WORTHINGTON, Minn. -- After ending the 2010 season with several big wins, Rodney Sanders has found it tough to find his way back to the winner’s circle in 2011.
The dry spell ended Sunday night for the 21-year-old from Happy, Texas, as he captured the USMTS National Tour main event at the Nobles County Speedway in Worthington, Minn., with a late-race pass of Ryan Gustin.
Gustin was looking to notch his fourteenth triumph of the season and appeared in perfect position to do so as he led the 40-lap WIX Filters “A” Main with just five laps remaining.
Sanders, however, found the fast lane around the bottom of the racing surface and edged in front of Gustin as the pair of young guns came to the flagstand to complete lap 36.
As the leaders raced into the first turn, Gustin drove in deep but Sanders was able to expand his advantage as they headed down the back-stretch.
From there, ‘The Rocket’ blasted off from the pack to collect the win and $2,000 winner’s share of the prize money while ‘The Reaper’ was forced to settle for the runner-up paycheck.
2007 USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn came home in the third position while polesitter Al Hejna continued his much-improved 2011 campaign with a season-best fourth-place finish.
Bumper Jones made his first appearance with the USMTS road warriors in nearly two months and led the first six laps of the main event before eventually settling for fifth.
After missing a night to attend the wedding of a friend on Saturday, Jon Tesch returned to post a sixth-place finish and earned the Hard Charger Award for passing thirteen of his fellow competitors in the feature race.
Zack VanderBeek secured the seventh spot, Nate Wasmund ended up eighth, Eric Dailey nabbed ninth and Jason Grimes came home in tenth.
With his eighth top-10 finish in eight starts in the Great Plains Region, Grimes took over the top spot in the battle for the 2011 USMTS Rookie of the Year Award.
Despite an eleventh-place finish Sunday night, Kelly Shryock maintained his spot atop the Great Plains Region points standings with a 20-point advantage over Gustin (701 to 681). VanderBeek is third with 640 markers, followed by Grimes (618), Sanders (607), Krohn (603), Corey Dripps (588), Tesch (581), Chase Junghans (572) and Colt Mather (553).
On Monday, action heads to the Mineral City Speedway in Fort Dodge, Iowa, for the 5th Annual Fort Dodge Modified Nationals and the third points race in the Arnold Motor Supply Central States Region.
The Mineral City Speedway is a 1/2-mile semi-banked dirt oval located 0.9 mile north of US 20 on US 169, then 0.5 mile east on 230th. For more information call the track office at 515-573-8745 or 515-574-7223 on race day, or visit www.fdspeed.com online.
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OFFICIAL RESULTS
USMTS National Tour Great Plains Region
4th Annual
Event presented by Runnings Farm & Fleet
Nobles County Speedway,
Worthington, Minn.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown, chassis/engine builder, laps completed, reason out (if any) and money won. The top 16 drivers in passing points accumulated in the heat races are locked into the “A” Main, with the top 8 re-drawing for starting positions 1-8.
ISKY RACING CAMS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (5) 3C Chris
Brown, Spring, Texas.
2. (9) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
3. (4)
52w Nate Wasmund, Rochester, Minn.
4. (1) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie,
Minn.
5. (8) 18 Chase Junghans, Manhattan, Kan.
6. (7) 3 Kelly Shryock,
Fertile, Iowa.
7. (2) 88 Sean Barragan, Sioux City, Iowa.
8. (6) 14 Jon
Tesch, Watertown, S.D.
9. (3) 88 Jim Mathieson, Sioux City, Iowa.
NEW VISION GRAPHICS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (5) 33z
Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
2. (1) 99 Jason Grimes (R), Jamestown,
N.D.
3. (7) 7K Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.
4. (9) 31 Corey Dripps,
Waterloo, Iowa.
5. (3) 8 Colt Mather, Webster, Iowa.
6. (8) 3 Jason
Briese, Cleghorn, Iowa.
7. (6) 25S Warren VanWesten, Sibley, Iowa.
8. (2)
15M Shane Demey (R), Denison, Iowa.
9. (4) 95 Oliver Kollofski (R), Fairmont,
Minn.
EIBACH SPRINGS HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 111 Bumper
Jones, Mesilla Park, N.M.
2. (8) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
3. (7) 7
Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa.
4. (6) 7 Eric Dailey (R), Armstrong, Iowa.
5.
(3) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr., Rock Rapids, Iowa.
6. (4) 10 Mike Steensma,
Luverne, Minn.
7. (5) 07 Justin Anderson (R), Truman, Minn.
8. (2) 37w
Scott Ward, Watertown, S.D.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN (10 laps, top 8 advance):
1.
(1) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
2. (2) 10 Mike Steensma, Luverne,
Minn.
