Gressel Racing

Sanders nips Timm in USMTS North Iowa Nationals nail-biter

The North Iowa Action Track lived up to its name Friday as the USMTS road warriors delivered yet another edge-of-your-seat instant classis to the fans at the Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway and those watching online at RacinDirt.tv.

Sybesma Graphics Pole Award winner Aaron Benson darted out to the lead when the green flag waved to launch the 40-lap main event at the 11th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals presented by Kabrick Distributing with Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender Gabe Hodges keeping him close.

Meanwhile, the top three drivers in national and regional points—Rodney Sanders Jake Timm and Jim Chisholm—were all starting outside of the top ten on the 25-car grid, but that’s not where they ended up.

While Benson opened up a big lead at the front of the field, Sanders made quick work of the racers in his way. The five-time and defending national champion of the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt was in the top five just three laps into the race, and by the seventh lap ‘The Rocket’ was racing in the runner-up spot.

Benson, however, proved to be tough to catch and even tougher to pass. His experience and multiple wins during Mason City’s weekly Sunday night excursions shined brightly but lapped traffic proved to be his downfall.

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With 18 laps complete and 22 to go, Sanders went around the outside of Benson and the pesky back-marker to snare the top spot. Meanwhile, Timm was up into the top five and Chisholm was rolling among the top ten.

The Gorsuch Performance Solutions Caution Flag made its first appearance with ten laps to go and the return to green-flag racing showed Sanders leading Benson, Timm, J.T. Wasmund and Chisholm back to full speed.

With the choose cone in use to allow drivers to choose the inside or outside lane, Benson chose to follow Sanders to the bottom which gave Timm the outside starting spot beside Sanders.

Bunched into a pack, Sanders got the worst of it between the top three and went into a spin in turn two, but the yellow flag was already waving and the yellow light was shining for debris at the top of the corner.

Timm led the pack to the green for the final nine-lap sprint to the checkers with Sanders and Chisholm right there with him, but this time Sanders was running up top while Timm protected the shortest way around the high-banked 1/3-mile clay oval.

Sanders pulled even with Timm with two laps to go, zoomed past the flagstand with a bumper-length lead as the Hochatown Saloon White Flag waved and then bounced the outside concrete wall no less than three times en route to nipping Timm at the checkers.

The margin of victory for Sanders was a scant 0.176 second as he won for the 121st time in his USMTS career. The triumph was worth $5,000 to the 34-year-old native of Happy, Texas.

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“I didn’t even know he (Timm) was there on that restart; I still thought it was still Benson,” Sanders revealed in Victory Fuel Victory Lane. “I wanted to go into (turn) three on the outside and he was there it kind of spooked me more than anything.

“I’ve got to really thank Jake. He raced me super clean; He could’ve went up and took my line. I really thought he was going t get me there off of (turn) four, there’s so much traction down there.”

Timm wound up second with Chisholm joining he and Sanders on the Featherlite Top-3 podium. It slightly shortened Timm’s national points lead over Sanders but his advantage grew over Chisholm.

Chisholm remains the Collins Brothers Towing USMTS North Region points leader. Sanders leaped ahead of Timm and into second place.

Of note the top three finishers started race in the 12th, 16th and 15th positions. Timm was the overall FK Rod Ends Hard Charger of the feature race.

Terry Phillips has been solid as a rock of late, and tonight the second-generation veteran racer and chassis builder finished fourth—right where he started.

Tanner Mullens did not gather his series-best fifth career win in Mason City, but did round out the top five with the remainder the top ten spots going to 18th-starting Jacob Hobscheidt, Benson, Dan Ebert, Cayden Carter and Zack VanderBeek.

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Two more nights of action remain this weekend. On Saturday, Non-Wing Sprint Cars and School Buses and Outlaw 2-Man Cruisers complete the event lineup, and then the USMTS Modifieds share the spotlight with USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods, USRA Hobby Stocks and Outlaw Mini-Mods on Sunday.

For complete event information, check out the FAST FACTS for the 11th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals presented by Kabrick Distributing.

The Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway is a 1/3-mile high-banked clay oval located 5.1 miles east of I-35 at exit 194 on SR 122 (at the North Iowa Fairgrounds).

