Now that its been at least five or six days since I visited Worthington and Fort Dodge for USMTS action, I'm just now getting the chance to sit down and type a blog. I'll admit, I don't have much motivation to write anything at this point now that it's five days old. I apologize for the lengthy delay, as my mother had surgery on Monday and didn't get out of the hospital until Thursday night. So my priorities were with her Tuesday and Wednesday night.
Last Sunday I met a friend in Clear Lake and headed north and west to the Nobles County Speedway in Worthington, Minnesota. It was my first ever trip to the racey quarter mile track. As I do with every track I go to, I was looking for people I know in the grandstand when I saw a couple I recognized. I apologize for not remembering their names, but they are from the Kansas City area and travel to a lot of races, especially USMTS. Turns out they are following the USMTS on their 17-race, 19-day brutal schedule of events. I also saw a good friend of mine, Wade Sembach, and his buddy (sorry, can't remember first name but Waples is the last name). Caught up on racing gossip and such with them as well.
Heat races were run and most of the racing was done on the low groove, although many guys did advance from the tail of the field in all divisions. Once heat races were completed, the track crew went to work and grated the track from the bottom to the top, and then skimmed it back down while adding water to the surface. It did wonders for the track as it would provide side-by-side action throughout the feature events.
Bumper Jones would use his outside front row starting spot to grab the lead at the start, but fourth-place starter Ryan Gustin wasted little time in getting to the front. After passing pole-sitter Al Hejna for second, Gustin hammered his machine to the outside of Jones and took over the lead. Al Hejna worked under Jones to secure the second position as he kept pace with Gustin up front. Rodney Sanders and Jason Grimes raced wheel to wheel for the fifth spot before Sanders began moving his way forward ever so slightly. With Gustin and Hejna out front by themselves, Sanders reeled in Jones for third and set the fishing line to reel in Hejna for second. With eight laps remaining the only caution of the race would come out to set up and interesting battle between Gustin, Hejna, and Sanders. Sanders made the inside line work again to his liking as he got by Hejna, and within two more laps he ducked to the inside of Gustin and got by for the lead. Gustin would try to battle back, but wound up losing ground as Rodney Sanders took home the win. Gustin would settle for second, Jason Krohn finished third, Al Hejna slid to fourth, and Bumper Jones rounded out the top five.
Other winners on the night included Nick Johansen (USRA Iron Man B-mods), Mitch Hovden (USRA Iron Man stock cars), and Jeremy VanEde (USRA hobby stocks).
Action would resume on Monday with the annual visit to the Mineral City Speedway in Fort Dodge. The USMTS car count was considerably down with only twenty-one cars on hand. That could be due to the forecast, or it could be a result of the regional format USMTS has in place. In either case, lack of quantity didn't reflect the caliber of racing the fans saw on Monday night.
Cayden Carter would dominate the USRA Iron Man challenge for b-mods. He finished ahead of Matt Pittman, Jared Timmerman, Steve Reetz, and Matt Lettow.
Kevin Berger would pick up the win in the USRA hobby stock feature. He was followed across the line by Austin Wolfgram, Chad Krug, Justin Nehring, and Brad Ratcliff.
Chris Ullrich picked up the win in the USRA Iron Man challenge for stock cars. Jake Masters, Kyle Falck, Mark Elliott, and Nathan Wood rounded out the top five.
With threat of rain, USMTS officials opted out of their traditional four-wide and American flags salute and instead got the show moving quickly. Mike Steensma grabbed the early lead, but an early caution involving Corey Dripps and Ron VerBeek slowed the action. Steensma would open the door for Ryan Gustin a few laps later when he slid high in turn four, allowing Gustin to motor past and take over the lead. Gustin would open up a lead of nearly a straight away, but lurking behind would be nine-time series champion Kelly Shryock. Shryock methodically drove the bottom groove while everybody else was using the cushion. Shryock knocked off a position at a time and chased down Gustin in the closing laps. Shryock would take the lead as they came to the white flag and celebrated his 46th birthday in victory lane. Gustin would have to settle for second after leading the majority of the race for the second consecutive night. Mike Steensma, Colt Mather, and Chris Brown completed the top five. Brown was driving Shryock's backup car.
All in all the races were good at both facilities. While I wasn't able to get much sleep at the beginning of the week, I have since caught up a little bit and look forward to another couple nights of racing in the next few days. My plans are to take in Webster City's weekly show Saturday night before catching more USMTS action at Mason City Tuesday and in Alta on Wednesday. Hope to see you at one of these races, or perhaps later on down the road!
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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