Sanders edges Scott in dramatic USMTS return to Dodge City

By Lonnie Wheatley

DODGE CITY, Kan. (June 8)--The long-awaited return of the United States Modified Touring Series to the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park dirt oval lived up to the hype as Happy, Texas, native Rodney Sanders edged Johnny Scott by just 0.099 second in Friday night's 40-lap Casey's General Stores "A" Main to take the $3,000 winner's share.

While Sanders picked up his second USMTS win in as many nights during the three-night, three-track Sunflower State Showdown, the feature race came down to a dramatic finish with Sanders battling for the point with the sibling duo of Johnny Scott and Stormy Scott.

Johnny Scott had opened the race by leading the initial 11 circuits before Stormy Scott worked the upper portion of the track to take command on the 12th round as Sanders held down third position.

They raced in that fashion until the first of just two cautions flew soon after the midway point, with Sanders battling past Johnny Scott on the restart and then ultimately taking the lead away from Stormy Scott on the 31st lap.

The duo battled side-by-side over the closing circuits with Johnny Scott nipping at their heels. The trio came upon a lapped car on the 39th lap, with Sanders making an evasive move in turn two to the top side to navigate the traffic and then Stormy Scott looping it off the exit of turn two to bring out the final caution.

The battle was down to Sanders and Johnny Scott for the final two rounds. Sanders held the edge with Johnny Scott making one last charge off of the final corner that fell less than a half-car-length short at the line.

"Stormy really got the top side rolling. I was glad when that first caution came out to give me a chance," Sanders said in victory lane. "There was a little traction on the very bottom. But it was pretty tricky, it was hard to hit it right every time."

Las Cruces, New Mexico's Johnny Scott settled for runner-up honors with New Sharon, Iowa's Zack VanderBeek filling out the podium third.

Chandler, Arizona's Ricky Thornton Jr., crossed the stripe fourth with Woodward, Oklahoma's Derrick Ramirez racing from 14th to round out the top five.

Springfield, Missouri's Terry Phillips was sixth with the Tucson duo of Jake O'Neil and R.C. Whitwell in seventh and eighth. Grandview, Missouri's Austin Siebert was ninth with Robeline, Louisiana's Cade Dillard completing the top ten.

On Saturday, the legion of zoom strafe the Salina Speedway in Salina, Kan. In last year's USMTS Hunt for the Casey's Cup tilt, Cade Dillard captured the feature. The inaugural event took place less than three weeks after the track took a direct hit from a tornado. But track crews and volunteers worked tirelessly to fix buildings and lights, and repair fences that were destroyed by the high winds.

The USMTS Modifieds will be joined by the BSB Manufacturing NeSmith Late Models and Auto House Towing & Recovery Mod Lites. Pits gates open at 4 p.m., grandstands open at 5, hot laps begin at 6:15 and racing gets underway at 7 p.m.

Adult tickets are $20 with free admission for kids under 16 years old. Race fans can get $2-off discount coupons on race day at Casey's General Stores locations in Abilene, Lindsborg, Minneapolis and Salina. Pit passes are $35.

Anybody attending Thursday's race at the 81 Speedway or Friday's USMTS show at the Dodge City Raceway Park can bring their ticket stub from one of those two events receive $5 off your admission to Saturday's blockbuster at America's Fast Track to Fun.

Also, due to forecasted high temperatures, officials have declared that all bottles of water will only be $1.

The Salina Speedway is a 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval located off of I-135 at exit 92, then 2.5 miles west on Crawford St., then 2.7 miles south on Burma Rd. in Salina, Kan. For more information, call (785) 292-9220 or visit www.racesalinaspeedway.com online.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts and Instagram at www.instagram.com/usmts or subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usmtstv. Keep up to speed with everything USMTS by joining our email list at www.usmts.com/subscribe.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
USMTS Hunt for the Casey's Cup powered by Summit
Sunflower State Showdown - Round 2 of 3
Dodge City Raceway Park, Dodge City, Kan.
Friday, June 8, 2018


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. (1) 1st Johnny Scott, Cameron, Mo.
2. (4) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
3. (2) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La.
4. (8) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (3) 91 Scott Drake, Webb City, Mo.
6. (5) 9 Cole Traugott, Woodward, Okla.
7. (7) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
8. (6) 05 Rick Taylor, Liberal, Kan.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 20rt Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, Ariz.
2. (3) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
3. (6) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
4. (7) 96jr Jon Herring, Woodward, Okla.
5. (5) 1m Cody Gearhart (R), Turpin, Okla.
6. (1) 71 Jessie Hoskins (R), Longdale, Okla.
7. (4) 25p Mike Petersilie, Hoisington, Kan.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (4) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
2. (1) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
3. (6) 0 Jake O'Neil (R), Tucson, Ariz.
4. (5) 71 R.C. Whitwell, Tucson, Ariz.
5. (3) 23 Logan Robertson, Shamrock, Texas.
6. (2) 5k Kyle Prauner (R), Norfolk, Neb.
7. (7) 21 Austin Bonner, Elk City, Okla.

