FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. (Aug. 5) – Even though he hasn’t reached his 21st birthday yet, Marshalltown, Iowa’s Ryan Gustin reached another milestone in his young driving career Friday night with a convincing win at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis.

In addition to recording his series-best 18th win of the season, Gustin’s third career USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour powered by Swan Energy victory at the high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval was his 42nd overall which ties him with Tommy Myer for third on the all-time USMTS win list.

Rodney Sanders, who left the Mississippi Thunder Speedway last September with $12,000 after winning the USRA Modified Nationals, jumped out from the pole position to lead the first four laps of the 35-lap WIX Filters “A” Main.

It was obvious early on, however, that Gustin was on the charge as he moved up from starting ninth on the grid to challenge Sanders for the lead by the third lap. By the end of the fifth lap, Gustin was in front and the fat lady was warming up.

Gustin streaked beneath the checkered flags 30 laps later with a quarter-lap advantage over Wasmund, while nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock crossed the finish line in third ahead of Ryan Ruter and Myer, who started 13th.

Thursday night’s runner-up at the Cresco (Iowa) Speedway, Lucas Schott, scored the sixth-place paycheck, Jason Miller wound up seventh and Zack VanderBeek came from 20th to eighth and garnered the Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger Award. Corey Dripps and Keith Foss rounded out the top 10.

The win was worth $2,000 to Gustin and gave him a nearly insurmountable lead in the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region points standings. Sitting on an 89-point cushion over Shryock, ‘The Reaper’ simply needs to pull onto the racing surface tomorrow night to secure his fourth regional crown of the year.

VanderBeek is currently third in the rankings with 878 markers, followed by Sanders (809), Miller (752), Dripps (735), Dereck Ramirez (705), Jason Krohn (668), Foss (644) and Jon Tesch (616). With Tesch not in attendance this weekend, the tenth spot comes down to a battle between Doug Hillson, Ryan Ruter and Lucas Schott who are 2, 26 and 28 points, respectively, out of tenth-place.

Upon completing lap 13 Friday night, Gustin also crossed the 600-laps-led threshold. He now has paced 622 main event laps this season. His closest rival in the category is Shryock, who has led 243 laps during the 2011 campaign.

Round 2 of the weekend doubleheader continues tomorrow with a $3,000-to-win main event as part of the 3rd Annual Rivercity Rumble. Pits open at 2 p.m., grandstands open at 3 and hot laps start at 5:30 with racing at 6 p.m.

Saturday’s show will wrap up the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region points battle and graduate the final class of drivers into this year’s Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship powered by Swan Energy.

The track is located 3.0 miles north of Fountain City on SR 35. For more information, call 608-687-3282 or visit www.mississippithunder.com online. USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mods, Street Stocks, Super Stocks and Mini-Mods will round out the card on Saturday.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also follow the USMTS on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour powered by Swan Energy
Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region
Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
Friday, August 5, 2011

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown, chassis/engine builder, laps completed, reason out (if any) and money won. The top 12 drivers in passing points accumulated in the heat races are locked into the “A” Main, with the top 8 re-drawing for starting positions 1-8.

ISKY RACING CAMS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (2) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
2. (3) 49 Bob Timm, Winona, Minn.
3. (1) 10 Mike Steensma, Luverne, Minn.
4. (5) 95 Keith Foss, Winona, Minn.
5. (6) 60 Kurt Krauskopf, Decorah, Iowa.
6. (8) 3d Tim Donlinger, Rochester, Minn.
7. (4) 19 Mike Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
8. (7) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
9. (9) 24 Brad Waits, Rochester, Minn.

NEW VISION GRAPHICS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (1) 12m Jason Miller, Osceola, Wis.
2. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
3. (3) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
4. (6) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
5. (7) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis.
6. (2) 4a Joel Alberts, Mantorville, Minn.
7. (4) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
8. (8) 00 Brian Albrecht, Winona, Minn.

