Ebert joins USMTS winners club with Ogilvie triumph


OGILVIE, Minn. (Aug. 10)-Making it two straight first-time USMTS winners in as many nights, Dan Ebert out-dueled Rodney Sanders in a caution-free 40-lap nail-biter Saturday at the Ogilvie Raceway.

As has come to be expected at the Wagamon family's 3/8-mile high-banked dirt oval in Ogilvie, Minn., the main event at this year's 8th Annual Modified Madness presented by RacingJunk.com was another mind-blowing barn-burner that saw a home state racer fend off the Best of the Best in the dirt modified world.

Ebert, 31, was the fastest during hot laps early in the program and finished the night off the same way with a $3,000 victory in his home state. It was the first series win for the Lake Shore resident.

From the outside of the front row, Ebert immediately established himself as the pace-setter by quickly moving to the extreme high side of the track and laying claim to the thin strip of dark clay against the guardrail.

For the most part, Ebert remained faithful to the high line but heavy lapped traffic from lap 10 until the end. Only back-markers and a late-race slide-job on Sanders brought him off his preferred line.

Dereck Ramirez gave chase for the first half of the contest before relinquishing the position to Sanders on lap 22.

Sanders ran down Ebert and used two lapped cars to slip underneath and grab the lead on lap 34. The two made hard contact two laps later when Ebert ran out of real estate between the right side of Sanders' car and the front-stretch wall.

The next time around, Ebert went to the inside of Sanders, slid up in front of him in turn 2 where they made contact, and then sped away to claim the checkered flag.

Sanders, who leads the Casey's Hunt for the USMTS National Championship, held on for second ahead of Ramirez with Terry Phillips fourth and FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award winner Shane Sabraski finishing fifth after rolling off 40 laps earlier from the 15th slot.

Hunter Marriott, Landon Atkinson, Dave Cain, Zack VanderBeek and Cory Crapser completed the top 10.

A four-night swing Aug. 14-17 is up next with three stops in the Show-Me State and a final stop in Oklahoma.

On Wednesday, it's the 10th Annual Missouri Meltdown presented by MyRacePass.com at the I-35 Speedway in Winston, Mo. On Thursday, the Dallas County Speedway in Urbana, Mo., hosts the USMTS for the first time for the inaugural Bullring Bash presented by Hooker Harness. On Friday, the 2nd Annual USMTS Event presented by PEM takes place at the Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo., and the 96-hour grind wraps up Saturday at the Salina Highbanks Speedway in Pryor Creek, Okla., for the 7th Annual Salute to Veterans presented by Bryke Racing.

To connect with the United States Modified Touring Series, visit usmts.com. You can also like us on Facebook, visit us on Instagram, follow us on Twitter, connect with us on LinkedIn and watch us on YouTube. Keep up to speed, get it first and subscribe to USMTS e-News.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Casey's General Stores USMTS National Championship
Casey's Hunt for the USMTS National Championship
8th Annual Modified Madness presented by RacingJunk.com
Ogilvie Raceway, Ogilvie, Minn.
Saturday, Aug. 10, 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.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (3) 18a Landon Atkinson (R), Little Falls, Minn.
3. (1) 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis.
4. (5) 96 Taton Hansen (R), Spicer, Minn.
5. (2) 55w Jeffrey Wood, Chisholm, Minn.
6. (9) 0 Justin Remus (R), New Ulm, Minn.
7. (8) US Jonathan Olmscheid (R), Royalton, Minn.
8. (7) 06 Jeremy Nelson (R), Zimmerman, Minn.
9. (6) 9e Don Eischens, Richmond, Minn.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
2. (6) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (3) 14w Clayton Wagamon, Ramsey, Minn.
4. (8) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa.
5. (2) 11 Jody Bellefeuille, Hermantown, Minn.
6. (7) 7a Shane Sabraski, Rice, Minn.
7. (1) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif.
8. (5) 49jr Jake Timm, Minnesota City, Minn.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (3) 2c Dave Cain, Corcoran, Minn.
2. (4) 62 Hunter Marriott (R), Brookfield, Mo.
3. (1) 5k Tyler Kaeter (R), St. Cloud, Minn.
4. (2) 7j Cory Jones (R), Zimmerman, Minn.
5. (5) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
6. (6) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
7. (7) 89jr J.T. Johnson (R), Milaca, Minn.
8. (8) 18m Mason McEvers (R), Grantsburg, Wis.

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas.
2. (1) 42 Paul Niznik, Medford, Wis.
3. (4) 17 Mike Striegel (R), Wheatland, Mo.
4. (3) 11b Joey Jensen, Harris, Minn.
5. (6) 21x Travis Saurer, Elizabeth, Minn.
6. (5) 57 Duke Erickson (R), Sioux Falls, S.D.
7. (8) 23 Matt Gilbertson, Montevideo, Minn.
8. (7) 55 Jeff Wood, Chisholm, Minn.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #1 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 5k Tyler Kaeter (R), St. Cloud, Minn.
2. (6) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
3. (5) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan.
4. (9) 06 Jeremy Nelson (R), Zimmerman, Minn.
5. (3) 21x Travis Saurer, Elizabeth, Minn.
6. (8) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif.
7. (4) 55w Jeffrey Wood, Chisholm, Minn., Shaw/ChevPerf, $75.
8. (7) US Jonathan Olmscheid (R), Royalton, Minn., GRT/Adams, $75.
9. (10) 18m Mason McEvers (R), Grantsburg, Wis., SSR/Quality, $75.
10. (2) 7j Cory Jones (R), Zimmerman, Minn.
11. (11) 9e Don Eischens, Richmond, Minn., SSR/Adams, $75.

