KASSON, Minn. – The United States Modified Touring Series stormed into the Dodge County Speedway on July 14 for the inaugural Thunderbird Open, but the drivers, teams and fans stormed right back out of town when thunderstorms packing heavy rain stopped the show just after the heat races were completed.
With all qualifying events completed, the show was deemed unfinished business and the WIX Filters “A” Main was made-up on Sunday night with the champion of the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region being crowned following the race.
Ryan Gustin came into the event as the points leader and ended the night as the champion of the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region, but it was anything but easy.
Mike Sorensen drew the pole position for the start of the 40-lapper and held off Tim Donlinger to lead the first lap. By the third lap, however, Jon Tesch was applying pressure as he was looking to sweep the evening’s main events after winning the regularly-scheduled feature race less than an hour earlier.
Tesch tried the outside and then dove to the bottom in turn 1 to try his hand at taking the lead on Sorensen’s left. The pair made contact as they exited turn 2 and resulted in Tesch suffering a flat right rear tire.
While Tesch rejoined the action at the rear of the pack, Sorensen led the field back to the green flag on the restart. Instead of Tesch’s familiar #14 machine, this time it was 14-year-old Lucas Schott grabbing the inside line and pressuring his engine builder for the top spot.
The two raced side by side for six laps while Gustin followed close behind, searching for an opening to challenge the leaders. Meanwhile, Steve Wetzstein was up to fourth in just 12 laps after getting the green flag in the 16th starting position.
As the leaders completed lap 15, Gustin drove around the outside of Schott and then dove underneath Sorensen to grab the lead. Wetzstein snuck under Schott and Sorensen four laps later to take second.
Churning away on the high side of the racing surface, Gustin led through lap 25 but Wetzstein utilized the shortest way around the speedway to lead the 26th circuit. “The Reaper” fought back and regained the lead on lap 29, only to have Wetzstein lead by a nose as they crossed beneath the flagstand to complete lap 30.
The advantage went to Gustin again the next time around but Wetzstein was in charge once again as the end of the 32nd lap when the race’s final caution slowed the action with eight laps to go.
Back under green, Wetzstein set the pace for the next six laps with Gustin, Schott and Jason Krohn in tow while Tesch found himself back in the top-five after his trip to the pits on the second lap.
As the white flag was displayed, Gustin powered off of the fourth turn to lead the next-to-last lap by a bumper. The 19-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa, was flawless on the final lap and beat Wetzstein to the finish line by a mere three-tenths of a second.
The win gave Gustin his series-best 15th victory this season on the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour, and his 23rd career triumph under the USMTS banner. He pocketed $2,000 for the main event win and another $2,000 in capturing the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region title – his second of the year after claiming the Dart Great Plains Region crown last month.
For Wetzstein, it was the second heartbreaker of the night after posting his second runner-up finish in a row when leading with four laps to go.
Schott recorded his best finish so far with a third-place showing while Krohn held off Tesch for the fourth spot. Sixth through tenth were Sorensen, Zack VanderBeek, Donlinger, Kelly Shryock and 20th-starting Josh Angst.
Krohn finished second behind Gustin in the final Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region points standings, followed by Tommy Myer, Shryock, Tesch, Donlinger, VanderBeek, Doug Hillson, Wetzstein and Dereck Ramirez.
