BAYTOWN, Texas -- The nation’s elite dirt Modified drivers begin their quest for a 2012 USMTS National Championship with the season openers for both the USMTS Casey’s Cup and newly-formed USMTS National Championship Series this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-25, at the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas.
With the best names in the business entered for this year’s lidlifter, just making one of the main events will be a feat but one driver could come up smelling like roses and walk away with $10,000 or more from the tripleheader at the state-of-the-art 3/8-mile clay oval located just east of Houston.
USRA Western Flyer HotMods (Limited Modifieds) will also be on the racing card each night battling for $500, $600 and $900 to win, respectively, plus several bonus cash awards up for grabs.
The engines fired up and drivers get an opportunity to fine-tune their machines during an open practice on Wednesday night. The green flag unfurls for the first time on Thursday for the year’s first USMTS Casey’s Cup Qualifier with at least $2,000 going to the winner.
With 27 USMTS Casey’s Cup Qualifiers on the schedule, drivers will be battling for a spot in the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup, which will begin Aug. 9 at the Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., and culminate Sept. 20-22 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., during the 14th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree. At the conclusion of the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup, the champion will earn a $15,000 paycheck.
On Friday and Saturday, the inaugural events for the USMTS National Championship Series are on tap with each night carrying a $4,000 top prize and at least $400 to take the green flag in the main event.
The USMTS National Championship Series currently has 29 events and each will pay at least $4,000 to win with up to 30 cars taking the green flag in every feature race. The driver with the best 20 showings during the campaign will be named the 2012 USMTS National Champion and will take home a record $30,000 while the runner-up in the final ranking will get a cool $20,000 in the richest season-ending payoff in USMTS history.
Paul White won the first-ever USMTS event at the Royal Purple Raceway in 2007. Since then, trips to victory lane have also been made by Alan Mondus, Kelly Shryock, Jason Hughes, Tommy Weder Jr., Johnny Bone Jr., Zack VanderBeek, Jeremy Payne, Rodney Sanders, Ryan Gustin, John O Whittington, Chris Brown and Dereck Ramirez.
Hughes leads all drivers with five wins at the former Houston Raceway Park, but Ramirez comes into the event with the momentum after capturing back-to-back wins on the final two nights of the 5th Annual USMTS Winter Nationals in November.
Other drivers on the list for this blockbuster include defending USMTS National Champion Ryan Gustin, nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock, 2007 USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn, Johnny Scott, Rodney Sanders, Rick Beebe, Bryan Rowland, Chase Junghans, Grant Junghans, Shane Hebert, Randy Timms, Jeremy Payne, Steven Whiteaker Jr., Stormy Scott, Tyler Townsend, Dustin “Tater” Hyde, Tracy Denby Jr., Jason Thoennes, Joe Duvall, 2011 Lucas Oil MLRA Late Model Series champ John Anderson, four-time NCRA Modified national champ John Allen, defending Featherlite Fall Jamboree champ Terry Phillips, Jon Tesch, T.J. Herndon, Chris Henigan, Ron Keith, Jimmy Ray, Billy Turner, Rory Jordan, Larry Clevenger, Mike Sorensen, Michael Walker, Ben Stephens, Jay Marshall, Jimmy Ray, the father-son team of Fito and Jacob Gallardo, Southern New Mexico Speedway boss Royal Jones, Mark Dotson, Danny Barringer, Mark Smith, Rob Litton, Rich Loftus, Travis Johnson and Mickey Burrell.
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