Z-Man hangs on for 17th in Rock Rapids

Friday night at the Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa, Zack's Memorial Day Weekend started off as rough as can be. After finishing 8th in his heat race, he pulled in early from his "B" main and accepted a provisional starting spot in the "A" main, eventually winding up 17th at the checkers.

O’Neil rocks Rapid Speedway in USMTS runaway

Jake O’Neil kicked off the Memorial Day Weekend with the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s by scoring a dominating victory at the Rapid Speedway during the 13th Annual USMTS Rapid Rumble presented by Real Racing Wheels.

O’Neil said had no idea how big his lead was, but his competition and everybody watching the race knew he was in a class all by himself.

“I don’t know, man, I just was getting nervous and thought I kept seeing a nose below me every once in a while and I just I kept pushing harder and harder,” O’Neil said in victory lane after taking the checkered flag more than two seconds ahead of defending race winner Rodney Sanders.

Following an opening-lap caution when polesitter Trevor Anderson got turned around in the first turn, O’Neil assumed the point and proceeded to open a lead of nearly 10 seconds before the race’s second and final yellow flag waved with just seven laps to go.

The evaporated advantage offered no help to O’Neil’s pursuers as he rolled to his first USMTS victory of the 2021 campaign and a $10,000 paycheck.

“I tell you what, we accidentally found something and after the heat race… it turned out to make the car bad ass. I don't know what else to say. The car was awesome and just I could run about anywhere I needed,” O’Neil added. I kind of struggled with lapped cars and I thought I was really starting to get kind of impatient and making mistakes and I just had to grab me handful of fuel over here and just hope for the best.”

With his 11th career USMTS triumph, O’Neil became yet another first-time winner at the 3/8-mile dirt oval located at the Lyons County Fairgrounds in Rock Rapids, Iowa.

Only Sanders has multiple wins but finished in the runner-up position Friday and came up short of notching his fourth win here.

Lucas Schott wound up third with Dan Ebert and 10th-starting Johnny Scott rounding out the top five.

Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender Will Krup turned in his best performance of the season with a sixth-place effort while Tyler Wolff advanced from 19th to seventh and earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.

Terry Phillips held off Jason Hughes for eighth after a tussle between the two veterans. Behind them, Jesse Glenz recorded his first top-10 finish of the year.

Taking dirt to a new level: The 2021 campaign for the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s features 36 nights of racing with the winners of those main events set to take home over $300,000 in earnings from more than $1 million in prize money earmarked for those shows.

Twenty-six of the 36 race nights will pay at least $10,000 to win while the other 10 carry a $5,000 top prize. And if that weren’t enough, more than $230,000 is committed to the top ten finishers in the 2021 points standings with a record $70,000 reserved for the 2021 USMTS National Champion.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s
13th Annual USMTS Rapid Rumble presented by Real Racing Wheels
Rapid Speedway, Rock Rapids, Iowa
Friday, May 28, 2021

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown, chassis/engine, laps completed and money won. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Casey’s “A” Main.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (1) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
2. (2) 55 Cory Mahder, Elk Mound, Wis.
3. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
4. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
5. (5) 85 Jayson Good (R), Watertown, S.D.
6. (7) 18A Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn.
7. (6) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr., Rock Rapids, Iowa
8. (8) 1J Matt Jeratowski (R), Madison, S.D.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 12L Lucas Lee (R), Paris, Tenn.
2. (1) 20T Trevor Anderson, Watertown, S.D.
3. (5) 1ST Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
4. (4) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
5. (3) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (6) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
7. (8) 57 Duke Erickson (R), Sioux Falls, S.D.
8. (9) 99 Nathan Hagar, Adair, Okla.
9. (7) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
2. (2) K19 Will Krup (R), Mt. Carmel, Ill.
3. (5) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
4. (3) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (4) 89X Jesse Glenz (R), Chippewa Falls, Wis.
6. (8) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
7. (7) 25C Cody Thompson (R), Sioux City, Iowa
8. (6) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
9. (9) 22 Justin Voeltz, Hartford, S.D.

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (4) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
3. (2) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
4. (3) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
5. (8) 444 Brooks Strength (R), Raymond, Miss.
6. (6) 2G Brandon Givens (R), Wichita, Kan.
7. (7) 14 Nick Schmidt, Baltic, S.D.
8. (5) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
9. (9) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
2. (2) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
3. (3) 444 Brooks Strength (R), Raymond, Miss.
4. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
5. (10) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
6. (6) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
7. (9) 99 Nathan Hagar, Adair, Okla.
8. (7) 57 Duke Erickson (R), Sioux Falls, S.D., Dominator/Hanson, $125.
9. (11) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
10. (8) 25C Cody Thompson (R), Sioux City, Iowa, Harris/Chevrolet, $125.
11. (4) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
12. (12) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis., Rage/Sput’s, $125.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (2) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (3) 89X Jesse Glenz (R), Chippewa Falls, Wis.
4. (4) 85 Jayson Good (R), Watertown, S.D.
5. (5) 18A Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn.
6. (7) 27 Don Gerritsen Jr., Rock Rapids, Iowa, Skyrocket/HarryHeads, $125.
7. (6) 2G Brandon Givens (R), Wichita, Kan., Hughes/Mullins, $125.
8. (9) 1J Matt Jeratowski (R), Madison, S.D., Shaw/Hanson, $125.
9. (8) 14 Nick Schmidt, Baltic, S.D., LG2/Schmidt, $100.
10. (12) 83 Kylie Kath (R), Claremont, Minn., Pierce/OFI, $125.
11. (10) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
12. (11) 22 Justin Voeltz, Hartford, S.D., Harris/CNC, $100.

