Gustin rolls to third straight USMTS win at West Texas Raceway


LUBBOCK, Texas (June 7)--Only Mother Nature has been able to stop Ryan Gustin this week as 'The Reaper' reeled off his third straight Summit USMTS Southern Series win in five days Friday night at the West Texas Raceway.

After winning last Sunday at the Creek County Speedway to break a dry spell of more than a year, Gustin won Tuesday's event at the Superbowl Speedway before the shows on Tuesday and Wednesday were rained out.

An opening-lap caution moved Gustin from the third starting spot to the outside of the front row for the start of the 40-lap main event, but it was 2015 USRA Modified National Champion Jake Gallardo jumping out from the pole position to lead lap 1.

Gallardo ran a smooth race up front but Gustin was able to overpower the Las Cruces, N.M., racer on lap 12 and went unchallenged the remaining 28 circuits to claim the $3,000 winner's share of the prize money.

Jake O'Neil scooted past Gallardo for second but Dereck Ramirez blew by both and secured the second spot for another top-five result while O'Neill, Gallardo and Terry Phillips were the rest of the first five to reach the checkered flag.

Hunter Marriott and Rodney Sanders each passed eight cars to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, but Marriott garnered the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award by virtue of his higher finish position.

Fito Gallardo held on for eighth ahead of Joe Duvall, who rebounded from the opening-lap incident to score a ninth-place paycheck. Meanwhile, Logan Robertson returned to the racetrack after destroying his previous ride last month and finishing tenth at the 3/8-mile high-banked clay oval.

Amarillo Saturday: The five-day swing wraps up Saturday with the 10th Annual USMTS Amarillo Ambush presented by Genesis Racing Shocks at the Route 66 Motor Speedway in Amarillo.

This will be the tenth meeting of the USMTS and the tough regional and local USRA Modified racers in West Texas and New Mexico where past USMTS events have played out in front of standing-room-only crowds.

Hometown favorite Rodney Sanders captured the inaugural event in 2010, added a second trophy to his case in 2015 and a third in last year's stop. Other winners here include Kelly Shryock, Jason Hughes, Randy Timms, Stormy Scott, who won back-to-back races in 2013-2014, and Ryan Gustin.

The Route 66 Motor Speedway is a popular racing destination for drivers and fans in the Texas panhandle. The facility has a seating for 4,000 race fans plus handicapped parking, stadium lighting, full concessions and several luxurious V.I.P. booths.

For race teams, the racing surface at Bill Worthen's speedplant is a generous 75 feet wide in the turns with 20 degrees of banking, and 65 feet wide down the straight-aways with five degrees of banking. The pits have concrete pads available with lighting and water.

Street Stocks, Limited Late Models, Sport Mods and 305 Sprints will also be racing. The pits open at 4 p.m., grandstands gates swing open at 6, hot laps start at 6:30 and racing begins at 7 p.m.

Adult tickets are $15. Seniors and military are $12. Kids ages 12 and under are $5. Sponsors for this event include K3 Towing, Budweiser, Rabern Rentals and Amarillo Auto Supply.

The Route 66 Motor Speedway is a 3/8-mile high-banked clay oval located 1.5 miles south of I-40 at exit 75 on Lakeside Dr. in Amarillo. For more information, check out route66motorspeedway.net.

For those unable to attend Saturday's blockbuster event in person, RacinDirt.com will bring you all the racing action with live coverage of every lap in every division. Visit racindirt.com right now to get the dirt on racin'.

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
Summit USMTS Southern Series powered by MSD
5th Annual Event presented by Wrisco
West Texas Raceway, Lubbock, Texas
Friday, June 7, 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. (4) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
2. (5) J41 Monte Bolton, Wilson, Texas.
3. (2) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
4. (3) 65x Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas.
5. (8) 10 Dustin Robinson (R), Post, Texas.
6. (6) 75 Alan Sharpensteen, Amarillo, Texas.
7. (9) 23g Jim Gress, Amarillo, Texas.
8. (1) 66 Ty Page, New Home, Texas.
9. (7) 54 Carlos Ahumada Sr., El Paso, Texas.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (6) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (1) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
3. (4) 41h Eric Hughes (R), Odessa, Texas.
4. (7) 23L Logan Robertson, Shamrock, Texas.
5. (8) D25 David Tanner, Wichita Falls, Texas.
6. (2) 59 Kelly Allen, Sweetwater, Texas.
7. (3) 49 Vince Ogle, Lubbock, Texas.
8. (5) 80 David Yanacsek (R), Amarillo, Texas.
9. (9) 9 Jimmy Ray, Las Cruces, N.M.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 15 Kale Westover (R), Blair, Okla.
2. (6) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (4) 71 Philip Houston, Odessa, Texas.
4. (5) 44f Fred Wojtek (R), Blackwell, Texas.
5. (3) 62 Hunter Marriott (R), Brookfield, Mo.
6. (7) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
7. (2) 77 Ronnie Yanacsek (R), Amarillo, Texas.
8. (8) 88r A.J. Vasquez, Garden City, Mich.
9. (9) 7x Chris Dawson, Lubbock, Texas.

