Davis captures USMTS finale at 81 Speedway

The 2022 campaign for the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt finished just like it started with Tyler Davis finding victory lane in the season opener and Saturday’s finale at his home track in Park City, Kan.

“81 Speedway with USMTS was a curse for me for a long time,” a tired and sweat-drenched Davis said following the popular win. “I couldn’t hit my ass for nothing and I just knew if it kept digging we could do it.”

On March 5, Davis dominated the final night of the 12th Annual Texas Spring Nationals at the Rocket Raceway Park in Petty, Texas. He earned $10,000 for that win and added $10,030 Saturday night with his second career USMTS triumph.

The 3rd Annual USMTS Modified Spooktacular lived up to its name as rain and cold throughout the week played havoc with the racing surface which had a lot of “character” for the night’s 40-lap main event.

Despite six cautions that resulted in a 35-minute finale and saw half of the 28 starters out of the race before the checkered flag waved, the race itself was one of the more entertaining of the year with a typical 81 Speedway nail-biter of a finish that came down to the final corner to decide the winner.

With Rodney Sanders chasing Davis, Darron Fuqua passed Sanders for second place on lap 11 when Jason Hughes, who was running fifth, tagged the wall in turn 2 to force the third caution of the race.

Back under green, Fuqua found his way around Davis on the high side and took the lead with 12 down, but two laps later a broken rear-end caused him to stop atop turn 4 and his shot at a second win this season went up in smoke.

At the halfway mark it was Davis, Sanders, Dereck Ramirez, Jason Ingalls and Tyler Wolff occupying the top five, but Ingalls and Ramirez became casualties on laps 23 and 26, respectively.

All eyes were on Davis and Sanders at the front as each racer navigated the super-fast 3/8-mile dirt oval located about 20 miles from Davis’s doorstep in Haysville.

With three to go, Sanders got underneath Davis and they banged rear tires but Davis held serve at the flagstand, but Sanders stayed within striking distance and passed on several chances to throw a danger-laced slide-job at the leader.

Coming to checkered flag, Sanders pulled side-by-side with the leader as they exited turn four, but Davis was able to fend off the four-time USMTS National Champion and won by about six feet in the drag race to the finish line.

“I didn’t know how many more times I could hold that wheel around (turns) three and four up top,” Davis added. “I knew I couldn’t let off the gas because they were coming on the bottom and they kind of baited me. I got passed and I made sure not to do that again so I just know if I stayed in the bottom down (in turns one and two) and slowed it down and just ripped the top as hard as I could it would be all right but I don’t know how many more restarts I could have took.”

While Davis got his second win of the season, Sanders was unable to get his second of the year and had to settle for second and his 16th top-five finish of the year. Sanders still leads all drivers at 81 Speedway with six career wins here.

Along with his victory, Davis was made aware that he has also clinched the Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national crown for USRA Modifieds.

“We had about 30 people tell us how stupid we were when we started this year and I didn’t really know what to expect, but it’s a badass race car… We ran it all year and it ain’t slowed down with lick.

“I don’t think we’ve ever got around 81 that hard before. It was everything I had. I was grabbing hands of wheels when I needed to and racing with the best guys in the country they give me room. Rodney could easily slam the door on me but he didn’t.”

Behind the front-row starters and top two finishers, Wolff claimed a well-deserved third-place paycheck after rolling off ninth on the starting grid.

Nobody other finishers in the top 10 started there. Fourth went to 14th-starting Dan Ebert, Tanner Mullens finished fifth after starting 12th with 13th-starting Terry Phillips following him to the flagstand in sixth.

In what might be a sign of thing to come in 2023 and beyond, Trevor Hughes—the sone of four-time national champ Jason Hughes—ripped his way to seventh after starting 24th on the field. It was his first top-10 with the USMTS in just his third start, and also earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.

Carlos Ahumada Jr., who started 20th, bounced back from an opening-lap tangle to earn the eighth spot, Brandon Givens clawed his way from 22nd to ninth in 40 laps and 16th-starting Dalton Kirk rounded out the top 10.

