Saturday, July 25, 2009

Shryock Ends Long Drought, Wins Elko

Kelly Shryock has been winless on the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) for nearly 11 months. His last win came in August last year at Kasson, Minnesota. That all came to an end last night as he took home the $2,000 payday on the first night of the USMTS portion of the Dirt Nationals at the Elko Speedway in Elko, Minnesota.

Thirty-seven modifieds checked in to the gates for the race on the asphalt track that was transformed into a dirt track this week. The track will have hosted four nights of dirt track racing when Saturday night's show comes to a conclusion. The facility itself is definitely top notch. I didn't get a chance to check out all the attractions, but will be sure to do so tonight as I return for more USMTS and IRA sprint car action.

Tim Donlinger and Kelly Shryock were the lucky recipients of the redraw as both Skyrocket cars found themselves on the front row. After two yellows to start the race, Shryock jumped out to the lead with Donlinger right behind. By the time the next caution came out on lap ten, Thursday night's feature winner Ryan Gustin had made his way up to the eighth spot after starting fifteenth. The field lined up for a rare single-file restart as the track took a lot of rubber after the sprint car feature, so passing became difficult.

Shryock appeared to be on his way to victory until the caution came out with just three laps to go. Steve Wetstein experienced problems and came to a stop in turn three after he was running fifth. Also during this caution period, fourth place runner Dereck Ramirez pulled to the pits with a flat tire. One lap after the restart the yellow flag waved again as Tom Paulson spun in turn two to set up a two-lap shootout. Tim Donlinger tried to muster up enough momentum, but didn't have enough as Kelly Shryock took home the win. Tim Donlinger was second, Mike Steensma third, Jason Krohn fourth, and Corey Dripps snuck his way up to fifth at the line as he got by both Tommy Myer and Ryan Gustin on the last corner. Myer had a flat tire, causing Gustin to check up and Dripps took advantage.

While this is Shryock's first USMTS win, he actually stopped his overall winless streak last weekend as he pocketed wins in Fountain City, Wisconsin last Friday and picked up a win at the Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley, Minnesota on Saturday. As most modified fans know, Shryock can be a streaky driver as he has won something like twelve in a row in years past. That could be bad news for the rest of the field at the upcoming USMTS races.

The IRA sprint cars had a twenty-five lap finale just before the USMTS concluded the night. Jake Peters took command of the field at the drop of the green flag while Scott Winters worked his way to second on lap three. Winters then dove to the inside of Peters to take over the race lead on lap six as they encountered lapped traffic on the small-sized track. A caution bunched the field back up on lap fourteen, but lapped traffic remained where they were running rather then being placed at the tail of the field. Peters took advantage of the yellow as he regained the top spot two laps after the restart running the low side.

Terry McCarl made his appearance be known as he maneuvered his way to third place, but the leaders were too far out front to catch by that time. Jake Peters went on to take home the win followed by Scott Winters, Terry McCarl, Scott Biertzer, and Donny Goeden.

Earlier in the night, McCarl set a new official track record when he pulled off a fast lap of 13.510 seconds during qualifying. He then set an unofficial record of 12.3 seconds during his heat race, so it's obvious the sprint cars were loving the track last night.

The final night of the Dirt Nationals at the Elko Speedway takes place tonight. IRA sprint cars, USMTS modifieds, and Legends are again on the card.

- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!

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