Sanders all the way for back-to-back USMTS honors at Deer Creek

Friday was the second night of the 20th Annual LRS Waste Services USMTS Southern Minnesota Spring Challenge at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minnesota, and second straight win for Rodney Sanders in the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.

Sanders had the race won when his crew member drew the pole position for him prior to the start of the race. Despite challenges from Tanner Mullens the entire distance, the four-time USMTS National Champion led all 40 laps, extending his time at the front to 52 straight laps including Thursday’s night’s win.

Following a brief caution on lap 13, Dereck Ramirez got around Mullens to take second but the race’s third and final yellow flag waved one lap later and Mullens regained the position on the restart with Alex Williamson following into third one lap later.

Sanders fended off multiple challenges from Mullens throughout the contest, but with 11 laps to go he finally grew tired of seeing the nose of Mullens’ pink machine underneath him and snuck down to the low side of the racing surface.

“I knew at the beginning I wasn’t tight enough,” Sanders said following his 114th career USMTS triumph. “This place races really good a lot of times and I didn’t really know where I needed to be. I saw them crumbs start getting thrown across the track so I thought I’d better get down but I was awful free at the end.

A lapped car with five to go made things interesting but nobody could find the muscle to get around the Happy, Texas, native. Sanders rolled to his second victory in 24 hours and pocketed $5,000 for his efforts.

“I’ve got to thank Tanner for racing me clean. I feel like he could have dirtied me up a couple times but we’re pretty good friends and I’d race him the same.”

Mullens nipped ninth-starting Alex Williamson for the runner-up paycheck while Jake Timm claimed the fourth spot ahead of 13th-starting Tyler Wolff.

Jim Chisholm, who started 16th earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award for finishing sixth while Ramirez, Brandon Davis, Jason Hughes and Dan Ebert rounded out the top 10.

Jake O'Neil was only able to advance five positions from his 17th-place spot on the starting grid, thereby giving up the series points lead to Sanders.

Action continues Saturday with a $10,000 top prize for the feature winner. The Memorial Day Weekend culminates Sunday with another $10,000-to-win battle at the Fayette County Speedway in West Union, Iowa, and the 10th Annual Super Clean War in West Union.

For its Silver Anniversary season, the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt currently features 45 nights of racing at 15 of America's premier dirt track racing venues in nine states. The winners of those events are set to earn more than $300,000 with nearly $2 million in purses and prize money earmarked for the 2023 campaign.

Watch every USMTS event online live and on-demand from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt. Download the app at Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TV or on Google Play.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
20th Annual LRS Waste Services Southern Minnesota Spring Challenge – Night 2 of 3
Deer Creek Speedway, Spring Valley, Minn.
Friday, May 26, 2023

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver and hometown. Heat race lineups are determined via group qualifying. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Summit Racing Equipment “A” Main.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (6) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
3. (5) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (7) 95 Keith Foss, Winona, Minn.
5. (11) 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
6. (4) 88 Tanner Williamson, Fort Frances, Ont., Can.
7. (10) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
8. (9) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
9. (2) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
10. (8) 19 Joe Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
11. (1) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (3) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
2. (5) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (4) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
4. (6) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
5. (7) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
6. (11) 16B Randy Brown, Chowchilla, Calif.
7. (9) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
8. (1) R Ron Ver Beek, Oskaloosa, Iowa
9. (8) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
10. (10) 98M Mitchel Madery, Kasson, Minn.
11. (2) 28S Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
2. (4) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
3. (7) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
4. (5) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
5. (10) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
6. (9) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
7. (3) 51W J.T. Wasmund, Pine Island, Minn.
8. (8) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
9. (2) 90 Ryan Wetzstein, West Concord, Minn.
10. (6) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.

WIELAND HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn.
2. (2) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
3. (6) 50III Brandon Davis, Hayfield, Minn.
4. (4) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
5. (7) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
6. (10) 28 Parker Hale, Grand Meadow, Minn.
7. (5) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn.
8. (3) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
9. (8) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
10. (9) 29D Brad Dierks, Clarence, Iowa

VP RACING HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (4) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
2. (3) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
3. (6) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (9) 90B Daniel Bargender, Menomonie, Wis.
5. (5) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
6. (8) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
7. (2) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
8. (10) 14M Brian Mahlstedt, Ionia, Iowa
9. (1) 4A Joel Alberts, Mantorville, Minn.
10. (7) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (3) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (4) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (2) 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
4. (6) 28 Parker Hale, Grand Meadow, Minn.
5. (5) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
6. (8) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
7. (11) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
8. (15) 28S Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
9. (7) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
10. (1) 90B Daniel Bargender, Menomonie, Wis.
11. (10) 51W J.T. Wasmund, Pine Island, Minn.
12. (14) 19 Joe Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
13. (9) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
14. (13) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
15. (12) R Ron Ver Beek, Oskaloosa, Iowa
DNS – 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
DNS – 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
DNS – 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
DNS – 90 Ryan Wetzstein, West Concord, Minn.
DNS – 4A Joel Alberts, Mantorville, Minn.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
2. (7) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
3. (3) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
4. (2) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
5. (16) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
6. (4) 95 Keith Foss, Winona, Minn.
7. (5) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
8. (12) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
9. (8) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
10. (10) 88 Tanner Williamson, Fort Frances, Ont., Can.
11. (15) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
12. (14) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
13. (13) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
14. (9) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn.
15. (18) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
16. (6) 16B Randy Brown, Chowchilla, Calif.
17. (11) 14M Brian Mahlstedt, Ionia, Iowa
18. (17) 29D Brad Dierks, Clarence, Iowa
DNS – 98M Mitchel Madery, Kasson, Minn.
DNS – 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (4) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
3. (9) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
4. (8) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
5. (13) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
6. (16) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
7. (5) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
8. (6) 50III Brandon Davis, Hayfield, Minn.
9. (7) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
10. (12) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
11. (14) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
12. (17) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
13. (10) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn.
14. (11) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
15. (26) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
16. (24) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
17. (15) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
18. (19) 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
19. (23) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
20. (21) 28 Parker Hale, Grand Meadow, Minn.
21. (22) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
22. (18) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
23. (27) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
24. (25) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
25. (20) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
26. (2) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
27. (3) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa

Lap Leader: Sanders 1-40.
Total Laps Led: Sanders 30.
Margin of Victory: 0.271 second.
Time of Race: 21 minutes, 36.085 seconds (3 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Christian, Ahumada.
Emergency Provisional: Holland.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Jim Chisholm (started 16th, finished 6th).
Entries: 52.
Next Race: Saturday, May 27, Deer Creek Speedway, Spring Valley, Minn.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: TBD.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: TBD.
FK Rod Ends USMTS Hard Charger Points: TBD.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: TBD.
Callies/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: TBD.