Saturday night, March 2nd, The USMTS wrapped up their two week stay in Texas with the fifty lap finale for the Modifieds at Rocket Raceway Park. With a tough field of sixty seven drivers signing in to race, the outcome would see everyone chasing Minnesota's Dan Ebert who dominated the race to take the five thousand dollar top prize.
Along with the USMTS series, also in action were the USRA Stock Cars, Factory Stocks and Limited/B Mods in full racing programs. Jeffrey Abbey, Neil Kemp and Cody King would be the winners in those divisions.
It was a busy pit area before the races on Saturday as with all the wild action on Friday night, there was much equipment to be either fixed or replaced. In the case of the three Modifieds that rolled over on Friday night, all three, Jason Hughes, Kyle Brown and Carlos Ahumada, rolled out back up cars for Saturday night racing. Does anyone remember when Modified racing used to be a "budget" sport? Trevor Hughes, after blowing a motor in spectacular fashion on Friday, would replace that power plant and in a stroke of incredibly bad luck, he would also blow the second engine during heat race action on Saturday.
In pre race action, promoter Kevin Sustaire and the staff from Rocket would hold a ceremony as they named the race tower the "Cecil Farris Tower" in honor of a long time racing fixture in north Texas racing. After the ceremony was completed, it was time to go racing.
The program would mirror the one from Friday night except there would be one more Factory Stock heat due to increased numbers and the Limited Mods had their B Feature split into two smaller, non Jeff Broeg sized events in an effort to minimize the carnage that took place in that race on Friday night. Once again the Modifieds did not qualify but I still didn't get an answer on why this was taking place in 2024, but I still liked it this way with some different winners emerging for the second straight night. But to be fair, there are so many good cars racing that position is still key with four of the six heat race winners coming off the front row. However, those drivers that promised to hold their breath and not race again if the time trials were eliminated as was talked about last year still seemed to be racing this season, as the bottom line is that if the money is there, racers will race no matter what the format is.
How many times over the years when you see a heavy race track that forms some humps on ruts on the first night of a multiple night show then see the track crew over react and give the drivers a bone dry surface the next night? Well, add one more to that total.
After a tacky and extremely fast track on Friday night, the track crew pounded the snot out of the track all day on Saturday and in combination with the warm day, bright sun and high winds, give the drivers a surface that was dry, slick and dusty. Fortunately, the wind was in such a direction that the dust wasn't a bother for the fans.
But the track was taking rubber by the time the Modifieds were running heat races so instead we got treated to two long track prep sessions during the evening with watering, "tickling" with equipment and then track packing. To be fair, it did make the track better for the Modified feature but I would estimate we also had nearly two hours of down time, largely resulting in a final checkered that waved at 12;30 am with many of the fans on the road and heading home long before the show was completed. The wildly changing racing conditions over the two days are what make dirt track racing such a challenge for the drivers but also can make the sport so maddening at the same time.
The running order of the race events was changed up on Saturday to get the wide tires from the Factory Stocks out on the track first but it really didn't matter since the track was so pounded down that there was no way it was going to roll up like it did on Friday. And they also ran the Modifieds last, which meant it was after the Midnight hour before their main event got on the track.
Twenty seven drivers would take the green for the fifty lap Modified finale with Tyler Wolff getting the jump on Ebert to take the early lead. Wolff would put some distance on the field in the early going as a number of green flag laps were run right from the start. Behind Ebert in third, Jake Timm moved into that spot with Terry Phillips also on the move.
As the leaders started to catch the back of the pack, of which there was a huge gaggle of cars, Ebert and Timm would start to close in on Wolff and soon we had three cars running tight for the lead. Wolff got hung up behind a slower car as he chose the low line and Ebert shot around him to take over the point on lap fifteen and from then on, it was a chase to try and stay with him.
