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SLAYTON, Minn. – The last race before the start of the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship presented by Bad Boy Mowers took place Friday night at the Murray County Speedway in Slayton, Minn.
The final event in the Dart Great Plains Region presented by Allstar Performance proved to be a nail-biter from start to finish, but action in the region ended the same way it began: with Ryan Gustin celebrating in victory lane.
Jason Krohn had competed in each of the previous 12 events at his hometown track, but had never wheeled his USMTS Modified into the winner’s circle at the 3/8-mile clay oval.
The 2007 USMTS National Champion and two-time track champion (1995, 1999) in the Stock Car division at Slayton, Krohn dominated his heat race Friday night to earn the AFCO Pole Award and had his sights set on capturing his first win in front of his hometown fans.
Fending off challenges from Blooming Prairie’s Tommy Myer and Gustin through six cautions, Krohn led the first 33 of 35-lap in WIX Filters “A” Main but a flat tire ended his hopes for a fifth USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour win as he limped to the pits with the white flag waving.
Gustin took over from there and beat Myer to the finish line by a car-length to earn his sixth win in nine starts in the Dart Great Plains Region – his 12th USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour triumph of the 2010 season and 19th overall since notching his first win on Aug. 28, 2008, to become the series’ youngest winner ever.
He also scored a win earlier this year with the USMTS Castle Rock Recruiting Southern Series in Oklahoma, giving him a win to count on each finger and toe.
Equally impressive is the fact that the 19-year-old third-generation racer from Marshalltown, Iowa, has recorded his 20 victories under the USMTS banner at 19 different racetracks in eight different states.
His only repeat win came at the Mineral City Speedway in Fort Dodge, Iowa, this past June where he made a last-lap pass and beat Krohn to the flagstand by a bumper.
Zack VanderBeek of New Sharon, Iowa, garnered a third-place showing in Friday night’s nightcap while nine-time and defending USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock of Fertile, Iowa, followed in fourth ahead of Alton, Iowa’s Mike Hansen.
Al Hejna was sixth, Dereck Ramirez secured a seventh-place finish, Josh Reisch raced to eighth from 23rd on the starting grid, ninth went to 2006 Murray County Speedway USRA Modified track champion Mike Steensma and Corey Dripps rounded out the top-10 finishers.
In the final points standings for the Dart Great Plains Region presented by Allstar Performance, Gustin wound up with 77 points more than VanderBeek (917 to 840), while Jon Tesch placed third with 763 markers, followed by Ramirez (669), Shryock (659), Hansen (645), Steensma (622), Chase Junghans (561), Krohn (523) and Jim Mathieson (483).
All ten drivers added to their points totals and/or secured their place in the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship which begins next Thursday, Aug. 12, at the Great American Dirt Track in Jetmore, Kan.
The class of 2010 consists of 40 drivers from 10 different states – each with a legitimate chance at becoming the 2010 USMTS National Champion.