With the 2022 season complete, the Summit USMTS National Championship went to Dustin Sorensen. The rest of the top 10 were Mullens, Phillips, Ramirez, Sanders, Zack VanderBeek, Ebert, Jason Hughes and Fuqua while Cayden Carter and Jacob Bleess tied for 10th.

While the complete USMTS schedule for 2023 is nearing completion, the season opener is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 2-4, 2023, for the 13th Annual USMTS Texas Spring Nationals at the Rocket Raceway Park, Petty, Texas.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
3rd Annual USMTS Modified Spooktacular
81 Speedway in Park City, Kan.
Saturday, October 29, 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) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
2. (3) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
3. (6) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
4. (8) 9 Mark Schafman, Edwardsville, Kan.
5. (9) 22N Kevin Newell, Wichita, Kan.
6. (5) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
7. (7) 96JR Jon Herring Jr., Woodward, Okla.
8. (1) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
9. (4) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 12J Jason Ingalls, Longview, Texas
2. (1) 55 Chris Kratzer, Wichita, Kan.
3. (6) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
4. (3) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
5. (5) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
6. (7) 21B Bryce Schniepp, Wichita, Kan.
7. (9) 5* Jason McGehee, Wichita, Kan.
8. (4) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
9. (8) 96 Logan Johnson, Haysville, Kan.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (2) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
3. (4) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (3) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (5) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (6) 45 Chase Holland, Saucier, Miss.
7. (8) 22 Steve McDowell, Independence, Mo.
8. (7) 7 Steve Emond, Towanda, Kan.

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 54T Matthew Day, Farmersville, Texas
2. (3) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
3. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
4. (2) 15 Wyatt Gaggero, Wichita, Kan.
5. (5) 020 Fred Freeman, Hutchinson, Kan.
6. (6) 14R Ryan Quiring, Wichita, Kan.
7. (7) 21C Cody Schniepp, Wichita, Kan.
8. (8) 8 Wesley Summers, Wellington, Mo.

VP RACING FUELS HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (1) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (3) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (4) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
4. (2) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
5. (7) 712 Trevor Hughes, Salina, Okla.
6. (6) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
7. (8) 37D Dakota Dale, Valley Center, Kan.
8. (5) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (4) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (1) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (2) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
4. (5) 15 Wyatt Gaggero, Wichita, Kan.
5. (8) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
6. (15) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
7. (3) 22N Kevin Newell, Wichita, Kan.
8. (11) 37D Dakota Dale, Valley Center, Kan.
9. (10) 5* Jason McGehee, Wichita, Kan.
10. (13) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
11. (12) 96JR Jon Herring Jr., Woodward, Okla.
12. (14) 7 Steve Emond, Towanda, Kan.
13. (7) 020 Fred Freeman, Hutchinson, Kan.
14. (9) 14R Ryan Quiring, Wichita, Kan.
15. (6) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
2. (3) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
3. (8) 45 Chase Holland, Saucier, Miss.
4. (12) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
5. (6) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (5) 712 Trevor Hughes, Salina, Okla.
7. (2) 9 Mark Schafman, Edwardsville, Kan.
8. (7) 21B Bryce Schniepp, Wichita, Kan.
9. (9) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
10. (15) 96 Logan Johnson, Haysville, Kan.
11. (13) 8 Wesley Summers, Wellington, Mo.
12. (4) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
13. (10) 22 Steve McDowell, Independence, Mo.
14. (11) 21C Cody Schniepp, Wichita, Kan.
15. (14) 38T Dylan Thornton, Santa Maria, Calif.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (2) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
2. (1) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
3. (9) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
4. (14) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
5. (12) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (13) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
7. (24) 712 Trevor Hughes, Salina, Okla.
8. (20) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
9. (22) 2G Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
10. (16) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
11. (26) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
12. (19) 15 Wyatt Gaggero, Wichita, Kan.
13. (27) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.
14. (7) 44S Shane DeVolder, Pacifica, Calif.
15. (5) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
16. (4) 12J Jason Ingalls, Longview, Texas
17. (25) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
18. (28) 21B Bryce Schniepp, Wichita, Kan.
19. (3) 54T Matthew Day, Farmersville, Texas
20. (8) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
21. (11) 55 Chris Kratzer, Wichita, Kan.
22. (6) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
23. (17) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
24. (15) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
25. (23) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
26. (21) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
27. (18) 45 Chase Holland, Saucier, Miss.
28. (10) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.

