USMTS goes back to Belleville, Ramirez returns to victory lane

Naysayers and doubters were eating crow following Friday night’s opener of the Belleville Dirt Nationals while Dereck Ramirez was celebrating a $5,000 victory after a great race from start to finish.

It was the third visit to the Belleville High Banks for the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt, but this time they raced on a purpose-built quarter-mile bullring built inside the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile Dirt Track.”

As the field crossed the start-finish line to complete lap 20 of 40, rookie Cayden Carter was the leader but one lap later it was Ramirez—the defending Summit USMTS National Champion—in control and he never looked back.

With just two cautions to slow the action, lapped traffic was a constant battle for the leaders as Ramirez primarily raced the bottom while Carter churned the clay on high side of Mike Van Genderen’s work of art, regularly leaving their comfort zones to find a way around slower cars.

In the end, Ramirez won going away after an opening half of side-by-side dueling between the two front-runners. It was the 21st USMTS win of his career and second of the 2022 campaign.

Jason Hughes—the only driver in the field who was here in Belleville for the first two events in 2002 and 2008—was solid all night and took home a third-place paycheck for his efforts while Zack VanderBeek, who was here for the 2008 show along with Ramirez, took fourth ahead of 11th-starting Tanner Mullens.

Not to be outdone, Terry Phillips raced from 19th on the starting grid to sixth at the checkered flag, earning the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.

Points leader Dustin Sorensen claimed the seventh spot, eighth went to Darron Fuqua, Dylan Thornton nabbed the ninth spot and Rodney Sanders struggled to a tenth-place finish.

Next event: The second round of the Belleville Dirt Nationals takes place Saturday with the winner’s share of the prize money doubled to $10,000. A complete show of qualifying, heat races and main events happen again with the XRSS Karl Kustoms Stock Cars competing on the big half-mile dirt oval.

If you can’t be there in person, witness all the action from anywhere on any device at https://www.racexr.plus or https://www.racindirt.tv.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
Inaugural Belleville Dirt Nationals – Night 1 of 2
Belleville High Banks, Belleville, Kan.
Friday, June 10, 2022

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 PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (1) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (4) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (2) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
4. (3) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
5. (5) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
6. (6) 77 Steven Bowers Jr., Topeka, Kan.
7. (8) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
8. (7) 22B Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
9. (9) 11N Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (2) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
3. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
4. (4) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
5. (6) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (7) 3 Trey Duensing, Byron, Neb.
7. (5) 55 Chris Kratzer, Wichita, Kan.
8. (8) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
2. (2) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
3. (4) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
4. (3) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
5. (5) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
6. (8) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
7. (6) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
8. (7) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
2. (1) 15W Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.
3. (4) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
4. (3) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (7) 30 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice, Neb.
6. (5) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
7. (6) 007 Zach Nitsch, Delia, Kan.
8. (8) 11B Justin Bussell, Imperial, Neb.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 4 advance):
1. (1) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
2. (3) 30 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice, Neb.
3. (5) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
4. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (6) 77 Steven Bowers Jr., Topeka, Kan.
6. (7) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
7. (2) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
8. (10) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas
9. (9) 22B Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
10. (8) 007 Zach Nitsch, Delia, Kan.
11. (11) 11N Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
2. (1) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
3. (4) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
4. (6) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
5. (3) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (9) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
7. (10) 11B Justin Bussell, Imperial, Neb.
8. (5) 3 Trey Duensing, Byron, Neb.
9. (7) 55 Chris Kratzer, Wichita, Kan.
10. (8) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (5) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (1) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
3. (7) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
5. (11) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (19) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
7. (13) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
8. (8) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
9. (9) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
10. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
11. (15) 30 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice, Neb.
12. (17) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
13. (16) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
14. (10) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
15. (21) 77 Steven Bowers Jr., Topeka, Kan.
16. (18) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
17. (22) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
18. (23) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
19. (20) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
20. (14) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
21. (24) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
22. (12) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
23. (3) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
24. (25) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas
25. (4) 15W Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.

