BAYTOWN, Texas -- John O Whittington took advantage of an early-race caution flag, then beat Kelly Shryock to the finish line to score the victory in Saturday afternoon’s USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour powered by Swan Energy main event at the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas.
From the outside of the front row, Chris Brown muscled his way past polesitter Shane Hebert at the drop of the green flag and proceeded to lead the first nine laps of the contest.
Defending USMTS National Champion Jason Hughes moved into the second spot to challenge for the lead, but he and Brown made contact while fighting for the top spot. Brown spun, but both drivers were sent to the rear of the field for having a hand in the caution.
Randy Timms would have set the pace for the restart, but a flat tire forced him to the pits and handed the lead to Whittington, who was running in the fourth spot when the incident occurred.
Taking advantage of a prime opportunity, the 29-year-old from nearby Vidor went unchallenged over the remaining 26 caution-free laps to secure the $2,000 win and his first since recording his only other USMTS victory at the Gator Motorplex in Willis on Oct. 23, 2009.
Shryock claimed the runner-up spot, with Cody Smith, Bumper Jones and Bobby Malchus finishing third, fourth and fifth. Sixth through tenth were Thursday night winner Ryan Gustin, Clyde Dunn Jr., 14-year-old Lucas Schott, Mark Dotson and Howard Willis.
After their excursion earlier in the race, Hughes and Brown were able to salvage 13th- and 14th-place finishes, respectively.
Dunn’s run to finish seventh from 21st on the starting grid earned him the Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger Award.
Coupled with a fourth-place finish Thursday, Whittington leads the Southwest Region standings by three points (187 to 184) over Gustin, followed by Shryock (179), Hughes (162), Jones (159), Brown (155), Smith (141), T.J. Herndon (138), Dotson (136) and Dereck Ramirez (135).
Herndon came up one spot short of qualifying for the “A” Main in the third Real Racing Wheels “B” Main, but used the first provisional starting spot awarded this season to garner a 12th-place finish and secure his spot atop the Rookie of the Year standings after two events.
Friday night’s racing program was postponed due to heavy fog that settled in over the former Houston Raceway Park. The plan on Saturday was to rework the racing surface following the make-up program, and then stage another complete show.
A field of 80 USMTS Modifieds was on hand Saturday, including all 73 that were in attendance on Thursday plus seven new faces.
But once again, the fog rolled in and began to hamper visibility during Saturday’s early program and force officials to postpone the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The $3,000-to-win finale of the inaugural Texas Spring Nationals will now be held on Sunday, March 20. The event will cap a three-race weekend in the Houston area that begins on Friday, March 18, at the Golden Triangle Raceway Park in Beaumont, followed by a show on Saturday, March 19, at the Gator Motorplex in Willis.
