RICE LAKE, Wis. -- The Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship powered by Swan Energy continued on Thursday with a huge crowd on hand for the first visit by the USMTS Modifieds to the Rice Lake Speedway.
Twenty-five cars and drivers took the green flag in the 40-lap WIX Filters “A” Main with local favorite Mike Anderson beating polesitter Ryan Ruter to the flagstand to lead the first lap with USMTS points leader Ryan Gustin giving chase.
Gustin disposed of Ruter with three laps down and then scooted past Anderson on lap 9 after a spirited battle for the top spot.
Dustin Boney worked his Snickers-sponsored mount past Ruter at the same time, got by Anderson on lap 11 and began to reel in Gustin as the leader reached lapped traffic with 17 laps complete.
The caution flag waved at the halfway point, which bunched up the field and gave Gustin a clear track ahead. He used the restart to his advantage and continued to build on his lead over the final 20 laps to score his fourth win of ‘The Hunt’ and extend his points lead in he championship chase.
The win – the 46th of his USMTS career – was worth $2,110 to the 20-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa, and his 22nd triumph of the season. Not only is he in position to capture his first USMTS National Championship but can also be considered a serious challenge to Kelly Shryock’s record of 30 wins during the 2006 season.
Behind Gustin, great battles emerged throughout the field. Ruter just nipped Boney by a bumper to claim the runner-up paycheck while Jon Tesch and Jason Krohn finished fourth and fifth. Anderson held on for sixth, followed by Jason Hughes, Shryock, Kevin “Buzzy” Adams and Chase Junghans.
The sixth event of the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship powered by Swan Energy takes place on Friday at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., where Gustin leads all drivers with three career victories at the high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval.
Races start at 7 p.m. and the program will also feature USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mods and WISSOTA Street Stocks. The track is located 3.0 miles north of Fountain City on SR 35. For more information, call 608-687-3282 or visit www.mississippithunder.com on the World Wide Web.
To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also follow the USMTS on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.
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OFFICIAL RESULTS
The Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores
National Championship powered by Swan Energy
Inaugural Event presented by
Bill’s Distributing
Rice Lake Speedway, Rice Lake, Wis.
Thursday, August
18, 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.
ISKY RACING CAMS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (1) 57 Mike
Anderson, Colfax, Wis.
2. (7) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (4) 65
Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
4. (5) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp,
Wis.
5. (6) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn.
6. (8) 12m Jason Miller,
Osceola, Wis.
7. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
8. (3) 99 Steve
Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
DNS - 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
NEW VISION GRAPHICS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (1) 14 Jon
Tesch, Watertown, S.D.
2. (4) 22 Dustin Boney, Platte City, Mo.
3. (5) 3
Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
4. (6) 40 Kevin Adams, Cameron, Wis.
5. (2)
1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
6. (9) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie,
Minn.
7. (8) 56 Chris Spieker, Massena, Iowa.
8. (7) 431 Mike Gibson, Star
Prairie, Wis.
9. (3) 22b Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
EIBACH SPRINGS HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 19r Ryan
Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
2. (1) 68m Scott Miller, Rice Lake, Wis.
3.
(4) 90 Steve Wetzstein, West Concord, Minn.
4. (9) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton,
Minn.
5. (6) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
6. (3) 01 Brandon Aggen,
Rushmore, Minn.
7. (8) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
8. (7) 69
Lucas Schott (R), Chatfield, Minn.
9. (5) 21 Aric Lindberg, Dallas, Wis.
PBM PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2)
20r Bryan Rowland, Woodward, Okla.
2. (1) 18 Chase Junghans, Manhattan,
Kan.
3. (7) 555 Ryan Ruter, Kanawha, Iowa.
4. (3) 11 Lance Hofer,
Cochrane, Wis.
5. (4) 12 Jason Gross, Osceola, Wis.
6. (5) 7 Al Hejna,
Clear Lake, Iowa.
7. (6) X Mike Wedelstadt, New London, Wis.
8. (8) 78
Brent Prochnow, Colfax, Wis.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 6
advance):
1. (1) 90 Steve Wetzstein, West Concord, Minn.
2. (3)
95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn.
3. (4) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie,
Minn.
4. (5) 12 Jason Gross, Osceola, Wis.
5. (8) 20 Rodney Sanders,
Happy, Texas.
