Night number three of the Summit USRA Nationals at the Lucas Oil Speedway was another busy one with six classes in action as the sanctioned Late Models and the four cylinder Tuners joined the program. This would also be the final night of two round qualifying heats for the Modifieds, Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks while the B-Mods would contest their Summit Shootout invitational.
Qualifying race action started on time at six bells and wrapped up at 9:45 p.m. when the track prep crew came out and only reworked turns three and four. This would take just shy of a half an hour and the nine car field of Late Models would be first up for feature racing. The car count did not surprise me as this is a class that is currently isolated to eastern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin so it was quite a pull for two nights of racing in southwest Missouri, but I wondered if the USRA rules would be close enough for any of the many Limited Late Models in the area to join the party.
As it turned out only two did and it was a blast from the past as former Chicago area racer Gibby Steinhaus and (I assume) his son Tim pulled in too late to run the heat race. Gibby now lists Mountain Home, Arkansas as his hometown and the two would start the fifteen lap feature from the rear of the field. Dylan Kromschroeder would pull away over the first six laps before heat race winner Michael Hucovski spun in turn two.
On the restart Larry Fitzsimmons caught Kromschroeder napping and drove under him in turns three and four to swipe the lead only to have Dylan come roaring back a lap later to regain the advantage as the apparent class of the field. The Cambridge, Minnesota driver would then pull away over the closing laps to take the win over Fitzsimmons. Kory Ressie finished third, Chad Prissel was fourth and Steven O'Brien Jr. closed out the top five.
Fifteen laps of Tuner action would be up next and I now wish that I would have taken the time to ask just how the USRA came up with the name "Tuner" for their Four Cylinder division. It is definitely unique although my favorite name for the class is The 'Burg Speedway in Wisconsin where they are called the Murder Hornets.
All twenty-seven entries would start the main event and they would have some troubles getting started with a couple of multi-car incidents in the early going. Dylan Whitley would pace the field for the first six laps and he would then be three-wide with Brad Stahl and Alex Scarlett racing for the lead down the back stretch on lap seven. Stahl would nose ahead at the line and he would then open up a solid lead until current National points leader Oliver Monson emerged from the pack.
Monson would close the gap on the leader putting himself in position to make a challenge on the final lap diving to the inside of Stahl entering turn three. Monson's momentum brought him up the track in turn four where he would door slam Stahl and it would now be a drag race to the checkers. The aggressive move would pay off for Monson with a win while Stahl will likely put that one in his memory bank as he settled for second. Texan Sean Leasure was close behind in third followed by Whitley and Scarlett.
The eighteen lap Stock Car main event would be up next and all eyes were on Dylan Thornton who lined up fifth. The young driver from California had seen his "clean sweep" for the week go by the wayside in tonight's heat races, but with the money now on the line it was time to go. Bill Crimmins would lead the opening two laps before Kevin Donlan drove around him on the front stretch. New Mexico's Josh Cain, who started right behind Thornton in row four was on the move and he would take the point on lap eight bringing Dylan along with him into second.
Cain would ward off the challenges for a couple of laps before Thornton edged ahead down the back stretch as he would pull away over the final five circuits to visit victory lane for the third straight night. Cain would hold on for second over a fast closing Mitch Hovden who had started ninth. Crimmins would take the fourth position while David Hendrix filled out the top five.
With Thornton continuing his winning ways in the Stock Cars we would now find out if Dylan Clinton could do the same in the Hobby Stocks as he lined up sixth on the grid for the fifteen lap main event. Dylan Nelson would jump to the early lead in this one only to yield to Dustin Gulbrandson on lap five. The seven-time USRA National Champion appeared to have this one well in hand until lap twelve when he went a bit too low in turn two and clipped one of the infield tires. The contact would leave Gulbrandson with a broken tie rod and while he was able to continue, he was quickly gobbled up by the Dylan's, Nelson and Clinton.
Clinton would keep the heat on over the final three laps, but there would be no stopping Dylan Nelson from taking the win on this night. Gulbrandson nursed his wounded ride in for third followed by Carter Koop and the tenth starting Bryce Sommerfeld.
The Modifieds would be up next and once again nobody had anything for Tyler Wolff as the Arkansas hotshoe started from the pole position and drove away to a convincing victory in the non-stop race. Fellow front row starter Dustin Hodges was also unchallenged in second, Tyler Hibner came from sixth to third, Matt Johnson finished fourth and Dillon McCowan went to a backup car after being punted in his second round heat race to finish fifth.
It was now 11:23 and while I knew that I would likely miss a good Summit Shootout with the B-Mods I decided to hit the road for my hour long drive to my accommodations for the week. I had planned to be in attendance for all five nights of this event, however another obligation will keep me away from the track on Friday night and possibly on Saturday as well so, just in case, now is a good time for my "thank yous".
As always, Todd and Janet Staley and everyone with the USRA rolled out the red carpet for me and I cannot thank them enough. I only wish that I am able to catch up with this professional team more often over each racing season and I guess that is on me to schedule some more road trips in 2023 and beyond. The staff at the Lucas Oil Speedway are some of the friendliest people anywhere and Allie delivers a mean root beer float! I also want to thank Trenton Berry and Austin Krueger for their time and conversation with our other shared obsession. Make sure that you check out their work on RacinDirt!
If I am not able to make it back to Lucas Oil on Saturday night it looks like my next night of racing will come at either the Iowa Dirt Nationals at Dubuque or the annual Fall Challenge at Oskaloosa. Yes, the temps are cooling, but there is still plenty of great racing action to take in here in our region so bundle up and enjoy before the 2022 racing season comes to an end. And, as always, I hope that you will join us again soon here on the Back Stretch.
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