Zack VanderBeek

Ramirez nips Phillips in USMTS Sizzler at Lakeside

It was the next-to-last race of the season for the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt on Friday, and one of the best of the year as Dereck Ramirez reeled in Terry Phillips to top the 8th Annual USMTS Kansas City Sizzler at the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

Twenty-five racers started the 40-lap main event that went the distance without a caution flag. Ramirez led the opening lap and then crossed the finish line about 13 minutes later to take the $10,000 winner’s share of the prize money.

In between, every lap was a hold-your-breath battle for the ages as Ramirez, Phillips and Tyler Wolff put on a show for the fans as they swapped the lead and danced inside and outside of heavy lapped traffic for most of the race.

Wolff was looking for his first USMTS victory at the Lakeside Speedway where he has had mush success in USRA Modified action during the track’s Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series shows on Friday nights.

While Ramirez led the first five laps after disposing of polesitter Jason McGehee, Wolff raced wheel-to-wheel with the defending USMTS National Champion before finally taking control on lap 6.

Meanwhile, Phillips was flying through the field and bringing Jacob Bleess with him as they tucked in behind the lead duo while they searched for openings between the back-markers ahead of them.

Looking like he hit the nitrous bottle in his familiar red No. 75 machine, Phillips screamed down the backstretch and raced by both Wolff and Ramirez to take over the top spot just shy of the halfway point of the race.

Phillips seemed poised to score his fifth USMTS victory at the historic 4/10-mile dirt oval as he pulled away to put nearly three seconds between himself and Ramirez.

But Ramirez, who has become recognized as one of the best long-game racers with the tour, slowly reeled in Phillips. He made up a heap of ground with two laps to go and then streaked underneath Phillips with the white flag waving above them.

They raced side by side down the backstretch and Ramirez took the checkered flag a half-second ahead of Phillips to score his sixth win of the 2022 campaign and 25th of his USMTS career.

“I don’t think there’s any conserving on a racetrack like that. That’s pretty demanding,” Ramirez said of the non-stop 40-lapper. “I’m 36. I feel like I’m 85. I can’t breathe very well… I just got him in lapped traffic there. I don’t think I would have had a chance if he hadn’t got in there. When he got back by me I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to drive this thing wide open and if it doesn’t turn I guess I’ll knock the wall down.’ Everything worked out.

“He kind of got out there on me. I wasn’t going to tear my stuff up and then I kind of started coming back to him when I hit that bottom pretty good and I thought we might as well just try her and I moved up to the middle and there was a lot of moisture there I didn’t know and it just worked out.”

For Phillips, his racecar was visibly becoming harder to handle and he had no answer for Ramirez while settling for the runner-up paycheck for a second straight night.

“It just got super tight at the end,” said Phillips, who snuck by Ramirez the night before to steal second place in the late stages of the main event. “I looked at the quarter panel here and it was shoved in. I’m sure it was blistering hot and then it probably quit.

“I didn’t know what was going on. The car was awesome and then all of a sudden it got super tight. I still thought I was okay and he (Ramirez) kind of surprised me there a little bit so good for him and we’ll go to the next one.”

In just his second night in a new chassis, Bleess held on to finish third while Wolff bested Jason Hughes for fourth. Darron Fuqua, 19th-starting Tanner Mullens, Dan Ebert, Dustin Sorensen and Rodney Sanders, who remains the winningest USMTS driver here with five career wins, rounded out the top 10.

Sorensen, who clinched the points title the previous night at the Tri-State Speedway, came from 23rd on the starting grid after needing to use a provisional for the first time this year. The FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award went to Mullens.

Saturday in Park City: The 3rd Annual USMTS Modified Spooktacular at the 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan., wraps up the season on Saturday with the crowning of the 2022 USMTS National Champion after the checkered flag waves.

The USMTS feature winner will pocket no less than $10,030.

Past USMTS winners include Rodney Sanders, who has a series-best six triumphs here and Ryan Gustin is a three-time winner. Jason Hughes, Jake O'Neil, Jeremy Payne and Terry Phillips have two trophies. Stormy Scott, Cade Dillard, Jon Mitchell, Johnny Scott, Zack VanderBeek, Jacob Bleess and Cole Traugott have enjoyed one trip to victory lane.

Trick-or-treating for the kids will happen from 2-3 p.m. with a free Halloween Walk through the pits. Racers and encouraged to brings treats for the kids and maybe a surprise or two.

After the pits are cleared, they will reopen and the grandstand gates will swing open at 3:30. Hot laps begin at 5:15 and racing gets underway at 6.

