USMTS @ I-37 Speedway
USMTS winner Rodney Sanders
USMTS @ I-37 Speedway, 2/28/20
By JM Hallas
Pleasanton, TX.,(Feb. 28Th, 2020) Time for the south Texas racing season to kick off and what better way than the United States Modified Touring Series(USMTS). This traveling series travel extensively throughout the central part of the nation bringing some of best Modified drivers in the country. This year they make their first ever appearance at I-37 Speedway’s ¼ mile, semi-banked, dirt oval as both open their season.
Several of the regular local Modified drivers joined in the action featuring Rodney Sanders(Happy.Tx) the defending and three time series champion. Sanders has already had a busy start to the year sweeping the ‘Battle on the Border’ show in January at Vado Speedway(Vado, NM). He then went west to the ‘Wild West Shootout’ in Arizona picking up another win over the week-long event.
Included on the nights racing slate were the newly branded USRA Limited Modifieds and USRA Factory Stocks. Two open practices earlier this year, plus a practice session on Thursday has given the local drivers time to shake off any off-season rust and get ready for the points opener in March. Johnny Torres comes in at the defending Limited Modified champ, with Tryton Temple looking to hold his reign on the Factory Stocks.
Sanders Streak Sizzles ON
Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re a little of both. So it was as Rodney Sanders added another win for the 2020 season in his quest for the magical #100. Sanders, who started outside row 2, quickly moved to second and stalked early leader, Calvin Iverson. Sanders kept the pressure on while still trying to conserve his stuff taking an occasion peek inside off the turns.
Finally, at about the one-third mark, Iverson slid up enough to give Sanders the opening he was looking for. Sanders quickly capitalized on the opportunity and took the point on lap 14. Even after a couple cautions for infield tires, Sanders would distance himself from the pack.
Turning sixteen second laps, the leader was up on traffic coming to halfway showing Sanders, Iverson, Hunter Marriot, Jason Hughes and Tyler Wolff in the top five. Making quick work of lap cars, the laps clicked off until lap 36 when Philip Houston pulled up in turns 3-4 to bring out a late caution and rebunch the field.
As green waved Sanders was out and away while Marriot and Iverson battled for second. With a healthy lead Sanders took the white flag going unchallenged to the checkers. Once across the finish line, Sanders in his Wichita Tank, ARMI Contractors, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Paulson Rock Products, Kenny Tile, Swift Springs, Integra Shocks, Bergman Tachs, Pittman Logging, Wehrs Machine, Motul Oil, Hatfield powered MB Custom Chassis, had the right rear go flat.
“We’ve had a good start to the year,” said Sanders. “We should have maybe had one or two more, but the driver messed up. We’ve had a good car, we were good in Arizona and New Mexico. That’s a good start for sure.”
“When you go to a new track you try to compare it to someplace you’ve been. This track is really different. You can make the back stretch longer if you can run the top in (turns) 1-2. I was off a little on gear last night in practice. The dirt in the south is different than up north too. So we just compare notes to get a starting point.”
“I knew it was locked down right from the beginning. He(Iverson) was sliding on entry pretty bad but I couldn’t really make a move, the lane was so narrow. He slipped up just enough, but I was burning up my tires trying to make my move. I thought I’d burn them up, and we did at the end. On that kind of track it’s good to get out front and control your pace.”
“I could tell the tire was going off the last few laps. I started getting loose on entry and had to really wait on picking up the gas. It blew completely going into (turn) 1 after the checkers. So we got lucky. Just enough laps on that tire.”
“We’ll see what the south Texas swing does. You can be a hero one night and a zero the next. We’re just going to take tomorrow like another day, prepare and see what we have tomorrow. We’ve been to both of the next two tracks before, but you can have an idea and they’ll be totally different than the last time. You’ve got to be prepared for everything and see what happens.”
