Several drivers challenged for the win early on Friday night in the USMTS Casey’s Cup Series event at the Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa, but following the race’s final caution on lap 22 there was nobody who could touch Rodney Sanders as ‘The Rocket’ blasted off into the distance to take the $4,000 victory.
From the outside of the front row, Sanders nipped polesitter Dereck Ramirez to led the first lap and then settled in with a smooth line through the middle lane of the racetrack. But following a restart on lap 5, Zack VanderBeek flew by Sanders on the high side to take control.
Another caution seven laps later slowed the action with VanderBeek in front of Sanders and Ron Jones. The restart proved disastrous for VanderBeek, however, as his machine slid over the embankment at the exit of turn 2 which allowed Sanders, Jones and five other drivers to race past him before he could leap back onto the racing surface.
From that point on, Sanders never faltered.
“At the first of the race I was kind of searching for where I needed to be, and then VanderBeek blew by me on the top,” Sanders said. “It was pretty rough out there and really hard to pass. He showed me the line before he slipped off the track there and we were able to get by and hang on to it.”
Three more cautions during the first half of the 40-lapper kept the field tightly bunched with Jones applying pressure on each restart. Meanwhile, Ryan Gustin, Joey Jensen, Jon Tesch and Lucas Schott were charging toward the front while VanderBeek attempted to claw his way back into the mix.
The race’s final yellow flag waved with 22 laps in the books. Under caution, Jones dove into the pits with the rubber rolled off of his right rear wheel.
On the restart, Gustin dove to the inside of Sanders in the first corner but was unable to edge ahead. The two-time defending USMTS national champion would never get that close again as Sanders sailed away from the field to win by nearly a half-lap.
“Nothing comfortable about that,” Gustin said with a smile. “Once we figured out where we wanted to be, Rodney was gone so we just tried to roll through the slick and keep it in one piece until the end.”
A full straight-away behind Gustin, Tesch and Jensen slugged it out for a spot on the podium with Tesch making a bold move on the final lap to secure a third-place paycheck in his first night out with a new racecar.
After a one-year hiatus, it was the second straight USMTS win for Sanders at the Rapid Speedway and 13th of his career. Ironically, the same top-3 finishers Friday night finished in the same order two seasons ago.
Tesch won here in 2007 while Gustin has yet to add Rapid Speedway to his long list of accomplishments. In five USMTS shows at the 3/8-mile clay oval in Northwest Iowa, Tesch had never finished worse than third.
Jensen held on for a fourth-place finish while Lucas Schott raced to fifth from 15th on the starting grid to earn the Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger Award. VanderBeek, Jason Hughes, Johnny Scott and Kelly Shryock completed the top 10.
On Saturday, the haulers head back east on I-90 for the only appearance of the year at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah, Iowa. For the third straight night, the Iron Man Challenge featuring USRA Stock Cars and USRA B-Mods will round out the program.
To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/USMTSTV.
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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
USMTS Casey’s Cup Series – Farm Boy BBQ Sauce Northern presented by Day Motor Sports
5th Annual Casey’s General Store “Rumble in Rock Rapids”
Rapid Speedway, Rock Rapids, Iowa
Friday, June 7, 2013
Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown, chassis/engine builder, laps completed and money won. The top 16 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.
BEYEA CUSTOM HEADERS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
2. (1) 7 Eric Dailey, Armstrong, Iowa.
3. (3) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
4. (6) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D.
5. (8) 00 Masen Big Eagle (R), Manor, Sask., Canada.
6. (7) 1k Pat Graham, Ames, Iowa.
7. (5) 44x Jason Schneiders, Sioux City, Iowa.
8. (9) X Chris Moore, Madison, S.D.
9. (4) 80 Josh Bonnstetter (R), Slayton, Minn.
JRi SHOCKS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (3) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
3. (4) 1st Johnny Scott, Arroyo Hondo, N.M.
4. (9) 99h Trevor Hunt (R), Kearney, Mo.
5. (6) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
6. (5) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
7. (8) 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, Adel, Iowa.
8. (1) 5 Brandon Beckendorf, Danube, Minn.
9. (7) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr., Rock Rapids, Iowa.
EIBACH SPRINGS HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (5) V2 Joey Jensen, Forest Lake, Minn.
2. (1) 7 Ron Jones, Princeton, Minn.
3. (3) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
4. (2) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
5. (8) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis.
6. (4) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
7. (7) 01 Joey Galloway (R), Manor, Sask., Canada.
8. (6) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
9. (9) M80 Jim Mathieson, Sioux City, Iowa.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN (12 laps, top 6 advance):
1. (1) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
2. (3) 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, Adel, Iowa.
