KASSON, MINN. – Jason Hughes of Westville, Okla., rolled to his fifth win of the young season Sunday night as the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour invaded the Dodge County Speedway in Kasson, Minn., for the 8th Annual Stars & Stripes Shootout presented by CJ Auto Sales.

The win, worth $2,000, was his ninth overall this year as he also has four additional wins in the USMTS Southern Series. It was the second win of his career at the Dodge County Fairgrounds speedplant.

Hughes used an early caution flag to get a run on AFCO Pole Award winner Mike Sorensen, then led the final 35 circuits in the 40-lap Sunoco “A” Main for his third triumph in the last six events.

Steve Wetzstein scored his fourth top-10 and third top-5 in the last four races with a runner-up finish, while Sorensen hung on for a season’s best third. Rodney Sanders earned the PBM Performance Products Hard Charger Award as he raced from 19th on the starting grid to fourth at the finish with Dereck Ramirez rounding out the top-5 finishers.

Jon Tesch, Dan Bohr, Alan Mondus, Jay Ihrke and Ryan Gustin finished sixth through tenth, respectively.

Consistency finds Wetzstein atop the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region standings with 379 points, followed by Tesch with 356. After failing to finish Thursday’s event at the Cresco Speedway, Hughes has clawed his way up to third with 354 markers, while Tim Donlinger dropped from the top spot to fourth (340 points) after failing to start Sunday’s feature race. Fifth is Kelly Shryock (328), followed by Zack VanderBeek (321), Ramirez (321), Sanders (312), Bohr (304) and Sorensen (288).

Sunday’s races were promoted by the Dodge County Fair Board, which took over for previous promoter Scott Mondus, who had ceased all racing at the track as of Aug. 1. Fan attendance and car counts had decreased drastically this summer, bottoming out with just 37 cars in six classes and less than 200 fans in the stands for races on July 31. There were no such problems on Sunday as the main grandstand was packed and 84 cars jammed into the pits, including 32 USMTS modifieds. Shryock gave the fans their money’s worth in the feature, picking up his 10th win of the season and his first in a Hunt for the USMTS National Championship event. In addition to ending a 15-race winless streak,
Shryock regained the top spot in the Hunt points standings with five races to go. The Hunt comes to a conclusion during the Featherlite Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek Speedway Sept. 17-20. Shryock started on the pole and led all 40 laps. Rochester’s Tim Donlinger, who led the Hunt points standings going into the weekend, started 16th in the A Main, worked his way up to a seventh place finish, but he fell to second in the Hunt standings, eight points behind Shryock. Tommy Weder Jr. of Woodward, Okla., finished second, with Jay Ihrke of
Dover in third and Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie in fourth. The USMTS returns to action on Sept. 13, at the Marshalltown (Iowa) Speedway.

MIDWEST MODIFIEDS
Teenage sensation Kyle Jumbeck has dominated at Tri-Oval Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., this summer, and he carried that success over to Dodge County, winning the 20-car A Main in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds division. Jumbeck edged Joel Alberts of Mantorville and Jerry Young for the victory. Jumbeck also won his heat race on Sunday; Albert Wytaske and Bobby Swanson also won heat races. Wytaske and Sam Nelson rounded out the top five in the feature.

STREET STOCKS
Zumbrota’s Troy Voth captured the WISSOTA Street Stocks feature. Voth won his heat race, then beat Jimmy Patzner and Rick Lisowski to the checkers in the A Main. AJ Zvorak of Blooming Prairie placed fourth. Zvorak captured track
championships at Chateau Raceway in Lansing and Deer Creek Speedway near Spring Valley this summer. Nathan Schumacher completed the top five.

SUPER STOCKS
Adam Stockhausen, of Minnesota City, made it a clean sweep in the WISSOTA Super Stocks races, winning the heat race and the 10-car feature race. Stockhausen held off Wyatt Wolfe Jr., Cole Queensland and Kevin Hager in the feature.

LATE MODELS
The WISSOTA Late Models made a rare appearance at Dodge County Speedway, and they gave the fans a good show. Eight Late Models were on hand, and Rochester’s Dustin Reeh edged Deer Creek Speedway champion Nick Herrick in
the heat race. Grand Meadow’s Joe Ludemann had the car to beat in the feature, though, as he won the A Main, while Kelly Anderson placed second, Herrick third and Justin Sass fourth.

Jason Feldman
Sports Reporter
The Post-Bulletin
Rochester, Minn.

It could not have come at a better time for the eight-time O’Reilly USMTS National Champion.

