Friday, March 26, 2010

Gustin Wins Second Night in New Car

The USMTS series kicked off the Great Plains region in "cool"er temperatures at the Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Nebraska on Friday night. A diverse field of 45 modifieds packed the pits along with 24 stock cars. Cruisers were also on the docket for the evening.

Two drivers who earned the most passing points in the heat races, Jon Tesch and Ryan Gustin, redrew the front row with Gustin on the pole. Before a lap could be completed, the caution flag waved twice. The first was for a spin in turn one, but the second yellow proved to be "the big one." Scott Dickey made contact with the wall exiting turn two and made contact with another car, causing a chain reaction behind them. Half of the field was involved in some shape or form, but nine calling it a night as a result.

When green flag racing resumed, Gustin inched forward to grab the lead. Gustin pushed high in turn four, making contact with Jon Tesch. Tesch had to hit the brakes to avoid brushing the concrete wall, losing a spot in the process. The caution flew again shortly thereafter. On lap four, Tommy Myer used the inside lane to get by Mike Wedelstadt to take over the third spot. At this time, most of the cars remaining were running the top side of the speedway. Gustin's machine bobbled on the exit of turn four, allowing Tesch to reel in the leader. The top three (Gustin, Tesch, and Myer) had distanced themselves out front by a straight away.

By lap twelve, many cars began searching for other lines to run. Tesch found the inside line to his liking in turns three and four, keeping pace and pulling to the inside of Gustin. Six laps later, fourth-place running Wedelstadt saw his night come to a premature end as his motor blew up entering turn three. During the caution, Tommy Myer (was running 3rd) made a visit to the work area. He would return and have a good finish.

With five laps to go, Tesch was hot on Gustin's heels for the lead. Gustin continued to run the top side on both ends of the race track while Tesch continually used the low line in turns three and four. With two laps to go, Gustin was able to put some distance on Tesch exiting turn two and went on to take the h0tly contested win. Jon Tesch would finish second, Tommy Myer third, Josh Reisch fourth, and Zack VanderBeek fifth. Only thirteen cars finished out of twenty-six that had started. Kelly Shryock crossed the line in third after starting 17th, but was later disqualified for being some 14 pounds light at the scale.

At the start of the 2010 racing season, Ryan Gustin informed me his plans for the year. "Pretty much the same as last year, two regions and the Hunt." Little did he know he would receive a phone call from Ed Gressel, a car owner out of Wichita, Kansas. Gressel fields the car for Scott Green, a former rookie of the year winner. Gustin has spent the last two weeks working with Gressel and the rest of the team. He entered the Southern Series race at Outlaw Motor Speedway last Friday night. After getting a feel for the car, Gustin went to work on making changes to the "basic" setup to accommodate his driving style. After seeing his victory Friday night at Junction Motor Speedway, I think he's found the sweet spot.

In stock car action a driver from Sioux Falls, South Dakota took home the easy win. Newton, Iowa's Mike VanGenderen finished second while Fort Dodge area driver Matt Fox was fourth. I caught VanGenderen as he was leaving the track, and he joked that he won the "stock car" feature, but finished second in the race. I got a chuckle out of that. Apparently he thought the winner's car was a bit "modified" compared to the rest of the field.

The doubleheader at Junction Motor Speedway is scheduled to kick off Saturday afternoon with hot laps set for 2pm and racing to follow. Rain is in the forecast, but officials have reserved Sunday for a raindate if necessary.

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

Monday, March 15, 2010

Hughes Doubles Up At Humboldt

After picking up the win Saturday, Jason Hughes returned to action Sunday afternoon looking to keep his hot winning streak alive. Hughes picked up the final USMTS Southern Series victory last December while also pocketing a cool $16,000 payday out in Las Cruces, New Mexico last weekend. He picked up a USMTS Southern Series win back in February and took top honors Saturday in Humboldt as the 2010 USMTS National Tour got kicked off.

Sunday's track would be completely different then Saturday night's track. Saturday saw a heavy track in which ruts surfaced and threw cars around all night long. Track crews did an excellent job to get the surface smoothed up for Sunday's afternoon race, and the end result saw more cars finish.

Iowan Zack VanderBeek had the lucky draws on Sunday, as he not only drew the pole for his heat race, but a lucky young fan coincidentally redrew him the pole for the night's forty-lap main event. He would be joined on the front row with local favorite Whitey Folk. Folk was in attendance Saturday, but enjoyed the view from the grandstand side.

VanderBeek would get the advantage on the start and pull ahead by a couple carlengths. At the completion of the first lap, however, Folk would get sideways in turn two and stack up about three cars or so to bring out an early caution. VanderBeek would find the young Texas hotshoe Rodney Sanders and New Mexico driver Johnny Scott right on his heels on the restart. Scott made it count as he would slip by VanderBeek to take over the race lead, but the pace soon slowed again when Scott's right-side door panel fell off to bring out the caution flag.

