Donlinger Wires Wisconsin USMTS

Going into Friday night's action at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin, Tim Donlinger found himself in 11th place in the Hunt points. Last year's USMTS National Champion found himself in the redraw and got the lucky number one.

Donlinger jumped out to the early lead with third-place starter Kelly Shryock right on his heels. After a couple of early cautions, Ryan Gustin was the one to watch. Gustin had to transfer out of a bmain event and started 18th on the grid, but methodically made his way to eighth when the caution fell on lap eleven of the twenty-five lap feature. Up front Jon Tesch used the bottom side to scoot by Shryock for the runner up spot as Gustin continued to march forward to take over the sixth spot at the halfway point. Three laps later Gustin advanced two more positions to fourth when the caution came out with seven laps to go. Shryock got a bad restart and fell back to fifth when the field completed the next lap, which opened the door for Gustin and others to take advantage. Gustin made his way to second, but was unable to track down Tim Donlinger as the Rochester driver scored his first Hunt win of the year. Ryan Gustin was second, Kelly Shryock battled back to third, Mike Steensma had a great run to finish third, and Zach VanderBeek rounded out the top five.

1. 3D Tim Donlinger
2. 19R Ryan Gustin
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 10 Mike Steensma
5. 33z Zach VanderBeek
6. 14 Jon Tesch
7. 94JR John Doelle
8. 4R Dereck Ramirez
9. 49 Bob Timm
10. 20R Bryan Rowland

For complete results, check out www.usmts.com. There you can also find updated Hunt point standings as Kelly Shryock continues to lead the way.

In other action in Fountain City, Gary Wiersgalla took home a narrow victory in the Wissota Super Stocks while Danny Hanson took home the win in the Wissota Street Stocks. Kyle Jumbeck was involved in an early caution in the Wissota Midwest Mod feature, but he rebounded nicely and climbed back to second with five laps to go. A late race move on the inside along with a little bit of contact allowed him to grab the lead and take home the $1,000 paycheck. For complete results from those divisions, check out the track website at www.mississippithunder.com.

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