A big surprise came long after the checkered flag flew and the awards were handed out and the interviews completed Thursday night at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Missouri. Apparent opening night Modified winner for the XIV running of the USMTS king of America event Dustin Sorensen was disqualified for having an illegal deck height violation on his car and second across the finish line Cade Dillard was awarded the win and the three grand that went to the opening night feature winner during one of biggest weekends of the USMTS racing season.
Also joining the Modified drivers on the opening night of this three night bash were the USRA B Mods and the Stock Cars. No such post race dramatics resulted from these two races though, with first across the line drivers Kris Jackson and Derek Green both passing inspection and taking home their wins without additional drama.
The XIV running of the King of America event here at Wheatland has been the first time this race has been held anywhere but at the Humboldt Speedway in Kansas. Last week during my conversation with Humboldt promoter John Allen this move came up as part of the conversation and he stated that it was a combination decision between the USMTS and Humboldt principals Allen and J.R. Sartain that this event would be moved in 2025. There was also much discussion about the move among the Humboldt faithful and there were plenty of them not happy about the switch, losing one of their big scale races of the year.
However, Lucas Oil Speedway is an obvious choice if the race were to be moved and graced with good weather so far this weekend, something that plagued Humboldt in recent years, the opening night would be deemed a success, even if the crowd was still a bit on the light side.
The drivers certainly turned out for the opening night of three, with full shows to be raced each night with the purse going up each night as well. One hundred and seventy night drivers signed in with just three classes racing including an impressive seventy two Modifieds. The pit area was so jammed that they had to go to overflow parking, something that I witnessed for the first time at Wheatland.
Among the new items on display at Lucas Oil was their new scoreboard which, in my opinion, was very disappointing. Yes they did show replays which was nice but no where on the vast board does it show the laps completed or to go for a race and the running order is so small that there is no way it can be read from the grandstands. A lot of useless information is projected that is way too small to be read and no where does it show where we are in any race. A lot of money was spent with very little return for the customers.
The racing procedures for the event would see the Modifieds qualifying with an invert picked by the fast qualifier. Passing points would then be used for the heats with the top twelve moving on. The rest raced in gigantic Jeff Broeg size B Features with twelve more moving on. Provisional starters completed the field. Double file restarts were the order and the "choose cone" was also used.
The other two classes drew for heat races with passing points being used for them also. Heats and B Features were necessary for both because of the size of the field. They used Delaware style restarts with no "Choose cone" for some reason. There were no provisional starters with twenty four only in their feature races.
Before the races one of the folks I ran into was Buck Monson, the photographer that got run over by an errant race car down at the Heart of Texas Speedway. He was sporting a cast on his right wrist as a broken wrist was discovered after the fact by doctors in his home town. However, he was upbeat as he said that as long as he can still shoot photos, he's a happy man. I also saw for the first time one of the "new" style Stock Cars with the new style Camaro body on them. I had been waiting to see one and it did quite a while this Spring before I saw one in person. One man's opinion on the first night of observation, thumbs down. I will say no more.
With such a large group of cars, the Modified qualifying was divided into three groups on Thursday. Qualifying did provide some surprises with quickest overall being Mark Smith out of New Mexico with a lap of 17.268 seconds. Cade Dillard and Kaylin Lopez were quickest in the other two groups. The invert drawn by Smith was three for the heats, a significant draw. I still don't understand why if we're going to qualify and use passing points that an invert is justified but that decision is beyond my pay grade.
In any event, six big heats and three even larger B Features were then held to decide who makes the main. Biggest news from those races was that Brandon Givens, leading a heat and then suddenly slowing which cost him his opportunity to make the main and Stormy Scott, running a Modified for the first time in six years, was in the show through a B Feature until he was disqualified post race for an illegal shock.
By feature time the track was black and super slick but it was throwing no dust, despite the fact that a strong wind was blowing all night. With provisional starters, twenty nine Modified drivers would take the green for thirty laps. Interestingly, Modifieds would run first all night.
Dustin Sorensen started on the outside pole and with the outside lane seemingly the place to be all night, he got the jump on Terry Phillips to take the early lead. Phillips and Dillard battled for second with Alex Williamson using the top side to stay with them while Sorensen was able to pull away in the early going.
Kyle Brown got turned around to trigger the first yellow, they raced a few more laps and then Dustin Stand got turned around also, triggering yet another yellow in the only race all night that saw more than two yellow flag slowdowns which was quite amazing.
