Zack VanderBeek

Chisholm savors first USMTS trophy in Mason City’s Mod Mania

After 48 victories in three seasons and back-to-back USRA B-Mod National Championships, Jim Chisholm figured he was ready for the next step in 2022.

On Tuesday night at the Mason City Motor Speedway, the 19-year-old from Osage, Iowa, proved that he and his family made the right decision as Chisholm earned his first USMTS triumph in his rookie season.

Still hunting his first USRA Modified win, Chisholm now has a notch on his belt with the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt—the pinnacle of dirt modified racing.

With Dan Ebert to his right, Chisholm launched ahead from the pole position to take the lead at the start of the race but he was never able to shake Ebert from his shadow. Ebert peeked to the inside and outside of Chisholm on several occasions but never could wrestle to top spot away.

Finally, following a caution on lap 29, Ebert threw a slide job at the leader in turn 4 and streaked by the flagstand as the new leader to complete lap 31.

Ebert’s time in the spotlight was short-lived, however, as Chisholm raced ahead six laps later and then proceeded to leave the pack in his wake.

In honor of Casey Arneson, an additional two laps were added to the length of the feature race making it a 42-lap main event. Arneson, who competed for several years with the USMTS alongside his brother, Austin Arneson, tragically lost his life in a UTV accident on July 1. He was 27.

Fittingly, with two laps to go in the main event, the yellow flag waved when defending USMTS National Champion Dereck Ramirez came to a stop on the racetrack with a flat right rear tire.

The sudden two-lap dash to the finish didn’t seem to bother Chisholm as he drove away from the field to win after having an advantage of nearly three seconds over second-place when the caution occurred.

While Chisholm celebrated his $5,000 triumph with his family and crew members, Terry Phillips powered by two cars in the final two laps to claim the runner-up paycheck.

Doming from 14rth on the starting rid, Darron Fuqua held off Jacob Bleess for third with Tanner Mullens completing the top 5. Dustin Sorensen wound up sixth, Ebert slipped to seventh, Cayden Carter earned an eighth-place finish, Kyle Brown nabbed ninth and Rodney Sanders improved seven positions to round out the top 10.

War time: The week of action continues at the Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, Minn., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 14-16. The weekend will finish up at the popular Casino Speedway in Watertown, S.D., on Sunday, July 17.

Following an open practice night on Wednesday from 6-9 p.m., the 2nd Annual Mod Wars presented by JPW/Jobbers Warehouse Supply and Northern Line Contracting will once again feature USMTS Modifieds vs. Wissota Modifieds as they battle for $3,000 to win Thursday and $5,000 to win Friday and $11,000 to win Saturday.

Wissota Midwest Modifieds, Wissota Mod Fours and Wissota Hornets join the program all three nights. The pits and grandstands open at 5 p.m., hot laps begin at 6 and racing gets underway at 7 each day.

The Ogilvie Raceway is a high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval located less than one hour north of the twin cities on Highway 23 or 5 miles west of Highway 65 or 11 miles east from Highway 169 in Milaca, Minn., or 1 mile east of Highway 47 in Ogilvie. For more information, visit ogilvieraceway.com.

On Sunday, the whirlwind week wraps up with the series’ annual visit to the Casino Speedway where a packed house of rabid fans are expected to make their pilgrimage to the quarter-mile high-banked bullring.

Sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts, the 13th Annual Summersota Modified Nationals will carry a $5,000 first-place paycheck for the winner of the USMTS main event. Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks are also on the card.

The pits open at 4 p.m., grandstands open at 5, qualifying kicks off at 6:30 and the green flag is slated to wave at 7:30.

Now in its 69th year of racing on the shores of beautiful Lake Kampeska in Watertown, S.D., the Casino Speedway is a semi-banked 1/4-mile clay oval located 4.0 miles northwest of US 212 on SR 20, then 0.7 mile south on Stokes-Thomas Lake Rd. For more information visit casinospeedway.com.

