A packed house of rabid fans made their annual pilgrimage to the high-banked quarter-mile Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D., on Sunday for the 13th Annual NAPA Summersota Modified Nationals, and the USMTS delivered yet another nail-biting barn-burner for the faithful.
Looking to return to victory at his home track and the location of his first and only Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt victory in 2007, Scott Ward shot from the pole position to lead the first lap of the 42-lap feature race.
Dan Ebert started next to Ward and beat him to the flagstand by a whisker to lead the second lap before giving way to Ward once again as they wrapped up the third lap.
Ward was able to fend off his challenger through the next few laps but Ebert powered ahead on lap 9 and stayed out front until 13th-starting Jake O’Neil began to pressure the leader.
O’Neil passed Ward to steal second place with 17 laps to go, and then closed in on the rear bumper of Ebert’s machine with 10 to go.
With five more trips around the speedway, the lead pair completed the 37th orbit side by side before O’Neil slammed the door to take the lead.
Ebert fought back but lapped traffic and a flawless effort by O’Neil left him in second place when crossed beneath the checkered flag while O’Neil padded his bank account by $5,000 while recording his series-best seventh win of the 2022 campaign.
It was the 27 career USMTS victory for the 30-year-old from Tucson, Ariz.
Ward followed Ebert to the flagstand while Terry Phillips and Rodney Sanders posted solid efforts in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Tyler Wolff, Tyler Peterson, defending USMTS national champ Dereck Ramirez, Darron Fuqua and 18th-starting Zack VanderBeek rounded out the top 10. Points leader Dustin Sorensen was 11th—his second straight night outside of the top 10.
Next event: Following a one-week hiatus to restock, rebuild and refresh, the USMTS returns to action the first weekend in August with a titanic tripleheader set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 4-6.
The 11th Annual USMTS Keeper of the Plains Shootout happens Thursday, Aug. 4, at the 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan., before moving to the Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan., for the 16th Annual USMTS Summer Fling.
The wild weekend will wrap up with the 13th Annual USMTS Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout presented by Foley Equipment at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.—just two months before the 9th Annual Summit USRA Nationals in October.
If you can’t be there in person, witness all the USMTS action from anywhere on any device with your RacinDirt Pit Pass where you can watch live and access exclusive content on your desktop and laptop computers, as well as a suite of apps for added convenience including Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TVGoogle Play.
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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
13th Annual NAPA Summersota Modified Nationals
Casino Speedway, Watertown, S.D.
Sunday, July 17, 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. (2) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
2. (1) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
3. (3) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (5) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
5. (4) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
6. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
7. (7) 1TPO Tyler Peterson, Horace, N.D.
8. (8) 6ST Joseph Thomas, Glyndon, Minn.
9. (9) 50 Tim Waba, Watertown, S.D.
FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 20S Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
3. (1) 12H Mike Hansen, Dickinson, N.D.
4. (6) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
5. (3) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
6. (5) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
7. (8) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
8. (7) 20 Trevor Anderson, Watertown, S.D.
9. (9) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (4) 37 Scott Ward, Watertown, S.D.
3. (1) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
4. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
5. (5) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
6. (6) 14 Nick Schmidt, Baltic, S.D.
7. (8) 3 Arne Anderson, Watertown, S.D.
8. (7) 11Z Dylan Zabel, Selby, S.D.
MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (4) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (2) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas
3. (3) 15 Tony Konold, Clear Lake, S.D.
4. (6) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.., El Paso, Texas
5. (5) 13 Cayden Schmeling, Watertown, S.D.
6. (8) 32 Jesse Young, Warner, S.D.
7. (1) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
8. (7) 51T Tim Thomas, West Fargo, N.D.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (2) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
3. (8) 6ST Joseph Thomas, Glyndon, Minn.
4. (6) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (4) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
6. (5) 32 Jesse Young, Warner, S.D.
7. (3) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
8. (10) 50 Tim Waba, Watertown, S.D.
9. (7) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
10. (9) 11Z Dylan Zabel, Selby, S.D.
DNS – 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (1) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.., El Paso, Texas
3. (5) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
4. (8) 1TPO Tyler Peterson, Horace, N.D.
5. (3) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
6. (4) 13 Cayden Schmeling, Watertown, S.D.
7. (9) 20 Trevor Anderson, Watertown, S.D.
8. (6) 14 Nick Schmidt, Baltic, S.D.
9. (10) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
10. (7) 3 Arne Anderson, Watertown, S.D.
DNS – 51T Tim Thomas, West Fargo, N.D.
SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (42 laps):1. (13) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (2) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
3. (1) 37 Scott Ward, Watertown, S.D.
4. (5) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (7) 20S Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
6. (3) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
7. (20) 1TPO Tyler Peterson, Horace, N.D.
8. (9) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
9. (6) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
10. (18) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
11. (15) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
12. (17) 6ST Joseph Thomas, Glyndon, Minn.
13. (22) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
14. (12) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
15. (10) 15 Tony Konold, Clear Lake, S.D.
16. (23) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
17. (16) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.., El Paso, Texas
18. (24) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
19. (14) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
20. (4) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
21. (8) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas
22. (21) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
23. (19) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
24. (11) 12H Mike Hansen, Dickinson, N.D.
Lap Leaders: Ward 1, Ebert 2, Ward 3-8, Ebert 9-37, O’Neil 38-42.
Total Laps Led: Ebert 30, Ward 7, O’Neil 5.
Margin of Victory: 0.837 second.
Time of Race: 15 minutes, 38.904 seconds (1 caution).
Provisional Starters: Brown, DeVolder.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Peterson (started 20th, finished 7th).
Entries: 34.
Next Race: Thursday, Aug. 4, 81 Speedway, Park City, Kan.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Sorensen 1958, Mullens 1851, Ramirez 1789, VanderBeek 1735, Phillips 1727, Sanders 1680, Ebert 1642, O'Neil 1618, Hughes 1599, Bleess 1493.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Carter 1408, Brown 1270, DeVolder 1242, Thornton 1239, Horner 1075.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 195, Mullens 159, Hughes 153, VanderBuilt 141, LG2 120.
Compstar/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 168, Action 151, Stoen 138, Mullens 118, Durham 111.
Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Ebert.
Beyea Custom Headers – 4th.
BigDeal Car Care – O’Neil.
Bryke Racing – Konold.
BSB Manufacturing – Horner.
Champ Pans – Sanders.
Deatherage Opticians – Zabel.
Edelbrock – Phillips.
Fast Shafts – Sanders.
FK Rod Ends – Peterson.
Hooker Harness – J. Thomas.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Mullens.
Keyser Manufacturing – VanderBeek.
KS Engineering – Sorensen.
KSE Racing Products – Fuqua.
Mel Hambelton Ford Racing – Ebert.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Mari.
MSD Performance – Fuqua.
Penske Racing Shocks – Thornton.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – DeVolder.
QA1 – Ebert.
RacerWebsite.com – Sorensen.
Simpson Performance Products – Wolff.
Summit Racing Equipment – A. Anderson, T. Anderson, Waba, Ward.
Super Clean – O’Neil.
Swift Springs – Ward, O’Neil, Konold.
Sybesma Graphics – Ward.
Tire Demon – Zabel.
VP Racing Fuels – O’Neil.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Givens.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Good.
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.
