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The Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt was back at the 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan., for a second night of the inaugural Ed Gressel Memorial on Friday, and Tyler Wolff was back in flawless form as he notched his second wire-to-wire triumph of the 2023 campaign.
Several of his chasers stayed close early on but Wolff always found an extra burst of speed whenever anybody got close. Yellow flags on laps 13 and 22 wiped out his lead on two occasions, but both kept him from having to deal with a swarm of soon-to-be lapped cars.
Thursday’s winner, Tanner Mullens, and Cayden Carter kept Wolff in their sights but neither threatened the rim-riding Wolff for the lead. That all changed after the second restart when Rodney Sanders powered around the high side of the 3/8-mile dirt oval to jump from sixth to second in less than a lap.
From there, Sanders stayed within striking distance of Wolff, finally making a charge with two laps to go. ‘The Rocket’ peaked underneath Wolff’s No. 4W Lobo Racing machine but Gary Christian’s broken ride sitting at the top of turn 2 forced the race’s third yellow flag to wave.
Two more quick cautions occurred but on each occasion Wolff drove away from Sanders, eventually taking the checkers with about a five-car-length cushion over the four-time Summit USMTS National Champion.
Despite starting third, Wolff led all 35 laps and pocketed the $5,000 winner’s share of the prize money.
“I am a mess, I am wore out but that's a good run there,” an elated Wolff said in victory lane. “I knew that start would be critical and thought I’d had to take advantage of it. I gotta thank (Jimmy) Mars and ECE Racing Engines. We put a different engine in it and this thing screams. We’ve been having to tone it down all weekend.
“I trust Rodney very well and know that he’s not going to do anything crazy. He’s a teammate of mine so I really appreciate that, but it was awesome to see him up around behind me. It made me happy I knew that we had two good MB cars. and that’s good.”
RacinDirt co-owner/pit reporter Trenton Berry advised Wolff to get a designated driver if he went anywhere after his victory celebration because no Kansas State Trooper would believe he hadn’t been drinking.
“I got enough for bail, we’re good,” replied Wolff, who was soaked with warm Coors Light—one of Ed Gressel’s favorite beverages.
With the win, Wolff now has four at four racetracks in four states. He’s the first two-time winner this season and the 16th different winner in the 27 USMTS main events held at the 81 Speedway.
Behind Sanders, Jake O'Neil crossed the finish line third with Carter finishing fourth and Dereck Ramirez taking the checkers in fifth. Mullens, Tom Berry Jr., Terry Phillips, Tanner Black and Darron Fuqua completed the top 10.
After finishing second in the Kansasland Dash 4 Cash, Ramirez had the chance to start on the outside of Mullens on the front row when Mullens turned down the cash bonus, but the 2021 Summit USMTS National Champion opted to take $1,250 and start sixth, putting O’Neil in the second starting spot next to Mullens.
On Saturday, the Kansasland Dash 4 Cash is worth $1,000 with special thanks to Rock Island Recycling, Duvall Electric and McCowan Farms.
Racing continues Saturday with the Gressel Memorial finale that will see no less than $10,000 going to the winner. The JLR Property Management 316 A-Mods and AutoTech Service Super Stocks join the on-track action.
With his efforts Friday night, Wolff becomes the new points leader heading into Saturday’s finale and will bolt on the coveted dayglo orange Weiland Points Leader spoiler for tomorrow’s show. O’Neil jumped to second and Hughes slipped to third after sitting atop the rankings since the second event of the season. Phillips and Fuqua round out the top five.
For complete event information, check out the FAST FACTS or visit 81speedway.com.
• 81 Speedway will host a Cornhole Tournament and silent auction for door panels on Saturday. Winners will receive cornhole boards as prizes. Click here to register. Space is limited. The cost is $50 per team and the tournament starts at 10 a.m. for more information call (316) 304-1454 or email 81speedwayevents@gmail.com.