His series-leading 10th win of the year was worth $2,000, but it was his first in the Casey’s General Stores Hunt for the O’Reilly USMTS National Championship and first since taking the checkers at the Bloomfield (Iowa) Speedway on Aug. 1. Besides ending a 15-race drought, Sunday’s victory put Shryock back atop the points standings in ‘The Hunt’ with 10 races in the books and five to go.

Tommy Weder Jr. finished second in the 40-lapper, with Jay Ihrke coming home third. Tommy Myer raced from 14th on the 24-car starting grid to finish fourth and earned the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award. Jon Tesch bounced back from a couple of disappointing runs the previous two nights to round out the top-5 finishers at Kasson.

Sixth through 10th, respectively, were Scott Green, Tim Donlinger, Al Hejna, Brandon Kenny and Alan Mondus.

Donlinger came into Sunday’s event leading Zack VanderBeek by just four points and Shryock by eight. With his fourth career win at the 1/3-mile oval, Shryock now leads Donlinger by eight (944 to 936) while VanderBeek’s 11th-place finish kept dropped him to third with 915 markers.

Tesch is fourth in the rankings with 884 points, followed by Hejna (836), Dereck Ramirez (765), Weder (762), Kenny (717), Mondus (701) and Corey Dripps (678).

The rugged O’Reilly USMTS road warriors will be on hiatus for 13 days before returning to action on Saturday, Sept. 13 at the Marshalltown (Iowa) Speedway for the inaugural “Havoc on the Highbanks” event at Toby Kruse’s historic 1/4-mile high-banked clay oval.

Gates will open at 4:30 p.m. with hot laps at 6:05 and the first heat race slated to take the track at 7 p.m.

A packed house is expected to be on hand for a full night of racing, which will also feature Stock Cars ($500 to win), SportMods ($300 to win), Hobby Stocks ($300 to win) and Dwarf Cars ($250 to win).

The Marshalltown Speedway is located 1.5 miles east of SR 14 on US 30 to Exit 186, then 2.0 miles north (at the Central Iowa Fairgrounds). For more information, call (515) 432-4703 or (641) 752-9676 on raceday or log on to www.marshalltownspeedway.com.

Race fans can pick up $2-off discount coupons at all four Casey’s General Stores locations in Marshalltown. Mark Noble and his Miller Lite/Casey’s #74 Modified will be on hand at the 1402 S. 12the Ave. location in Marshalltown from 12-2 p.m.

On Sunday, Sept. 14 the O’Reilly USMTS National Tour makes another first-time visit to the Fayette County Speedway in West Union, Iowa for another $2,000-to-win event.

Also on the racing card will be USRA Stocks Cars, USRA B-Mods and USRA Hobby Stocks racing for national points.

The 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval is located 0.9 mile south of US 18 on SR 150, then 0.1 mile east on SR 56 (at the Fayette County Fairgrounds). For more information, call (515) 832-6000 or visit www.fayettecofair.com online.

Pits gates open at 4 p.m., hot laps are at 6 and the mud starts flying at 6:30.

Race fans can pick up $2-off discount coupons at Casey’s General Stores locations in Fredericksburg, Ossian, Maynard and Sumner. Noble will once again be meeting and greeting fans at the Casey’s General Store location at 200 W. Main in Ossian from 12-2 p.m.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, call the headquarters at (515) 832-7944 or visit www.usmts.com online for the latest news and information from the USMTS—America’s Hottest Ticket on Dirt.

DTRA Representatives were on hand to discuss issues regarding the changes with the Dodge County Speedway drivers in Blooming Prairie Minnesota this Sunday. Both the DTRA and Dodge County Speedway believe that with the cost saving ideals like the Goodyear Spec tire and the limited travel required to compete for the National point fund their drivers will in turn benefit the most. Dodge County Speedway will make the transition to DTRA as seamless and simple as possible. Many of those plans were discussed at the meeting.

The DTRA is very proud to have partnered with Scott Mondus and Dodge County Speedway because we both believe that by creating measures that help keep the cost of racing less and the quality of racing better is truly a recipe for success in southern Minnesota.

“The DTRA continues to sign quality tracks in the upper Midwest. With Dodge County Speedway the DTRA member track count has doubled in just its second year of operation!” mentioned Dave Friendt DTRA driver rep. The Dodge County Speedway is a 1/3 mile clay semi banked oval located in Kasson, Minnesota. Featuring Sunday night action this track is known for its close competition and ample car counts. For more information regarding the Dodge County Speedway, visit www.dodgecountyspeedway.com

The DTRA is in its second year of operation. The organization utilizes the Goodyear spec tire program to save drivers hundreds of thousands of dollars and brings significant value to promoters. The DTRA also targets sponsors that see opportunities beyond just selling parts to race competitors. Finally, the DTRA points system allows drivers to compete for the National point fund by racing only their home track.