Friday, September 22, 2017

Dillard Takes Opening Night Win at Deer Creek; Hughes Nails Down the USMTS Championship

Thursday night, September 21st was the opening night of the three night Featherlite Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway just north of Spring Valley Minnesota. On tap was a full show of USMTS Modifieds along with a full show of USRA B Mods. For the Modifieds, it was also the final race of "The Hunt" Series and the 2017 National Champion would be crowned at the conclusion of the evening.

Jason Hughes was in the "cat bird's" seat in terms of the National Championship title, holding a comfortable lead over Stormy Scott. However, it was not assured as of yet as a series of circumstances could play out that could rob him of the title. So, it was incumbent upon himself that race hard and not leave the issue to chance.

Five thousand dollars was on the line for the Modifieds on Thursday as well as $1,250 dollars to the B Mod winner. This race has always draw large fields of cars and did so once again on this night. Ninety seven Modifieds signed in to race with a few more stragglers likely the next two nights as each show is independent  from the others with a new draw and qualifying taking place each night. Generally speaking, the best of the USMTS crew show up to race this event and a lot of regional drivers from other groups join in on this show as they like to test themselves against the USMTS cars and let's face it, at this time of the year there aren't too many choices if one wants to race plus the money is very good.

Deer Creek has a lot of B Mods of their own and added with the drivers from northeast Iowa that race under USRA rules, that makes for quite a field right there. Also, there are always a number of drivers from the Kansas City area where USRA is in control that also tow up for this event. All told, sixty five B Mods signed in to race so that gave us quite a field of only open wheel cars.

The weather couldn't have been nicer however with the temperatures more July like than anything and a strong South wind blowing, we probably saw more track prep time than normal at Deer Creek.

Passing points were in effect Thursday for both divisions with the heat race action intense as one might expect. The B Mods had to get it done quickly with only eight lap heats while the Mods had virtual mini features based on laps and car count for each.

The B Mods ran off seven heats and four B Features to set their thirty car field for their main event while the Mods also had seven heats and five B Features that set their thirty car field. A couple of provisionals were added and then Keith Foss scratched out of the main so they started thirty one cars in the Mod main.

And what a polar opposite each main would be. The Modifieds ran forty laps nonstop and saw a lead change just before the half way mark of their contest while the B Mods had an awful time with a wreck and yellow flag plagued event that never could string together more than a few laps in a row before the yellow waved once again.

Perhaps his time away from racing full time in the Modifieds has developed a chink in his armor, but in the past, if you would have put Rodney Sanders on the pole for a feature, you might as well start heading toward the parking lot because the decision has already been rendered. Not so much anymore as while Rodney led the first fourteen laps of the main, soon after the start his lead started to shrink and it wasn't long before he was in a defensive mode.

Ryan Gustin was pounding the cushion as he is wont to do and was moving up, while Cade Dillard was also challenging. Gustin appeared to be ready to take over the lead but when they got into lapped traffic, it was Dillard that found the opening and took over the lead. Dillard was doing a masterful job working through the traffic and Gustin lost considerable track position before he finally freed himself.

It also seemed that Dillard turned it up a notch as he started to lengthen his lead and at the end, Gustin had nothing for him. Lucas Schott also was able to get past Sanders for third and Brady Gerdes, a WISSOTA racer who only enters these races when they are in his area or when he goes to Arizona in January, rounded out the top five in an excellent showing.

As far as the National Championship, it was hardly mentioned at all because there was really no drama. Scott started eighth and finished up sixth and Hughes moved forward, all the time looking for the world like he was just keeping Scott in his sights. Hughes started fourteenth, finished eighth and didn't make a move during the feature that would put himself in any kind of jeopardy. It was a smart move to guarantee the title and now he can cut loose and see if he can win some of the big money upcoming in the next two nights.

Young Jim Chisholm led from start to finish to win the twenty lap B Mod feature. He had plenty of pressure from J.T. Wasmund, Ben Moudry, Jerry Young and Dakota Foster but he remained in front the whole race. There were so many yellows that broke up the flow, no one could mount a consistent effort to track down the leaders as they battled among themselves while Chisholm happily rode away from them . Nearly a third of the field was on the sidelines before the checkered waved including a first lap flip by Miah Christensen and a big pile up on a restart that eliminated several contenders including Andy Bryant.

I was very impressed that they were able to start the show right on time. The tech line was moving incredibly slow and there was still such a line at 6 pm that they postponed the start of the driver's meeting. The line was still there just before race time but they dropped the first green flag right at 7 pm and no one missed their race. They then rammed the show through as fast as possible, knowing that they had a large number of events to run off.

There were several breaks for track prep that did run quite long but as far as administering the actual race program, they were very efficient. Of note particularly was how fast they were able to realign cars under the yellow and get the show back under green. I believe Justin Queensland is the man that should get the credit for this.

For those veteran fans out there who remember both Tim Donlinger and Jay Ihrke from the "salad days" of Modified racing, it was interesting to note that both were back in the saddle on Thursday and both looked like they hadn't missed a beat as both made the main and showed no evidence of rust. Donlinger was driving a second car for Dereck Ramirez while Ihrke was wheeling one of Steve Wetzstein's cars.

The wind played havoc with the track on this night and while I didn't notice that it affected the racing at all, it was one of the dirtiest nights in the grandstands that I have ever had to endure at Deer Creek and certainly one of the worst of the Summer, despite all the watering and tilling of the track. And despite all the prompt racing with so many races to run off, as has been the case with many of the Fall specials, it turned into a long night with the final checkered waving well after Midnight. For those that were camping on the grounds, it wasn't bad but for a goof like yours truly, who still had a three and a half hour ride home to pull off, once again I would be pulling down my driveway just about the time the roosters were making an "all call."


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