Gustin grinds out USMTS victory at Creek County Speedway

KELLYVILLE, Okla. (June 2)--Ryan Gustin roped himself a rugged victory Sunday night when the USMTS invaded the Creek County Speedway for the 2nd Annual Bullring Badass presented by Bravado Wireless, AmeriFlex Hose & Accessories, Pizza Express and Duvall Electric.

Following up last year's inaugural event where fans were treated to a caution-free 40-lap barnburner, another epic battle in the tight confines of the 35-year-old quarter-mile dirt oval produced another 40 circuits of rush hour traffic.

"It was elbows up, no doubt," said Gustin, who rode into the USMTS winners circle for the first time since the final night of the Featherlite Fall Jamboree on Sept. 23, 2017. "I broke something in the left front there and, man, that thing was tight on entry.

"I didn't want no more laps, that's for sure. I was wore out and the car didn't want no more either."

Unfortunately for USMTS national points leader Rodney Sanders, his tire only had 30 laps in it. In the heat of a three-way tussle between himself, Dereck Ramirez and Gustin, Sanders slowed on the exit of turn 2 which allowed Ramirez and Gustin to scoot past while Sanders came to a stop in the next corner.

Following the caution flag with ten laps remaining, Ramirez was able to nose in front of Gustin to lead lap 31, but 'The Reaper' came storming back on the high side to take the lead for good with eight to go.

From there, Gustin rode the dangerous but faster high line to the checkered flag with Jake O'Neil advancing to claim the runner-up spot while Ramirez held strong in third.

With last year's winless season and a rash of mechanical woes since March of 2019, the win was just what the doctor ordered for the two-time USMTS National Champion.

"We've just had some tough luck you know; That's how it goes," said Gustin, who unveiled his new livery last weekend with new sponsor Spike Hardcore Energy. "We can't be having any more failures or anything going on, so we have to stay on top of our maintenance program."

It was Gustin's 95th career triumph-third on the USMTS all-time wins list.

"Hopefully maybe Cedar Lake on Saturday is 100," Gustin added, referencing the 20th Annual Masters, June 13-15. With seven features races on tap between now and then, anything is possible with cooperation from racing gremlins and Mother Nature.

Terry Phillips and Mike Striegel each passed a dozen drivers en route to finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in Sunday's main event. With the higher finishing position, however, Phillips earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.

Driving a car owned by event promoter Joe Duvall, former USMTS regular Randy Timms garnered a sixth-place paycheck while local favorite Chad Davis drive past 11 cars from his starting spot to get seventh. Saturday's winner, Hunter Marriott, took eighth, Sanders rebounded for ninth and Kyle Ledford scored his second top-10 finish in as many nights.

Lap sponsors kicked in an additional $4,100 to the top three runners each laps. Lap sponsors for the event included 23 Motorsports, All American Forklift, Angela Hibbs Rodan + Fields, ARMI Contractors, ASAP Battery Service, Brandon Givens Racing, Bulletproof Tees, CCA Investments, TMSDirt.com, Chris Ross Racing, Dishman Equipment, Diva Dogs, Dizzy Dean Electric, Dozer Finance, driveWFX.com, Hibbs Funeral Home, Maria Farmer, McSperitt Construction, Mike's Flagpole Service, Ottesen Design, Pizza Express, RacinDirt.com, Shannon Scott's Henryetta Ford, Steven Bowers Racing, Tiernan Farms, Tonto Construction, United Cellular Services and Wild Bill White (Keith White), plus memorials for Junior Duvall and Mike Clark.

Bergman Tax & Accounting put up $300 and Fast Shafts awarded a new carbon fiber driveshaft to the driver passing the most cars all night. T&S Beverage of Salina provided $100 cash to the first two non-qualifiers and ARMI Contractors stepped up with additional cash for non-qualifiers.

The Front Row Challenge presented by Grady Smith and Smith All-Fab offered $2,500 to any driver starting in the front row who could tag the tail of the field and win. Nobody accepted the challenge.

After Sunday's show, teams get a 24-hour rest prior to a five-race excursion through the Lone Star State and the Summit USMTS Southern Series powered by MSD. On Tuesday, the series slithers into the Superbowl Speedway in Greenville before making a "hump day" trek to the 82 Speedway in Petty.

The Monarch Motor Speedway in Wichita Falls hosts the USMTS road warriors on Thursday, Lubbock's West Texas Raceway is the venue for Friday night's action and the Route 66 Motor Speedway in Amarillo will welcome the tour on Saturday.

For those unable to be there in person to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells, enjoy the next best thing with every lap of every race in every division every night live at RacinDirt.com.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit USMTS.com or call (515) 832-7944. You can also like the USMTS on Facebook, visit us on Instagram, follow us on Twitter, connect with us on LinkedIn and watch us on YouTube. Keep up to speed with everything USMTS and subscribe to the USMTS e-Newsletter.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Casey's General Stores USMTS National Championship powered by Summit
MSD Performance USMTS Mid-American Series
2nd Annual Bullring Badass presented by Duvall Electric
Creek County Speedway, Kellyville, Okla.
Sunday, June 2, 2019

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown, chassis/engine builder, laps completed and money won. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Casey's General Stores "A" Main with the top 8 redrawing for the first 8 starting spots.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
2. (1) 62 Hunter Marriott (R), Brookfield, Mo.
3. (3) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (2) 127 Andy Morris, Fort Gibson, Okla.
5. (7) 20e James Esmond (R), Sapulpa, Okla.
6. (4) 39 Ho Dean (R), Tulsa, Okla.
7. (6) 7e Jim Estes (R), Glenpool, Okla.
DNS - 96jr Jon Herring, Woodward, Okla.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (3) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (1) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
3. (6) 91x Randy Timms, Wheatland, Okla.
4. (4) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif.
5. (7) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
6. (2) 64 Chris Miles (R), Bristow, Okla.
7. (5) 24 Justin Cartwright (R), Sperry, Okla.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 75L Kyle Ledford (R), Greenwood, Ark.
2. (6) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
3. (3) 15 Kale Westover (R), Blair, Okla.
4. (7) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
5. (4) 152 Chad Davis, Tulsa, Okla.
6. (5) 157 Mark Shipman (R), Grandview, Texas.
7. (2) 3g Scott Glover (R), Hackett, Ark.

