USMTS Media PR Photoby USMTS Media PR
The nation’s elite dirt Modified drivers begin their quest for a 2012 USMTS National Championship with the season openers for both the USMTS Casey’s Cup and newly-formed USMTS National Championship Series this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-25, at the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas.

With the best names in the business entered for this year’s lidlifter, just making one of the main events will be a feat but one driver could come up smelling like roses and walk away with $10,000 or more from the tripleheader at the state-of-the-art 3/8-mile clay oval located just east of Houston.

USRA Western Flyer HotMods (Limited Modifieds) will also be on the racing card each night battling for $500, $600 and $900 to win, respectively, plus several bonus cash awards up for grabs.

The engines fire up and drivers get an opportunity to fine-tune their machines during an open practice on Wednesday, Feb. 22, from 6-9 p.m. before the green flag unfurls for the first time on Thursday for the year’s first USMTS Casey’s Cup Qualifier with at least $2,000 going to the winner.

With 27 USMTS Casey’s Cup Qualifiers on the schedule, drivers will be battling for a spot in the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup, which will begin Aug. 9 at the Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., and culminate Sept. 20-22 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., during the 14th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree. At the conclusion of the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup, the champion will earn a $15,000 paycheck.

On Friday and Saturday, the inaugural events for the USMTS National Championship Series are on tap with each night carrying a $4,000 top prize and at least $400 to take the green flag in the main event.

The USMTS National Championship Series currently has 29 events and each will pay at least $4,000 to win with up to 30 cars taking the green flag in every feature race. The driver with the best 20 showings during the campaign will be named the 2012 USMTS National Champion and will take home a record $30,000 while the runner-up in the final ranking will get a cool $20,000 in the richest season-ending payoff in USMTS history.

by USMTS Media PR
Opening night of the 13th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree Thursday ended the same way it did the last time the United States Modified Touring Series tackled the Deer Creek Speedway: with Brad Waits in the winner’s circle.

Doug Zimmer Photoby USMTS Media PR
The Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship powered by Swan Energy continued on Thursday with a huge crowd on hand for the first visit by the USMTS Modifieds to the Rice Lake Speedway.

Twenty-five cars and drivers took the green flag in the 40-lap WIX Filters “A” Main with local favorite Mike Anderson beating polesitter Ryan Ruter to the flagstand to lead the first lap with USMTS points leader Ryan Gustin giving chase.

Gustin disposed of Ruter with three laps down and then scooted past Anderson on lap 9 after a spirited battle for the top spot.

Dustin Boney worked his Snickers-sponsored mount past Ruter at the same time, got by Anderson on lap 11 and began to reel in Gustin as the leader reached lapped traffic with 17 laps complete.

The caution flag waved at the halfway point, which bunched up the field and gave Gustin a clear track ahead. He used the restart to his advantage and continued to build on his lead over the final 20 laps to score his fourth win of ‘The Hunt’ and extend his points lead in he championship chase.

The win – the 46th of his USMTS career – was worth $2,110 to the 20-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa, and his 22nd triumph of the season. Not only is he in position to capture his first USMTS National Championship but can also be considered a serious challenge to Kelly Shryock’s record of 30 wins during the 2006 season.

Behind Gustin, great battles emerged throughout the field. Ruter just nipped Boney by a bumper to claim the runner-up paycheck while Jon Tesch and Jason Krohn finished fourth and fifth. Anderson held on for sixth, followed by Jason Hughes, Shryock, Kevin “Buzzy” Adams and Chase Junghans.

by USMTS Media PR
Even though he hasn’t reached his 21st birthday yet, Marshalltown, Iowa’s Ryan Gustin reached another milestone in his young driving career Friday night with a convincing win at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis.

Mike Roth Photo | USMTS Media PRby USMTS Media PR
Nothing fancy. No sponsors. No decals. No flashy graphics. Just a guy who knows how to drive the wheels off a racecar ... and a guy who is $20,000 richer. His name is Brad Waits, but you can call him World Champion.

Just about a 20-minute drive from his residence in Rochester, Minn., Waits conquered one of the toughest, most talent-laden fields in dirt Modified history Saturday night as he raced to victory in the inaugural World Modified Dirt Track Championship presented by Hanson Tire Service.

Although his name may not be well known outside of his area code, fans – and especially his competitors – throughout the upper midwest are quite familiar with the quiet dirt track racing veteran who has dozens of victories on his résumé.

It was just last Friday, however, that Waits climbed back into the cockpit of a Modified for the first time in two years after a brief stint driving a dirt Late Model.

“I’ve got a bunch of people that always like watching me run the Modified stuff,” he said in victory lane. “Pieces fell into place in the right amount of time and we found this old car. It was (built) a year between the two best ones I had, and ended up getting it for a decent buy.

“I figured it would soften up enough for me to like it.”

Waits ran second to Gustin in Friday night’s “A” Main Qualifier, and started Saturday’s 50-lap championship race from the outside of the front row with Gustin on the pole and Dan Bohr in the middle of the three-wide lead group.

Gustin and Bohr got the jump at the start and dove into the first corner door to door while Waits slipped back a couple of car lengths and settled into third. Out of the fourth corner, Gustin and Bohr were still side by side as Gustin inched ahead to lead the first lap.

by USMTS Media PR
In the game of golf, Ryan Gustin’s performance at the Deer Creek Speedway on Thursday night would be the equivalent of a slice into the woods.