter tried to hold a grip on the bottom to get around the high flying Hovden and as they came to the white flag Hovden's lead was by just a bumper at the stripe. Going down the back stretch for the final time Hovden used his high line momentum to retain the lead and he wisely moved to the low line entering turn three to take away Carter's line and secure the win. Josh Roney moved up from seventh to third at the checkers, Trevor Fecht was fourth and Minnesota's Taylor Skauge was fifth after starting twelfth.
A local favorite would take the win in the twenty-five lap Stock Car main event as Buck Schafroth went straight to the top of the track after setting the pace from his pole position. Darrin Korthals appeared to lose an engine on lap two and Steve Jackson's return to a track that he raced at regularly several years ago was interrupted by a flat tire on lap three.
Once back to racing it was the story of two grooves as Schafroth again pulled away using the cushion while Doug Keller dug around the bottom in second. Schafroth appeared to have this one in the bag until Jeremy Gettler spun in turn two with two laps remaining and the crowd was then treated to a green-white-checkers restart. Keller looked like he might be able to mount a charge on the final lap, but when he slipped off the bottom entering turn one that allowed Josh Daniels to squeeze under him and Schafroth to drive away for the win. Daniels completed an impressive tenth to second charge to give the track regulars a one-two finish with Keller having to settle for third. Todd Staley started eighth and finished fourth with Chad Legere coming from row five to take fifth.
The nine car field of USRA Hobby Stocks featured the two most recent National Champions battling it out for the win as South Dakota's Dustin Gulbrandson came from third to first on the opening lap only to yield to pole-sitter Eric Stanton on lap two. With the chosen line down low in this one, Guldbrandson gave it a try up top and ended up losing a couple of spots mid-race, but as Stanton scored the win with another former champion Chris Hovden in second, Gulbrandson edged out Solomon Bennett at the line for third. Tyler Schlumbohm would complete the top five.
Denny Berghahn Jr. would lead the opening lap of the USRA Tuner feature, but after Hunter Patrick slipped by on lap two he would lead the rest of the way to take the win. Berghahn was second, Kolby Sabin finished third, Cody Pierce was fourth and Logan Richards finished in fifth.
Here's hoping that Stuart will be on the USMTS schedule once again in 2021 and don't forget that there is no weekly racing action tonight at the Stuart Speedway as they will return to action next Wednesday June 24th with the Jake Durbin Memorial.
"Iowa Speed Week" for the USMTS Modifieds and the USRA Ironman Series for Stock Cars and B-Mods continues tonight, Wednesday June 17th at the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton. On Thursday the Mayhem moves to the Mason City Motor Speedway and on Friday the road warriors will visit far northwest Iowa and the Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids. The five night tour of Iowa winds up on Saturday at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City. Pick out one or more of these events and add it to your schedule!
No comments:
Post a Comment