After a seven year absence the Casey's General Stores United States Modified Touring Series returned to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Thursday night and you can bet that a large contingent of race fans and at least one driver are hoping that the track will once again be a regular stop on the Tour's busy schedule. The northeast Missouri track was once promoted by USMTS owners Todd & Janet Staley and was a mainstay on the schedule with twenty-two events being held up until 2010 and in fact Thursday's race was not even on the original USMTS schedule for 2017, but was a late addition.
Usually I would give you the story on the main event for the headline division first, but to tell the story of the night properly I instead need to go sequentially. So it all began with a beautiful sunrise over this sleepy little town. Okay, that's too far back....
A stout field of thirty-five USMTS Modifieds signed in as well as a diverse group of Out-Pace USRA B-Mods totaling thirty-three. The Holley USRA Stock Car division car count was surprisingly low at twelve despite the fact the $1,000 was up for grabs in the main event that saw Staley himself draw the pole position for the 18-lap feature race.
It would be outside front row starter Jason Cook though that would race to the early lead with Nathan Wood getting past Staley to apply the pressure on the leader. Hometown driver Eric Glass would draw the only caution of the race when he spun in turn one on lap four and on the restart Wood went right back to work on Cook. As starter Kevin Eggleston displayed the crossed sticks to indicate the halfway point of the race Wood was able to get by Cook to take the lead. Long distance traveler Derek Green from southern Minnesota had started eighth and he would take second away from Cook to put the challenge on Wood through the closing laps. Trying the top side in one and two and looking for room under the leader in three and four Green was ready to pounce on any mistake, but Wood did not make one and the two drivers took the checkers in the same order that they currently rank in the All Iowa Points for Stock Cars. Cook would finish in the third spot, Staley was fourth and Jesse Brown made the long tow down from Nashua, Iowa, to complete the top five.
B-Mods were up next for twenty laps and with two of the best in the Midwest, Curtis Van Der Wal and Andy Bryant starting second and third respectively it looked as though everybody else might be racing for third in this one. Columbia, Missouri's Galen Hassler had other ideas though as he would lead the opening lap before Cody Agee spun in turn two. On the restart, with Bryant moving into second and setting up to challenge Hassler, contact from Van Der Wal would send Bryant for a spin in turn two after the second lap was completed and both drivers were sent to the rear of the twenty-two car field.
Brayton Carter would take up the chase of Hassler after the restart until Ricky Thornton Jr. found the high line around the speedway to his liking. Driving Mike Tanner's #20T Thornton steadily moved to the front of the field after starting ninth and on lap twelve he barely squeezed between Hassler and the front stretch guardrail to take the lead. From there Thornton would set sail driving away from the pack to score the $1,000 win with Brayton Carter taking second. Van Der Wal would make it all the way back up to third at the checkers as Hassler and Carter VandenBerg completed the top five.
In victory lane Thornton stated that he had drawn the pole position for the grand finale, the USMTS Modified 40-lap feature and that if he could get up top early he might just be able to be standing here once again later in the evening. How right he was!
When the green flag dropped Thornton would beat fellow front row starter Jason Hughes to the corner and go right back to the now familiar cushion to set a fast early pace. Caution waved on lap eight when fluid from Michael Long's now disabled Modified soaked the entrance to turn one and after the cleanup a second caution came when the fourth-place car of Cory Crapser spun in turn one.
Once back to green there would be no stopping Ricky Thornton Jr. as he had that cushion dialed in to perfection propelling him to his second win of the night. Cade Dillard would get around Hughes for second on that lap eight restart, but Jason would battle back to take the runner-up honors as Dillard finished third. One of the more spectacular moves of the night came mid-race when Cayden Carter drove deep, deep, deep into turn three to put the slide job on his car builder Zack VanderBeek to take away the fourth spot and while it looked like Carter, who had started thirteenth, might be able to advance even further he could never reel in the lead trio. The current point leader in the Casey's Hunt for the Championship point standings, Stormy Scott filled out the top five.
The Memphis track once again lived up to its reputation of being wide and racy with four-wide racing seen on several occasions throughout the night. One of those resulted in disaster though for R.C. Whitwell who ran out of room on the back stretch, turned sideways and then launched into a harrowing series of barrel rolls all the way to the entrance of turn three on the opening lap of the third heat race. The crowd sat in stunned silence until announcer Chris Stepan relayed the good news that Whitwell had crawled out of his mangled Modified and was uninjured. In fact, the Arizona native later brought out a back up car and was able to move up into the fifth and final transfer position in a B-Main. He then finished twelfth in the feature.
The USMTS moves down to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City tonight for the second Grant Junghans Memorial event and the schedule is a busy one from there as The Hunt for the Casey's Cup continues until the 19th Annual Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota. A big thank you to Todd & Janet and the entire Staley family and crew for the hospitality and here's hoping that we see Memphis at least once on the original USMTS schedule for 2018!
I go back into Sprint Car mode now for the annual Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders Nationals doubleheader tonight (Friday) at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and then Saturday at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. These two events are always fun to see just who might show up to join the Invader regulars and word is that St. Louis area driver Brad Loyet will be on hand at Donnellson while young Californian Giovanni Scelzi will join the field at 34 Saturday night. Who else will be there? Well hopefully YOU and you can look for us on the Back Stretch.
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