• VP Racing Fuels-Heartland is adding incentives to driver's in Saturday's main event. If the driver who starts 2nd wins, hey will get an extra $200 in honor of the Gressel Racing No. 2G driven by Brandon Givens. If the driver who starts 19th wins, he will get an extra $1,900 in honor of the No. 19R driven by Ryan Gustin. If the driver who starts 25th wins, he will get an extra $2,500 in honor of the No. 25 driven by Scott Green.
• The Ed Gressel Memorial features a special one-of-a-kind victory lane banner. The 10x20 sign will be autographed by USMTS drivers, and then after Saturday's finale one lucky person will take the banner home. Proceeds will go to the choice of Ed's widow, Cinde Gressel. Bidding started Thursday.
• Adam Gressel will offer a $1,000 cash award for Saturday's hard charger, which could make it a total of $1,100 for the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.
• Even more 'Reaper Madness' ensues as Chris Sutton with the RPM Speedway in Hays, Kan., has a crisp $100 bill for the 19th-place finisher in honor of the Gressel Racing No. 19R driven by Gustin, who garnered two Summit USMTS National Championships while driving for Gressel Racing.
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.
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
Inaugural Ed Gressel Memorial – Night 2 of 3
81 Speedway, Park City, Kan.
Friday, April 21, 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 with the top 8 in the Kansasland Dash 4 Cash setting the first 4 rows of the “A” Main.
SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (2) 44T Tanner Black, Otis, Kan.
2. (6) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (7) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
4. (3) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
5. (8) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
6. (1) 8 Dillon McCowan, Urbana, Mo.
7. (9) 25 Scott Green, Derby, Kan.
8. (4) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
9. (10) 96JR Jon Herring Jr., Woodward, Okla.
10. (11) 40 Jessy Willard, Mound City, Kan.
11. (5) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (4) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (5) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
3. (6) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (2) 747 Colton Eck, Goddard, Kan.
5. (1) 18 Bobby Mayfield, Elk City, Okla.
6. (9) 22B Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
7. (3) 7D Davis Givens, Hutchinson, Kan.
8. (10) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
9. (8) 99T T.J. Tolan, Valley Center, Kan.
10. (11) 22N Kevin Newell, Wichita, Kan.
11. (7) 44K Kelsie Foley, Tucson, Ariz.
EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
2. (6) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
3. (4) 712 Trevor Hughes, Salina, Okla.
4. (3) 55 Chris Kratzer, Lyons, Kan.
5. (10) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
6. (7) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
7. (11) 11N Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.
8. (8) G3 Brendon Gemmill, Wichita, Kan.
9. (5) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
10. (1) 78 Billy Jack Brutchin, Gladewater, Texas
11. (9) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
WIELAND HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
2. (4) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
3. (6) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
4. (5) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
5. (2) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
6. (8) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
7. (9) 15W Wyatt Gaggero, Wichita, Kan.
8. (7) 15WX Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.
9. (10) 7E Steve Emond, Eldorado, Kan.
10. (3) 127 Paden Phillips, Chanute, Kan.
VP RACING HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (3) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
2. (2) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
3. (5) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
5. (6) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
6. (8) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
7. (10) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
8. (1) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
9. (7) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
10. (9) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 6 advance):
1. (2) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
2. (4) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
3. (8) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (3) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
5. (16) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (7) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
7. (14) 15WX Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.
8. (5) 16 Austin Siebert, Grandview, Mo.
9. (1) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
10. (17) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
11. (11) 15W Wyatt Gaggero, Wichita, Kan.
12. (19) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
13. (21) 44K Kelsie Foley, Tucson, Ariz.
14. (15) 96JR Jon Herring Jr., Woodward, Okla.
15. (9) 11N Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.
16. (18) 22N Kevin Newell, Wichita, Kan.
17. (6) 747 Colton Eck, Goddard, Kan.
18. (12) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
19. (20) 78 Billy Jack Brutchin, Gladewater, Texas
20. (13) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
DQ – (10) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 6 advance):
1. (1) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
2. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
3. (3) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
4. (9) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
5. (20) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
6. (5) 55 Chris Kratzer, Lyons, Kan.
7. (18) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
8. (11) 8 Dillon McCowan, Urbana, Mo.
