USMTS AT "THE BEAVER"
Jeremiah Davis
(06/05/09)
On Thursday night in Alta, you may have heard a rumble late into the night. No, it wasnt thunder from much needed rain, it was the United States Modified Touring Series racecars powering around Buena Vista Raceway.
The touring series visits BVR once a year and always brings out a huge crowd, and Thursday night was no exception. Grandstands were full, and fans were eager to see the powerful machines.
When the USMTS cars hit the track for the feature, it seemed that it was going to take forever for them to start. The first two attempts to start the race were unsuccessful. When they finally got going, it was only two laps before the next caution.
It went on like this for the first 5 laps, with 4 cautions in that period of time.
Once they finally did get to racing, Cory Dripps of Waterloo took his #31 car to the front, just ahead of second generation driver and Fertile, IA native Kelly Shryock. The two cars ran close together over the first 5 to 6 laps, before yet another caution for a spin in turn 2.
On the restart for the 5th caution, Shryock challenged Dripps for the lead, even pulling alongside him on the frontstretch.
The battle for the lead was quickly over a lap later when Al Hejna of Clear Lake, IA powered past both Dripps and Shryock in one corner into the lead. He immediately began to put distance between he and second place driver Shryock.
Another quick caution a lap after that upped the caution flag tally to 7, but the caution flag would stay away for a while after that.
When the drivers resumed racing, Hejna showed himself to be the class of the field. Thanks to the USMTS Officials electronic scoring, it was revealed that Hejna was consistently .5 to .75 seconds faster than any and all of his opponents.
With 12 laps remaining in the 35 lap feature event, Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie, MN slid past Dripps to take 3rd, but would not be able to get away from Dripps.
Two more cautions over the next four laps set the top running cars up to be close together at the finish.
Hejna was not to be denied, though. With each restart, Hejna showed just how powerful he was, pulling away convincingly upon taking each green flag.
Shryock was all alone himself in second, but Dripps and Myer raced hard between themselves for third.
Over the final 5 laps, Hejna proved to everyone that he had the best car on this night, winning convincingly. Last years USMTS winner at BVR Kelly Shryock finished a solid second, while Dripps regained the 3rd spot from Myer, and held onto it until the end.
Even though the USMTS drivers and cars had everyones attention, the other classes ran Thursday night as well at BVR.
The Stock Car race once again saw the same drivers running up front.
Last weeks winner Trent Murphy took off to the early lead from the pole position, fighting off second place starter Chris Ullrich. Those two werent the only ones running up front, however, as three brothers Dustin, Donavon and David Smith all pushed into the top five.
All five drivers swapped positions among themselves over the course of the race, with Dustin taking the lead with 7 laps remaining, with brother Donavon following to second.
Murphy then fell to the clutches of Ullrich, who would not let the leaders pull away.
The front four stayed in position over the final few laps, but Donavon wasnt about to let his brother win easy.
On the final lap, Donavon managed to pull alongside Dustin, and the two came to the line side by side. Dustin barely edged out his brother Donavon to take yet another win.
Murphy also was able to hold his position, beating out Ullrich to take third.
The Sport Mod class saw a very classy gesture by driver Brett Meyer. During intermission, the driver took a backwards victory lap to honor the memory of Charlie Clark, the late founder of Clark Racing Chassis.
Meyer had his car painted and decaled to look exactly as Clarks did when he raced, and the restyled 1M car looked sleek and fast right from the get go.
From the green flag, Doug Smith powered to the lead and immediately separated himself from the pack. Behind him, Tony Pogeler tried to defend his second spot from a hard charging Brett Meyer.
Over the course of the race, the front three were far better than the rest of the field, and showed as much by driving away from the rest.
With five laps remaining, Meyer got past Pogeler to take second, but was out of time to catch Smith. Smith dominated, leading flag to flag and picking up his second feature win of the season at BVR.
Meyer finished a close second while Pogeler raced to a strong third place.
The Hobby Stock feature saw 25 cars take the green flag, but unfortunately not all of those made it through the first turn.
One spinning car sent the rest of the field into a huge wreck, eventually collecting 8 cars total. One car in particular took a viscous hit. Shawn Halder was caught up in the wreck, and suffered a devastating hit to his right side.
Halder was injured in the crash, and had to be transported by ambulance to the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center for further evaluation.
When the racing finally got underway after a 45 minute delay waiting for the ambulance, Shannon Anderson emerged as the man to beat in the Hobby Stock feature.
Craig Brotherton negotiated through initial traffic and moved to challenge Anderson for the lead and win.
Brotherton did all he could, even pulling alongside Anderson at various points in the race. Behind them, Devin Smith was racing with Andy Boeckman for the third position.
The battle for the lead had side by side racing, as did the battle for the 3rd spot. On the final lap, Anderson powered away, picking up yet another win at BVR. Brotherton had to settle for second, while Devin Smith edged out Boeckman to take 3rd.
There was little doubt of the outcome when it came to the Sport Compact feature event. Right from the green flag Cory Flanigan took off from the field and stayed there. Flanigan powered home to the victory with Ryan Simons and Matt Dorcey finishing second and third respectively.