Sorensen and Dillard broke away from the field with Sorensen rolling the outside line and Dillard repeatedly trying to get under him in the corners. Momentum was big at this point and Sorensen was using that to keep him in the lead, despite Dillard showing him a nose on several occasions. By the halfway point, Tanner Mullens and Keith Foss had both moved into the top five as they progressed toward the front.
Gary Christian slammed the first turn wall with fourteen laps completed, bunching up the field once again. The top two took off again with Mullens and Foss battling hard for fourth. Jason Pursley got turned with just seven laps to go, setting up one last battle for the lead as Sorensen had been changing up whether or not he started on the inside or outside on restarts.
The gloves came off on the final green flag with Dillard building up a heat of steam down the back chute and throwing a wicked slider for the first time at Sorensen. Dustin patiently waited for him and then crossed back over, regaining the lead as Dillard lost time coming off turn four. This gave Sorensen the room he needed to pull away as Dillard now had Phillips to contend with. Cade was able to fight him off, however Sorensen was long gone as he drove home for the win. Phillips crossed third with Foss and Mullens next in line.
It was well into the next feature race before the announcement was made to the public that Sorensen had been disqualified in tech for a deck height violation with Dillard elevated to the win. Everyone moved up one spot with Rodney Sanders then into the top five. Only two drivers failed to finish the Modified main with all on the lead lap.
Twenty four M Mods were up next for their twenty lap main event. These drivers did an amazing job as there was just a single yellow flag in their main, but it was a significant one in the race outcome. Aaron Marrant got the jump on Rylan Gibbs to take the early lead with team mate Chad Clancy then driving into second. Kris Jackson was on the move after starting eighth and by the halfway point he was up to third after a good battle with Talan Willis. Jon Sheets was putting on a show as he rode the top side of the track, coming from thirteenth to the top five by the halfway point of the race.
The only yellow flew just past halfway when Gibbs, a challenger the first half of the race, blew up and wasn't able to exit the track. This moved Jackson up beside Clancy and he quickly sprang up to second when racing resumed.
Marrant had his hands full with Jackson and with the field mostly working low, one slip off the bottom in turn one was all it took and Jackson was past him just that quick. And once in front, Kris pulled away and stretched his advantage over the final five laps. Marrant would hold on for second with Willis, Sheets and Tyler Kidwell completing the top five. That was, however, until they reached tech and this time it was Willis that didn't please officials with his third spot removed and everyone else moving up one which elevated Clancy to a top five finish. Only one car failed to finish this race with again, everyone still on the lead lap.
Twenty four Stock Cars completed the night's racing with their twenty lap main. Using the outside starting spot, Texas driver Jeffrey Abbey took the early lead over Pat Graham. The Stock Cars lined up on the inside line and not much activity was done outside that first lane of traffic.
Except for Derek Green as the Granada Minnesota driver moved up one lane and gradually, lap after lap, was able to edge past his competition using that second lane. Abbey tried to drive as deep into the corners as Green was able to, but when he slipped up the track in turn four, Green turned under him to take over the lead just before the lone yellow of the race, for a harmless spin, stopped the action for the only time in this race.
Back on green, Green pulled away and by the finish, was nearly a full straightaway ahead of the pack. It was a battle for second but Abbey held off Brandon Hare , Graham and a charging Jaylen Wettrengel to hold on to second. Just a single car failed to complete the race and again, everyone was still on the lead lap at the conclusion.
Kudos go out to several different groups on this night. There were twenty eight races contested on this night, under mostly sunny and windy conditions. Yet the track stayed racy right to the end with no dust and not any evidence that it was starting to take rubber. And just as importantly, the track was not touched once the race cars hit it for the first time. So the track prep crew hit a home run on Thursday.
The drivers also did an amazing job with there being few yellow flags and not really a significant pile up all night. The vast majority of the drivers completed their races and all were very competitive as there were very few lapped cars. Sixteen of the twenty eight races went green to checkers and only the Modified feature that saw more than two yellows. In fact, the other two feature races had just one yellow each. And what about three twenty car Modified B Features, all three of which went green to checkers! That may never happen again. It was remarkable how smoothly the drivers raced, given the fact that many were making their first runs of the year, many others had never raced here before and that the stakes were high.
Time trials were the time eater as they always are. Racing thus didn't get started until 7:51 pm but with absolutely no breaks between races and cooperation from the drivers, the full program was completed in just three and a half hours. That was amazing and likely won't be able to be accomplished again, ever.
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