Sanders sizzles, snags $10,000 at Lakeside

It took 134 days into the 2021 campaign for him to notch his 108th career win, but four-time USMTS national champion Rodney Sanders finally broke into the win column Friday night as the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s invaded the Lakeside Speedway.

Nearly 50 of the toughest competitors in the dirt modified racing universe descended on Kansas City, Kansas, for a $10,000 top prize at the 7th Annual USMTS Spring Sizzler fueled by VP Racing Fuels—the seventh event of the record-setting year.

With qualifying in the books, the field of 26 main event starters saluted fans in attendance and at home watching on RacinDirt.TV with the traditional four-wide parade lap with racers hoisting Old Glory from their machines while Lee Greenwood’s ageless Proud To Be An American serenaded the onlookers.

Tanner Mullens of nearby Wichita, Kansas, got a strong start while 2018 USMTS national champ Johnny Scott emerged in second after racing three-wide through the first corner with Sanders and Darron Fuqua’s new Casey’s-sponsored Mtn Dew Rise Energy livery.

A couple early cautions kept a rhythm from setting in during the first handful of laps but long run beginning with the fourth lap made for some incredible back-and-forth battles throughout the pack, including the front of the field where Scott slipped in front of Mullens to lead the sixth lap.

Meanwhile, Sanders and Jake O’Neil—both past Grant Junghans Memorial winners here—gave the fans a fantastic back-and-forth for second place while Mullens began a race-long fight with Dereck Ramirez for the other two positions inside the top five.

Sanders was eventually able to distance himself slightly from O’Neil and then began to challenge Scott for the lead. He pulled alongside as they raced through lap 14 and made the pass for the lead as the pair reached the flagstand to complete lap 17.

The second half of the 35-lap affair was all Sanders.

Despite some heavy lapped traffic at times and another pair of cautions—the second coming as the leader was expecting to see the white flag—Sanders was never seriously challenged the rest of the way but the action behind him remained intense to the finish.

Ramirez, who started tenth, found himself in familiar territory with a runner-up finish to Sanders while O'Neil, Lucas Schott and 17th-starting Dan Ebert were third, fourth and fifth at the checkered flag. Fuqua, Dustin Sorensen, Austin Siebert, Jesse Glenz and Jason Hughes rounded out the top ten.

The USMTS travels to another one of America’s legendary dirt ovals to battle for another $10,000 winner’s share of the prize money on Saturday as the caravan heads about five hours south to the mighty Tri-State Speedway in Pocola, Oklahoma.

The 7th Annual USMTS Drive4JRT.com Juggernaut presented by Hacienda Mechanical will see the pits open at 4 p.m., grandstands open at 5:30, hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30.

Support classes include USRA B-Mods and Sunoco USRA Factory Stocks competing for Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national points.

The Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s has tip-toed on the border of Arkansas and Oklahoma on seven previous occasions and Jason Hughes walked away with the hardware in three of those races.

His last win, however, came in 2011 at the end of a three-year string of victories here. Fellow Oklahoman Eddie Martin took the initial USMTS checkers at the 3/8-mile high-banked red clay oval on June 3, 2008.

The series didn’t return until 2018 and Zack VanderBeek was victorious on that night. Hunter Marriott captured top honors in 2019 and Rodney Sanders netted his first win at Tri-State Speedway last June during the height of the pandemic.

The Tri-State Speedway is located 1.6 miles west of the Arkansas-Oklahoma State line on US 271, then 0.3 mile north. The track location is 1705 W Race Track Rd, Pocola, OK 74902. Check them out online at Tri-StateSpeedway.com.

For those unable to attend in person, you can catch every lap of every race in every division can be witnessed live as it happens on RacinDirt.TV.

Taking dirt to a new level: The 2021 campaign for the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s features 36 nights of racing with the winners of those main events set to take home over $300,000 in earnings from more than $1 million in prize money earmarked for those shows. Twenty-six of the 36 race nights will pay at least $10,000 to win while the other 10 carry a $5,000 top prize.

