NEW RICHMOND, Wis. -- Ryan Gustin dominated the field when the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour powered by Swan Energy invaded the Cedar Lake Speedway on June 17 for the first of two nights of racing at the 3/8-mile high-banked clay oval in New Richmond, Wis.
Inclement weather forced the postponement of the second half of the Masters race back one month to Saturday night, but the results was the same albeit the road to victory lane was a little rockier this time for ‘The Reaper.’
The first half of Saturday night’s 40-lap WIX Filters “A” Main saw a see-saw battle up front with six lead changes among three drivers, but Gustin became the fourth and final different leader with 13 laps to go as the 20-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa, raced off to his 15th win of the season and 39th of his young career with the United States Modified Touring Series.
From the outside of the front row, Mike Steensma grabbed the lead from polesitter Ryan Ruter, but Ruter battled back to pace the second and third laps. Steensma led the next pair of laps but Ruter edged ahead to get scored as the leader of lap 6 before Steensma regained control on lap 7.
Corey Dripps worked his way to the front and began pressuring Steensma on lap 14, and then snagged the top spot away as they completed the 16th lap. Dripps maintained his grip on the lead position when the caution waved on lap 25 when Ruter slowed with a flat tire.
Meanwhile, Gustin had clawed his way into contention after starting ninth. After the restart, Gustin found his way around Dripps with 27 laps in the books. As the pair raced into turn 1, Dripps found the outside guardrail of the Cedar Lake Speedway and a broken suspension ended his night and brought out the second yellow flag.
Back under green, another lap could not be finished before the red flag was waved for a crash on the back-stretch.
Battling for fifth and sixth, contact between Jason Miller and Craig Thatcher sent Thatcher’s machine darting to the inside where he clipped the right rear of Tommy Myer’s car that sent Myer’s #65 GRT Chassis into a series of roll-overs.
Myer was transported to a local hospital with an apparent ankle injury, but there were otherwise no serious injuries.
2007 USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn was also caught up in the melee and was forced to retire from the race while Miller and Thatcher were able to continue.
On the restart, Gustin blasted out to a four-car-length advantage and set sail from there to score the $2,000 triumph while Steensma held on to collect the runner-up paycheck.
Jason Hughes came from the 16th starting spot to finish third. With Miller and AFCO Pole Award winner Rodney Sanders rounding out the top 5 finishers. Sixth through tenth went to Jon Tesch, Brent Larson, 24th-starting Kelly Shryock, Jason Grimes and Dereck Ramirez.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
USMTS National Tour
Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region
13th Annual
Masters – Day 2 of 2 (Day 1 completed June 17)
Cedar Lake Speedway, New
Richmond, Wis.
Saturday, July 16, 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 12 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.
HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (3) 20 Rodney
Sanders, Happy, Texas.
2. (5) 44 Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, Minn.
3. (4)
12m Jason Miller, Osceola, Wis.
4. (8) 1L Brad Loveday (R), Fort Frances,
Ont., Canada.
5. (1) 1k Shawn Kelley (R), Somerset, Wis.
6. (9) 14w
Clayton Wagamon (R), Blaine, Minn.
7. (6) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile,
Iowa.
8. (7) 1x Cody Erickson, Ulen, Minn.
9. (2) 6m Ted Marrs, Bethel,
Minn.
HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 91
Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis.
2. (1) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn.
3. (6)
19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
4. (5) 52 Jason Thoennes (R), Garfield,
Minn.
5. (3) 0 Les Duellman, Winona, Minn.
6. (8) 97 Ron Schreiner,
Hudson, Wis.
7. (9) 12 Jason Gross, Osceola, Wis.
8. (4) 11 Lance Hofer,
Cochrane, Wis.
9. (7) 49x Jay Poidinger, Somerset, Wis.
EIBACH SPRINGS HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 31 Corey
Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
2. (3) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa.
3. (4) 14 Jon
Tesch, Watertown, S.D.
4. (2) 99 Jason Grimes (R), Jamestown, N.D.
5. (9)
7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.
6. (7) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R), Danube,
Minn.
7. (5) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
8. (6) 7x Chris
Magistad, Floodwood, Minn.
9. (8) 26f Dan Fetters, Montour, Iowa.
PBM PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2)
IOU1 Brent Larson (R), Lake Elmo, Minn.
2. (4) 10 Mike Steensma, Luverne,
Minn.
3. (8) 555 Ryan Ruter, Kanawha, Iowa.
4. (1) 431 Mike Gibson (R),
Star Prairie, Wis.
5. (6) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
6. (5) 12
Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
7. (3) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie,
Minn.
8. (9) 50 Kevin Viebrock, Somerset, Wis.
9. (7) 33z Zack VanderBeek,
New Sharon, Iowa.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 6
advance):
1. (1) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D.
2. (2) 52 Jason
Thoennes (R), Garfield, Minn.
3. (8) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie,
Minn.
