HomeOpen Wheel Modified NewsSanders snags $4,000 stash in USMTS debut at RPM Speedway

Sanders snags $4,000 stash in USMTS debut at RPM Speedway

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USMTS - United States Modified Touring SeriesCRANDALL, Texas (March 15) – Several challenged, but nobody could overtake Rodney Sanders as he rolled to a wire-to-wire win Friday night as the RPM Speedway in Crandall, Texas, hosted the USMTS Modifieds for the first time for the inaugural Honeycutt Sand & Gravel Modified Nationals powered by Lecolift.

Winning a hotly-contested heat race over Crandall’s Lee McCullough was the launching pad for Sanders as that victory put him in the redraw for the main event where he drew the pole position while last week’s USMTS feature winner, Stormy Scott, picked the outside of the front row for the start of the 40-lap Swan Energy “A” Main.

One of seven Texans in the eight-car redraw, Sanders jumped out to lead the first lap but the yellow flag waved before the field could reach the flagstand again. After the complete restart, Scott raced Sanders hard into the first turn – too hard, apparently, as Scott began to slide up the track and was unable to recover as he spun to bring out the race’s second caution and drop him to the rear of the 26-car field.

Two more quick cautions kept the field from putting together any kind of momentum, but once the second lap was in the books, drivers tested out every inch of the 1/4-mile dirt oval in a fast and furious contest that kept the near-capacity crowd on the edge of their seats.

While Sanders led the entire distance in the main event, several drivers took turns challenging the 23-year-old from Happy, Texas. Kevin Sustaire shadowed Sanders for the first half of the race before Tyler Townsend inched into second just before the race’s last caution on lap 20.

Sustaire got back by on the restart while Hughes made it three-wide for the spot and dashed into third place. Hughes briefly passed Sustaire two laps later, but Sustaire fought back in the next turn and regained the spot while Sanders continued to hug the low line around the track.

Hughes finally secured second with 12 laps to go and quickly moved in to challenge Sanders for the top spot, but ‘The Rocket’ never wavered and Hughes was forced to settle for the runner-up finish while Sanders pocketed his second $4,000 paycheck of the 2013 USMTS Casey’s Cup Series campaign.

Townsend was also able to move past Sustaire for third while defending USMTS national champion never got the late-race caution flag he needed and finished fifth after a thrilling rim-riding drive from the 23rd starting spot.

Nine-time USMTS national champ Kelly Shryock came from 14th to finish sixth, Cody Smith started 18th and wound up seventh, Zack VanderBeek charged from 22nd on the starting grid to eighth at the finish, Johnny Scott nabbed ninth from the 15th slot and Greenville’s Steve McMackin rounded out the top 10 finishers after starting 17th.

A field of 51 USMTS Modifieds were on hand for the series debut at the 1/4-mile semi-banked dirt oval.

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO: The USMTS treks to the Pelican State to invade the Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La., on Saturday for the 4th Annual Lecolift Cajun Clash and Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, La., on Sunday with the Marshall Mobile Homes Battle at Boothill powered by Lecolift.

Johnny Scott captured the win the last time the USMTS visited Gene Boyter’s Ark-La-Tex Speedway on June 13, 2010. Jason Hughes won the event in 2009 and Duke Whiseant took home the hardware in his career-first USMTS start in the first-ever event here in 2008.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. Saturday, grandstand gates swing open at 5, hot laps take to the track at 6 and the racing action kicks off at 6:30. Adults grandstand tickets are $17, youth ages 13-18 are $10, kids ages 6-12 are $5 and children ages 5 & under get in for free. Pit passes are $35. Local B-Mods and Factory Stocks will round out the night’s racing card.

The Ark-La-Tex Speedway a 1/4-mile semi-banked dirt oval located 0.6 mile south of SR 2 on SR 1, then 0.7 mile west on Airport Rd., then 2.2 miles south on Boyter Lane Rd. For race day information, call the track hotline at 318-375-3470 or click www.arklatexspeedway.net to visit them on the World Wide Web.

The weekend tripleheader wraps up on Sunday, March 17, at the Boothill Speedway where fans have been treated to some exciting USMTS shows in the past.

