JEFFERSON, S.D. -- Jay Noteboom of Orange City, Iowa, captured his first O'Reilly Auto Parts United States Modified Touring Series feature Thursday, leading all of the 35-lap main event of the Harris Auto Racing All-Star Challenge at Park Jefferson Speedway.

To simply say that Noteboom led every lap from the pole position would give most fans the impression that Thursday’s nightcap was a yawner. However, it was anything but that.

Noteboom, who has won two weekly feature races this season at Park Jefferson, received his first roaring round of applause from the grandstands when he drew the #1 starting position for the main event. Just moments earlier, fellow local hotshoe Ricky “Racer” Stephan of S. Sioux City, Neb., drew the outside front row slot to give the O’Reilly USMTS onlookers an all-Park Jeff front row.

At the drop of the green flag to start the Holley “A” Main, Noteboom quickly grabbed a piece of the top groove going into the first turn, while Bruce Hanford of Davenport, Iowa, and Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie, Minn., made it a three-wide battle with Stephan for the runner-up position. Myer, holding the middle line, secured the second spot as he exited turn 2 and set his sights on the leader.

While Noteboom chewed away at the preferred high line around the 3/8-mile clay oval, Myer found footing in the middle lane and began to put the heat on Noteboom. The two quickly put distance between themselves and the rest of the field, racing side-by-side for the first four laps before Myer lost his footing on lap 5 and dropped three car-lengths back.

By lap 12, Myer was again showing Noteboom the nose of his no. 65 Kraft Kars Modified while Colcord, Okla.’s Jason Hughes was running third and closing the gap on the leaders. On lap 17, Myer inched ahead of Noteboom down the backstretch, but again Noteboom executed a flawless navigation of turns 3-4 to maintain the top spot at the stripe.

Lapped traffic came into the picture on lap 19. With two backmarkers battling for real estate, Noteboom struggled through the next three laps as he searched for a way to get through the traffic. Trying the low side coming out of turn 2 on the 22nd lap, Noteboom’s no. 7 Bud Light Harris Modified made contact with a lapped car, allowing Myer to pull alongside down the backstretch.

As he had done all race long, however, Noteboom found the quickest line through turns 3-4 to maintain the top spot while Myer found a way around the lapped cars with Hughes and fourth-running Bruce Hanford of Davenport, Iowa, in tow.

Over the final 10 laps, Noteboom maintained a cushion of about six car-lengths and cruised to his career first O’Reilly USMTS feature win to the delight of the fans in attendance.

“Wow, that was a great race,” the grinning Noteboom said as he exited his car in victory lane. “That was just some good racing out there. The track got some rubber down and it was really fast towards the end.”

The 29-year-old pilot pocketed $2,000 for his efforts.

Myer settled for a runner-up finish, while Hughes and Hanford finished third and fourth, respectively.

Defending and six-time O’Reilly USMTS titlist Kelly Shryock of Fertile, Iowa, finished fifth in the feature, but had to scratch and claw for every bit of that. Shryock’s struggles began in the second heat race when his no. 3 Skyrocket Modified slid over the embankment in turn 3. By winning the second “B” Main, Shryock started 14th in the Holley “A” Main, but came to a stop on the backstretch on the opening lap. After the opening-lap caution flag, Shryock restarted in the 24th position, and then picked off 19 spots over the next 35 laps to garner a top-5 finish.

With the first of six races over the next five days in the books, Shryock maintains his advantage in the O’Reilly National Driver Standings. With his runner-up finish, Myer gained the initial points lead in the first of 10 races for the Pro-Line Buildings Swing #2.

On Friday, May 27, America's Premier Modified Series treks to the 3/8-mile fairgrounds oval at the Murray County Speedway in Slayton, Minn., for the Holinka Distributing Minnesota Spring Challenge. In three trips to MCS last season, Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie, Minn. picked up two wins and is looking to gather in his first victory of 2005. Grandstand gates swing open at 5 p.m. and the first heat race is scheduled for 7:30. Also on the racing card will be USRA Stock Cars ($300 to win), USRA Hobby Stocks ($200 to win), Sportsmans ($130 to win) and Hornets ($50 to win).

A lightning-fast field of 24 cars will start the Holley "A" Main, with a $2,000 top prize on the line for each of the six events!

For more information, call 515-832-7944 or log on to www.USMTS.com for all the latest news and information from the O’Reilly Auto Parts United States Modified Touring Series.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

O’Reilly Auto Parts United States Modified Touring Series

Harris Auto Racing Modified Challenge

Park Jefferson Speedway, Jefferson, S.D.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Showing finishing position, car number, driver, hometown and starting position in parentheses.

The top 12 drivers in Home Pride Passing Points accumulated in the heat races will be locked into the Holley "A" Main, with the top 8 re-drawing for their starting positions.

Heat 1 (8 laps):

1 25 - Ricky Stephan -- South Sioux City, NE (5)

2 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA (1)

3 89 - Jerry Warner -- LaVista, NE (4)

4 12n - Lynn Nilsson -- Nunda, SD (7)

5 4 - Roger Hadan -- Omaha, NE (6)

6 10 - Mike Steensma -- Luverne, MN (3) DNF

7 10c - Justin Cooper -- Prescott, IA (8) DNF

8 3L - Bub Lerette -- Council Bluffs, IA (9) DNF

9 75 - Brandon Steffe -- Sioux City, IA (2) DNF

Heat 2 (8 laps):

1 65 - Tommy Myer -- Blooming Prairie, MN (7)

2 7x - Jodi Olson -- Hibbing, MN (2)

3 7k - Jason Krohn -- Slayton, MN (6)

4 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (3)