As if that weren’t enough, more than $230,000 is committed to the top ten finishers in the 2021 points standings with a record $70,000 reserved for the 2021 USMTS National Champion.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s
7th Annual USMTS Spring Sizzler fueled by VP Racing Fuels
Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas
Friday, May 14, 2021

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver and hometown. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Casey’s “A” Main.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (4) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (2) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
3. (3) K19 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
4. (6) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
5. (10) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
6. (5) 3B Nic Bidinger, Perry, Kan.
7. (1) 7D Jake Davis, Hackett, Ark.
8. (9) 54 Carlos Ahumada Sr., El Paso, Texas
9. (7) 22B Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
10. (8) 1K Tim Karrick, Basehor, Kan.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (3) 7J Justin Johnson, Olathe, Kan.
2. (4) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
3. (2) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
4. (5) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
5. (1) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (8) 12L Lucas Lee, Paris, Tenn.
7. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
8. (7) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
9. (10) 33 Ryan Stiens, Maryville, Mo.
10. (9) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 1ST Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
2. (4) 444 Brooks Strength, Raymond, Miss.
3. (5) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
4. (2) 89X Jesse Glenz, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
5. (3) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
6. (7) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
7. (6) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
8. (8) 8 Jeremy Vaughn, Pocola, Okla.
9. (10) 32 Cody Owens, Parkville, Mo.
10. (9) 64 Casey Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (1) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (3) 18A Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn.
4. (4) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
5. (5) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
6. (6) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
7. (7) 75M Gunner Martin, Independence, Mo.
8. (9) 56 Broc Bowen, Fannin, Texas
9. (8) 99 Nathan Hagar, Adair, Okla.

VP RACING FUELS HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (1) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (3) 175 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice, Neb.
3. (5) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
4. (2) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
5. (6) 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.
6. (7) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
7. (8) 31M Travis Mosley, Batesville, Ark.
8. (4) 00 Jesse Stovall, Billings, Mo.
9. (9) 66 Tyler Schmidt, Easton, Kan.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 6 advance):
1. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
2. (4) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
3. (7) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
4. (3) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
5. (11) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
6. (2) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
7. (10) 31M Travis Mosley, Batesville, Ark.
8. (8) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
9. (12) 75M Gunner Martin, Independence, Mo.
10. (6) 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.
11. (15) 33 Ryan Stiens, Maryville, Mo.
12. (17) 66 Tyler Schmidt, Easton, Kan.
13. (18) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
14. (9) 3B Nic Bidinger, Perry, Kan.
15. (1) K19 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
16. (13) 54 Carlos Ahumada Sr., El Paso, Texas
17. (16) 22B Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
18. (14) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 6 advance):
1. (1) 18A Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn.
2. (2) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (5) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (7) 12L Lucas Lee, Paris, Tenn.
5. (4) 89X Jesse Glenz, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
6. (3) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
7. (12) 00 Jesse Stovall, Billings, Mo.
8. (6) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
9. (11) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
10. (10) 7D Jake Davis, Hackett, Ark.
11. (9) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
12. (8) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
13. (17) 1K Tim Karrick, Basehor, Kan.
14. (15) 32 Cody Owens, Parkville, Mo.
15. (13) 56 Broc Bowen, Fannin, Texas
16. (18) 64 Casey Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas
17. (16) 99 Nathan Hagar, Adair, Okla.
18. (14) 8 Jeremy Vaughn, Pocola, Okla.

CASEY’S “A” MAIN (35 laps):
1. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (10) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (8) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
4. (11) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (17) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
6. (3) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
7. (19) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
8. (12) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
9. (22) 89X Jesse Glenz, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
10. (18) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
11. (13) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
12. (16) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
13. (14) 18A Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn.
14. (1) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
15. (4) 444 Brooks Strength, Raymond, Miss.
16. (21) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
17. (24) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
18. (26) 85 Jayson Good, Watertown, S.D.
19. (23) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
20. (20) 12L Lucas Lee, Paris, Tenn.
21. (6) 7J Justin Johnson, Olathe, Kan.
22. (7) 175 Jordan Grabouski, Beatrice, Neb.
23. (9) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
24. (25) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
25. (2) 1ST Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
26. (15) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.

Lap Leaders: Mullens 1-6, Scott 7-16, Sanders 17-35.
Total Laps Led: Sanders 19, Scott 10, Mullens 6.
Margin of Victory: 1.611 seconds.
Time of Race: 26 minutes, 15.428 seconds (4 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Jake Gallardo, Good.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Glenz (started 22nd, finished 9th).
Entries: 48.
Next Race: Saturday, May 15, Tri-State Speedway, Pocola, Okla.
Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s Points: Sanders 601, Ramirez 600, Phillips 583, O'Neil 543, Mullens 518, Ebert 517, Schott 512, Hughes 510, Sorensen 500, Wolff 491.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Strength 440, Glenz 410, Lee 356, Good 350, Krup 346.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: TBA.
Compstar USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: TBA.