6. (2) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis.
7. (6) 01 Brandon
Aggen, Rushmore, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, $75.
8. (10) 69 Lucas Schott (R),
Chatfield, Minn.
9. (7) 56 Chris Spieker, Massena, Iowa, IROC/PerfMach,
$90.
10. (9) 99 Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis., Shaw/Lavasseur,
$75.
11. (11) 21 Aric Lindberg, Dallas, Wis., $75.
DNS - 31 Corey Dripps,
Waterloo, Iowa, BC/Mullins, $90.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 6
advance):
1. (4) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
2. (1) 40
Kevin Adams, Cameron, Wis.
3. (5) 12m Jason Miller, Osceola, Wis.
4. (3)
4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
5. (7) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon,
Iowa.
6. (11) 22b Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
7. (2) 11 Lance Hofer,
Cochrane, Wis., $75.
8. (10) 78 Brent Prochnow, Colfax, Wis.,
Harris/Anderson, $75.
9. (9) 431 Mike Gibson, Star Prairie, Wis.,
Matrix/Tim’s, $75.
10. (8) X Mike Wedelstadt, New London, Wis.,
Sidebiter/Yeoman, $75.
11. (6) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa, BC/JR, $90.
WIX FILTERS “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (3) 19r Ryan Gustin,
Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, 40, $2210.
2. (1) 555 Ryan Ruter,
Kanawha, Iowa, Sidebiter/Sput’s, 40, $1500.
3. (4) 22 Dustin Boney, Platte
City, Mo., Hughes/Sput’s, 40, $1000.
4. (5) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D.,
GRT/Sput’s, 40, $900.
5. (10) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s,
40, $800.
6. (2) 57 Mike Anderson, Colfax, Wis., SSR/MAS, 40, $600.
7. (8)
12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $650.
8. (11) 3 Kelly
Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower, 40, $810.
9. (16) 40 Kevin Adams,
Cameron, Wis., Shaw/Adams, 40, $450.
10. (9) 18 Chase Junghans, Manhattan,
Kan., GRT/Sput’s, 40, $600.
11. (14) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.,
Hughes/ASI, 40, $450.
12. (18) 12m Jason Miller, Osceola, Wis.,
Hughes/Mullins, 40, $425.
13. (20) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.,
Hughes/ProPower, 40, $500.
14. (12) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.,
GRT/GMPP, 40, $500.
15. (23) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis., J-Car/TriStar,
40, $350.
16. (21) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, Hughes/Geddes, 40,
$610.
17. (6) 20r Bryan Rowland, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/ProPower, 39,
$300.
18. (25) 69 Lucas Schott (R), Chatfield, Minn., Hughes/GMPP, 39,
$400.
19. (22) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, 39,
$500.
20. (17) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn., Hillson/CRE, 39,
$300.
21. (24) 22b Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan., Hughes/Mullins, 39,
$400.
22. (7) 68m Scott Miller, Rice Lake, Wis., Matrix/Scott’s, 39,
$250.
23. (19) 12 Jason Gross, Osceola, Wis., Matrix/Adams, 34, mechanical,
$250.
24. (13) 90 Steve Wetzstein, West Concord, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 20,
mechanical, $300.
25. (15) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn., Skyrocket/Brink,
20, mechanical, $400.
(R) = Rookie of the Year contender.
Integra Lap Leaders: Anderson 1-8, Gustin
9-40.
Total Laps Led: Gustin 32, Anderson
8.
Margin of Victory: 4.222 seconds.
AFCO Pole
Winner: Hughes.
Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard
Charger: Thatcher (started 23rd, finished 15th).
Provisional
Starter: Schott.
Next Race: Friday, Aug. 19,
Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
National
Championship Points: Gustin 583, Shryock 487, Hughes 471, Tesch 438,
Krohn 411, Scott 401, VanderBeek 399, Foss 388, Boney 380, Sanders
369.
Rookie of the Year Points: Jason Grimes 1672, Foss
1457, Schott 1433, Clyde Dunn Jr. 976, Jimmy Ray 971.
COMP Cams
Engine Builder of the Year Points: Mullins 481, ProPower 385, Sput’s
350, Geddes 217, ASI 199.
Tiger Rear Ends Manufacturers Championship
Points: Hughes 504, Skyrocket 441, GRT 342, BC 195, Sidebiter 127.