On the ensuing restart, Jason Hughes entered his hat into the mix as he used the outside to pass VanderBeek for the runner-up spot. A lap later, he used the inside lane to pass Scott for the lead. Scott began to slip deeper in the field as Tommy Weder Jr., VanderBeek, and Johnny Bone Jr. all got by within the next several laps. The caution flag waved again on lap thirteen, and VanderBeek took advantage as he snuck under Weder Jr. for second. Bone Jr. was on a mission towards the front, however, as he passed both cars on the inside. Weder Jr. was able to get back by VanderBeek at that time.

Lapped traffic helped Bone Jr. close the gap to race leader Hughes. At one point, Bone Jr. made contact with Hughe's left-rear quarter panel and got him loose coming out of turn four. Hughes was able to keep control of his hotrod and keep the lead. Bone Jr. pressured Hughes for a handful of laps before Hughes was able to distance himself lap by lap as he went on to take the checkered flag. Bone Jr. settled for second, Tommy Weder Jr. third, Zack VanderBeek fourth, and Rodney Sanders rounded out the top five.

Defending National Champion Kelly Shryock struggled Sunday as he broke suspension parts in the left-front wheel area in his heat race. That meant he started towards the rear of one of two b-main events in which the top six would transfer to the feature. Shryock suffered a flat tire on the very first lap of competition, but he caught a break when the caution came out. He was able to change the tire and battle back to finish fourth. Shryock advanced ten positions to finish eleventh in the feature.

The USMTS National Tour will next be in action at the Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Nebraska on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27. However, the USMTS will be in action this upcoming weekend as they invade Oklahoma for a couple shows. Friday, March 19th they'll be at the Outlaw Motor Speedway near Muskogee, Oklahoma and then travel to West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma on Saturday. Now that I read the USMTS press release, both National Tour and Southern Series points will be awarded at both of these shows.

For more information, check out www.usmts.com. You can also check out www.racedayprints.com for photos from Humboldt.

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

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Hughes Scores USMTS National Tour Kickoff

I finally got my first opportunity to take in a race in 2010 as I made the trip south to the Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kansas. A doubleheader of USMTS action was on the docket as they kick off their 2010 National Tour.

With weather either postponing or canceling the first three USMTS National Tour events to open the 2010 season, the Humboldt Speedway was host to the opening night of the new season. With forty-four modifieds on hand, the road warriors took to the tacky track in hopes of scoring the first series win of the season. Procedures have changed this year with the USMTS, as no provisionals will be handed out. Drivers will need to earn their way into the show this year. With the forty-four cars on hand, the feature lineup was determined by the top fourteen in passing points followed by the top six from each of two b-main events to make up the starting twenty-six car field.

With the new procedures, three of last year's Hunt contenders failed to qualify for the feature on Saturday night. Scott Green, Rodney Sanders, and Zack VanderBeek all missed the cut while last year's Dandyland Farms Rookie of the Year Grant Junghans also failed to qualify. Junghans suffered problems all night long, only making a total of three laps on the track.

Outside front row starter Colt Mather led the field after the first circuit, but it didn't take long for Jason Hughes to make his move to snare the lead away. Hughes would take control on lap two and began to slowly inch away from Mather. A caution slowed the field down on lap seven, and on the ensuing restart local ace John Allen passed two cars to advanced into the third spot. A multi-car incident in turn four tore up a lot of cars a couple laps later. On that restart Allen slid by Mather to take the runner-up spot away. Mather would regain the second spot after yet another caution while Hughes continued to distance himself from the field.

Two more cautions kept the field bunched up, but it set up a good race for second as Kelly Shryock set his sights on Allen's runner-up spot. This occurred after Mather lost the handle on his machine in turn two and collected Jon Tesch, Johnny Bone Jr., and Steve Holzkamper. All four cars would be retired. Allen and Shryock swapped the second spot several times over the final part of the race, but Allen would get the final word as he finished second. He was no match for Jason Hughes, however, as the Oklahoma driver took the win in convincing fashion. Hughes also picked up the win last August during the USMTS Hunt for the Championship at Humboldt. Allen was second while Shryock settled for third. Mark Dotson, who started 25th on the grid, narrowly edged out Mike Hansen for fourth with Hansen taking fifth. Unfortunately there were only thirteen cars running at the end of the race.

Factory stocks and b-mods were also on the card on Saturday night in Humboldt, Kansas. Jesse Sobbing made the tow down from Glenwood, Iowa to take part in the b-mod class. Jesse is piloting the Racedayprints.com #99 Razor Chassis this year after winning the IMCA National Championship last year. Sobbing started fourth and finished fifth. Shawn Strong took home the factory stock feature win.

It was good getting back to a race track. I got to see a lot of good friends that I hadn't seen in a couple months. Those included the USMTS crew, Bob Litton, Wisconsin's Ed Reichert, and Racedayprints.com owner Chad Ebel. Driver Jake Neal made the trip with Chad, but was only a spectator on this night.

Action resumes tomorrow afternoon for another exciting race at the Humboldt Speedway. I believe hot laps get underway around 3pm. When the show concludes, I'll be making the lengthy trip home and getting a few hours of sleep before going to work Monday morning. So Sunday's blog won't be posted til Monday afternoon. Be sure to check out www.usmts.com for complete results and updates.

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