REAL RACING WHEELS "B" MAIN #2 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (5) 7a Shane Sabraski, Rice, Minn.
2. (4) 11 Jody Bellefeuille, Hermantown, Minn.
3. (9) 49jr Jake Timm, Minnesota City, Minn.
4. (1) 96 Taton Hansen (R), Spicer, Minn.
5. (7) 23 Matt Gilbertson, Montevideo, Minn.
6. (2) 11b Joey Jensen, Harris, Minn., Dominator/Hansen, $75.
7. (10) 55 Jeff Wood, Chisholm, Minn., Shaw/Sput's, $75.
8. (6) 57 Duke Erickson (R), Sioux Falls, S.D., Dominator/Hansen, $90.
9. (8) 89jr J.T. Johnson (R), Milaca, Minn.
10. (3) 0 Justin Remus (R), New Ulm, Minn., Medieval/Bruns, $75.

CASEY'S GENERAL STORES "A" MAIN (40 laps):
1. (2) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., Lethal/Breeschoten, 40, $3000.
2. (7) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBCustoms/Hatfield, 40, $1700.
3. (3) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Cornett, 40, $1100.
4. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Durham, 40, $900.
5. (14) 7a Shane Sabraski, Rice, Minn., Lethal/Hill, 40, $800.
6. (6) 62 Hunter Marriott (R), Brookfield, Mo., Rage/KSE, 40, $700.
7. (8) 18a Landon Atkinson (R), Little Falls, Minn., Lethal/Sower, 40, $500.
8. (5) 2c Dave Cain, Corcoran, Minn., Shaw/KSE, 40, $450.
9. (15) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, VanderBuilt/Stoen, 40, $550.
10. (11) 07 Cory Crapser, Chippewa Falls, Wis., VanderBuilt/OFI, 40, $500.
11. (12) 14w Clayton Wagamon, Ramsey, Minn., MasterSbilt/Wagamon, 39, $325.
12. (18) 49jr Jake Timm, Minnesota City, Minn., MBCustoms/OFI, 39, $425.
13. (19) 06 Jeremy Nelson (R), Zimmerman, Minn., MBCustoms/KSE, 39, $275.
14. (1) 42 Paul Niznik, Medford, Wis., Lazer/Niznik, 39, $375.
15. (10) 17 Mike Striegel (R), Wheatland, Mo., GRT/Driskell, 39, $350.
16. (25) 89jr J.T. Johnson (R), Milaca, Minn., MasterSbilt/Wagamon, 39, $250.
17. (17) 23 Adam Kates, Tonganoxie, Kan., LG2/Speedway, 39, $300.
18. (21) 21x Travis Saurer, Elizabeth, Minn., MBCustoms/ChevPerf, 39, $300.
19. (20) 96 Taton Hansen (R), Spicer, Minn., MBCustoms/Sturdy, 39, $250.
20. (13) 5k Tyler Kaeter (R), St Cloud, Minn., SSR/Chubb's, 38, $250.
21. (23) 19sb Lance Mari, Imperial, Calif., MRT/Yeoman, 38, $300.
22. (16) 11 Jody Bellefeuille, Hermantown, Minn., MBCustoms/Hill, 26, $250.
23. (9) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/TriStar, 22, $300.
24. (24) 7j Cory Jones (R), Zimmerman, Minn., MBCustoms/Tim's, 21, $300.
25. (22) 23 Matt Gilbertson, Montevideo, Minn., MBCustoms/JRM, 3, $250.

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

Lap Leaders: Ebert 1-33, Sanders 34-36, Ebert 37-40.
Total Laps Led: Ebert 37, Sanders 3.
Margin of Victory: 0.18 second.
Time of Race: 12 minutes, 44.362 seconds (no cautions).
Provisional Starters: Mari, Jones, Johnson (track).
Eibach Spring Forward Award: Sabraski (advanced 14 positions).
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Sabraski (started 14th, finished 5th).
Entries: 33.
Next Race: Wednesday, Aug. 14, I-35 Speedway, Winston, Mo..
Casey's General Stores USMTS National Championship Points: Sanders 2362, Ramirez 2177, Marriott 2054, Gustin 1936, Phillips 1889, Jake O'Neil 1796, VanderBeek 1625, Kates 1479, Striegel 1464, Joe Duvall 1259.
Casey's Hunt for the USMTS National Championship Points: Sanders 480, Ramirez 472, Phillips 438, Marriott 423, Kates 315, Saurer 307, Striegel 302, VanderBeek 294, Mari 257, Gustin 249.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Marriott 1951, Striegel 1464, Carlos Ahumada Jr. 549, Dustin Hodges 522, Nathan Hagar 415.
USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 214, Hughes 212, GRT 156, Rage 152, LG2 146.
USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Hatfield 191, Cornett 179, KSE 132, Durham 128, Stoen 113.