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Texas Driver Takes USMTS win at Rapid Speedway

In the past 11 trips to Rapid Speedway the United States Modified Touring Series had only seen one repeat winner and that is Happy, Texas driver Rodney Sanders. The 35 lap main event on Friday night saw Jason Hughes from Watts, Oklahoma would take a commanding lead from his front row starting spot. Fellow front row starter Hunter Marriot of Brookfield, MO would lead the chase of Hughes for most of the race. Sanders, who started 8th on the field would quickly move into the top 5 as the only car using the bottom of the racetrack to get around. A caution for 4th place running Kyle Brown would bunch up the field and on the restart Sanders dove to the low side once again to make his way into the 2nd spot and start his challenge of Hughes. Sanders would continue to look inside of Hughes entering the corners, but it was Hughes using the high side momentum off the corners to keep his lead. As the two battled up front that would allow Marriot to once again catch up and join the fued. Hughes would hold a lead of up to 3 car lengths at times, but caution flags would keep Sanders and the rest of the field close. Sanders would continue to bomb the inside of the race track and was definitely better getting into the corner, but Hughes would show he was better off the corner to keep his lead. On lap 29 Sanders would finally get enough of a run down the backstretch to dive into the next corner and slide up infront of the leader, but Hughes would turn it down the track and dip back inside and regain the lead at the line. Sanders once again would dive inside going into turn one and finally take the lead away for good with 5 laps to go and pick up his third win at Rapid Speedway. Hughes would follow up in 2nd ahead of Dereck Ramirez, Hunter Marriott, and Tanner Mullens.
Bill Kroon would lead flag to flag in a non-stop Lems Auto Recyclers Sportsman A-Feature. Kroon would start from the pole position and immediately go top side in turn one and set the car on cruise control. Brian Kroon jumped into 2nd place right away and would be the only challenger in the race and would continue to stay right behind his father looking to the bottom multiple times, but could never make the pass. Late in the race Bill would come off the top one time to move around a lap car, but never missed a beat as he went on to his 3rd win of the season. A man of few words in victory lane, Bill only had to say “It was good.” Brian Kroon would finish as the runner-up followed by Gerold Steenhoven, Marni Deboer, and Kaden Kracht. Kroon and Steenhoven were also the heat winners.
The J&L RV Sales Bmods are the only class to have a different winner each week so far during the 2020 season. That was in jeporady as last week’s winner Tyler Johnson of Montrose, SD was starting outside row one. Johnson jumped out to the race lead ripping the top of the track just like the week before. Jackson Mulder of Doon was on the move though as he moved from his 7th starting spot into 2nd by lap two. A 3-wide battle for 3rd behind them with Cody Thompson, Dereck VanVeldhuizen, and Trevor Tesch kept things interesting. On lap 5 Mulder had caught the lead of Johnson and powered his way by coming out of turn four and leading the next lap, and continue to lead lap after lap. Halfway through the race Cody Thompson made his way by Johnson for 2nd and started to run down the leader. Thompson made a move in 3 and 4 with a slide job, but Mulder was able to turn underneath and drive back by to maintain his lead at the line. A blown engine from another competitor would bring about a green, white, checkered finish and one more chance for Thompson to get by. Mulder drove away on the restart and became the first repeat winner in the class this year. “I was just along for the ride, the car did all the work, said the winner from Doon, Iowa. Thompson would settle in for 2nd ahead of Tyler Johnson and Brock Hess, while Damien Vandenberg drove from 15th to finish 5th. Heat race wins went to Hess, Johnson, and Thompson.
In the Sybesma Graphics Hobby Stocks feature Tracy Halouska of Worthing, SD took the lead and was strong out front for the first five laps of the night. Logan Fitzpatrick would then bring out a caution and things would change from there. On the restart, Todd Uhl drove from 3rd to the inside of turn 1 to take the lead away from Halouska, unfortunately for Tracy he would slide off the top of the track in turn 2 causing another caution and would have to go to the back of the pack. Uhl’s pass was negated as no lap was completed before the caution and Eric Gaul of Luverne would inherit the lead. After the restart Gaul would never look back traveling the high side for the next ten laps and grabbing his first win of the season. The exhausted winner exclaimed how good it felt to be in victory lane as he thanked his crew for their hard work. 2nd placed would go to Tommy Kracht and 3rd to Uhl. A couple hard chargers rounded out the top 5 with Dylan Fitzpatrick coming from 13th and Dustin Gulbrandson charging from 12th. The heat race winners were Uhl, Gulbrandson, and Brady Klaassen while Rick VanderWeide won the B.
The Precision Auto Body Stock Cars had two past winners and a very fast front row to start the night with Elijah Zevenbergen on the pole and Colten Arends outside of him. Arends using the popular high line to grab the early lead. Zevenbergen pulled in behind him with Darrin Korthals there as well. On lap 4 Zevenbergen would suffer damage to the front end of his car with the tire going down and he pulled in for the night. Korthals would take the 2nd spot while last week’s winner Dustin Larson would come from 8th to 3rd. On the restart, Arends would continue to lead with Korthals and Larson bumper to bumper for the top 3 spots chasing each other around the track. Larson would shoot for a slide job in turn 1 to move infront of Korthals for 2nd and start his chase of the leader. Soon after Larson would once again have a run and throw another slider at Arends. The two drove side by side for a few laps before Larson would grab sole possession of the lead with 7 laps to go and run away to his 2nd win in a row. Korthals made his was past Arends to finish 2nd while Spencer Kalass and Stefan Sybesma rounded out the top 5. Heat race winners were Kalass, Zevenbergen, and Justin Regnerus.

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