Grain Valley canceled; USMTS Casey’s Cup Series moves on to La Monte, West Plains Friday-Saturday
GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. -- The third time was, in fact, not the charm for a USMTS Casey’s Cup Series show at the Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., and the event slated for Thursday, May 16, has been canceled.
Originally scheduled for March 8, the 3rd Annual “Thunder in the Valley” event was postponed due to a severe winter storm. The second attempt on April 18 was rained out, but this time it was politics that prevented the show from going on.
“Apparently the meeting at city hall last night didn’t go very well,” said USMTS president Todd Staley. “I talked to Dennis (Shrout, Valley Speedway promoter) this morning and he felt that in light of the outcome of last night’s board meeting that it would not be in the best interest of the future survival of Valley Speedway to have a race on Thursday night.”
Nonetheless, the stars and cars of the United States Modified Touring Series will be back on the road again making sweet music at two other exciting dirt tracks in the Show-Me State on Friday and Saturday.
Jason Hughes has recorded three of his 111 career wins here, including the most recent event one year ago where he came out on top of a wild battle with Stormy Scott, who had won at the same track just three weeks earlier.
Four of the nine previous main events at the LA Raceway have gone green to checkered without a caution. Jeremy Payne is a two-time winner here, and one-time winners include Kelly Shryock, Grant Junghans and Rodney Sanders, who won his career-first USMTS race here.
Gates open at 4:00, hot laps begin at 6:45 and racing starts at 7:15 for the Schwab’s Tinker Shop Show-Me Shootout. Also on the card will be Iron Man Challenge featuring USRA B-Mods.
On race day, fans can pick up a coupon good for $2 off adult grandstand admission at Casey’s General Stores locations in Knob Noster, La Monte and Sedalia while supplies last. The LA Raceway is a located 3.5 miles west of SR 127 on Hwy Y. For more information, check out www.laraceway.com online.
Saturday, May 18, will take the tireless USMTS touring titans to the historic West Plains Motor Speedway. Mother Nature thwarted the series debut here in 2011, but fans finally got their due last spring and witnessed nine-time USMTS national champion Kelly Shryock take down his 177th career USMTS triumph.
The West Plains Motor Speedway is a 100-acre motorsports facility with an exciting 3/8-mile red clay oval surrounded by seating that will accommodate more than 12,000 fans. Fans can enjoy the action from their choice of molded contour seating, ground level bleachers or high-rise stadium style seating.
On-site camping is available free of charge with clean restrooms, showers, water fill and a dump station for motor homes. Full service food and souvenir concessions are conveniently located within the facility along with acres of free parking.
Gates open Saturday evening at 5:00 with hot laps at 7:00 and racing at 7:30. Also in action will be USRA B-Mods, Hobby Stocks, Super Stocks and Crate Late Models.
On race day, fans can pick up a coupon good for $2 off adult grandstand admission at Casey’s General Stores locations in West Plains. The West Plains Motor Speedway is located 6 miles south of West Plains on US 63. For more information, call the track office at 417-522-9891 or 417-257-2112 on race day. The track's website can be found at www.westplainsdirt.com.
Both events will award valuable points in the USMTS Arbor Masters Central Region presented by Day Motor Sports.
The “Big Dog Buy-In” will be in effect each night to create a possible $8,000 weekend payoff for one driver. Each race pays $2,000 to win, but the Big Dog Buy-In allows any driver to gamble an extra $100 at the time of registration to compete for an extra $2,000 cash for taking the win. In 12 events this season, a gambler has won the main event 11 times.
Entry forms for USMTS competitors are available online at www.usmts.com/downloads/entry-forms.
To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/USMTSTV.
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USMTS OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Racer Racing Tires, Casey’s General Stores, Cheetos, COMP Cams®, Day Motor Sports, Intercomp, KEVKO Oil Pans & Components, New Vision Graphics, Nitroquest, RACEceiver, RacinDirt.com, Snickers, Swan Energy.
USMTS PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: 4s Motorsports, Allgayer Inc., Arbor Masters, ASi Racewear, BRODIX Cylinder Heads, Erson Cams, Farm Boy BBQ Sauce, FVP, Integra Racing Shocks & Springs, Intensitee Custom Racewear, Lecolift, Mesilla Valley Transportation, Olympic Fire Protection, Ramirez Motorsports, Road Runner Trucking, Ruter Farms, Something Inked, United Cellular Services.
USMTS CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: AERO Race Wheels, AFCO Racing Products, Bell Racing Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, BSB Manufacturing, Champ Pans, CPD Racing Tools, Crane Cams, Dominator Race Products, Edelbrock, Eibach Springs, Fast Shafts, FK Rod Ends, Forty9 Designs, Fuel Safe, Genesis Racing Shocks, GRT Race Cars, Hooker Harness, JRi Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, KSE Racing Products, Marsh Racing Wheels, MSD Ignition, PBM Performance Products, Power Lift Racing Products, Quarter Master, Real Racing Wheels, Sybesma Graphics, Tiger Rear Ends, VP Racing Fuels.
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