Zack VanderBeek

Ebert wins wild USMTS Spring Challenge opener in Webster City

If it’s true that “rubbin’ is racin’” then the final seven laps of Thursday’s main event at the Hamilton County Speedway provided some of the best racin’ of the year for fans of the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.

When the green flag waved to start the 30-lap feature race, Dan Ebert beat polesitter Zack VanderBeek back to the flagstand to lead the opening lap around the historic half-mile dirt oval while Jim Chisholm, Tom Berry Jr. and Rodney Sanders moved ahead to pursue Ebert.

Riding the high side, Ebert remained in control through the next 20 laps before Berry began to pressure the leader. Eventually, Berry made a move for the lead at the bottom of turn 3 but he and Ebert made significant contact which sent Berry into first place while Sanders followed into second soon after.

Berry looked strong the final seven laps but back-to-back cautions forcing back-to-back green-white-checkered finishes changed the story.

Sanders struck first, racing wheel-to-wheel with Berry on the first restart before the yellow flag waved again for points leader Jake O’Neil’s idle race car at the bottom of turn 4.

Ebert found life on the second two-lap dash to the checkers, following Berry around the treacherous top side the first time around before diving to the low side after taking the white flag and then sliding up to take away Berry’s line.

Like earlier, the pair made hard contact but this time, according to Berry, the Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year points leader “got the short end of the stick,” and slid up and off the racetrack while Ebert sailed into the final turn and onto a $3,000 victory.

“That was a pretty wild race,” Ebert said in victory lane. “We were pretty decent to start with and then I just kind of was missing my line going into (turn) one here and then racing with Tom and Rodney there, and then I don’t know if Tom hit the hole or deliberately came across in front but I felt like I had a good run and he ran across my nose so I made sure that he knew I was there on that one. Coming to get the checker the last lap I had to make sure that I closed the deal.”

While Berry was relegated to a disappointing 18th-place result, the relative newcomer continued to impress with his ability to find the fastest way around racetracks he’s never seen before

“I followed and followed him and I feel like that slider was clean as you can get for the type of track we had,” Berry revealed afterward. “I got into him down here (turn 4) but hopefully he ain't mad. As soon as I hit the hole I got on the gas we were together. I like racing everyone with respect and I think Zack’s (VanderBeek) mad at me too but he got tight going the first corner. I had nowhere to go so I mean if he’s going to be mad about that I don’t know, so maybe I got some mad people at me but they all know I race hard with respect.”

Meanwhile, Ebert held off Sanders by less than a half-second while Chisholm. Alex Williamson and Dereck Ramirez completed the top five. Ramirez picked up the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award after zipping past 14 cars from his 19th starting spot.

Sixth went to 12th-starting Jacob Bleess, 18th-starting Tim Ward secured seventh, 11th-starting Terry Phillips earned an eighth-place paycheck, 20th-starting Will Krup nabbed ninth and Jeremy Nelson, who started 17th, wound tenth at the finish line.

With his second triumph of the 2023 campaign and fourth of his career, Ebert moved into a tie on the USMTS all-time wins list with good company, joining four-time winners Austin Arneson, Justin Boney, Scott Drake, Mike Hejna, Steve Holzkamper, Dean Mahlstedt, Hunter Marriott and Brad Pinkerton.

Racing continues for two more nights at the Hamilton county Speedway with Summit USMTS Modifieds competing for $5,0000 to win on Friday and $10,000 to top Saturday night’s finale. USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods, USRA Hobby Stocks and USRA Tuners will also be in action both nights.

For more information, check out the event FAST FACTS or visit HamiltonCoSpeedway.com.

For its Silver Anniversary season, the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt currently features 45 nights of racing at 15 of America's premier dirt track racing venues in nine states. The winners of those events are set to earn more than $300,000 with nearly $2 million in purses and prize money earmarked for the 2023 campaign.

Watch every USMTS event online live and on-demand from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt. Download the app at Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TV or on Google Play.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
13th Annual USMTS Spring Classic – Night 1 of 3
Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City, Iowa
Thursday, April 27, 2023

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver and hometown. Heat race lineups are determined via group qualifying. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Summit Racing Equipment “A” Main.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (2) 83 Kylie Kath, Claremont, Minn.
2. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
4. (1) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (10) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
6. (8) 1G Pat Graham, Ankeny, Iowa
7. (9) 1 Blake Arndt, Brownsdale, Minn.
8. (7) 14M Brian Mahlstedt, Ionia, Iowa
9. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
10. (6) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (7 laps):
1. (4) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (6) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
3. (5) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
4. (1) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
5. (2) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
6. (3) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
7. (8) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
8. (7) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
9. (9) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
10. (10) 21N Ben Nading, Ankeny, Iowa

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
2. (3) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
3. (5) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
4. (2) 71 Dustin Strand, East Grand Forks, Minn.
5. (6) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn.
6. (7) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.., El Paso, Texas
7. (8) 21D Daniel Drury, Iowa Falls, Iowa
8. (9) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
9. (4) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.
10. (10) 40 Jessy Willard, Mound City, Kan.