CASEY’S “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (3) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz., LG2/Cornett, 40, $10,000.
2. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBCustoms/Hatfield, 40, $5000.
3. (7) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn., MBCustoms/Stoen, 40, $3000.
4. (6) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., Lethal/Ebert, 40, $2000.
5. (10) 1ST Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., ElDorado/Mullins, 40, $1700.
6. (4) K19 Will Krup (R), Mt. Carmel, Ill., MBCustoms/Mullins, 40, $1500.
7. (19) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., MBCustoms/ECE, 40, $1200.
8. (9) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Durham, 40, $1000.
9. (13) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $900.
10. (18) 89X Jesse Glenz (R), Chippewa Falls, Wis., MBCustoms/KSE, 40, $850.
11. (14) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., Mullens/Mullens, 40, $800.
12. (16) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Cornett, 40, $775.
13. (11) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn., MBCustoms/Action, 40, $750.
14. (15) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn., VanderBuilt/KSE, 40, $740.
15. (22) 18A Landon Atkinson, Little Falls, Minn., Lethal/Sower, 40, $735.
16. (12) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $730.
17. (23) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, VanderBuilt/Stoen, 40, $725.
18. (17) 444 Brooks Strength (R), Raymond, Miss., MBCustoms/Stoen, 40, $720.
19. (1) 20T Trevor Anderson, Watertown, S.D., Arrow/Victory, 40, $715.
20. (8) 12L Lucas Lee (R), Paris, Tenn., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $710.
21. (20) 85 Jayson Good (R), Watertown, S.D., MBCustoms/Tim’s, 40, $705.
22. (25) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas, Hughes/BMS, 40, $125.
23. (26) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo., Hughes/Cornett, 39, $125.
24. (2) 55 Cory Mahder, Elk Mound, Wis., Lethal/PPM, 32, $700.
25. (24) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan., MBCustoms/Driskell, 20, $700.
26. (21) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif., MRT/Yeoman, 16, $700.
27. (27) 99 Nathan Hagar, Adair, Okla., Hughes/Chevrolet, 9, $125.

Lap Leader: O’Neil 1-40.
Total Laps Led: O’Neil 40.
Margin of Victory: 2.078 seconds.
Time of Race: 18 minutes, 51.494 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: VanderBeek, Fuqua, Ahumada (emergency), Clark (emergency), Hagar (emergency).
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Wolff (started 19th, finished 7th).
Entries: 36.
Next Race: Saturday, May 29, Deer Creek Speedway, Spring Valley, Minn.
Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s Points: Ramirez 769, Sanders 746, Phillips 735, O'Neil 727, Schott 690, Ebert 682, Mullens 679, Wolff 653, Hughes 642, Scott 631.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Strength 496, Glenz 482, Krup 427, Lee 410, Good 403.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 76, Hughes 74, Lethal 64, GRT 60, LG2 58.
Compstar USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 77, Durham 58, Hatfield 57, Stoen 56, Mullins 48.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Kath.
Beyea Custom Headers – Ebert.
BigDeal Car Care – O’Neil, Scott.
Bryke Racing – Atkinson.
BSB Manufacturing – Good.
Champ Pans – Scott.
Deatherage Opticians – Bleess.
Edelbrock – Schott.
Eibach – Wolff.
Fast Shafts – Lee.
FK Rod Ends – Wolff.
Hooker Harness – Ramirez.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Anderson.
Jerovetz Motorsports Racing Parts – Strength.
K1 RaceGear by Ryan Bowers Motorsports – Gerritsen.
Keyser Manufacturing – Glenz.
KS Engineering – Mullens.
KSE Racing Products – Hughes.
Maxima Racing Oils – O’Neil.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Ahumada.
Penske Racing Shocks – Sorensen.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Davis.
QA1 – Phillips.
RacerWebsite.com – Myers.
Simpson Performance Products – Ebert.
Summit Racing Equipment – Atkinson, Erickson, Gerritsen, Schmidt, Thompson.
Super Clean – O’Neil.
Swift Springs – O’Neil, Erickson.
Sybesma Graphics – Anderson.
Tire Demon – Myers.
VP Racing Fuels – O’Neil.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Gerritsen.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Wolff.