In 2009, a caution flag with five laps to go doomed Kelly Shryock as it erased a seven-second lead and allowed Jason Hughes to muscle his way to victory. Two year later, Shryock returned to exact his revenge and won the last USMTS race here in 2011. Hughes also bagged the feature win in the series debut at The ‘Hill in 2007, while Jack Sullivan won in April 2009 on what was then a big 7/16-mile oval. Since then, the track has been reconfigured to a racy 1/3-mile oval.

Pit gates open at 3 p.m. on Sunday, grandstand gates open at 5, hot laps begin at 5:30 and the racing starts at 6 p.m. Adults grandstand tickets are $17, youth ages 13-18 are $10, kids ages 6-12 are $5 and children ages 5 & under get in for free. Pit passes are $35. Local B-Mods and Factory Stocks will also be racing.

The Boothill Speedway is located west of Shreveport on I-20 to the Carthage-Morningsport Exit (exit 3), then 0.2 mile north, then east on McGee Rd. For more information call 318-938-5373 or check out www.boothillspeedway.org online.

Each event will pay up to $4,000 to win with a “Big Dog Buy-In” and will be the fourth and fifth races in the too-tough-to-tame USMTS Allgayer, Inc. Southern Region presented by Day Motor Sports.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/USMTSTV.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
USMTS Allgayer, inc. Southern Region presented by Day Motor Sports
Inaugural Honeycutt Sand & Gravel Modified Nationals powered by Lecolift
Friday, March 15, 2013

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.

BEYEA CUSTOM HEADERS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (2) 71k Kevin Sustaire, Emery, Texas.
2. (1) 6* Dillon Pike, Waxahachie, Texas.
3. (6) 12t Tyler Townsend, Longview, Texas.
4. (4) 99h Trevor Hunt, Kearney, Mo.
5. (3) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
6. (5) 21x Chaz Exum, Kaufman, Texas.
7. (9) 3c Charlie Smith, Forney, Texas.
8. (10) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La.
9. (11) 36 Lonnie Coats, Quinlan, Texas.
10. (7) 82 Brandon Houk, Venus, Texas.
11. (8) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.

JRi SHOCKS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
2. (2) 202 Lee McCullough, Crandall, Texas.
3. (6) 121 Bobby Ruffin, Crandall, Texas.
4. (4) 89 Steve Whiteaker Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas.
5. (8) 12j Johnny Philpot, Sunnyvale, Texas.
6. (5) 14x Josh Landers, Princeton, Texas.
7. (7) 27d Elliott Davis, Sunnyvale, Texas.
8. (9) 2c Chris Huckeba, Midlothian, Texas.
9. (10) 01 Joey Galloway, Manor, Sask., Canada.
10. (3) 41m Steve McMackin, Greenville, Texas.

EIBACH SPRINGS HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 51 Tracy Denby Jr., Vidor, Texas.
2. (2) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (4) 9 Shane Hebert, Lafayette, La.
4. (3) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.
5. (7) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
6. (6) 81b Cody Simpson, Quinlan, Texas.
7. (5) 5 Shane Sprinkle, Andrews, Texas.
8. (10) 45t Eric Tomlinson, Robinson, Texas.
9. (8) 00 Masen Big Eagle, Manor, Sask., Canada.
10. (9) 211 Richie Ginn, Baton Rouge, La.

PBM PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
2. (4) 4m Bobby Malchus, Red Oak, Texas.
3. (2) 68 Brandon Watson, Denison, Texas.
4. (5) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
5. (3) 5* Casey Penn, Shreveport, La.
6. (6) 1st Johnny Scott, Arroyo Hondo, N.M.
7. (8) 71 Philip Houston, Odessa, Texas.
8. (9) 18s Cody Smith, Kaufman, Texas.
9. (10) 9 Jimmy Ray, Las Cruces, N.M.
10. (7) 4s T.J. Steele, Winnsboro, Texas.

HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (4) 01 Colby Smith, Greenville, Texas.
2. (3) 2 Kenny Gaddis, Hallsville, Texas.
3. (5) 14t Tristan Dycus, Waxahachie, Texas.
4. (6) 5 Wes Armstrong, Marshall, Texas.
5. (8) 21 Chris Brown, Spring, Texas.
6. (9) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
7. (7) 85 Thomas Tillison Jr., Wellston, Okla.
8. (1) 11 Jeff Allgayer, El Campo, Texas.
9. (2) 88xxx Clyde Dunn Jr., Sunnyvale, Texas.
10. (10) 99 Michael Needham, Grand Prairie, Texas.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 4 advance):
1. (1) 14t Tristan Dycus, Waxahachie, Texas.
2. (3) 21 Chris Brown, Spring, Texas.
3. (4) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn.
4. (5) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
5. (11) 9 Jimmy Ray, Las Cruces, N.M., AOS/AOS, $90.
6. (6) 14x Josh Landers, Princeton, Texas, DirtWorks/MachineWorks, $90.
7. (7) 3c Charlie Smith, Forney, Texas, Hughes/Chase, $75.
8. (8) 5 Shane Sprinkle, Andrews, Texas, Hughes/RoushYates, $90.
9. (9) 45t Eric Tomlinson, Robinson, Texas, Hughes/Mullins, $75.
10. (12) 82 Brandon Houk, Venus, Texas, Harris/Lenmar, $75.
11. (13) 4s T.J. Steele, Winnsboro, Texas, Hughes/Mullins, $90.
12. (10) 11 Jeff Allgayer, El Campo, Texas, Hughes/Mullins, $90.
13. (2) 5 Wes Armstrong, Marshall, Texas, TRE/AMS, $90.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 4 advance):
1. (2) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
2. (12) 41m Steve McMackin, Greenville, Texas.
3. (7) 71 Philip Houston, Odessa, Texas.
4. (4) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
5. (1) 9 Shane Hebert, Lafayette, La., Hughes/Mullins, $90.
6. (6) 81b Cody Simpson, Quinlan, Texas, CAM/Hatfield, $90.
7. (5) 5* Casey Penn, Shreveport, La., Hughes/Geddes, $90.
8. (11) 00 Masen Big Eagle, Manor, Sask., Canada, GRT/Tim’s, $90.
9. (13) 99 Michael Needham, Grand Prairie, Texas, Shaw/Sugg, $75.
10. (3) 99h Trevor Hunt, Kearney, Mo., GRT/Yeoman, $90.
11. (10) 36 Lonnie Coats, Quinlan, Texas, Kraft/Cotton, $75.
12. (8) 85 Thomas Tillison Jr., Wellston, Okla.
13. (9) 2c Chris Huckeba, Midlothian, Texas, Hughes/KSP, $90.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #3 (15 laps, top 4 advance):
1. (6) 1st Johnny Scott, Arroyo Hondo, N.M.
2. (9) 18s Cody Smith, Kaufman, Texas.
3. (4) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (3) 89 Steve Whiteaker Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas.
5. (13) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo., GRT/Mullins, $90.
6. (5) 21x Chaz Exum, Kaufman, Texas, Shaw/Kennedy, $75.
7. (1) 68 Brandon Watson, Denison, Texas, GRT/Warner, $75.
8. (8) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La., Sidebiter/Sput’s, $90.
9. (12) 211 Richie Ginn, Baton Rouge, La., Pierce/CrankShop, $90.
10. (11) 88xxx Clyde Dunn Jr., Sunnyvale, Texas.
11. (2) 12j Johnny Philpot, Sunnyvale, Texas, Hughes/M&M, $75.
12. (10) 01 Joey Galloway, Manor, Sask., Canada, GRT/Tim’s, $90.
13. (7) 27d Elliott Davis, Sunnyvale, Texas, DirtWorks/, $75.

