For the first time ever, the Modified stars of the USMTS got to race at the Stuart International Speedway on Tuesday night, June 16th. They were making their first visit as the opening night of a five night swing through Iowa in perhaps their longest string of races back to back so far this year. Along with the Modifieds, the Iron Man Series for Stock Cars and B Mods was also on hand with management opting to also include the Hobby Stocks and Tuners(USRA's name for the four cylinder class) so it was much like a regular Wednesday night show in the classes offered, just with slightly different rules and big blades on the Mods.
With USMTS not in one of their "hot beds" as far as drawing cars here, they made a strong push to try and minimize any rules differences so that the local and area cars could and hopefully would join to help beef up the field. By my count, nine what I would call IMCA cars were on hand that made the difference from it being a skinny two car heat event to what amounted to a full field of cars.
Among those that joined was Cayden Carter in a brand new Vanderbilt dressed up with USMTS body rules but still using a crate motor. Kyle Brown would be very much a presence later on during the evening as he "upgraded" with an open motor for his car while Chase Rudolf was driving a sparkling new entry also. All of the top ten in USMTS points were on hand for this show except Terry Phillips who instead opted to go racing in Wisconsin this week.
The usual format of passing points heats set the grid for the fifty lap feature race and on this night, we didn't have to endure a meaningless B Feature that would simply set the line up for those cars not already in the show. Jeff Broeg must have loved that!
All twenty four on hand took the green for the fifty lap finale with Joe Duvall pulling out a back up car after he missed his heat race with his primary entry. Rookie USMTS driver Calvin Iverson got the jump using the high side but Rodney Sanders quickly slid him for the lead. While Iverson and Jason Hughes were battling for position, Hughes slid Calvin in not the prettiest of moves and Calvin responded by "dumping" Sanders on the front chute, resulting in the first yellow and sending Iverson to the tail.
Sanders continued to lead while pounding the cushion as Tanner Mullins moved in to challenge him. For one of the rarest of times that I have seen these top drivers in action, it seemed to me that both Sanders and Mullins didn't see the track starting to change as the low groove started getting faster and faster. Perhaps it was just their unfamiliarity with Stuart, as Sanders is about the best around at spotting the fast lane on a track but when he got hung on the outside by a lapped car, Mullins drove under him and took over the lead.
As these two battled, Ramirez was making time on the bottom, a lane that he usually likes and he closed in on Mullins for the lead as Sanders continued to lose time pounding the cushion. A lapped car that slowed Mullins gave Ramirez his chance and Derek jumped on the opportunity, driving into the lead.
With the track now noticeably taking rubber in the low groove, drivers started to migrate to the bottom but Ramirez had things under control. He did have a few tense moments near the end of the track when he caught the back of the pack who were going just fast enough that he dared not get out of the groove of rubber and try and pass them on the outside, but he timed it well and kept Mullins behind him as he took his first win of 2020 with the series.
Brown really impressed fans in the second half of the race. It took him a while to get going but when he did he really came charging up using the low groove while a couple of the other drivers were still deciding where they wanted to go and his third place finish was very impressive as he passed both Sanders and Hughes near the end. The last thirty eight laps of the main went off nonstop and there were only three cars that failed to finish the distance.
Buck Schafroth really took it to the Stock Car field as he dominated their main event. He started on the pole and was the only one to truly navigate the cushion of the track which still existed when the Stock Cars ran. Other drivers were testing out grooves and moving around on the track but he just pounded the cushion constantly and pulled away, opening up nearly a full straightaway on the field. USRA Stock Car racer Austin Bouzek tried to stay with Buck but gradually slipped backward.
There was a nice scramble of cars racing for position behind the leader when a late race yellow set up a two lap sprint. This kind of messed up Schafroth as he had to regain his line while not letting the rest of the field sneak under him on the restart but he got his momentum going and drove away to record the win.
There was a wild scramble for position behind him on the last two laps and Josh Daniels able to take advantage of that as he drove up to second with Doug Keller, in a very fast but very ratty looking car finishing third.
A late yellow almost cost Dan Hovden in the B Mods too. He took the lead early and was also pounding the cushion as Brayton Carter and Josh Roney chased him. Carter would try both the top and bottom side of the track but just couldn't seem to close the gap on Hovden, who had some nice momentum built up using the top side of the track.
However, a late yellow set up a four lap dash to the finish and Carter, who has been running very well here of late, used the low side of the track to close in on Hovden who suddenly found the cushion not quite as quick. Carter was closing and it looked like a last lap dash to the line would be happening. However Hovden could also see things were starting to go bad and down the back chute on the final circuit he dove to the bottom, in essence cutting off Carter and taking away his line.
The strategy was sound and it took away any chance that Carter would make a last corner pass as he settled for second to Hovden with Roney and Trevor Fecht following.
The Hobby Stock field was a small one as trying to see this event to the IMCA cars was a tough sell since the USRA cars are on racing tires this year and it's not really a fair match against the street tired IMCA cars. So only nine cars took the green with USRA hotshots Eric Stanton and Dustin Gulbranson battling for the win.
All the Hobby Stocks were hugging the tires and when Gulbranson decided to try the top side to make a pass that cost him the race as he was passed by Chris Hovden for second and would eventually dive back to the bottom. This race went nonstop and Stanton drove to an easy win over Hovden and Gulbranson.
Tuners(or Sport Compacts or whatever they were calling them on this night as I heard both names used) saw Denny Berghahn Jr tow over from Nebraska and lead the opening laps but he couldn't get his car to hold the bottom and Hunter Patrick drove under him for the lead. Once that was accomplished, things stayed pretty much the same with those two running first and second to the finish ahead of Kolby Sabin in another nonstop main event.
Mike VanGenderen was Race Director on this night as Todd Staley focused on his Stock Car and we got the best of MVG as he cracked the show along at a crisp pace and on a Tuesday night, the final checkered in the Modifieds flew at just 10 pm, perhaps for the night. A big crowd was on hand and I suspect it won't be twenty some years before the USMTS reappears at Stuart. Thanks to both Todd Staley, his staff and MVG and his crew who worked together smoothly to put on a brisk and entertaining night of racing.
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