WIELAND HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (3) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (4) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
3. (6) 11X Tom Berry Jr.., Des Moines, Iowa
4. (1) 5D Devon Havlik, Waterloo, Iowa
5. (2) 4B Jason Bass, Fort Dodge, Iowa
6. (5) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
7. (8) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
8. (7) 88 Tanner Williamson, Fort Frances, ON
9. (9) 57 Duke Erickson, Sioux Falls, S.D.

VP RACING HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
2. (1) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
3. (6) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
4. (3) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
5. (5) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
6. (4) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
7. (7) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
8. (9) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
9. (8) 21DB David Brown, Kellogg, Iowa

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
2. (1) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
3. (3) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (4) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (9) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
6. (11) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
7. (7) 4B Jason Bass, Fort Dodge, Iowa
8. (12) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
9. (6) 1G Pat Graham, Ankeny, Iowa
10. (14) 88 Tanner Williamson, Fort Frances, ON
11. (8) 1 Blake Arndt, Brownsdale, Minn.
12. (10) 21D Daniel Drury, Iowa Falls, Iowa
13. (17) 21N Ben Nading, Ankeny, Iowa
14. (15) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
15. (16) 21DB David Brown, Kellogg, Iowa
16. (13) 14M Brian Mahlstedt, Ionia, Iowa
17. (5) 5D Devon Havlik, Waterloo, Iowa

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (6) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
3. (1) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
4. (7) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.., El Paso, Texas
5. (12) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
6. (9) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
7. (4) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
8. (14) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
9. (11) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
10. (13) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
11. (8) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
12. (5) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
13. (3) 71 Dustin Strand, East Grand Forks, Minn.
14. (10) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
15. (15) 57 Duke Erickson, Sioux Falls, S.D.
16. (17) 40 Jessy Willard, Mound City, Kan.
17. (16) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (30 laps):
1. (2) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
2. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
3. (6) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
4. (10) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
5. (19) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
6. (12) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
7. (18) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
8. (11) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
9. (20) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
10. (17) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
11. (15) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
12. (28) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
13. (26) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
14. (9) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
15. (23) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
16. (22) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.., El Paso, Texas
17. (24) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
18. (3) 11X Tom Berry Jr.., Des Moines, Iowa
19. (25) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
20. (1) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
21. (21) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
22. (29) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
23. (27) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
24. (16) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
25. (30) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
26. (13) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn.
27. (8) 83 Kylie Kath, Claremont, Minn.
28. (4) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
29. (14) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
30. (7) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.

Lap Leaders: Ebert 1-23, Berry 24-29, Ebert 30.
Total Laps Led: Ebert 24, Berry 6.
Margin of Victory: 0.433 seconds.
Time of Race: 23 minutes, 21.318 seconds (4 cautions).
Provisional Starters: O’Neil, Fuqua.
Emergency Provisionals: Thompson, K. Brown, Hobscheidt, Lavasseur.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Ramirez (started 19th, finished 5th).
Entries: 48.
Next Race: Friday-Saturday, April 28-29, Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City, Iowa.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: O'Neil 857, Wolff 847, Ebert 827, Sanders 825, Phillips 823, Hughes 810, Berry 790, Krup 781, Chisholm 781, Fuqua 771.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Berry 790, Krup 781, Nelson 679, Christian 664, Holland 590.
FK Rod Ends USMTS Hard Charger Points: O'Neil 41, Hughes 40, Chisholm 40, Givens 37, Phillips 32, Sanders 32.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 76, Mullens 75, Hughes 60, LG2 59, VanderBuilt 57.
Callies/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 79, Mullins 77, Stoen 75, Hatfield 61, ProPower 56.

Contingency Awards:
Aero Race Wheels – O’Neil.
American Racer – Berry.
Beyea Custom Headers – Williamson.
BigDeal Car Care – Ebert, Ramirez.
Bryke Racing – Davis.
BSB Manufacturing – Schott.
Champ Pans – Ramirez.
Collins Brothers Towing – Hughes.
Deatherage Opticians – Graham.
Edelbrock – Williamson.
Fast Shafts – Sanders.
FK Rod Ends – Ramirez.
Hooker Harness – K. Brown.
Hyperco – Thornton.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Berry.
Keyser Manufacturing – Nelson.
KSE Racing Products – Ramirez.
MD3 – Ebert.
Mel Hambelton Racing – Sanders.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Mari.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Hobscheidt.
MSD Performance – Chisholm.
Penske Racing Shocks – Fuqua.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Ebert.
QA1 – Sanders.
Quarter Master – Krup.
RacerWebsite.com – Hoff.
Salty’s BBQ & Catering – Williamson.
Simpson Performance Products – Kath.
Summit Racing Equipment – D. Brown, Erickson, Graham, Havlik, Nading.
Super Clean – Ebert.
Swift Springs – Chisholm, Chisholm, Ebert.
Sybesma Graphics – VanderBeek.
VP Racing – Ebert.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Havlik.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Ward.