USMTS(40 laps)
20 Rodney Sanders, 27x Calvin Iverson, 62 Hunter Marriot, 12 Jason Hughes, 4w Tyler Wolff, 6 Casey Skyberg, 75 Terry Phillips, 65 Tyler Davis, 4r Derreck Ramirez, 23 Adam Kates, 91 Joe Duvall, 8g Greg Dinsmore, 86 Dillon Tindall, 5 Ryan Doyon, 21 Jacob Bleess, 4m Bobby Malchus, 9 Kevin Rutherford, 71 Philip Houston, 8 Wesley Summers, 24z Zane Ferrell, 55h Nathan Hagar, 33z Zack Vanderbeek, 71k Kevin Sustaire, 97 Cade Dillard
USMTS B-mains(top 6 to A-main)
B-main 1; 21 Jacob Bleess, 65 Tyler Davis, 91 Joe Duvall, 24z Zane Ferrell, 20j Jason Ingalls, 49 Ryan Slott, 55h Nathan Hagar, 55d Michael Dotson, 55g Dave Gaggero—dns, 129 Jamie Campbell—dns
B-main 2;97 Cade Dillard, 71k Kevin Sustaire,9r Kevin Rutherford, 75 Terry Phillips, 8g Greg Dinsmore, 71 Philip Houston, 7 Shayne Bailey, 9c Dillon Hill, 137 Bill Pittaway, 9 Jimmy Ray—dns
USMTS heats(top 12 in passing points to A-main)
Heat 1; 20 Rodney Sanders, 6 Casey Skyberg, 8 Wesley Summers, 4m Bobby Malchus, 9c Dillon Hill, 55g Dave Gaggero, 55h Nathan Hagar, 20j Jason Ingalls, 24z Zane Ferrell
Heat 2; 23 Adam Kates, 86 Dillon Tindall, 4r Derreck Ramirez, 71k Kevin Sustaire, 21 Jacob Bleess, 8g Greg Dinsmore, 75 Terry Phillips, 9 Jimmy Ray–dns
Heat 3; 62 Hunter Marriot, 5r Ryan Doyon, 33z Zack Vanderbeek, 65 Tyler Davis, 91 Joe Duvall, 55d Michael Dotson, 49 Ryan Slott, 129 Jamie Campbell
Heat 4; 27x Calvin Iverson, 4w Tyler Wolff, 12 Jason Hughes, 97 Cade Dillard, 9r Kevin Rutherford, 71 Philip Houston, 7 Shayne Bailey, 137 Bill Pittaway
Egbert Ekes Out USRA Honors
At the start of the 20-lap Limited Modified feature it was GW Egbert with a good jump leaving Talon Minten and Gabe Tucker side by side, Jared Maupin and Robby Minten in his wake. T. Minten sorted out second with Maupin getting by Tucker for third a lap later. Shane Hoefling clipped on infield tire on lap 5 for a quick caution.
On the restart Chris Swenson, Tom Grothues, Memphis Villareal and Marcus Mikulencak tangled in turn 1. Once back to green Maupin got past T. Minten for second and began pressuring Egbert for the lead. The top 2 began putting a gap on T. Minten and Tucker battling for third until an infield tire got kicked on track for a caution.
On the restart Tucker got around T. Minten while Johnny Torres and Paul White were wheel to wheel for sixth. Tucker then began looking under Maupin for second but was unable to find a lane. After holding off Tucker, Maupin was back on the hunt looking for the lead.
Egbert would give Maupin just enough room to get the nose inside on entry, but then pull back away on corner exit. Maupin gave it the ol’ college try coming to the checkers, but it was Egbert in the E&E Collision, Leons Wrecker Service, PTS powered, MLRC Chassis holding on for the win.
“It’s been a long time since that’s happened,” replied Egbert on winning two races the same night. “I’m happy it did happen, I’ll take whatever I can get at this point. Every time that I’ve started on the pole I always have bad luck. This was probably the only time I’ve been able to win starting on the pole. I didn’t have expectations for what was going to happen.”
“We ended up getting lucky, Towards the end the car started getting a little bit slower and eating the right rear off of it. I just started going a little slower. I saw those guys stick the nose in there a couple times especially towards the end. I just knew to hit my marks and not make any mistakes.”
Swenson Racing Products USRA Limited Modifieds
717 GW Egbert, bd2 Jared Maupin, 7 Gabe Tucker, 2 Talon Minten, 96 Paul White, 03 Marcus Mikulencak, 184 Brian Rye, 5r Ryan Doyon, 4$ Kris Rye, 9 Jason Ingalls, 77 Cody Beddoe, 11 Tom Grothues, 63 Shane Hoefling, 56 Broc Bowen, 104 Brandon Brzozowski, 15 Chase Laven, 30 Chris Swenson, 6t9 Bruce Tesch, 08 Alton Fambro, 24r Robby Minten, 66 Johnny Torres, 55 Cody Leonard, 30m Memphis Villareal
Limited Modified B-main(top 8 to A-main)
56 Broc Bowen, 96 Paul White, 11 Tom Grothues, 5r Ryan Doyon, 30 Chris Swenson, 6t9 Bruce Tesch, 104 Brandon Brzozowski, 08 Alton Fambro, 137 Austin Majek, 28m Mason Casteneda
Limited Modifed heats
Heat 1; 7 Gabe Tucker, 2 Talon Minten, 55 Cody Leonard, 03 Marcus Mikulencak, 30k Chris Swenson, 104 Brandon Brzozowski, 6t9 Bruce Tesch, 28m Mason Casteneda
Heat 2; 63 Shane Hoefling, 94 Allen Torres, 15 Chase Laven, 184 Brian Rye, 77 Cody Beddoe, 56 Broc Bowen, 08 Alton Fambro
Heat 3; bd2 Jared Maupin, 24r Robby Minten, 30m Memphis Villareal, 148 Max Calles, 5r Ryan Doyon, 11 Tom Grothues, 137 Austin Majek
Heat 4; 66 Johnny Torres, 717 GW Egbert, 9 Jason Ingalls, 4$ Kris Rye, 96 Paul White, 2b Robert Boyd, 12r Roly Rodriguez—dns
Double Up for G-Dub
As green waved on the 20-lap Factory Stock feature Michael Keylich was first into turn 1 trailed by Ben Mikulencak, Shannon Maurer, GW Egbert and Jesse Sandoval. Mikulencak took a peek low on lap 1, then tried the outside on lap 2 while Egbert took third from Maurer. Egbert and Mikulencak then ran door to door for second with Riley Heil getting by Tryton Temple and Sandoval for sixth.