3. (6) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D.
4. (8) 37w Scott Ward,
Watertown, S.D.
5. (5) 07 Justin Anderson (R), Truman, Minn.
6. (3) 88
Sean Barragan, Sioux City, Iowa.
7. (10) 95 Oliver Kollofski (R), Fairmont,
Minn.
8. (7) 15M Shane Demey (R), Denison, Iowa.
9. (9) 88 Jim Mathieson,
Sioux City, Iowa, BeerBuilt/Mathieson, $75.
10. (4) 25S Warren VanWesten,
Sibley, Iowa, FRC/RAS, $75.
WIX FILTERS “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders,
Happy, Texas, Hughes/Geddes, 40, $2100.
2. (4) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown,
Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, 40, $1600.
3. (7) 7K Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.,
Hughes/Sput’s, 40, $1000.
4. (1) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa, BC/JR, 40,
$900.
5. (2) 111 Bumper Jones, Mesilla Park, N.M., GRT/Sput’s, 40,
$900.
6. (19) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D., GRT/Sput’s, 40, $800.
7. (8)
33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $700.
8. (10)
52w Nate Wasmund, Rochester, Minn., Hughes/KSE, 40, $600.
9. (11) 7 Eric
Dailey (R), Armstrong, Iowa, Skyrocket/Grawmondbeck’s, 40, $550.
10. (5) 99
Jason Grimes (R), Jamestown, N.D., Hughes/Dakota, 40, $500.
11. (17) 3 Kelly
Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower, 40, $550.
12. (14) 8 Colt Mather,
Webster, Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $425.
13. (15) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr.,
Rock Rapids, Iowa, Skyrocket/HarryHeads, 40, $400.
14. (12) 18 Chase
Junghans, Manhattan, Kan., GRT/Sput’s, 40, $400.
15. (13) 72 Doug Hillson,
Blooming Prairie, Minn., Hillson/CRE, 40, $300.
16. (18) 10 Mike Steensma,
Luverne, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $300.
17. (20) 37w Scott Ward,
Watertown, S.D., Arrow/Sput’s, 40, $300.
18. (6) 3C Chris Brown, Spring,
Texas, Skyrocket/ProPower, 40, $300.
19. (21) 07 Justin Anderson (R), Truman,
Minn., Razor/Sweet, 40, $300.
20. (16) 3 Jason Briese, Cleghorn, Iowa,
Skyrocket/JR, 40, $250.
21. (9) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa, BC/Mullins,
40, $400.
22. (24) 15M Shane Demey (R), Denison, Iowa, BMS/Demey, 28,
mechanical, $300.
23. (23) 95 Oliver Kollofski (R), Fairmont, Minn.,
Skyrocket/Trondson, 8, mechanical, $300.
24. (22) 88 Sean Barragan, Sioux
City, Iowa, Hughes/Yankton, 4, mechanical, $250.
(R) = Rookie of the Year contender.
Integra Lap Leaders: Jones 1-6, Gustin 7-35, Sanders
36-40.
Total Laps Led: Gustin 29, Jones 6, Sanders
5.
Margin of Victory: 1.598 seconds.
AFCO Pole
Winner: Gustin.
Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard
Charger: Tesch (started 19th, finished 6th).
Ruter Farms
Long Tow Award: Jones (1,190 miles).
Provisional
Starters: none.
Next Race: Monday, June 13, Mineral
City Speedway, Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Farm Boy BBQ Sauce Great Plains
Region Points: Shryock 701, Gustin 681, VanderBeek 640, Grimes 618,
Sanders 607, Krohn 603, Dripps 588, Tesch 581, Junghans 572, Mather
553.
Rookie of the Year Points: Grimes 989, Clyde Dunn Jr.
976, Jimmy Ray 971, Jeff Rowland 843, Philip Houston 807.
COMP Cams
Engine Builder of the Year Points: Mullins 304, ProPower 237, Sput’s
185, Geddes 161, ASI 154.
Tiger Rear Ends Manufacturers Championship
Points: Hughes 318, Skyrocket 262, GRT 194, BC 94, Ramirez 80.
Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Krohn.
CPD Racing
Tools – not awarded.
Eibach Springs – Jones.
Forty9Designs.com – Hejna,
Dailey.
Hooker Harness – Mather.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs –
Gustin.
ISKY Racing Cams – Brown.
KSE Racing Products –
VanderBeek.
Marsh Racing Wheels – Kollofski.
New Vision Graphics –
VanderBeek.
Nitroquest – Kollofski.
Mesilla Valley Transportation –
Tesch.
PBM Performance Products – not awarded.
Real Racing Wheels –
Demey.
Ruter Farms – Jones.
WIX Filters – Sanders.