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
2. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Worthington, Minn.
3. (1) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (6) 52c Alex Cammon, Wichita, Kan.
5. (3) 25c Johnny Cammon, Wichita, Kan.
6. (4) 44 Mike Lunow, Dodge City, Kan.
7. (7) 8c Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #1 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La.
2. (3) 91 Scott Drake, Webb City, Mo.
3. (5) 9 Cole Traugott, Woodward, Okla.
4. (2) 52c Alex Cammon, Wichita, Kan.
5. (6) 5k Kyle Prauner (R), Norfolk, Neb.
6. (8) 21 Austin Bonner, Elk City, Okla., MBCustoms/Karl, $90.
7. (7) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
8. (4) 23 Logan Robertson, Shamrock, Texas.
9. (9) 05 Rick Taylor, Liberal, Kan., Ramirez/Taylor, $175.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #2 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (2) 71 R.C. Whitwell, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (4) 25c Johnny Cammon, Wichita, Kan.
4. (5) 71 Jessie Hoskins (R), Longdale, Okla.
5. (3) 1m Cody Gearhart (R), Turpin, Okla.
6. (6) 44 Mike Lunow, Dodge City, Kan., Skyrocket/Lunow, $275.
7. (7) 25p Mike Petersilie, Hoisington, Kan., 1stClass/AEM, $90.
8. (8) 8c Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo., GRT/Cornett, $90.

CASEY'S GENERAL STORES "A" MAIN (40 laps):
1. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders, Worthington, Minn., MBCustoms/Hatfield, 40, $3400.
2. (1) 1st Johnny Scott, Cameron, Mo., VanderBuilt/Durham, 40, $1975.
3. (4) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, VanderBuilt/Sput's, 40, $1450.
4. (8) 20rt Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, Ariz., Jet/Mullins, 40, $900.
5. (14) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Cornett, 40, $1045.
6. (11) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Durham, 40, $940.
7. (9) 0 Jake O'Neil (R), Tucson, Ariz., LG2/Cornett, 40, $835.
8. (16) 71 R.C. Whitwell, Tucson, Ariz., Victory/Tahtinen, 40, $450.
9. (10) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo., MBCustoms/Durham, 40, $425.
10. (13) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La., MBCustoms/Knowles, 40, $400.
11. (2) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/TriStar, 40, $375.
12. (23) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla., MBCustoms/ChevPerf, 40, $680.
13. (5) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan., VanderBuilt/Speedway, 40, $400.
14. (17) 9 Cole Traugott, Woodward, Okla., LG2/TRE, 40, $300.
15. (15) 91 Scott Drake, Webb City, Mo., MBCustoms/ChevPerf, 40, $525.
16. (6) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., VanderBuilt/Mullins, 40, $600.
17. (22) 1m Cody Gearhart (R), Turpin, Okla., LG2/ChevPerf, 40, $275.
18. (20) 71 Jessie Hoskins (R), Longdale, Okla., Longhorn/Mullins, 40, $275.
19. (19) 52c Alex Cammon, Wichita, Kan., Custom/Cammon, 40, $225.
20. (18) 25c Johnny Cammon, Wichita, Kan., GRT/Mullins, 39, $225.
21. (21) 5k Kyle Prauner (R), Norfolk, Neb., Razor/ChevPerf, 38, $275.
22. (7) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn., MBCustoms/Hill, 36, $600.
23. (24) 23 Logan Robertson, Shamrock, Texas, MBCustoms/Knowles, 14, $275.
24. (12) 96jr Jon Herring, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Sput's, 0, $200.

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

Lap Leaders: J. Scott 1-11, S. Scott 12-30, Sanders 31-40.
Total Laps Led: S. Scott 19, J. Scott 11, Sanders 10.
Margin of Victory: 0.099 second.
Time of Race: 18 minutes, 35.025 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Robertson, Duvall.
Eibach Spring Forward Award: Duvall (advanced 11 positions).
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Ramirez (started 14th, finished 5th).
Entries: 29.
Next Race: Saturday, June 9, Salina Speedway, Salina, Kan.
USMTS Hunt for the Casey's Cup Points: J. Scott 1459, O'Neil 1438, Sanders 1400, VanderBeek 1367, S. Scott 1349, Schott 1343, Ramirez 1334, Phillips 1285, Duvall 1046, Robertson 982.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: O'Neil 1438, Carlos Ahumada Jr. 760, Zane Ferrell 692, Billy Vogel 610, Lance Mari 529.
USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Durham 158, Sput's 135, Cornett 128, Hatfield 119, Mullins 114.
USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: VanderBuilt 178, MBCustoms 177, Hughes 129, GRT 128, LG2 124.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer - Prauner.
Beyea Custom Headers - Gearhart.
BSB Manufacturing - Prauner.
Casey's General Stores - Gearhart.
Champ Pans - Ramirez.
Deatherage Opticians - Duvall.
E3 Spark Plugs - VanderBeek.
Edelbrock - Gustin.
Eibach - Duvall.
Fast Shafts - Thornton.
FK Rod Ends - Ramirez.
Forty9 Designs - Traugott, A. Cammon.
GRT Race Cars - J. Cammon.
Hooker Harness - Kates.
Integra Shocks & Springs - Hoskins.
Jerovetz Motorsports Racing Parts - Drake.
Keyser Manufacturing - Dillard.
KSE Racing Products - Siebert.
Maxima Racing Oils - Sanders.
Out-Pace Racing Products - S. Scott.
QA1 - J. Scott.
RacerWebsite.com - Phillips.
Real Racing Wheels - Bonner, Lunow, Petersilie, Clark, Taylor.
Simpson Performance Products - J. Scott.
Swift Springs - Sanders, Traugott.
Sybesma Graphics - J. Scott.
Tire Demon - Gustin.
VP Racing Fuels - Sanders.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products - Sanders.
Wilwood Disc Brakes - O'Neil.