The road warriors of the United States Modified Touring Series made a stop at the Mineral City Speedway in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Tuesday night. Despite the gloomy forecast and increasing clouds, the show would go on as hobby stocks and the Dart Iron Man Challenge for USRA stock cars were also on hand for the night's action.
As the heats and b-mains were run off, the cloud banks began to roll in. In a weird way it appeared as thought the clouds split the speedway as dark clouds encompassed the facility. Lightning and cracks of thunder were evident as the features were clicked off.
First up for feature action would be the Dart Iron Man Challenge for the stock cars. Outside front row starter Mark Elliott blasted to the lead in front of the nineteen car starting grid, but unfortunately three cars were unable to make the call. Matt Mundt would slide to the inside of Mike VanGenderen for the third spot before Jeremy Crimmins took it away from him. Nathan Wood would use the high side to get by VanGenderen for fourth as the laps clicked away until the lone caution of the race was waved. No positions would be changed in the top five after that point as Mark Elliott captured the win ahead of Greg Elliott, Jeremy Crimmins, Nathan Wood, and Mike VanGenderen.
1. 412 Mark Elliott
2. 1 Greg Elliott
3. 15 Jeremy Crimmins
4. 52 Nathan Wood
5. 57v Mike VanGenderen
6. 22 Jeff Deal
7. 7 Jason Minnehan
8. 5 Mike Bergan
9. 31M Mark Haglund
10. R31 Ryan Leeman
11. 1K Don Killen
12. 43 Calvin Lange - these were the cars that finished.
The hobby stocks would follow with fourteen cars on the starting grid. Todd Hillman would lose control of his machine in front of the field before getting collected by Robert See, who's machine went airborn. Luckily both drivers would walk away unhurt. Devin Smith would take the helm when the green flag waved again, but he would receive heavy pressure from Brad Ratcliff on the outside. Ratcliff would take the top spot away momentarily while Justin Nehring passed Merle Bass on the inside for the third position. Smith would regain the lead from Ratcliff while later Nehring would also make his way by for the runner up spot. On the final set of corners, Nehring buried his machine into turn three on the inside of Smith. When the checkered flag waved it would be Justin Nehring picking up the exciting win by the slimmest of margins. Smith would settle for second, Stac Schroeder third, Brad Ratcliff fourth, and Merle Bass rounded out the top five.
1. 20N Justin Nehring
2. 81 Devin Smith
3. 51 Stac Schroeder
4. 1R Brad Ratcliff
5. 8 Merle Bass
6. 8B Michael Becker
7. 14B Brett Smith
8. 713 ??
9. 74 Les Langfit - these were the cars that finished.
DNF
59 Jeff Lyon
06 Kyle Schmauss
5 Tyler Pickett
14 Todd Hillman
91 Robert See
With the skies becoming a bigger threat, the USMTS feature was quickly brought to the track for their twenty-five lap main event that saw Al Hejna and local racer Brad Williams on the front row. Hejna would get the jump as he took the lead followed by Colt Mather in second. Mather would power by Hejna on the outside as he took command of the ship before Hejna would slow with a flat tire. That brought out the only caution of the race.
With Mather and Brad Williams in the top two positions, Ryan Ruter and Jason Krohn quickly worked their way by Williams. Krohn would slide under Ruter to snare the second spot away while Williams gave up the fourth spot to Ryan Gustin. Gustin continued his march forward as he slipped by Ruter for third. The top three (Mather, Krohn, and Gustin) would separate themselves from the rest of the field as they encountered lapped traffic. Krohn would work to the inside of Mather as he became the new leader while Gustin also hugged the inside line to make the pass for the runner up spot.
Krohn and Gustin were up front once again, a sight that many saw the night before in Fairmont. As the laps clicked off Gustin would inch ever so closer to the rear bumper of Krohn, and on the final corner Gustin changed his line to the cushion while Krohn stayed glued to the bottom to try to maneuver around a slower car. Gustin would carry plenty of momentum exiting turn four to pick up his fifth consecutive USMTS win, a popular one by the reaction from the Mineral City Speedway fans. Gustin used to wheel a limited modified around the half-mile facility in his "younger" days. Krohn would settle for the bridesmaid once again while Colt Mather, Ryan Ruter, and Kelly Shryock rounded out the top five. Shryock started fifteenth, no doubt picking up the hard charger award.
1. 19R Ryan Gustin
2. 7K Jason Krohn
3. 8 Colt Mather
4. 555 Ryan Ruter
5. 3 Kelly Shryock
6. 22BW Brad Williams
7. 26P Kevin Pittman
8. 31 Corey Dripps
9. 111 Bumper Jones
10. 36 Kenny Wallace
11. 9 Shane Hebert
Gustin's streak is the longest winning streak on the USMTS circuit since 2007 when Kelly Shryock won six straight. Gustin will look to tie that achievement Wednesday night as the traveling tour invades the I-35 Speedway in Mason City. Also on the card will be the Midwest 305 sprint cars. For more information on that show, check out www.usmts.com or www.i-35speedway.com.
I'd like to thank announcer Lon Oelke for the Positivelyracing plug. Lon will be behind the mic Wednesday night in Mason City as regular track announcer Jerry VanSickel has prior commitments.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
No comments:
Post a Comment