4. (7) 12 Jason Gross, Osceola, Wis.
5. (4) 14w Clayton Wagamon (R),
Blaine, Minn.
6. (6) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R), Danube, Minn.
7. (5) 0 Les
Duellman, Winona, Minn., DirtDueler/Brink, $90.
8. (9) 50 Kevin Viebrock,
Somerset, Wis., Stealth/Action, $75.
9. (3) 431 Mike Gibson (R), Star
Prairie, Wis., Matrix/Tim’s, $90.
10. (12) 26f Dan Fetters, Montour, Iowa,
Sidebiter/KSE, $90.
11. (10) 11 Lance Hofer, Cochrane, Wis., GRT/Krause,
$75.
12. (11) 6m Ted Marrs, Bethel, Minn., Bullet/Marrs, $75.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 6
advance):
1. (1) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.
2. (6) 12 Jason
Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (3) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (2) 99
Jason Grimes (R), Jamestown, N.D.
5. (5) 97 Ron Schreiner, Hudson, Wis.
6.
(7) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
7. (12) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon,
Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, $400.
8. (8) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie,
Minn.
9. (4) 1k Shawn Kelley (R), Somerset, Wis., Fegers/Kelley, $90.
10.
(11) 49x Jay Poidinger, Somerset, Wis., SSR/Breeschoeten, $75.
11. (10) 7x
Chris Magistad, Floodwood, Minn., J-Car/Tim’s, $75.
12. (9) 1x Cody Erickson,
Ulen, Minn., Impressive/Mullins, $75.
WIX FILTERS “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (9) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, 40, $2100.
2. (3)
10 Mike Steensma, Luverne, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $1500.
3. (16) 12
Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $1000.
4. (12) 12m Jason
Miller, Osceola, Wis., Matrix/Mullins, 40, $900.
5. (7) 20 Rodney Sanders,
Happy, Texas, Hughes/Geddes, 40, $900.
6. (13) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D.,
GRT/Sput’s, 40, $700.
7. (8) IOU1 Brent Larson (R), Lake Elmo, Minn.,
Shaw/Tim’s, 40, $650.
8. (24) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa,
Skyrocket/ProPower, 40, $700.
9. (20) 99 Jason Grimes (R), Jamestown, N.D.,
Hughes/Dakota, 40, $550.
10. (18) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.,
Hughes/ProPower, 40, $500.
11. (22) 97 Ron Schreiner, Hudson, Wis., SSR/MAS,
40, $450.
12. (10) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn., DirtDueler/Brink, 40,
$425.
13. (15) 52 Jason Thoennes (R), Garfield, Minn., MasterSbilt/Sower, 40,
$400.
14. (25) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn., Hillson/CRE, 40,
$375.
15. (2) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis., J-Car/TriStar, 40, $350.
16.
(14) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 27, crash, $400.
17. (17)
65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn., GRT/Sput’s, 27, crash, $400.
18. (5)
31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa, BC/Mullins, 27, suspension, $400.
19. (4) 44
Darrell Nelson, Hermantown, Minn., GRT/Wagamon, 26, mechanical, $300.
20.
(11) 1L Brad Loveday (R), Fort Frances, Ont., Canada, Skyrocket/Mullins, 26,
mechanical, $300.
21. (6) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa, BC/JR, 25,
overheating, $400.
22. (1) 555 Ryan Ruter, Kanawha, Iowa, Sidebiter/KSE, 25,
flat tire, $300.
23. (19) 12 Jason Gross, Osceola, Wis., Matrix/Adams, 19,
mechanical, $250.
24. (21) 14w Clayton Wagamon (R), Blaine, Minn.,
Wheeler/Wagamon, 15, mechanical, $300.
25. (23) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R),
Danube, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 12, mechanical, $300.
Integra Lap Leaders: Steensma 1, Ruter 2-3, Steensma 4-5,
Ruter 6, Steensma 7-15, Dripps 16-26, Gustin 27-40.
Total Laps
Led: Gustin 14, Steensma 12, Dripps 11, Ruter 3.
AFCO Pole
Winner: Sanders.
Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard
Charger: Shryock (started 24th, finished 8th).
Ruter Farms
Long Tow Award: Ramirez (875 miles).
Provisional
Starter: Hillson.
Next Race: Tuesday, July 19, I-35
Speedway, Mason City, Iowa.
Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region
Points: Gustin 800, VanderBeek 718, Shryock 701, Sanders 671, Tesch
661, Miller 610, Dripps 609, Hejna 569, Grimes 558, Krohn 532.
Rookie
of the Year Points: Grimes 1538, Clyde Dunn Jr. 976, Jimmy Ray 971,
Foss 869, Lucas Schott 862.
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Year
Points: Mullins 369, ProPower 293, Sput’s 258, ASI 167, Geddes
166.
Tiger Rear Ends Manufacturers Championship Points:
Hughes 390, Skyrocket 336, GRT 251, BC 134, Ramirez 80.
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