Check out USMTS.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe for free to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox plus Members Only benefits.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
Collins Brothers Towing USMTS North Region presented by Featherlite
Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway, Mason City, Iowa
11th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals presented by Kabrick Distributing – Night 1 of 3
Friday, July 19, 2024

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver and hometown. Heat race lineups are determined via group qualifying. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Summit Racing Equipment “A” Main.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (10 laps):
1. (2) 51W J.T. Wasmund, Pine Island, Minn.
2. (1) 7G Gabe Hodges, Lebo, Kan.
3. (3) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
4. (4) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn.
5. (7) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
7. (8) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
8. (5) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (10 laps):
1. (1) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
2. (6) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
3. (4) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
4. (2) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
5. (8) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
6. (3) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls , Wis.
7. (7) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
8. (5) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (10 laps):
1. (2) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (1) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
3. (4) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
4. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
5. (6) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
6. (8) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
7. (7) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
8. (5) 02D Cole Denner, Ionia, Iowa

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN (10 laps, all advance):
1. (1) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
2. (2) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
4. (5) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
5. (6) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
6. (4) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls , Wis.
7. (9) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
8. (8) 02D Cole Denner, Ionia, Iowa
9. (7) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.
10. (10) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (12) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (16) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
3. (15) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
4. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (6) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (18) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
7. (5) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
8. (13) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
9. (2) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
10. (10) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
11. (3) 51W J.T. Wasmund, Pine Island, Minn.
12. (1) 7G Gabe Hodges, Lebo, Kan.
13. (20) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls , Wis.
15. (9) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
16. (14) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
17. (7) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
18. (8) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
19. (24) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
20. (21) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
21. (22) 02D Cole Denner, Ionia, Iowa
22. (19) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
23. (23) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.
DNS – 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn.

Lap Leaders: Benson 1-18, Sanders 19-30, Timm 31-38, Sanders 39-40.
Total Laps Led: Benson 18, Sanders 14, Timm 8.
Margin of Victory: 0.176 second.
Time of Race: 17 minutes, 41.09 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: none.
Emergency Provisionals: none.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Timm (started 16th, finished 2nd).
Entries: 24.
Next Race: July 20, Mason City Motor Speedway.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Timm 1810, Chisholm 1782, Sanders 1698, Phillips 1610, Ebert 1595, Mullens 1519, Hughes 1509, Davis 1437, Christian 1405, Williamson 1398.
Collins Brothers Towing USMTS North Region Points: Chisholm 907, Sanders 871, Timm 867, Phillips 765, Mullens 745.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Hobscheidt 1347, Hodges 1261, Steve Glenn 727, Joe Chisholm 574, D.J. Shannon 409.
FK Rod Ends USMTS Hard Charger Points: Sanders 106, Timm 103, Chisholm 97, Ebert 85, Mullens 70.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 142, Rage 139, Skyrocket 135, Mullens 129, Bloodline 91.
Callies/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: KSE 157, Mullins 147, OFI 142, Hatfield 121, Cornett 115.

Contingency Awards:
Aero Race Wheels – Christian.
American Racer – Benson.
Bear Graphix – Hughes.
Beyea Custom Headers – Phillips.
Bryke Racing – Davis.
BSB Manufacturing – Denner.
Champ Pans – Mullens.
Danny Crane Racing Engines – Hobscheidt.
Deatherage Opticians – Benson.
Edelbrock – Phillips.
Fast Shafts – Williamson.
Featherlite Trailers – Chisholm, Sanders, Timm.
FK Rod Ends – Timm.
Gorsuch Performance Solutions – Sanders.
Hooker Harness – Hodges.
Hyperco – Karau.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Williamson.
Keyser Manufacturing – VanderBeek.
KSE Racing Products – Carter.
MD3 – Benson.
MSD Performance – Phillips.
Penske Racing Shocks – Lavasseur.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Timm.
QA1 – Wasmund.
Quarter Master – Carter.
RacerWebsite.com – Hobscheidt.
Rush RaceGear by Austin Witt – Christian.
Simpson Race Products – Wasmund.
Summit Racing Equipment – Benson, Carter, Denner, Karau, Plowman.
Sweet Manufacturing – Hansen.
Swift Springs – Benson, Sanders.
Sybesma Graphics – Benson.
Total Power – Wasmund.
Victory Fuel – Sanders.
VP Racing – Sanders.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Karau.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Benson.