BSB Manufacturing USRA B-Mods are also on the card at the 3/8-mile semi-banked dirt oval located at 7700 N Broadway, Park City, KS 67219—just north of Wichita on I-135 to exit 16, then 0.7 mile west on 77th St. to N. Broadway.

For more information, check out 81speedway.com and follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Witness all the action every USMTS event from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt. Watch live and get exclusive content on your desktop, laptop tablet or a suite of apps like Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TVGoogle Play.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
8th Annual USMTS Kansas City Sizzler
Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
Friday, October 28, 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) 5* Jason McGehee, Wichita, Kan.
2. (1) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (3) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
4. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
5. (8) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
6. (6) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
7. (7) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
8. (5) 45 Chase Holland, Saucier, Miss.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (2) 68 Kerry Davis, Parkville, Mo.
3. (1) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
4. (3) 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.
5. (5) 00S Chris Spalding, Montgomery City, Mo.
6. (8) 37J Ronnie Burkhardt, Topeka, Kan.
7. (7) 247 Jarret Dotson, Baxter Springs, Kan.
8. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (3) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
3. (2) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
4. (8) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (5) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
6. (4) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
7. (6) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
8. (7) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
2. (2) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (3) 12J Jason Ingalls, Longview, Texas
4. (7) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
5. (4) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
6. (6) 9 Mark Schafman, Edwardsville, Kan.
7. (5) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
2. (1) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
3. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (7) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
5. (8) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (9) 45 Chase Holland, Saucier, Miss.
7. (4) 00S Chris Spalding, Montgomery City, Mo.
8. (5) 37J Ronnie Burkhardt, Topeka, Kan.
9. (10) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
10. (6) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (10 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
2. (2) 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.
3. (3) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
4. (4) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
5. (8) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (6) 9 Mark Schafman, Edwardsville, Kan.
7. (5) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
8. (9) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
9. (7) 247 Jarret Dotson, Baxter Springs, Kan.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (2) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (8) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (3) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
4. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
5. (6) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
6. (4) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
7. (19) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
8. (13) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
9. (23) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
10. (17) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
11. (10) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.
12. (20) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
13. (14) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
14. (16) 11JR Randal Schiffelbein Jr., Berryton, Kan.
15. (24) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
16. (12) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
17. (1) 5* Jason McGehee, Wichita, Kan.
18. (18) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
19. (15) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
20. (7) 68 Kerry Davis, Parkville, Mo.
21. (9) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
22. (21) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
23. (25) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
24. (11) 12J Jason Ingalls, Longview, Texas
25. (22) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.

Lap Leaders: Ramirez 1-5, Wolff 6-17, Phillips 18-38, Ramirez 39-40.
Total Laps Led: Phillips 21, Wolff 12, Ramirez 7.
Margin of Victory: 0.518 second.
Time of Race: 13 minutes, 12.801 seconds (no cautions).
Provisional Starters: Sorensen, VanderBeek.
Emergency Provisional: DeVolder.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Mullens (started 19th, finished 7th).
Entries: 31.
Next Race: Saturday, Oct. 29, 81 Speedway, Park City, Kan.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Sorensen 3084, Mullens 2967, Phillips 2918, Ramirez 2889, Sanders 2833, VanderBeek 2741, Ebert 2625, Hughes 2594, Fuqua 2520, Bleess 2445.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Carter 2433, Brown 2167, DeVolder 2149, Thornton 2053, Colton Horner 1685.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 307, Mullens 262, Hughes 243, VanderBuilt 221, GRT 212.
Compstar/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 264, Action 228, Stoen 227, Durham 197, Mullens 192.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Wolff.
Beyea Custom Headers – Wolff.
BigDeal Car Care – Ramirez.
Bryke Racing – VanderBeek.
BSB Manufacturing – Schott.
Champ Pans – Hughes.
Deatherage Opticians – Schiffelbein.
Edelbrock – Fuqua.
Fast Shafts – Phillips.
FK Rod Ends – Mullens.
Hooker Harness – Nelson.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Carter.
Keyser Manufacturing – Sanders.
KS Engineering – Thornton.
KSE Racing Products – Sorensen.
Mel Hambelton Racing – Phillips.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Ahumada.
MSD Performance – Bleess.
Penske Racing Shocks – Brown.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Davis.
Performance Bodies- McGehee.
QA1 – Fuqua.
RacerWebsite.com – Nelson.
Simpson Performance Products – McGehee.
Summit Racing Equipment – McGehee, Nelson, Schiffelbein, Sorensen.
Super Clean – Ramirez.
Swift Springs – Kirk, Ramirez, Schiffelbein.
Sybesma Graphics – McGehee.
Tire Demon – Sorensen.
VP Racing Fuels – Ramirez.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Schafman.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Phillips.