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!!

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!!

Higday Propels Racing Career

A couple weeks ago I attended an event known at the "Battle at the Barn", a go-kart indoor event that also provided four-wheeler, three-wheeler, and dirt bike races. While I don't know much about this form of racing, I did notice that there was a young woman racing a go-kart among the "guys." On that night this particular young woman had her struggles. A couple days later I contacted her, asking her if her kart survived all the hits and collisions. She was surprisingly very upbeat and very polite in her response. I asked her what her plans were for the upcoming race season, and when I read her answer, I decided to ask her if she would mind being interviewed for this blog.

At the tender age of sixteen, Kendall Higday already has her sights set on a career. That career is hopefully one day sitting behind the wheel of a World of Outlaws sprint car ride. The Southeast Polk student has had limited racing experience up to this point in her life, but that appears to be changing in 2010 as she will pilot two completely different types of race cars.

The female youngster was born into a racing family, with her mom having experience behind the wheel of an IMCA modified and her father currently has a sprint car himself. Kendall got her start at the age of three when she climbed on a 50cc four-wheeler and raced in the field across the road from her house. With her father teaching her the basics she was able to race the following year at the Iowa State Fairgrounds along with a couple other indoor tracks. After a few years of that, her father got her a go-kart. She wasn't able to race it much due to her father racing his sprint car at Knoxville. When Kendall turned thirteen, she moved up to the Jr. 1 class and won in her debut race at Newton. Since then she has moved to the adult classes in the karting ranks where she competes on a limited schedule.

While the 2009 season didn't produce much experience for Kendall, she enjoyed meeting lots of nice people that supported her. She learned a little bit more every time she got behind the wheel. Keeping an upbeat attitude kept Kendall striving to get better, and now she looks forward to her new challenges that await in 2010!

This year looks to be plenty busy for Kendall. She will get behind the wheel of a 305 sprint car owned by Marty and Jackie Stephenson and run at select tracks, including the Knoxville Raceway and 34 Raceway near Burlington. Another endeavor she is looking forward to is getting behind the wheel of a hobby stock. A family friend, Justin Maschke, plans to put Kendall in the seat at a few races at Boone, Marshalltown, and perhaps her "home track", the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines. She is also open to the thought of running a 360 sprint car at Knoxville every week if someone has one available. Sounds like this teenager has a busy summer ahead of her this year!

I'd like to thank Kendall Higday for her cooperation in filling out a survey form for me. I'd also like to wish her the best of luck in 2010 and beyond. Be sure to keep a lookout for Kendall at the local tracks this year!!

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