EIBACH SPRINGS HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 555 Ryan Ruter, Kanawha, Iowa.
2. (5) 4 Ben Mattick, Mantorville, Minn.
3. (7) 35k Ron Konkel, Caledonia, Minn.
4. (3) 52 Jason Thoennes, Garfield, Minn.
5. (8) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn.
6. (4) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R), Danube, Minn.
7. (6) 0 Les Duellman, Winona, Minn.
8. (1) 23k Mark Noble, Blooming Prairie, Minn.

PBM PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 52w Nate Wasmund, Rochester, Minn.
2. (5) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
3. (2) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
4. (6) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
5. (4) 18 Mick Glenn, Minnesota City, Minn.
6. (8) 94jr John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis.
7. (3) 30 Shane Wehrs (R), Bangor, Wis.
8. (7) 77 Tom Brink, Winona, Minn.

SUGAR LOAF FORD HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (7) X Mike Wedelstadt, New London, Wis.
2. (3) 66 Dan Bohr, Decorah, Iowa.
3. (8) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
4. (5) 96 Jay Ihrke, Dover, Minn.
5. (6) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.
6. (2) 50 Kevin Viebrock, Somerset, Wis.
7. (4) 58 Jeff Rollinger, Winona, Minn.
8. (1) 55w Gary Wiersgalla, Fountain City, Wis.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 7 advance):
1. (2) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
2. (1) 10 Mike Steensma, Luverne, Minn.
3. (3) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
4. (4) 96 Jay Ihrke, Dover, Minn.
5. (8) 94jr John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis.
6. (6) 60 Kurt Krauskopf, Decorah, Iowa.
7. (5) 52 Jason Thoennes, Garfield, Minn.
8. (9) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R), Danube, Minn.
9. (10) 19 Mike Sorensen, Rochester, Minn., Ramirez/Action, $75.
10. (12) 58 Jeff Rollinger, Winona, Minn., $75.
11. (14) 77 Tom Brink, Winona, Minn., TRE/Grove, $90.
12. (13) 00 Brian Albrecht, Winona, Minn., $75.
13. (11) 0 Les Duellman, Winona, Minn., DirtDueler/Brink, $90.
14. (7) 18 Mick Glenn, Minnesota City, Minn., Pierce/JR, $90.
DNS – 24 Brad Waits, Rochester, Minn., Skyrocket/ASI, $75.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 7 advance):
1. (1) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
2. (3) 95 Keith Foss, Winona, Minn.
3. (7) 3d Tim Donlinger, Rochester, Minn.
4. (10) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
5. (2) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
6. (4) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn.
7. (12) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
8. (11) 30 Shane Wehrs (R), Bangor, Wis., Hughes/Tomcat, $90.
9. (5) 91 Craig Thatcher, Knapp, Wis., J-Car/TriStar, $90.
10. (9) 50 Kevin Viebrock, Somerset, Wis., Stealth/Action, $75.
11. (8) 4a Joel Alberts, Mantorville, Minn., Skyrocket/Action, $90.
12. (6) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, $90.
13. (14) 55w Gary Wiersgalla, Fountain City, Wis., $75.
14. (13) 23k Mark Noble, Blooming Prairie, Minn., Skyrocket/Joe’s, $90.

WIX FILTERS “A” MAIN (35 laps):
1. (9) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, 35, $2110.
2. (3) 52w Nate Wasmund, Rochester, Minn., Hughes/KSE, 35, $1500.
3. (6) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower, 35, $1110.
4. (7) 555 Ryan Ruter, Kanawha, Iowa, Sidebiter/Sput’s, 35, $900.
5. (13) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn., GRT/GMPP, 35, $800.
6. (5) 69 Lucas Schott (R), Chatfield, Minn., Hughes/GMPP, 35, $700.
7. (2) 12m Jason Miller, Osceola, Wis., Hughes/Mullins, 35, $650.
8. (20) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, 35, $700.
9. (14) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa, BC/Mullins, 35, $550.
10. (16) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn., Skyrocket/Brink, 35, $500.
11. (11) 49 Bob Timm, Winona, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 35, $450.
12. (22) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/ProPower, 35, $515.
13. (18) 3d Tim Donlinger, Rochester, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 35, $400.
14. (26) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., Hughes/ASI, 35, $465.
15. (19) 96 Jay Ihrke, Dover, Minn., Fegers/Dean, 35, $350.
16. (10) 35k Ron Konkel, Caledonia, Minn., 35, $250.
17. (27) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R), Danube, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 35, $90.
18. (12) 66 Dan Bohr, Decorah, Iowa, GRT/Sput’s, 35, $300.
19. (25) 52 Jason Thoennes (R), Garfield, Minn., MasterSbilt/Sower, 35, $390.
20. (21) 94jr John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis., 35, $325.
21. (8) X Mike Wedelstadt, New London, Wis., Sidebiter/Yeoman, 35, $300.
22. (4) 4 Ben Mattick, Mantorville, Minn., Fegers/Dave’s, 19, mechanical, $250.
23. (24) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 18, air cleaner, $390.
24. (23) 60 Kurt Krauskopf, Decorah, Iowa, Harris/Sput’s, 17, shock mount, $325.
25. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, Hughes/Geddes, 10, fuel pump, $510.
26. (15) 10 Mike Steensma, Luverne, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 10, brake line, $300.
27. (17) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn., Hillson/CRE, 8, ignition, $300.