Mikulencak, on the high groove, was holding off Egbert and challenging M. Keylich for the point. The two were side by side on lap 7 when Wayne Laven went around in turn 2 for a caution. On the restart Egbert got second from Mikulencak and along side M. Keylich for the lead. Heil got fourth from Maurer bringing Grant Wollam along to fifth.
Egbert was able to get the top spot on lap 9 leaving M. Keylich and Mikulencak side by side for second. The two made contact coming off turn 4 giving Heil an opening to snag third as Mikulencak began to fade. Heil then took second from M. Keylich before he looped it for a lap 12 yellow. Back to green Egbert got out while Heil and Wollam stayed side by side for second.
Temple was able to keep Wollam on the high side and get by for third when Mickey Helms and Kyle Kirkland got together in turn 2 for lap 18 caution that sent Helms to the tail. Egbert got a good start leaving Heil and Temple door to door for second. This gave Egbert breathing room to take the victory in the E&E Collision, Leons Wrecker Service, Best Race Engines, home-built chassis.
“The car was pretty good,” added Egbert. “I actually wanted to run a groove higher than what I was. I was scared to go up there not knowing if it was going to work or not. Then on a restart I had to take the outside since I had no choice. It ended up working in my favor. I may not have tried it without that caution.”
“I like racing anything. I’ll race Mini Stocks, Go-Karts, I just like to race. When I found out USTMTS was coming I was loading up whatever else they were racing and heading down.”
“I want to thank Chad, Mike and my dad for all the help they give me on the cars. Plus my wife, two boys who help at the house and let me go do this.”
All in Designs USRA Factory Stocks
717 GW Egbert, 30 Riley Heil,1 Tryton Temple, 26w Grant Wollam, 747 GW Hessong, 02 Shannon Maurer, 7 Jesse Sandoval, 09 Clint Montanio, 23 Kyle Kirkland, 38 Josh Sewell, 93 Aaron Leddy, 75 Jerry Miller, 49k Michael Keylich, 15 Wayne Laven, 10 Scott Jerkins, 35 Mickey Helms, 29 Jason Gordon, 43 Johnny Johnson, 92r Robert Keylich, 44 Cord Beard, 13m Ben Mikulencak, 9 Robby Minten, 44k Katherine Keylich
Factory Stock heats
Heat 1; 49k Michael Keylich, 02 Shannon Maurer, 7 Jesse Sandoval, 38 Josh Sewell, 9 Robby Minten, 29 Jason Gordon, 747 GW Hessong, 94 Allen Torres
Heat 2; 13m Ben Mikulencak, 35 Mickey Helms, 93 Aaron Leddy, 26w Grant Wollam, 15 Wayne Laven, 92r Robert Keylich, 10 Scott Jerkins, 43 Johnny Johnson
Heat 3; Tryton Temple, 717 GW Egbert, 30 Riley Heil, 44k Katherine Keylich, 44 Cord Beard, 23 Kyle Kirkland, 75 Jerry Miller, 09 Clint Montanio
The USMTS travels southbound to South Texas Speedway(Corpus Christi) for a Saturday night race, then north to Cotton Bowl Speedway(Paige) for a Sunday event. The following week they’re scheduled for a 3-day show at Big O Speedway(Ennis) ending their early Texas tour.
Racing continues at I-37 Speedway the following week for their regular season lid lifter with the Simpson Racing Products IMCA Modifieds, Nogalitos Gear Limited Late Models, Swenson Race Products USRA Limited Modifieds and All in Design Factory Stocks and Brown Chevrolet Tuners.
Category: Series