WRISCO HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (4) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
3. (6) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
4. (1) 511 Cory Williams (R), Slaton, Texas.
5. (7) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif.
6. (5) 11 Kade Ogle (R), Lubbock, Texas.
7. (8) 2 Greg Jenkins (R), Hobbs, N.M.
8. (3) 2x Gene Weaver, Amarillo, Texas

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
2. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
3. (2) 10 Dustin Robinson, Post, Texas.
4. (10) 88r A.J. Vasquez, Garden City, Mich.
5. (4) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif.
6. (12) 7x Chris Dawson, Lubbock, Texas., Sidebiter/ASI, $75.
7. (7) 23g Jim Gress (R), Amarillo, Texas., GRT/McCabe, $75.
8. (9) 66 Ty Page (R), New Home, Texas., Lethal/Dubose, $75.
9. (6) 59 Kelly Allen (R), Sweetwater, Texas., IRP/Hertel, $75.
10. (8) 49 Vince Ogle (R), Lubbock, Texas., Hughes/Herring, $75.
11. (3) 65x Carlos Ahumada Jr. (R), El Paso, Texas.
12. (11) 54 Carlos Ahumada Sr., El Paso, Texas., LG2/BMS, $75.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (4) 62 Hunter Marriott, Brookfield, Mo.
2. (1) 44f Fred Wojtek, Blackwell, Texas.
3. (2) D25 David Tanner, Wichita Falls, Texas.
4. (10) 2x Gene Weaver, Amarillo, Texas.
5. (3) 511 Cory Williams, Slaton, Texas.
6. (11) 9 Jimmy Ray, Las Cruces, N.M.
7. (6) 11 Kade Ogle, Lubbock, Texas., Shaw/, $75.
8. (5) 75 Alan Sharpensteen, Amarillo, Texas., SRP/Budlong, $75.
9. (7) 2 Greg Jenkins, Hobbs, N.M., Shaw/Jenkins, $75.
10. (8) 77 Ronnie Yanacsek, Amarillo, Texas., Rocket/PPE, $75.
11. (9) 80 David Yanacsek, Amarillo, Texas., Rocket/PPE, $75

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT "A" MAIN (40 laps):
1. (3) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/TriStar, 40, $3000.
2. (7) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Cornett, 40, $1700.
3. (5) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz., LG2/Cornett, 40, $1100.
4. (1) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M., GR2/ProPower, 40, $800.
5. (8) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Durham, 40, $700.
6. (14) 62 Hunter Marriott, Brookfield, Mo., Rage/KSE, 40, $750.
7. (15) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBCustoms/Hatfield, 40, $600.
8. (9) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M., GR2/ProPower, 40, $550.
9. (4) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla., MBCustoms/ChevPerf, 40, $500.
10. (12) 23L Logan Robertson, Shamrock, Texas, Victory/Hatfield, 40, $450.
11. (19) 88r A.J. Vasquez, Garden City, Mich., Hughes/Farris, 40, $300.
12. (16) 44f Fred Wojtek, Blackwell, Texas, GRT/Winger, 39, $275.
13. (11) 71 Philip Houston, Odessa, Texas, MBCustoms/KPE, 39, $375.
14. (23) 65x Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas, GRT/BMS, 39, $350.
15. (10) 41h Eric Hughes, Odessa, Texas, Shaw/Spreen, 39, $225.
16. (6) J41 Monte Bolton, Wilson, Texas, Lethal/Sput's, 39, $225.
17. (21) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif., MRT/Yeoman, 39, $300.
18. (24) 9 Jimmy Ray, Las Cruces, N.M., AOS/AOS, 39, $300.
19. (18) D25 David Tanner, Wichita Falls, Texas, MBCustoms/Geddes, 26, $225.
20. (17) 10 Dustin Robinson, Post, Texas, CAM/ASI, 24, $225.
21. (22) 511 Cory Williams, Slaton, Texas, CAM/Shipley, 22, $225.
22. (13) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan., LG2/Speedway, 15, $300.
23. (20) 2x Gene Weaver, Amarillo, Texas, GRT/PPE, 8, $225.
24. (2) 15 Kale Westover, Blair, Okla., WesternFlyer/Knowles, 0, $300.

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

Lap Leaders: J. Gallardo 1-11, Gustin 12-40.
Total Laps Led: Gustin 29, J. Gallardo 11.
Margin of Victory: 1.901 seconds.
Time of Race: 19 minutes, 37.665 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Ahumada Jr., Ray.
Eibach Spring Forward Award: Vasquez (advanced 14 positions).
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Marriott (started 14th, finished 6th).
Entries: 35.
Next Race: Saturday, June 8, route 66 Motor Speedway, Amarillo, Texas.
Casey's General Stores USMTS National Championship Points: Sanders 1343, Gustin 1262, Marriott 1239, Ramirez 1191, O'Neil 1111, Phillips 1001, Mike Striegel 935, Zack VanderBeek 934, Kates 929, Duvall 920.
Summit USMTS Southern Series Points: Sanders 431, Gustin 429, Phillips 411, Duvall 361, Marriott 332, Kates 309, Ramirez 289, Robertson 282, Cade Dillard 277, Ahumada Jr. 273.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Marriott 1239, Mike Striegel 935, Ahumada Jr. 468, Dustin Hodges 425, Nathan Hagar 415.
USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 114, Hughes 113, Rage 93, LG2 90, GRT 82.
USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Hatfield 95, Cornett 89, KSE 81, TriStar 78, Stoen 68.