Shortly after this, Phillips shockingly spun on his own in turn three and the yellow waved. After a short burst of racing, Jim Chisholm, who was making a charge into the top five. would spin also in that same corner and get clobbered by another car, ending his night.
Rodney Sanders and Tanner Mullens were both moving up as they cracked the top five. Also on the move was Kyle Brown and by the halfway point of the race, it was Ebert with Wolff, Mullens, Brown and Timm completing the top five. After each yellow flag, Ebert would simply pull away from the field as there was no one that had anything for him.
Mullens and Wolff got involved in a physical battle for second as after a fourth yellow for Carlos Ahumada's stalled car, they got together and peeled most of the sides off each other's car. Wolff would then jump the cushion in turn one, lose several spots and then spin in turn three and exit the track in a huff.
Brown had now moved into second and he tried to stay with Ebert but Dan would just start to pull away again, building a lead that would cover most of a straightaway as his car was so smooth off the bottom of the track that no one could stay with him. The last few laps would see him just increase his lead as he would drive home unchallenged. Brown would make a great come back from Friday night's flip as his old car would bring him home second with Timm fighting his way back up to third ahead of Mullens and Dereck Ramirez. Only seven cars wouldn't complete the distance in contrast to Friday night.
An exciting Limited Mod/B Mod feature would see a late race pass for the win and another of the wild wrecks that have marked this weekend. Jimmy Day would take the early lead with Logan Smith and Kort Murphy chasing him. Five laps into the race, a spin would slow the action and bunch the field.
On the restart, the tightly packed field would come together seconds after taking the green flag and suddenly cars were flying into the air and into each other and the wall. Bobby Williams took a very violent barrel roll flip into the fence and ended up sitting on top of the overturned car of Nik Morgan. Several other cars were all crashed together too in what was a very bad accident but fortunately, all drivers were OK.
After a big clean up, Day would continue to lead but Kort Morgan was tracking him down and one lap short of halfway, he would drive around Day and take over the top spot. Cody King was running fourth at this point but he would get by Smith for third and a yellow with eight laps to go would change things vastly.
While Morgan and Day were guarding the low side, King went high and was able to build up some speed and he first got by Morgan and then closed in on the leader. With a continued high side run, he would get beside the leader and as they came to the white flag, King would burst into the lead. He would just pull away on the final lap to pull off the surprising win over Morgan, Day, Boone Adams and Cody Smith.
A dominating run by Neil Kemp would see him lead from start to finish to claim the Factory Stock main event. He would start on the pole and pull away right from the green and with only two yellows in this event, both in the first two laps, he had clear sailing to run away from the field. Chase Hatton would maintain the runner up slot through the first half of the race until Ty Abernathy and Austin Waters would move past him.
With a long green flag run in the second half of the race, Kemp would successfully move through lapped traffic and remain unchallenged for the lead. Abernathy would push hard but he was not able to close up on the leader. Friday night winner Kyle Blanton would make some progress during the second half of the race as he would move into the third position and finish ahead of Waters and Dallas Bourland.
The second full bodied class racing would also feature a dominating performance as Jeffrey Abbey would start on the outside pole and lead all laps to take the Stock Car win. He would again work the outside lane on the track and make it click as he pulled away from the field in a race that would only be stopped once and that was with just two laps to go.
That yellow was heart break for Neil Kemp who was poised for a nice double after winning the Factory Stock feature but with just two laps to go and a comfortable second place run going his motor let go and he stalled in turn four.
The last two lap sprint would see Abbey again pull away with Mason Martin coming through for second. The Williams battle for third would see Gary top Shelby for that spot with Brent New completing the top five.
After a disappointingly small crowd on Friday night, a good sized crowd was on hand for Saturday night's action although many didn't get to see it all with them on the road home before things concluded. Thanks to Sustaire and his crew at Rocket Raceway Park, a very fine facility, and of course Todd and Janet and all the crew from the USMTS. Their road warriors on now heading North to Kansas for another big week of racing.
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