Lap Leaders: Davis 1-10, Fuqua 11-13, Davos 14-40 .
Total Laps Led: Davis 37, Fuqua 3.
Margin of Victory: 0.071 second.
Time of Race: 35 minutes, 27.253 seconds (6 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Bleess, Carter, B. Schniepp (track).
Emergency Provisional: Clark.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: T. Hughes (started 24th, finished 7th).
Entries: 42.
Next Race: March 2-4, 2023, Rocket Raceway Park, Petty, Texas.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points (final): Sorensen 3135, Mullens 3051, Phillips 2999, Ramirez 2951, Sanders 2928, VanderBeek 2791, Ebert 2712, J. Hughes 2644, Fuqua 2573, Carter 2503, Bleess 2503.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points (final): Carter 2503, Brown 2221, DeVolder 2213, Thornton 2098, Colton Horner 1685.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points (final): MBCustoms 316, Mullens 269, Hughes 248, VanderBuilt 225, GRT 218.
Compstar/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points (final): Cornett 265, Action 229, Stoen 229, Durham 202, Mullens 198.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Sorensen.
Beyea Custom Headers – Ebert.
BigDeal Car Care – Davis, Clark.
Bryke Racing – Ramirez.
BSB Manufacturing – Kratzer.
Champ Pans – Mullens.
Deatherage Opticians – DeVolder.
Edelbrock – Sanders.
Fast Shafts – Ingalls.
FK Rod Ends – T. Hughes.
Hooker Harness – Gaggero.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Day.
Keyser Manufacturing – Kirk.
KS Engineering – Carter.
KSE Racing Products – Givens.
Mel Hambelton Ford Racing – Sanders.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Fuqua.
MSD Performance – Day.
Penske Racing Shocks – Clark.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Sanders.
Performance Bodies- Bleess.
QA1 – Ingalls.
RacerWebsite.com – Kratzer.
Simpson Performance Products – Davis.
Summit Racing Equipment – Bleess, Emond, Fuqua, Wolff.
Super Clean – Davis.
Swift Springs – Ebert, Davis, Gaggero.
Sybesma Graphics – Sanders.
Tire Demon – Christian.
VP Racing Fuels – Davis.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – C. Schniepp.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Fuqua.

USMTS OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Racer Racing Tires, Beyea Headers, Chevrolet Performance, Compstar, Fast Shafts, FK Rod Ends, Intercomp, K1 RaceGear by Ryan Bowers Motorsports, KS Engineering, KSE Racing Products, Malvern Bank, Mesilla Valley Transportation, MSD Performance, Nitroquest Media, PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain, RacinDirt, Summit Racing Equipment, Super Clean, VP Racing Fuels, Wrisco Industries.

USMTS PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: ARMI Contractors, Boubin Tire & Automotive, Brodix Cylinder Heads, DAY Motorsports, Hacienda Mechanical, Mel Hambelton Racing, Midwest Wrap Co., Miller Welders, PBM Performance Products, Rancho Milagro Racing, RHRSwag.com, S&S Fishing & Rental, Salty's BBQ & Catering, YouDirt.com.

USMTS CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: AFCO Racing Products, Allstar Performance, BigDeal Car Care, Bryke Racing, BSB Manufacturing, Champ Pans, Deatherage Opticians, Edelbrock, Hooker Harness, Integra Racing Shocks and Springs, JE Pistons, Keyser Manufacturing, Penske Racing Shocks, Performance Bodies & Parts, QA1, RacerWebsite.com, Real Racing Wheels, Simpson Performance Products, Swift Springs, Sybesma Graphics, Tire Demon, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, Wilwood Racing.

USMTS RACETRACKS: 81 Speedway, Belleville High Banks, Casino Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway, Chateau Speedway, Dallas County Speedway, Deer Creek Speedway, Fayette County Speedway, Humboldt Speedway, I-70 Speedway, Lakeside Speedway, Lucas Oil Speedway, Mason City Motor Speedway, Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Ogilvie Raceway, Red Dirt Raceway, Rocket Raceway Park, Tri-State Speedway, Winneshiek Raceway.