Although he led every lap of the 35-lapper, Hughes was shadowed throughout
the event by Zack VanderBeek, then by five-time NCRA titleist Brian Franz,
then again by VanderBeek in the closing laps.

Franz, who captured the AFCO Pole Award after racing from tenth to first in
his heat race, started seventh in the Holley “A” Main, but clawed his way to
second by the 12th lap. While Hughes chewed away at the extreme high side of
the 3/8-mile clay oval, Franz hugged the bottom and challenged Hughes lap
after lap to the delight of the fans at the home track of the NCRA.

By lap 25, VanderBeek found his groove and moved in front of Franz to take
the runner-up spot, while Real Racing Wheels “B” Main transfers Jon Tesch,
Jason Krohn, Kelly Shryock and Tommy Weder Jr. battled it out behind them.

A caution with five laps to go bunched the field and gave VanderBeek one
last shot at Hughes, but this night belonged to the chassis builder from
Westville, Okla.

VanderBeek settled for second for the second straight night while Tesch came
from 18th to take third. Not to be outdone, Krohn turned his 21st starting
position into a fourth-place finish and collected the KSE Racing Products
Hard Charger Award.

John Allen stayed with the leaders the entire race and ended up fifth,
followed by 14th-starting Brandon Kenny, Weder, 15th-starting Shryock,
16th-starting NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader and current NCRA points leader
Marc Hurd, who thwarted a top-10 sweep by the USMTS invaders.

After a spectacular night, Franz slowly pulled into the pits as the white
flag waved and wound up a disappointing 19th on the final scorecard.

Two events remain in the Mo-Kan Region for the O’Reilly USMTS National Tour,
with Shryock comfortably out front of Tesch with a 957- to 874-point lead.
Hughes is third with 865 markers, followed by Allen (820), Kenny (736),
VanderBeek (734), Krohn (707), Justin Boney (706), Johnny Bone Jr. (694) and
Bryan Rowland (568).

UP NEXT:

Wednesday, Aug. 6 the O’Reilly USMTS heads two hours north to
Heartland Park Topeka for the next-to-last Mo-Kan Region race and the second
of five straight first-time venues for the United States Modified Touring
Series. The inaugural event will also featuring Ken Schrader and Kenny
Wallace for the third straight night, with pit gates opening at 4 p.m., hot
laps at 6:45 and the first heat race slated for 7:15.

Adults tickets are just $15, kids ages 6 through 12 are $5 and children 5
and under get in for free. Pit passes are $30. Race fans can pick up $2-off
discount coupons at all Casey’s General Stores locations in Carbondale and
Topeka.

Also on the racing card will be B-Mods and Hobby Stocks.

Heartland Park Topeka is a 3/8-mile semi-banked clay oval located 3.9 miles
south of I-335 (Kansas Turnpike) on Topeka Blvd. For race day information,
call (785) 274-0001 or visit www.hpt.com on the World Wide Web.

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.