SPRING VALLEY, Minn. -- Zack VanderBeek hasn't been satisfied with his results over the past couple of years.

So the United States Modified Touring Series driver from New Sharon, Iowa, made an eye-opening decision. On the eve of the biggest show of the USMTS season, VanderBeek made one of the biggest moves a driver can make off the track. He switched chassis.

Gone is the Skyrocket car he's run for almost 10 years. Also gone is VanderBeek's No. 33z. He's now driving the No. 20z car, with a Hughes chassis, owned by Bryan Rowland of Woodward, Okla.

The 27-year-old VanderBeek said he'll be back in his traditional red-and-yellow Casey's General Store colors shortly after this week's World Modified Dirt Track Championship at Deer Creek Speedway. VanderBeek raced in the new car for the first time on Thursday night, and ran well, finishing seventh in the A Main on the second night of WMDTC qualifying.

VanderBeek made the announcement on his Facebook page Tuesday, calling the decision the hardest one he's had to make in his racing career. The move ends a long-standing professional relationship between VanderBeek and Skyrocket owner Kelly Shryock.

"After much difficult consideration we've decided to end our 10-year relationship with Skyrocket," VanderBeek wrote. "Kelly built us our first Modified in 2004 and has been my mentor ever since. My whole career I've been mentored by the best the USMTS has ever had. The majority of what I've learned about running Modifieds I owe to Kelly."

VanderBeek won 68 feature races, including 21 USMTS A Mains, while driving a Skyrocket. He said making the difficult decision to change to the Hughes car was strictly a business decision.

"We took a close look at our results over the last two seasons and felt we needed a fresh start," VanderBeek said. "Some may question changing cars just days before the biggest race of the year, but we have a great opportunity to run a car from the Rowland team."

Last is best

The first group was the place to be in time trials during Wednesday's opening night of the WMDTC. The track grew slower as the time trials went on and four of the first five drivers to take the track finished with lap times in the top seven of a 46-car field.

The exact opposite proved to be the case on Thursday, thanks to a strong, quick rain storm that pelted the track at about 6:30 p.m. and delayed the start of the show by nearly two hours.

Thursday, the track got faster as the time trials went on and the moisture was worked into the track. Four of the final seven drivers to take the track finished with lap times in the top six of the 50-car field. That included Jon Tesch of Watertown, S.D., who turned in the fastest time of the night with a lap of 15.877 seconds. Tesch's time was just .135 seconds off of the track record set by Ryan Gustin last July (15.742).

Gustin, the second-to-last driver to take the track for time trials, turned in the second-fastest time, with a lap of 15.882 seconds. Stormy Scott and Eric Pember were also in the last groups to go through time trials. They turned in the fourth- and sixth-fastest times, respectively. Scott ran a 15.942-second lap and Pember turned in a 15.963-second lap.

Speedbumps

Defending WMDTC champion Brad Waits' weekend got off to a rough start. His No. 24 car broke down in hot laps and had to be pushed off the track. Waits was done for the night, unable to make it out for time trials, his heat race or B-Main.

Masters wins USRA Stock Car feature

Jake Masters was a little concerned when a caution flag waved with two laps to go in Thursday's Iron Man Challenge USRA Stock Car feature. His comfortable four-car-length lead disappeared when a yellow flag set up a green-white-checkered finish.

Lynn Panos helped to make it a dramatic finish.

Masters had stayed strictly on the high side of the track and slowly pulled away from Panos over the final eight laps of the 25-lap feature. But Panos stayed side-by-side with Masters on the late re-start and made the finish one that had to be decided by technology.

The transponders on the top two cars showed that Masters beat Panos across the finish line by one-thousandth of a second. Kyle Falck, who started 10th, made it a good three-car battle, finishing just behind Panos.

"I didn't know about that last (re-start)," Masters said. "It took me a couple of laps to get warmed up again. At the line, I thought I had my nose ahead of (Panos), but we don't have to worry about that with the transponders here."

Masters and Panos put on a good show at the front of the 26-car field for about five laps in the middle of the race. Masters, who started seventh, moved up from fifth to second in a span of two laps in the middle of the race. He and Panos raced side by side, with Masters up high and Panos below him, for the next four laps. They traded the lead three times before Masters finally grabbed it for good with six to go.

Tom Schmitt, who won the first heat race on Thursday, is a two-time USRA national champion. He finished fourth in the A Main.

Source: The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN