Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Hughes In Right Place at Right Time

On the final night of racing at the Highway 3 Raceway in Allison, the pit area was jam packed as nearly 120 race teams made their way to the big half-mile speedplant. The United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) was the headliner along with USRA stock cars, USRA bmods, USRA hobby stocks, and hornets.

The first feature on the track would be the USRA hobby stocks. Seventeen cars took the green flag with pole sitter Nathan Wood grabbing the early advantage. After a caution, Scott Spilde would apply pressure on Wood's driver's side door for several laps. He was unable to make the pass, however, and Wood continued to lead the way. Another caution allowed Chris Hovden to work under Spilde for the runner up spot before the top four cars would line up in rows of two for a couple laps. One final caution waved and Chris Hovden took full advantage as he darted to the inside of Wood off turn two on the final lap and pulled ahead going into turn three. Wood tried to drive his car in deep on the cushion, but couldn't make it stick as Chris Hovden took home the feature win. Nathan Wood was second, Scott Spilde third, Troy Hovey fourth, and Dan Hovden rounded out the top five.

1. 70 Chris Hovden
2. 52 Nathan Wood
3. 18 Scott Spilde
4. 4G Troy Hovey
5. 16 Dan Hovden
6. 9 Mark Lewis
7. 98 Kyle Anderson
8. 70s Steve Holthaus (I assume he was driving, could have been a Hovden)
9. 2H Dan Homeister
10. 5A Ben Arends
11. 51 Stac Schroeder
12. 37G Alex George
13. 6 Cory Gansen
14. 73G Kurt George
15. 82x Kari George
16. c3 Chase Pruismann
17. 57 Steve Brass

The thirteen-car hornet feature was next and it was Nathan Chandler picking up the win.

A field of twenty-two USRA stock cars took the green flag with Adam Silvey taking the early advantage. With Silvey out front, Mitch Hovden and Mike VanGenderen battled it out for the runner up spot as they swapped the position a couple times. Tory Reicks would work his way towards the front in fine fashion as he climbed to the fourth position after starting tenth. Hovden would get high and clip the wall in turn two, giving up several spots. Silvey would then experience some kind of mechanical failure as he pulled off the backstretch, handing the race lead over to Mike VanGenderen. That wouldn't last long as Reicks would take the top spot away on the next lap and take home the win followed by VanGenderen, Kevin Donlan, Dan Christopher, and Mitch Hovden.

1. 27T Tory Reicks
2. 57v Mike VanGenderen
3. 33 Kevin Donlan
4. 42 Dan Christopher
5. 15 Mitch Hovden
6. 5 Mike Bergan
7. 20 Dan Trimble
8. 37 Loren Kuennen
9. 00 Danny Cole Jr
10. 00T Tony Schimmels
11. 20R Gary Rotenberger
12. 11 Dave Cellan
13. 41 Cody Henkes
14. 99s Rick Suckow
15. 60 Kurt Krauskopf
16. 97x Adam Silvey
17. 29 Matt Griener
18. 121G Arlen Hoy
19. 40 Shay Curtin
20. 69 Jake Ludeking
21. 97 Lynn Panos
22. 11x Troy Scholbrock

The thirty-lap USMTS feature would be run next as Al Hejna and R.C. Whitwell shared the front row when the green flag waved. Hejna would dash to the lead with a great initial start with Ryan Gustin quickly making a charge from fifth to third on the first lap and advancing to second on the second lap. Gustin would chase down Hejna in a matter of a few laps, but was unable to make the pass for the lead. A caution came out in which Zach VanderBeek powered his Cheetos-sponsored car to the inside of Gustin to capture the second position. Gustin would fight back on the top side of the speedway until his car got loose in turn three and made a signicant impact with the outside wall.

With only thirteen laps down, there was plenty of racing left and Jason Hughes would take the second spot away from VanderBeek on the restart. Tommy Myer would follow Hughes to take over third. Race leader Al Hejna would clip an implement tire on the inside of the backstretch, prompting his car to turn to the right and clip the wall. When he did that, the driveshaft was spit out from under his car along with a trailing arm, ending his great run at the front of the pack. With ten laps to go, Jason Hughes would inherit the lead that he would not relinquish as he scored his third Hunt victory thus far. Zach VanderBeek finished second, Tommy Myer third, Tim Donlinger fourth, and Dustin Boney rounded out the top five.

1. 12 Jason Hughes
2. 33z Zach VanderBeek
3. 65 Tommy Myer
4. 3D Tim Donlinger
5. 22 Dustin Boney
6. 7 Ryan Dolan
7. 14 Jon Tesch
8. 3 Kelly Shryock
9. 27M Mark Shulte
10. 7K Jason Krohn
11. 4R Dereck Ramirez
12. 44 Darrell Nelson
13. 111 Bumper Jones
14. 96T R.C. Whitwell
15. 35 Jeff Schluetter
16. 20 Rodney Sanders
17. 8 Colt Mather
18. 14J Jake Neal
19. 31 Corey Dripps
20. 25 Scott Green
21. 7 Al Hejna
22. 19R Ryan Gustin
23. 5R Morgan Bagley
24. 10 Mike Steensma

The final event of the lengthy night would be the twenty-four car field of USRA bmods. Thirty-four cars were on hand, but it would be traveler Mike Shelton taking home the win followed by Bob Sutherland, Matt Jones, Dan Tenold, and Tyler Droste.

1. 16 Mike Shelton
2. 4ord Bob Sutherland
3. 23 Matt Jones
4. 86 Dan Tenold
5. 92 Tyler Droste
6. 14 Brian Schrage
7. 96 Ray Lundry
8. 20 Greg Mitchell
9. 21 Curtis Engen
10. 21L Matt Lettow
11. 10 Tyler Fecht
12. 16x Chris Verthein

All in all the racing was pretty good tonight. The hobby stocks put on the best show of the night as the leaders were side by side when they took the white flag. Tonight's program closed the curtains on the season at the Highway 3 Raceway.

The USMTS travels west to the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta on Thursday. I believe also on hand will be the stock cars, hobby stocks, bmods, and hornets. Be sure to check out www.usmts.com for start times, results, and updated point standings for the Hunt.

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

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