SPRING VALLEY, Minn. – Mike Sorensen plucked the top spot from race-long leader Nate Wasmund with ten laps to go and went on to hold off Jason Hughes for the victory Saturday night as the Deer Creek Speedway hosted Round 13 of the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship presented by Bad Boy Mowers.
The win helped inch the 45-year-old engine builder from nearby Rochester to within five wins of tying Bob Timm all-time win record at ‘The Creek,’ but it was his career-first checkered flag under the USMTS banner at his home track.
Saturday’s wild feature race was the 41st USMTS main event held at the high-banked 3/8-mile oval – the most of any track in the 12-year history of the series – so it was only fitting that Sorensen pocketed $4,100 for his efforts thanks to a $1,000 bonus from Hanson Tire of LeRoy, Minn.
The race had a rocky start as a broken drive shaft sidelined Josh Angst before he could even join the parade lap, followed by three cautions that slowed the action during the first four laps.
The first yellow flag waved as quickly as the first green flag. As the leaders entered the first turn, Jay Ihrke’s machine slid up the track and bounced off of the concrete retaining wall, collecting 2007 USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn in the process.
Krohn was able to rejoin the race at the rear of the field, but Ihrke’s night ended on the back of a tow truck. Meanwhile, Jon Tesch and Dereck Ramirez both ducked into the infield during the caution. Tesch returned in time to join Krohn at the back of the pack but terminal mechanical issues kept Ramirez out of the contest.
On the restart, Tesch was only able to complete one more lap before suspension issues sent him back to the pits again. Krohn would also drop out ten laps later with a flat tire caused by a cut he sustained in the first-lap melee.
Two more cautions each of the next two laps again slowed the action and saw Johnny Scott, Tommy Weder Jr. and Lucas Schott head to the pits for new tires.
With the early delays in the first four laps, several drivers climbed six or seven spots in the running order without passing a single car on the track, but the final 36 orbits went caution-free and gave the crowd a nail-biting preview of what to expect when the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship presented by Bad Boy Mowers returns to Deer Creek Sept. 23-25 for the 12th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree.
Wasmund and Sorensen raced nose to tail throughout the contest with Steve Wetzstein making it a three-car battle midway through the race. Five laps later, Hughes entered the fray as the four leaders broke away from the pack to settle it among themselves.
With Wasmund and Wetzstein fighting for real estate in the middle of the track and Hughes churning away at the cushion on the high side of the racing surface, Sorensen used the low line to edge in front of Wasmund as they completed lap 30.
Two laps later, Hughes disposed of Wasmund and began to erase the distance between him and the leader but Sorensen maneuvered around a lapped car as the white flag was displayed and crossed beneath the checkered flags with a two-car-length advantage over Hughes.
It was the fourth career USMTS win for Sorensen whose last triumph came on May 27, 2005, at the Dodge County Speedway in Kasson just one day after “the big one” at Deer Creek – an ten-car crash that sent five drivers to the hospital and prompted officials and drivers to cancel the event that night and donate the prize money to the families of the injured drivers.
Sorensen’s first USMTS win came in 2001 when he was awarded the win after finishing second to Hughes, who crossed the scales underweight and was disqualified.
Wetzstein was able to muscle his way past Wasmund in the final two laps to secure a third-place paycheck while Oskaloosa, Iowa’s Ron Ver Beek finished fifth.
Nine-time and defending USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock started 18th and edged Kevin Pittman for sixth at the finish line. Joel Alberts earned an eighth-place finish, Ryan Gustin nabbed ninth and 14-year-old Schott rebounded from a pit stop on lap 4 to claim the tenth spot.
Although he was unable to garner his second win during ‘The Hunt,’ Hughes passed ten cars en route to record his 12th top-five finish in 13 starts and pad his ever-growing points lead.
Hughes’ advantage is now 92 markers over Gustin, followed by Tommy Myer (-120), Zack VanderBeek (-157), Shryock (-226), Krohn (-241), Ramirez (-324), Rodney Sanders (-330), Tim Donlinger (-349) and Scott (-390).
Although he finished last among the 19 cars running at the end of the main event, Scott ensured himself of an extra $2,000 as he clinched the DandyLand Farms Rookie of the Year honors for the 2010 season. Scott also leads the crop of rookies in the USMTS Castle Rock Recruiting Southern Series where Hughes is the championship points leader on a quest for three straight titles on that our.
