DENISON, Iowa, (August 21, 2002) - Gary March from Hinton, IA picked up his very first USMTS win in convincing style Wednesday night beating out some very tough competitors. March started the race from the second row outside and cruised onto the victory in the thirty lap A-main event sponsored by Harris Auto Racing from Lemars, IA. The night began with four heat races for the USMTS modifieds. The first heat saw first time visitor with the USMTS John Logue start at in the fourth row and take the heat win over Ron Schreiner. The second heat race saw Kevin Stoa take the win from the pole position over Luke Cochran. The third heat race took to the track and Lakefield, MN driver Willy Kraft took the top spot from the second row inside over Bruce Hanford. The fourth and final heat race saw Kelly Shryock jump into the lead before Gary March took the top spot away and picked up heat race four over Shryock. The first B-main went to Craig Reetz while Steve Kosiski picked up B-main two. The Harris Auto Racing All Star Challenge took to the track for the introductions and redraw. After the redraw Mark Noble and Ron Schreiner would start at the point with Bruce Hanford and Gary March in the second row. Jason Hughes and John Logue in the third row and Kevin Stoa and Willy Kraft in the fourth. Bruce Hanford would jump into the early lead with Mark Noble following him. Noble would only hold the second spot for a short period as Jason Hughes would take that spot on lap five. Hughes would battle for several laps with sparks flying from hitting the wall every other lap. Hughes was using the high line while Hanford used the middle of the track. March would take the spot from Hughes on lap ten and set his sights on the #61 Harris Chassis of Bruce Hanford. At lap thirteen the first caution would come out for #2 Chad Pruel, which also collected Brandon Monson ending the evening for both cars. This would bunch the cars up for a restart. The man on the move was Steve Kosiski who started fourteenth. Kosiski had taken his Harris Chassis all the way to fourth in the first thirteen laps using the high side of the speedway. Double file restarts would see Kosiski on the inside of the third row. On lap sixteen another caution was thrown for debris on the track. Kelly Shryock who started eleventh had worked his way past Kosiski and into third. On lap seventeen March took the top spot from Hanford. It was short lived as Kosiski had worked his way around the top of the track once again and took the point on lap eighteen. These two drivers would battle side by side for the next six laps. By lap 22 March took the top spot back and by lap twenty-five had put three-car length on Kosiski. March would cruise on to the victory his first with the USMTS. Kosiski would hold on for second with Bruce Hanford, Kelly Shryock and Willy Kraft rounding out the top five. Johnny Bone and Tommy Myer used provisionals to get into the race would finish sixth and seventh. Kelly Shryock has gained some momentum coming into the end of the season and has cut the once fifty-point margin down to four. Tommy Myer still leads the north region. Shryock has the national point lead still and has put a 3490-3356 distance between himself and Tommy Myer. The next north region race will be August 31st at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN this will give drivers a last chance to come and gear up for the 4th Annual Fall Jamboree, which will be held later this month. Sunday September 1st the series will finish up with a final stop at the Dodge County Speedway in Kasson, MN. The Harris All Star Challenge II that was scheduled for the Park Jefferson Speedway in Jefferson, SD was rained out on Thursday and track officials and USMTS are trying to get together on a date for this race. The north region points will end at the Jamboree on September 19-21.

Race Results

Heat 1- John Logue, Ron Schreiner, Jeff Stephens, Steve Kosiski, Dean Palmer

Heat 2- Kevin Stoa, Luke Cochran, Jason Krohn, Johnny Bone, Mark Elliott

Heat 3- Willy Kraft, Bruce Hanford, Mark Noble, Craig Reetz, Mike Johnson

Heat 4- Gary March, Kelly Shryock, Jason Hughes, Justin Boney, Joe Kramer

B-main 1- Craig Reetz, Joe Kramer, Brian Foote, Rick Schau, Brandon Monson

B-main 2- Steve Kosiski, Justin Boney, Chad Pruel, Dale Ransom, Rich Hesse

A-main- Gary March, Steve Kosiski, Bruce Hanford, Kelly Shryock, Willy Kraft, Johnny Bone, Tommy Myer, John Logue, Ron Schreiner, Jeff Stephens, Rick Schau, Jason Krohn, Justin Boney, Brian Foote, Joe Kramer, Dean Palmer, Dale Ransom, Luke Cochran, Kevin Stoa, Jason Hughes, Mark Noble, Craig Reetz, Chad Preul, Brandon Monson.