DUVALL ELECTRIC HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (4) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (1) 4w Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
3. (3) 75w Joe Wright (R), Beggs, Okla.
4. (5) 92 Bradley Busch (R), Mena, Ark.
5. (6) 17 Brandon Dean (R), Sapulpa, Okla.
6. (7) 17 Mike Striegel (R), Wheatland, Mo.
7. (2) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #1 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 127 Andy Morris, Fort Gibson, Okla.
2. (1) 75w Joe Wright (R), Beggs, Okla.
3. (5) 17 Mike Striegel (R), Wheatland, Mo.
4. (4) 17 Brandon Dean (R), Sapulpa, Okla.
5. (3) 20e James Esmond (R), Sapulpa, Okla.
6. (8) 3g Scott Glover (R), Hackett, Ark.
7. (6) 64 Chris Miles (R), Bristow, Okla., D&M/Miles, $75.
8. (7) 7e Jim Estes (R), Glenpool, Okla., Skyrocket/Estes, $75.
9. (9) 96jr Jon Herring, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Sput's, $90.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #2 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif.
2. (3) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (4) 152 Chad Davis, Tulsa, Okla.
4. (8) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
5. (5) 39 Ho Dean (R), Tulsa, Okla.
6. (1) 92 Bradley Busch (R), Mena, Ark., Shaw/Bush, $75.
7. (7) 24 Justin Cartwright (R), Sperry, Okla., Hughes/U-Save, $75.
8. (6) 157 Mark Shipman (R), Grandview, Texas.

CASEY'S GENERAL STORES "A" MAIN (40 laps):
1. (10) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/TriStar, 40, $2500.
2. (7) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz., LG2/Cornett, 40, $1500.
3. (3) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Cornett, 40, $1000.
4. (16) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Durham, 40, $900.
5. (17) 17 Mike Striegel (R), Wheatland, Mo., GRT/Driskell, 40, $700.
6. (4) 91x Randy Timms, Wheatland, Okla., MBCustoms/ChevPerf, 40, $400.
7. (18) 152 Chad Davis, Tulsa, Okla., RaceCraft/BMS, 40, $350.
8. (6) 62 Hunter Marriott (R), Brookfield, Mo., Rage/KSE, 40, $500.
9. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBCustoms/Hatfield, 40, $450.
10. (5) 75L Kyle Ledford (R), Greenwood, Ark., Extreme/C&C, 40, $250.
11. (1) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., Hughes/Hatfield, 40, $225.
12. (12) 15 Kale Westover (R), Blair, Okla., WesternFlyer/Knowles, 40, $350.
13. (14) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif., MRT/Yeoman, 40, $325.
14. (19) 17 Brandon Dean (R), Sapulpa, Okla., Skyrocket/Warrior, 40, $200.
15. (22) 39 Ho Dean (R), Tulsa, Okla., Hughes/Warrior, 40, $200.
16. (21) 20e James Esmond (R), Sapulpa, Okla., Xtreme/DSO, 40, $200.
17. (23) 3g Scott Glover (R), Hackett, Ark., Extreme/C&C, 39, $200.
18. (9) 4w Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., MBCustoms/Hill, 34, $250.
19. (8) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla., MBCustoms/ChevPerf, 34, $250.
20. (13) 127 Andy Morris, Fort Gibson, Okla., GRT/BMS, 23, $200.
21. (20) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan., LG2/Speedway, 22, $250.
22. (15) 75w Joe Wright (R), Beggs, Okla., RaceCraft/Wright, 21, $200.
23. (11) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, 21, $250.
24. (24) 157 Mark Shipman (R), Grandview, Texas, CAM/ChevPerf, 19, $250.

(R) = Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender

Lap Leaders: Sanders 1-30, Ramirez 31, Gustin 32-40.
Total Laps Led: Sanders 30, Gustin 9, Ramirez 1.
Margin of Victory: 1.878 seconds.
Time of Race: 31 minutes, 59.080 seconds (5 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Glover, Shipman.
Eibach Spring Forward Award: Phillips (advanced 15 positions).
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Phillips (started 16th, finished 4th).
Entries: 29.
Next Race: Tuesday, June 4, Superbowl Speedway, Greenville, Texas.
Casey's General Stores USMTS National Championship Points: Sanders 1174, Marriott 1086, Gustin 1056, Ramirez 1042, Striegel 935, Zack VanderBeek 934, O'Neil 925, Phillips 833, Kates 801, Duvall 778.
MSD Performance USMTS Mid-American Series: Ramirez 678, O'Neil 651, Sanders 648, Marriott 636, Phillips 590, Gustin 568, Wolff 566, Duvall 559, Striegel 558, Kates 485.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Marriott 1086, Striegel 935, Dustin Hodges 425, Nathan Hagar 415, Carlos Ahumada Jr. 340.
USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 101, Hughes 93, Rage 82, LG2 72, GRT 68.
USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Hatfield 82, KSE 73, Cornett 71, Stoen 68, TriStar 58.