5 26 - Brad McEwan -- Storm Lake, IA (1)

6 74 - Mark Noble -- Blooming Prairie, MN (9)

7 86jr - Dirk Kirk -- Sloan, IA (4)

8 29w - Mark Wenzlaff -- Yankton, SD (8)

9 981 - Josh Reisch -- LuVerne, MN (5) DNF

Heat 3 (8 laps):

1 7n - Jay Noteboom -- Orange City, IA (4)

2 7ii - Mike Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (1)

3 5m - Gary March -- Hinton, IA (3)

4 3x - Michael Johnson -- Council Bluffs, IA (2)

5 31 - Corey Dripps -- Waterloo, IA (5)

6 55 - Jim Cole -- Sioux City, IA (8)

7 m80 - Jim Mathieson -- Sioux City, IA (6) DNF

8 7 - Al Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (7) DNF

Heat 4 (8 laps):

1 12 - Jason Hughes -- Colcord, OK (8)

2 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (2)

3 16 - Reese Coffee -- Hinton, IA (1)

4 11k - Jeremy Keller -- Bismark, ND (4)

5 14J - Jake Neal -- Omaha, NE (6)

6 22 - Ray Guss Jr. -- Milan, IL (7)

7 z98 - Denny Johnson -- Sioux City, IA (5)

8 20 - Greg Golden -- Sioux City, IA (3)

Heat 5 (8 laps):

1 61 - Bruce Hanford -- Davenport, IA (1)

2 555 - Ryan Ruter -- Kanawha, IA (8)

3 1s - John Klynsma -- Hospers, IA (3)

4 19 - Marlin Kracht -- Luvern, MN (5)

5 54 - Ted Anderson -- Springfield, MN (6)

6 1x - Mike Cooper -- N Sioux City, SD (4)

7 48 - Bob Moore -- Sioux City, IA (2)

8 3N - Mark Neal -- N Sioux City, IA (7) DNF

"B" Main #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):

1 4 - Roger Hadan -- Omaha, NE (5)

2 16 - Reese Coffee -- Hinton, IA (2)

3 26 - Brad McEwan -- Storm Lake, IA (7)

4 3x - Michael Johnson -- Council Bluffs, IA (4)

5 19 - Marlin Kracht -- Luvern, MN (3)

6 m80 - Jim Mathieson -- Sioux City, IA (11)

7 12n - Lynn Nilsson -- Nunda, SD (1)

8 54 - Ted Anderson -- Springfield, MN (6)

9 48 - Bob Moore -- Sioux City, IA (12) DNF

10 55 - Jim Cole -- Sioux City, IA (8) DNF

11 29w - Mark Wenzlaff -- Yankton, SD (13) DNF

12 20 - Greg Golden -- Sioux City, IA (14) DNF

13 10 - Mike Steensma -- Luverne, MN (9) DNF

14 10c - Justin Cooper -- Prescott, IA (10) DNS

15 75 - Brandon Steffe -- Sioux City, IA (15) DNS

"B" Main #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):

1 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (3)

2 74 - Mark Noble -- Blooming Prairie, MN (6)

3 31 - Corey Dripps -- Waterloo, IA (7)

4 1s - John Klynsma -- Hospers, IA (2)

5 1x - Mike Cooper -- N Sioux City, SD (9)

6 7 - Al Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (13)

7 22 - Ray Guss Jr. -- Milan, IL (8)

8 3N - Mark Neal -- N Sioux City, IA (14)

9 z98 - Denny Johnson -- Sioux City, IA (11)

10 86jr - Dirk Kirk -- Sloan, IA (10)

11 14J - Jake Neal -- Omaha, NE (5)

12 5m - Gary March -- Hinton, IA (1) DNF

13 981 - Josh Reisch -- LuVerne, MN (15) DNF

14 11k - Jeremy Keller -- Bismark, ND (4) DNF

15 3L - Bub Lerette -- Council Bluffs, IA (12) DNS

Holley "A" Main (35 laps):

1 7n - Jay Noteboom -- Orange City, IA (5)

2 65 - Tommy Myer -- Blooming Prairie, MN (2)

3 12 - Jason Hughes -- Colcord, OK (1)

4 61 - Bruce Hanford -- Davenport, IA (6)

5 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (14)

6 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA (8)

7 25 - Ricky Stephan -- South Sioux City, NE (3)

8 31 - Corey Dripps -- Waterloo, IA (18)

9 555 - Ryan Ruter -- Kanawha, IA (4)

10 7ii - Mike Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (10)

11 7x - Jodi Olson -- Hibbing, MN (9)

12 74 - Mark Noble -- Blooming Prairie, MN (16)

13 16 - Reese Coffee -- Hinton, IA (15)

14 89 - Jerry Warner -- LaVista, NE (12)

15 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (11)

16 7k - Jason Krohn -- Slayton, MN (7) DNF

17 1s - John Klynsma -- Hospers, IA (20) DNF-1

18 1x - Mike Cooper -- N Sioux City, SD (22) DNF-1

19 7 - Al Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (23) DNF-5

20 26 - Brad McEwan -- Storm Lake, IA (17) DNF-10

21 4 - Roger Hadan -- Omaha, NE (13) DNF-21

22 19 - Marlin Kracht -- Luvern, MN (21) DNF-25

23 3x - Michael Johnson -- Council Bluffs, IA (19) DNF-34

24 14J - Jake Neal -- Omaha, NE (24) DNS

Lap Leader: Noteboom 1-35.

Olympic Fire Protection Hard Charger: Dripps (started 18th, finished 8th).

Provisional Starters: A. Hejna, J. Neal.

Next Race: May 27, Murray County Speedway, Slayton, Minn.