Shryock Picks Up Second USMTS Topless Race at Allison Greg Kastli and Tony Trower also Win at BCS

August 21, 2002

The United States Modified Touring Series made its final appearance of the season at the Butler County Speedway in Allison, IA on Tuesday August 20th for the USMTS Topless Nationals for Modifieds and Late Models. A good field of cars checked in for the racing action. The track prepared by Bob Cole, Dan Feltus and crew did a very good job making for some three wide racing action. The stock car feature took the track first with Tony Trower taking home the winners paycheck beating out Jeff Schluetter for the win. Schluetter started tenth and worked his way to second, but ran out of time.

Next on the speedway was the QCI/USMTS modified main event. Jason Hughes and Johnny Bone started the race from the front row. Bone jumped out into the early lead with Hughes right on the rear bumper waiting for a mistake. On lap 19 Bone would push and Hughes would take advantage of the mistake and jump into the point. Hughes would start to pull away from the field until lap 23 when going into turn 1 a big puff of smoke would come out of the #12 Hughes Chassis. Hughes would pull to the bottom of the speedway going down the backstretch ending his evening. This would give the top spot back to Bone, but only until lap 30 when the three-time USMTS national champion Kelly Shryock would take the top spot away from Bone. Shryock would lead the next nine laps with a broken front end, but would stay together and pick up the second topless race in Allison in the last two years. Bone would hold on to second while running out of fuel. Rounding out the top five was Rick Hixson, Mark Dotson, and Mark Elliott. All season best finishes for the top five. The forty lap main event took its toll on cars as twelve of the twenty-four cars finished the race. The last driver out of the A-main was Kevin Pittman who had worked his way past Shryock into second on lap twenty-eight only to lose the spot back on the next lap. Pittman pulled off on lap thirty. Heat races were won by Rick Gustin, Corey Dripps, Justin Boney, and Jason Hughes. B-mains were won by Ryan Ruter and Russ Olson.

Race Results

Stock Cars

A-main- Tony Trower, Jeff Schluetter, Damon Mutry, Bert McDaniel, Wade Eastman, Vince Loewen, Bill Hildreth, Mike Grantham, Merlyn Haglend, Kevin Opheim, jon Groven, Ed Anderson, Larry Blickenderfer, Kurt Roose, Roger Deery

Late Model

Heat 1- Darren Ackerman, Chris Adams, Cam Granger, Mike Smith, Rick Gustin

Heat 2- Greg Kastli, Tommy Elston, Dale Stolte, Tony Moro, Lavern Carey

Heat 3- Brad Osborn, Sam Halstead, Chuck Mayerhofer, Rick Dralle, Dale Hackwell

B-main- Hackwell, Ace Ihm, Gustin, Carey, Randy Wheeler

A-main- Kastli, Osborn, Ackerman, Elston, Adams, Smith, Ihm, Mayerhofer, Granger, Carey, Halstead, Moro, Hackwell, Wheeler, Gustin, Jason Hahne, Red Dralle, Rick Dralle, Stolte, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Les Verly, Denny Osborn

Modifieds

Heat 1- Justin Boney, Kelly Shryock, Mark Elliott, Ryan Ruter, Ron Schreiner

Heat 2- Jason Hughes, Johnny Bone, Tommy Myer, Russ Olson, Vern Jackson

Heat 3- Rick Gustin, Bruce Hanford, Ron Pope, Mike Chasteen, Scott Anderson

Heat 4- Corey Dripps, Mark Dotson, Kevin Pittman, Mick Glenn, Steve Lurvey

B-main 1- Ryan Ruter, Rick Hixson, Dan Chapman, Josh Omans, Mick Glenn

B-main 2- Russ Olson, Ron Schreiner, Doug Hillson, Scott Anderson, Steve Lurvey

A-main- Kelly Shryock, Johnny Bone, Rick Hixson, Mark Dotson, Mark Elliott, Dan Chapman, Ron Schreiner, Russ Olson, Bruce Hanford, Ryan Ruter, Tommy Myer, Scott Anderson, Kevin Pittman, Doug Hillson, Jason Hughes, Rick Gustin, Ron Pope, Justin Boney, Corey Dripps, Mick Glenn, Steve Lurvey, Mark Noble, Mike Chasteen, Josh Omans.