(R) = Rookie of the Year contender.

Integra Lap Leaders: Sanders 1-4, Gustin 5-35.
Total Laps Led: Gustin 31, Sanders 4.
AFCO Pole Winner: Wedelstadt.
Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger: VanderBeek (started 20th, finished 8th).
Ruter Farms Long Tow Award: Sanders (1,069 miles).
Provisional Starter: Beckendorf.
Next Race: Saturday, Aug. 6, Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region Points: Gustin 981, Shryock 892, VanderBeek 878, Sanders 809, Miller 752, Dripps 735, Ramirez 705, Krohn 668, Foss 644, Jon Tesch 616.
Rookie of the Year Points: Jason Grimes 1672, Schott 1038, Foss 1022, Clyde Dunn Jr. 976, Jimmy Ray 971.
COMP Cams Engine Builder of the Year Points: Mullins 422, ProPower 340, Sput’s 307, Geddes 203, ASI 173.
Tiger Rear Ends Manufacturers Championship Points: Hughes 436, Skyrocket 382, GRT 287, BC 159, Sidebiter 87.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Steensma.
CPD Racing Tools – not awarded.
Eibach Springs – Ruter.
Forty9Designs.com – Ruter, Dripps.
Hooker Harness – Ramirez.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Gustin.
ISKY Racing Cams – Shryock.
KSE Racing Products – Wedelstadt.
Marsh Racing Wheels – Hillson.
New Vision Graphics – Miller.
Nitroquest – Glenn, Noble.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – VanderBeek.
PBM Performance Products – not awarded.
Real Racing Wheels – Beckendorf, Wehrs.
Ruter Farms – Sanders.
WIX Filters – Gustin.

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USMTS TITLE SPONSORS: Casey’s General Stores, Swan Energy.

USMTS OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Racer Racing Tires, Awesome Race Suits, Cheetos, Intercomp, Karl Chevrolet, KEVKO Oil Pans & Components, New Vision Graphics, Nitroquest, RACEceiver, SLAP Energy, Snickers.

USMTS PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: Arnold Motor Supply, ASi Racewear, BRODIX Cylinder Heads, DAY Motor Sports, Dirthead.com, DirtKnights.com, Dirt Track Racing School, DrySlik Dirt Trak Racewear, Farm Boy BBQ Sauce, Intensitee Custom Racewear, Karl Performance Parts, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Olympic Fire Protection, Ramirez Race Cars, Ruter Farms, Schwab’s Tinker Shop, Sybesma Graphics, Yeager Machine.

USMTS CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: AFCO Racing Products, COMP Cams, CPD Racing Tools, Eibach Springs, Erson Cams, Fast Shafts, Forty9Designs.com, Genesis Shocks, Hooker Harness, Hypercoil Springs, ISKY Racing Cams, The Joie of Seating, KSE Racing Products, Marsh Racing Wheels, Out-Pace Racing Products, PBM Performance Products, Quarter Master, Real Racing Wheels, RHS – Racing Head Service, Tiger Rear Ends, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, WIX Filters.