3. (8) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
4. (2) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
5. (7) 5 Brandon Beckendorf, Danube, Minn.
6. (5) 01 Joey Galloway (R), Manor, Sask., Canada.
7. (4) 44x Jason Schneiders, Sioux City, Iowa.
8. (11) M80 Jim Mathieson, Sioux City, Iowa, BeerBuilt/Mathieson, $75.
9. (6) X Chris Moore, Madison, S.D., Fegers/Schmidt, $75.
10. (10) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr., Rock Rapids, Iowa.
11. (9) 80 Josh Bonnstetter (R), Slayton, Minn., Skyrocket/Widboom, $90.
“A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBCustom/Geddes, 40, $4000.
2. (10) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, 40, $1500.
3. (11) 14 Jon Tesch, Watertown, S.D., GRT/Sput’s, 40, $1000.
4. (7) V2 Joey Jensen, Forest Lake, Minn., GRT/Tim’s, 40, $900.
5. (15) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 40, $900.
6. (4) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, Hughes/Sput’s, 40, $750.
7. (17) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $700.
8. (9) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., LG2/ProPower, 40, $600.
9. (8) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., Hughes/ProPower, 40, $600.
10. (14) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower, 40, $550.
11. (6) 7 Eric Dailey, Armstrong, Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $450.
12. (19) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa, Rage/RoushYates, 39, $425.
13. (22) 01 Joey Galloway (R), Manor, Sask., Canada, GRT/Tim’s, 39, $450.
14. (20) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 39, $375.
15. (21) 5 Brandon Beckendorf, Danube, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 39, $350.
16. (12) 00 Masen Big Eagle (R), Manor, Sask., Canada, GRT/Tim’s, 39, $350.
17. (16) 1k Pat Graham, Ames, Iowa, Skyrocket/Karl, 39, $300.
18. (23) 44x Jason Schneiders, Sioux City, Iowa, Razor/Essig, 32, $250.
19. (24) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr., Rock Rapids, Iowa, Razor/HarryHeads, 22, $300.
20. (1) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/ProPower, 22, $400.
21. (13) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis., GRT/TriStar, 18, $300.
22. (3) 7 Ron Jones, Princeton, Minn., MBCustom/Sput’s, 12, $300.
23. (18) 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, Adel, Iowa, GRT/Mullins, 5, $300.
24. (5) 99h Trevor Hunt (R), Kearney, Mo., GRT/Mullins, 5, $400.
(R) = Rookie of the Year contender.
Lap Leaders: Sanders 1-5, VanderBeek 6-12, Sanders 13-40.
Total Laps Led: Sanders 33, VanderBeek 7.
Margin of Victory: 6.507 seconds.
Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger: Schott (started 15th, finished 5th).
Next Race: Saturday, June 8, Upper Iowa Speedway, Decorah, Iowa.
Farm Boy BBQ Sauce Northern Region Points: S. Scott 400, VanderBeek 382, Jensen 377, J. Scott 375, Shryock 363, Ramirez 343, Jones 325, Schott 322, Hughes 315, Dripps 312.
Rookie of the Year Points: Hunt 1179, Galloway 1166, Big Eagle 958, Shane Sprinkle 380, Jeff Conner 371.
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Year Points: ProPower 161, Mullins 131, Sput’s 127, RoushYates 124, Geddes 118.
Tiger Rear Ends Manufacturers Championship Points: Hughes 171, GRT 142, MBCustoms 132, Skyrocket 131, LG2 119.
Contingency Awards:
AERO Race Wheels – Hunt.
American Racer – Galloway.
Beyea Custom Headers – Sanders.
BSB Manufacturing – Schott, Hughes.
Buck Monson Photos – Sanders.
Crane Cams – Sanders.
Dominator Race Products – Ramirez.
Edelbrock – Tesch.
Eibach Springs – Jensen.
FK Rod Ends – Beckendorf.
Forty9Designs.com – Hillson, Gerritsen.
Fuel Safe – VanderBeek.
GRT Race Cars – Tesch.
Hooker Harness – Galloway.
JRi Shocks – Ramirez.
KEVKO Oil Pans & Components – J. Scott.
Keyser Manufacturing – Shryock.
Marsh Racing Wheels – Hilsabeck.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Schott.
MSD Ignition – Sanders, Gustin.
PBM Performance Products – Sanders.
Power Lift Racing Products – Graham
Real Racing Wheels – Mathieson, Moore, Bonnstetter.
VP Racing Fuels – Sanders.
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