Lap Leaders: Carter 1-20, Ramirez 21-40.
Total Laps Led: Ramirez 20, Carter 20.
Margin of Victory: 2.507 seconds.
Time of Race: 15 minutes, 6.451 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Brown, Good.
Emergency Provisionals: Horner.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Phillips (started 19th, finished 6th).
Entries: 33.
Next Race: Saturday, June 11, Belleville High Banks.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Sorensen 1206, Mullens 1128, Ramirez 1104, VanderBeek 1075, Sanders 1041, Phillips 1018, Hughes 1013, Jake Timm 964, Ebert 948, Bleess 942.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Carter 925, Brown 780, Thornton 776, DeVolder 752, Horner 692.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 117, Mullens 100, Hughes 99, VanderBuilt 90, GRT 65.
Compstar/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 98, Action 97, Stoen 86, Hatfield 66, Mullens 66.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Hughes.
Beyea Custom Headers – VanderBeek.
BigDeal Car Care – Ramirez, DeVolder.
Bryke Racing – Bowers.
BSB Manufacturing – Good.
Champ Pans – Mullens.
Deatherage Opticians – Wolff.
Edelbrock – DeVolder.
Fast Shafts – Sanders.
FK Rod Ends – Ramirez.
Hooker Harness – O’Neil.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Givens.
Keyser Manufacturing – Sanders.
KS Engineering – Grabouski.
KSE Racing Products – Thornton.
Mel Hambelton Ford Racing – Carter.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Clark.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Mari.
MSD Performance – Hughes.
Penske Racing Shocks – Ebert.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Good.
QA1 – Fuqua.
RacerWebsite.com – Siebert.
Simpson Performance Products – Fuqua.
Summit Racing Equipment – Beebe, Bussell, Duensing, Nitsch.
Super Clean – Ramirez.
Swift Springs – Ramirez, Ramirez, Bowers.
Sybesma Graphics – Carter.
Tire Demon – Nicholas.
VP Racing Fuels – Ramirez.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Nitsch.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Sanders.

USMTS OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Racer Racing Tires, Beyea Headers, Chevrolet Performance, Compstar, Fast Shafts, FK Rod Ends, Intercomp, K1 RaceGear by Ryan Bowers Motorsports, KS Engineering, KSE Racing Products, Malvern Bank, Mesilla Valley Transportation, MSD Performance, Nitroquest Media, PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain, RacinDirt, Summit Racing Equipment, Super Clean, VP Racing Fuels, Wrisco Industries.

USMTS PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: ARMI Contractors, Boubin Tire & Automotive, Brodix Cylinder Heads, DAY Motorsports, Hacienda Mechanical, Mel Hambelton Racing, Midwest Wrap Co., Miller Welders, PBM Performance Products, Rancho Milagro Racing, RHRSwag.com, S&S Fishing & Rental, Salty's BBQ & Catering, YouDirt.com.

USMTS CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: AFCO Racing Products, Allstar Performance, BigDeal Car Care, Bryke Racing, BSB Manufacturing, Champ Pans, Deatherage Opticians, Edelbrock, Hooker Harness, Integra Racing Shocks and Springs, JE Pistons, Keyser Manufacturing, Penske Racing Shocks, Performance Bodies & Parts, QA1, RacerWebsite.com, Real Racing Wheels, Simpson Performance Products, Swift Springs, Sybesma Graphics, Tire Demon, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, Wilwood Racing.

USMTS RACETRACKS: 81 Speedway, Arrowhead Speedway, Belleville High Banks, Casino Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Chateau Speedway, Dallas County Speedway, Deer Creek Speedway, Fayette County Speedway, Humboldt Speedway, I-70 Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Lucas Oil Speedway, Mason City Motor Speedway, Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Ogilvie Raceway, Red Dirt Raceway, Rocket Raceway Park, Tri-State Speedway, Winneshiek Raceway.