After a successful opening night that saw local driver, Steve Whiteaker Jr. (Corpus Christi) take home the USMTS Modified win, Shady Oaks Speedway hosted round two of the three day show on the 1/3 mile, semi-banked clay oval. J.J. Jennings (Corpus Christi) scored in the Limited Modified feature and the Street Stock victory went to Mike Trigg (Helotes).

Neither of Thursday night's winners were able to repeat on Friday. Whiteaker broke a pulley off the motor in heat race action, Jennings spun himself out in the feature and Trigg got mired in traffic early and couldn't run down the leaders.

The track once again looked to be in great shape as the super-fast USMTS Modifieds pounded their way around the banking. The smooth, fast surface made for some close racing in the USMTS main event that saw numerous lead changes.

All classes qualified through a series of heats, and B-mains to set the fields for the nights A-main events. Several new drivers and teams made the trip adding to the fields in each class.

Right Place, Right Time for Ramirez
Dereck Ramirez (Woodward, OK) admitted it was Johnny Scotts race to win. But as we all know racing luck can be very fickle at times. Such was the case for Scott, as he broke a push rod while leading and only two laps to go. This put Ramirez, who had run up front all night, out front for the final two laps on the restart. Ramirez then had to hold off Ryan Gustin and Jason Hughes to grab the win and $3,000 payday.

As the 24-car USMTS Modified field thundered into turn 1 it was Zack VanderBeek beating Rory Jordan into turn 1. Behind VanderBeek it was three wide for second and four wide for fifth as they tried to sort themselves out. When they did it was Jake Gallardo, Ramirez, Jordan and Austin Arneson in the top five.

It didn't take long for the action to pick up again with Gallardo and Ramirez side by side. Ramirez got the spot and looked under VanderBeek for the lead. Ramirez put a 'slider' on VanderBeek who crossed over and held the spot. They were wheel to wheel again for the lead when Brock Bauman went around for a lap 4 caution.

Ramirez again took a peek low on VanderBeek while Scott got by A. Arneson for fourth followed by Cade Dillard. A. Arneson then took a trip over the turn 1 hill to bring out a lap 7 caution. Once back to green, Gallardo retook second from Ramirez while Scott and Dillard swapped fourth. Dillard secured the spot and went around Ramirez for third leaving him side by side with Scott.

Dillard continued his run trying to go around Gallardo for second. Scott saw the chance to get by Dillard on lap 12, then Gallardo two laps later for second. Scott then closed on VanderBeek as they approached halfway. Coming to the crossed flags it was Scott getting the lead, VanderBeek, Gallardo, Ramirez and Dillard in the top five.

While all this was going on, Jason Hughes, who took a provisional then went to the back again after changing two flats, was quietly up into the top ten. Scott was on a rail motoring out to a full straightaway lead as Ramirez snagged third from Gallardo. The yellow waved on lap 28 for a spin by Lance Town in turn 4 erasing Scotts huge advantage.

Ramirez picked off VanderBeek on the restart with Dillard trying to follow along. Yellow quickly came back out when Jesse Sobbing got into Gallardo and went around in turn 1. On the restart, Scott, Ramirez and Dillard got away clean, but Town looped it again for another caution.

Finally back under green and as Scott got ahead Ramirez and Dillard were door to door, literally, fighting for second. Unable to get by low, Dillard then tried the high side, but lost ground. This gave Hughes and Gustin the opening to pull along side, three abreast, for fourth until debris in turn 4 brought the yellow out.

Dillard tried a run up high on Gustin once the green waved, but Gustin held him off and took third from Gallardo in the process. This opened up a spot for Hughes to get past Gallardo for fourth. Gustin had again built a good lead over Ramirez now, while VanderBeek, Dillard and Gallardo went three wide for fifth.

Just as the flagman picked up the white and checkered flags for two to go, Scott pulled up on the back stretch and rolled slowly into turns 3-4. This would put Ramirez out front for the final two circuits, but with Gustin and Hughes on his tail. Ramirez got clear quickly in the Boom Test Well Service, Koda Services, Red Bone Fishing & Rental, Raw Truck Wash, Widow Wax, Ohlin Shocks, Power Rig, Midwest Refrigeration, Cornett Race Engines, Ramirez Motorsports, LG2 by Owens Chassis to take the victory.

"It was a pretty good race track early," said Ramirez. "You could run the bottom or the top. Then all the stuff on the bottom was blowing up to the top. You just had to be there at the end. I feel bad for Johnny(Scott), he was leading a broke a push rod with two to go. He had the best car. I'll take it, a win's a win. I really didn't have anything for him at the end."

"They made the track a little better tonight. The heats weren't so great, they were pretty much hammer down. But it made for good racing in the feature. The top five had a good battle for the lead most of the race. They're working on the track, trying to make it better, that's all you can ask."

"When you're leading you're kind of a sitting duck. You can run the same line the whole and they can find something behind you that you don't know is there. All you do at the end of the race is say that you hit your marks and if they passed me, they passed me. It does get kind of nerve wracking when you know it's Ryan(Gustin) and Jason(Hughes) behind you. They're two of the best in the business."

USMTS Modifieds
4r Dereck Ramirez, 19r Ryan Gustin, 12 Jason Hughes, 33z Zack VanderBeek, 71 Philip Houston, 97 Cade Dillard, j17 Jake Gallardo, Grant Junghans, Adam Penn, 2 Casey Arneson, 91 Joe Duvall, 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, 9 Jimmy Ray, 10 Austin Arneson, 1st Johnny Scott, 23k Ben Kates, 21t Lance Town, 99 Jesse Sobbing, 83 Eddie Martin, 5 Shane Sprinkle, 4 Cody Bauman, 7x Rory Jordan, 6 Brock Bauman

USMTS B-mains(Top 5 to A-main)
B-main 1; 2 Casey Arneson, 7d Austin Thiess, 6 Brock Bauman, 99 Jesse Sobbing, 9 Jimmy Ray, 12 Jason Hughes, 9L Vince Lucas, 32b Brandon Nichols, 65 Buck McFarlin, 137 Bill Pittaway, 38 Ronnie Gould III

B-main 2; 71 Philip Houston, 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, 2 Grant Junghans, 83 Eddie Martin, 4 Cody Bauman, 73d Donovan Lodge, 129 Jamie Campbell, 5 Shane Sprinkle, 12 Cody Leonard, 89c Steve Whiteaker Jr.---DNS, 123 Logan Robertson---DNS

USMTS heats(Top 12 in passing points to A-main, top 8 redraw)
Heat 1; 1st Johnny Scott, 97 Cade Dillard, 6 Brock Bauman, 99 Jesse Sobbing, 2 Casey Arneson, 9 Jimmy Ray, 9L Vince Lucas, 65 Buck McFarlin, 12 Jason Hughes

Heat 2; 91 Joe Duvall, 4r Dereck Ramirez, 1* Adam Penn, 19r Ryan Gustin, 7d Austin Thiess, 5 Shane Sprinkle, 73d Donovan Lodge, 4 Cody Bauman, 123 Logan Robertson

Heat 3; 10 Austin Arneson, 7x Rory Jordan, j17 Jake Gallardo, 29 Jamie Campbell, 83 Eddie Martin, 38 Ronnie Gould III, 32b Brandon Nichols, 137 Bill Pittaway---DNS

Heat 4; 33z Zack VanderBeek, 21t Lance Town, 23 Ben Kates, 22d Daniel Hilsabeck, 71 Philip Houston, 2j Grant Junghans, 89c Steve Whiteaker Jr., 12 Cody Leonard