SWAN ENERGY “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBC/Geddes, $4000.
2. (12) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, $1500.
3. (7) 12t Tyler Townsend, Longview, Texas, Hughes/PTS, $1000.
4. (3) 71k Kevin Sustaire, Emery, Texas, CAM/MachineWorks, $800.
5. (23) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, $900.
6. (14) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower, $600.
7. (18) 18s Cody Smith, Kaufman, Texas, CAM/Chase, $550.
8. (22) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, Hughes/Sput’s, $500.
9. (15) 1st Johnny Scott, Arroyo Hondo, N.M., Hughes/ProPower, $450.
10. (17) 41m Steve McMackin, Greenville, Texas, DirtWorks/Cotton, $400.
11. (16) 21 Chris Brown, Spring, Texas, Hughes/RoushYates, $350.
12. (9) 121 Bobby Ruffin, Crandall, Texas, Hughes/Rowland, $325.
13. (26) 88xxx Clyde Dunn Jr., Sunnyvale, Texas, Hughes/Mullins, $400.
14. (2) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., LG2/ProPower, $300.
15. (10) 6* Dillon Pike, Waxahachie, Texas, Hughes/Allard, $200.
16. (24) 89 Steve Whiteaker Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas, Hughes/Mullins, $300.
17. (21) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/ProPower, $300.
18. (20) 71 Philip Houston, Odessa, Texas, Hughes/RoushYates, $300.
19. (25) 85 Thomas Tillison Jr., Wellston, Okla., Hughes/Geddes, $300.
20. (11) 202 Lee McCullough, Crandall, Texas, DirtWorks/Chase, $200.
21. (13) 14t Tristan Dycus, Waxahachie, Texas, Kraft/Wells, $300.
22. (5) 2 Kenny Gaddis, Hallsville, Texas, Hughes/Brown, $300.
23. (19) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn., MBC/Sput’s, $400.
24. (8) 4m Bobby Malchus, Red Oak, Texas, Hughes/Wells, $300.
25. (4) 51 Tracy Denby Jr., Vidor, Texas, Skyrocket/CB, $300.
26. (6) 01 Colby Smith, Greenville, Texas, Hughes/Wells, $300.

Lap Leaders: Sanders 1-40.
Total Laps Led: Sanders 40.
Margin of Victory: 0.343 second.
Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger: Gustin (started 23rd, finished 5th).
Next Race: Saturday, March 16, Ark-La-Tex Speedway, Vivian, La.
USMTS Allgayer, inc. Southern Region Points: Gustin 271, Sanders 258, Hughes 255, J. Scott 250, VanderBeek 235, Shryock 218, Dunn 200, Krohn 191, Whiteaker 191, Tillison 188.

Contingency Awards:
AERO Race Wheels – Colby Smith.
American Racer – Davis.
Beyea Custom Headers – Sustaire.
BSB Manufacturing – Gustin, Cody Smith.
Buck Monson Photos – Sanders.
Crane Cams – Sanders.
Dominator Race Products – not awarded.
Edelbrock – Townsend.
Eibach Springs – Denby.
FK Rod Ends – Pike.
Forty9Designs.com – S. Scott, Tillison.
Fuel Safe – Shryock.
Hooker Harness – Dunn.
JRi Shocks – Sanders.
KEVKO Oil Pans & Components – J. Scott.
Keyser Manufacturing – McMackin.
Marsh Racing Wheels – Denby.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Gustin.
MSD Ignition – Sanders, Hughes.
PBM Performance Products – S. Scott, Sanders.
Power Lift Racing Products – Ramirez
Real Racing Wheels – all non-qualifiers.
VP Racing Fuels – Sanders.

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USMTS OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Racer Racing Tires, Casey’s General Stores, Cheetos, COMP Cams, Day Motor Sports, Intercomp, KEVKO Oil Pans & Components, New Vision Graphics, Nitroquest, RACEceiver, RacinDirt.com, Snickers, Swan Energy.

USMTS PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: Allgayer Inc., Arbor Masters, ASi Racewear, BRODIX Cylinder Heads, Erson Cams, Farm Boy BBQ Sauce, Integra Racing Shocks & Springs, Intensitee Custom Racewear, Lecolift, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Olympic Fire Protection, Ramirez Motorsports, Road Runner Trucking, Ruter Farms, Something Inked, United Cellular Services.

USMTS CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: AERO Race Wheels, AFCO Racing Products, Bell Racing Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, BSB Manufacturing, Champ Pans, CPD Racing Tools, Crane Cams, Dominator Race Products, Edelbrock, Eibach Springs, Fast Shafts, FK Rod Ends, Forty9 Designs, Fuel Safe, Genesis Racing Shocks, Hooker Harness, JRi Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, KSE Racing Products, Marsh Racing Wheels, MSD Ignition, PBM Performance Products, Power Lift Racing Products, Quarter Master, Real Racing Wheels, Sybesma Graphics, Tiger Rear Ends, VP Racing Fuels.

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