July 23, 2011
GREENWOOD, Neb. -- Jeremy Payne took home 2,000 shiny new silver dollars Saturday night after he emerged the winner of an exciting main event for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour powered by Swan Energy during the inaugural Silver Dollar Nationals at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb.
From the outside of the front row, Payne exploded into the lead at the drop of the green flag to start the 35-lap WIX Filters “A” Main, and within 10 laps the 25-year-old from Springfield, Mo., had built a comfortable 10-car-length lead over Kelly Shryock while Shryock held nearly the same advantage over Terry Phillips.
Ten laps later, Payne was maneuvering through lapped traffic with Shryock keeping him in his sights while Ryan Gustin came up to battle with Phillips with Rodney Sanders and Jason Hughes battling behind them.
As the leaders danced in and out of lapped cars, Shryock began to quickly chip away at Payne’s advantage, and with seven laps to go the nine-time USMTS National Champion was glued to Payne’s rear bumper.
Racing out of turn 4 with the scoreboard showing six laps remaining, Shryock ducked to the inside and wrestled the top spot away from the race-long leader.
Payne kept his #74 GRT stayed tucked in behind Shryock’s familiar #3 Skyrocket, and then made a dive to the inside of turn 1 with four laps to go. As he slid up to take away the line, Shryock cranked his wheels to the left and dove underneath as the two raced side by side down the back-stretch.
What appeared to be an upcoming last-lap shootout in a caution-free main event came to an abrupt halt when first-time USMTS competitor Dustin Jarillo spun in turn 3 directly in front of the leaders. The ensuing melee collected six additional cars, including Chase Junghans who rolled his machine over at the top of the corner.
Junghans was uninjured, but the same could not be said of his racecar. His was the second roll-over of the day by an 18-year-old driver as Shane Demey also walked away unscathed after he took a tumble in the same corner during the first Real Racing Wheels “B” Main.
While Shryock and Payne both suffered some wrinkled body parts, the damage was far worse for Shryock as he ducked into the pits and saw his chance at a weekend sweep end with four laps remaining.
On the restart, Payne returned to the high side of the racing surface with Phillips and Gustin in tow. Meanwhile, Hughes also saw his night come to an end as he pulled off the track with mechanical woes.
There were no more challenges the rest of the way as Payne sailed to victory with his teammate Phillips picking up the runner-up paycheck ahead of Gustin.
Sanders held on for fourth for the second straight night, Dereck Ramirez took fifth and Mark Dotson earned the Mesilla Valley Hard Charger Award as he raced from 16th on the 24-car starting grid to a sixth-place finish at the checkered flags.
Seventh through ninth were Mike Steensma, Bumper Jones and Jacob Dahle while USMTS Rookie of the Year points leader Jason Grimes rebounded for tenth after being caught up in the multi-car crash four laps earlier.
Saturday’s event wrapped up the Farm Boy BBQ Sauce Great Plains Region points battle with Shryock edging Gustin for the regional crown by just 17 points (939 to 922). Sanders finished third with 884 markers, followed by Grimes (830), Zack VanderBeek (806), Jason Krohn (789), Junghans (751), Corey Dripps (739), Scott Ward (695) and Jon Tesch (672).
Nine of the top-10 drivers in the final rankings padded their base points for this year’s Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship powered by Swan Energy, while Ward became a new member of the class of 2011 that will compete in this year’s season-ending title chase.
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