If you can’t be there in person, witness all the action from anywhere on any device with your RacinDirt Pit Pass where you can watch live and access exclusive content on your desktop and laptop computers, as well as a suite of apps for added convenience including Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TVGoogle Play.

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 presented by RacinDirt
3rd Annual Mod Mania
Mason City Motor Speedway, Mason City, Iowa
Tuesday, July 12, 2022

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) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (3) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
3. (4) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (5) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
5. (6) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (1) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
7. (7) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
8. (8) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (1) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
3. (3) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
4. (5) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
5. (4) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
6. (6) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
7. (7) 12H Mike Hansen, Dickinson, N.D.
8. (8) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
2. (3) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (1) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
4. (4) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
5. (6) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
6. (5) 77T Tripp Gaylord, Lakewood, Colo.
7. (7) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (2) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
2. (1) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
3. (4) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
4. (5) 20JR Todd Shute, Norwalk, Iowa
5. (6) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
6. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
7. (7) 55 Casey Schlichting, Clear Lake, Iowa

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
2. (1) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
3. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (6) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
5. (3) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
6. (8) 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas
7. (4) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
8. (7) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
9. (9) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (2) 20JR Todd Shute, Norwalk, Iowa
3. (4) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
4. (3) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
5. (5) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
6. (6) 77T Tripp Gaylord, Lakewood, Colo.
7. (8) 55 Casey Schlichting, Clear Lake, Iowa
8. (7) 12H Mike Hansen, Dickinson, N.D.
9. (9) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (42 laps):
1. (1) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
2. (5) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (14) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
4. (4) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (7) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (3) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
7. (2) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
8. (10) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
9. (11) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
10. (17) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
11. (21) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
12. (9) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
13. (15) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
14. (6) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
15. (8) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
16. (18) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
17. (23) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
18. (13) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
19. (22) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
20. (19) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
21. (20) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
22. (12) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
23. (16) 20JR Todd Shute, Norwalk, Iowa
DNS – 56 Colton Horner, Houston, Texas

Lap Leaders: Chisholm 1-30, Ebert 31-36, Chisholm 37-42.
Total Laps Led: Chisholm 36, Ebert 6.
Margin of Victory: 0.971 second.
Time of Race: 20 minutes, 20.687 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: DeVolder, Benson (track).
Emergency Provisionals: Clark, Horner.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Fuqua (started 14th, finished 3rd).
Entries: 30.
Next Race: Thursday, July 14, Ogilvie Raceway, Ogilvie, Minn.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Sorensen 1673, Mullens 1609, Ramirez 1523, Phillips 1486, VanderBeek 1476, Sanders 1468, Ebert 1381, Hughes 1379, O'Neil 1335, Carter 1324.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Carter 1195, Brown 1025, Thornton 1024, DeVolder 1014, Horner 877.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 159, Mullens 134, Hughes 131, VanderBuilt 120, GRT 98.
Compstar/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 136, Action 128, Stoen 111, Mullens 102, Durham 93.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – DeVolder.
Beyea Custom Headers – Bleess.
BigDeal Car Care – Chisholm, Phillips.
Bryke Racing – Ramirez.
BSB Manufacturing – Ahumada.
Champ Pans – Mullens.
Deatherage Opticians – Thornton.
Edelbrock – Thornton.
Fast Shafts – Mullens.
FK Rod Ends – Fuqua.
Hooker Harness – Hughes.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Benson.
Keyser Manufacturing – Sanders.
KS Engineering – DeVolder.
KSE Racing Products – Brown.
Mel Hambelton Ford Racing – Phillips.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – Clark.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Duvall.
MSD Performance – Sorensen.
Penske Racing Shocks – VanderBeek.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Duvall.
QA1 – O’Neil.
RacerWebsite.com – Ahumada.
Simpson Performance Products – Phillips.
Summit Racing Equipment – Benson, Chisholm, Duvall, Schlichting.
Super Clean – Chisholm.
Swift Springs – Carter, Chisholm, Benson.
Sybesma Graphics – Chisholm.
Tire Demon – Hejna.
VP Racing Fuels – Chisholm.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Schlichting.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – O’Neill.