9. (13) G3 Brendon Gemmill, Wichita, Kan.
10. (2) 712 Trevor Hughes, Salina, Okla.
11. (14) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
12. (10) 25 Scott Green, Derby, Kan.
13. (16) 99T T.J. Tolan, Valley Center, Kan.
14. (12) 7D Davis Givens, Hutchinson, Kan.
15. (17) 40 Jessy Willard, Mound City, Kan.
16. (8) 18 Bobby Mayfield, Elk City, Okla.
17. (6) 22B Rick Beebe, Shawnee, Kan.
18. (7) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
19. (15) 7E Steve Emond, Eldorado, Kan.
20. (19) 127 Paden Phillips, Chanute, Kan.
KANSASLAND TIRE & SERVICE DASH 4 CASH (6 laps):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (1) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (3) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
4. (4) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
5. (6) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
6. (5) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
7. (7) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
8. (8) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (35 laps):
1. (4) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
2. (7) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
3. (2) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
4. (3) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
5. (6) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
6. (1) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
7. (5) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa
8. (8) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
9. (9) 44T Tanner Black, Otis, Kan.
10. (14) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.
11. (15) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
12. (10) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
13. (17) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
14. (12) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
15. (25) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
16. (18) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
17. (11) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
18. (13) 45 Chase Holland, Success, Miss.
19. (21) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
20. (20) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb.
21. (28) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
22. (16) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
23. (19) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
24. (22) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa
25. (23) 30 Dalton Kirk, Edgerton, Kan.
26. (24) 55 Chris Kratzer, Lyons, Kan.
27. (26) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
28. (29) 15WX Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.
29. (27) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
30. (30) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
Lap Leader: Wolff 1-35.
Total Laps Led: Wolff 35.
Margin of Victory: 0.737 seconds.
Time of Race: 28 minutes, 26.724 seconds (5 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Nelson, Ahumada.
Emergency Provisionals: Thornton, Brown, Westover, Lavasseur.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Sanders (started 7th, finished 2nd).
Entries: 53.
Next Race: Saturday, April 22, 81 Speedway, Park City, Kan.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Wolff 711, O'Neil 701, J. Hughes 696, T. Phillips 695, Fuqua 655, Ebert 648, Sanders 646, Berry 638, Carter 636, Chisholm 636.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Berry 551, Krup 529, Nelson 483, Christian 460, Holland 438.
FK Rod Ends USMTS Hard Charger Points: J. Hughes 35, T. Phillips 29, O'Neil 29, Chisholm 27, B. Givens 27.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: Mullens 61, MBCustoms 61, Hughes 53, VanderBuilt 51, LG2 48.
Callies/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Stoen 65, Mullins 63, Cornett 62, ECE 48, Durham 48.
Contingency Awards:
Aero Race Wheels – Ahumada.
American Racer – Kratzer.
Beyea Custom Headers – Carter.
BigDeal Car Care – Wolff, Sanders.
Bryke Racing – Nelson.
BSB Manufacturing – Brown.
Champ Pans – Ramirez.
Collins Brothers Towing – Duvall.
Deatherage Opticians – Krup.
Edelbrock – Bleess.
Fast Shafts – Mullens.
FK Rod Ends – Sanders.
Hooker Harness – Bleess.
Hyperco – Gemmill.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Holland.
Kansasland Tire & Service – Ramirez.
Keyser Manufacturing – Fuqua.
KSE Racing Products – Black.
MD3 – Wolff.
Mel Hambelton Racing – Sanders.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Ebert.
Penske Racing Shocks – J. Hughes.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Hansen.
QA1 – Wolff.
Quarter Master – Black.
RacerWebsite.com – Black.
Salty’s BBQ & Catering – Sanders.
Simpson Performance Products – Black.
Summit Racing Equipment – Ebert, J. Hughes, O'Neil, T. Phillips, Wolff.
Super Clean – Wolff.
Swift Springs – Berry, Black, Wolff.
Sybesma Graphics – Mullens.
Tyler Rinken Productions – Holland, Fuqua.
VP Racing – Wolff.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Newell.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Berry.
