VanderBeek puts Victory Junction mount in victory lane at Casino Speedway

After starting on the front row Wednesday night at the Red River Valley Speedway, a broken shock early in the race sent Zack VanderBeek sliding backwards to a ninth-place finish by the end of the main event.

The “Z-Man” made a 180-degree turn Thursday night and climbed from 10th on the starting grid to win the 40-lap feature race as the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour made their sixth annual trek to the Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D., for the Team Electronics Summer Slam.

Ken Schrader, who captured the win on Wednesday, jumped into the lead from the outside of the front row in Thursday night’s WIX Filters “A” Main. Polesitter Corey Dripps and multi-time track champion Kent Arment challenged the NASCAR veteran in the early stages of the contest, but Schrader was able to thwart their efforts each time around the tight quarter-mile bullring.

While Schrader chewed away at the thin cushion at the top of the racing surface, VanderBeek continued to move forward by hugging the low line in his #33z Victory Junction Skyrocket and took the second spot away from Arment on lap 18.

For the next five laps, Schrader and VanderBeek raced side by side before VanderBeek finally edged ahead to lead the 23rd circuit. Schrader kept the 25-year-old in his sights for the remainder of the race, but had to settle for the runner-up paycheck as VanderBeek streaked beneath the checkered flags to take the $2,000 top prize back home to New Sharon, Iowa.

VanderBeek notched a victory in April during a USMTS Castle Rock Recruiting Southern Series event in Oklahoma, but Thursday’s triumph was the first in the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour for the 2004 DandyLand Farms Rookie of the Year.

Ryan Gustin finished behind Schrader for the second time in as many days with his third-place showing while Texan Rodney Sanders rocketed to a fourth-place finish ahead of Dripps and rookie Jason Grimes, who came from 12th to snag sixth.

Although VanderBeek earned the PBM Performance Hard Charger Award, the race’s most prolific passer was Al Hejna. The defending event champion started 13th but was turned around on the second lap to being out the race’s first caution. After tagging the rear of the 24-car field, the “A-Train” was all the way back up to 10th by the 15th lap and wound up seventh at the finish line.

Chase Junghans finished eighth, nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock was ninth and hometown crowd favorite Jon Tesch rebounded from a flat tire on the fourth lap to round out the top-10 finishers.

AFCO Pole Award winner and multi-time Casino Speedway track champ Kent Arment was running fourth with 11 laps to go when his engine expired and forced him out of the race.

The USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour ventures into unchartered territory as they make their debut at Arment’s hometown track – the Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, S.D., on Friday.