The final points battle is now in the books for the United States Modified Touring Series with the conclusion of the Featherlite Fall Jamboree. Ryan Gustin picked up both the National Championship Series title as well as the Hunt for the Casey's Cup crown, earning a cool $30,000 and $15,000 for his efforts. I thought I'd take a minute to break down the Hunt for the Casey's Cup a little bit.
Gustin got off to a hot start as he picked up the opening round win back on August 9 at the Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri. Jeremy Payne grabbed the win in Humboldt. Terry Phillips took the win the next night in Wheatland, Missouri while Gustin again found victory lane in Monett, Missouri the next night.
The series then moved north to Rice Lake, Wisconsin where northern hotshoe Joey Jensen collected another impressive win. Jon Tesch then picked up back to back wins at Founatin City, Wisconsin and Decorah, Iowa while Johnny Scott picked up the win in Worthington to conclude that four-race swing.
The Minnesota invasion then started August 29 at the Fairmont Raceway in which Ryan Ruter won in convincing fashion. Jason Krohn would pick up the win the next night in Jackson with Mike Sorenson garnering top honors at Lansing. Ryan Ruter would pick up another win, this time at the Deer Creek Speedway before Jon Tesch picked up his third win on the Hunt at Kasson.
Stormy Scott would put together back-to-back wins in Ogilvie and Sauk Rapids to tighten the points battle with Gustin and Rodney Sanders as they embarked on the final three nights at the Fall Jamboree.
Jeremy Payne would collect his second win of the season on opening night. Rodney Sanders would inch to within four points of Gustin after picking up the win on night two. Stormy Scott still had a mathematical chance of winning the championship, but he would need luck on his side. Scott would have a great run on the final night as he finished third. However, Gustin would finish fourth and Sanders fifth to secure the championship for Gustin.
Through the course of the 18-race marathon, Jon Tesch collected the most wins with three. It would have been interesting to see how close Tesch would have finished had he not missed four nights. Gustin, Stormy Scott, and Jeremy Payne were the only other drivers in the top fourteen in points to have multiple victories. Gustin would garner the most top 5's with eleven while Sanders was tops with sixteen top 10's.
Sanders would boast the best average finishing position of 6.28 compared to Gustin's 6.72. The average car count per Hunt race was 52.0 cars. The pole-sitter won seven of the eighteen races. However, the average finishing position of the pole-sitter was 6.4. The average starting position of the eventual winner was 3.2.
Gustin's average starting position was 10.9 while his average finishing position was 6.7. Rodney Sanders' numbers were 9.7 and 6.3, respectively while Stormy Scott's was 10.5 and 6.3, respectively. Gustin would have a +75 on positions changed while Stormy Scott was a +72.
That puts a wrap on my Hunt recap. I am in the process of putting together more data for the National Championship Series and the Casey's Cup Qualifier races, and then plan to tie all the information together for a cumulative recap. So if this kind of stuff interests you, check back in the near future!
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