MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- The United States Modified Touring Series raced for the first time at the new Outlaw Motor Speedway in Muskogee, OK and what a race did the fans get to see. This race scheduled for three-days and scheduled to pay $1,000 Thursday, $2,000 Friday, and $3,000 on Saturday night. Well Mother Nature played apart in the action again this weekend and rained out Saturday night’s races. But the racing action Thursday and Friday was hot with cars from eleven states on hand for the racing action.

Thursday nights racing got underway with the Haulmark Trailers Heat Races fifty-five cars on hand for the action. Johnny Bone, Terry Beckham, Jason Hughes, Gary Andrews, Tommy Myer, and Larry Campbell all won heats. Mark Noble and Darin Walker won the two Harris Auto Racing B-mains. The stage was set for the twenty-five laps Midwest Motorsports Main Event. Jason Hughes would draw the AFCO pole award with Gary Andrews to his outside.

Hughes would jump into the lead and never look back with a car that was having some severe motor electrical problems. Hughes car would maintain an even pace all around the track, which would make him tough to catch.

Tommy Myer would start eighth and move to second, but would struggle in the turns and catch Hughes in the straights. Hughes would pick up his fourth win of the season with a hard charging Tommy Myer second. Rounding out the top five would be Gary Andrews, Justin Boney and Scott Drake. The main event would only see one caution thrown on the big ½ mile speedway. For the win Hughes would pocket the $1000 and take his season winnings over the $10,000 mark for 2003.

The racing action would continue again on Friday night with some very strong storms surrounding the speedway again, but no rain at the speedway. Some of America’s top modified drivers would be on hand for the racing action. Sixty-six cars packed the pit area on Friday night and Tommy Myer would start seventeenth and pick up his first win in grand style by beating Mark Noble to the finish line by three inches.

What is ironic about this race is both drivers are from Blooming Prairie, MN seven hundred miles from home and finish 1-2. The racing night saw a very slimy speedway to begin the night and the order of events was changed up to give all drivers an equal opportunity as the USMTS uses the passing points to determine to line-up for the A-main.

Racing action would get underway with the Haulmark Trailers heat races. The first heat would see Chad Wheeler beat Jarod Havens to the checkered. Heat two would see Joe McBirnie get the win over Darin Walker. Heat three would go to John Logue over Kenny Gaddis, while heat four would go to Eddie Martin beating Mark Noble.

Heat five would see Scott Drake beat Freddy Hogrefe, and heat six to John Schwab beat BJ Robinson. The heat races saw all kinds of passing action as starting from the front row outside did not even put you in the redraw. The Harris Auto Racing B-mains were set. Three B-mains with all the cars on hand and Terry Beckham, Scott Drake, and Jason Hughes would each pick up wins. This set the stage for a very strong Midwest Motorsports A-main. Thirty laps on a smooth track with multiple racing grooves.

Mark Noble would draw the AFCO pole and look as if he would run away and hide from the field, but USMTS hotshoe Tommy Myer had better plans for Noble. Myer would start the race from the outside the eighth row and was passing cars right on the bottom of the speedway. Only three caution would come out during the thirty lap event. By lap five Myer had worked his way into tenth and was working right on the bottom, by lap ten he was chasing Darin Walker and Mark Noble.

Myer would pass Walker on lap thirteen and start chasing Noble who was along way in front of him. By lap twenty-two he had caught up to Noble and the two drivers started racing each other. The final caution would fly on lap twenty-five bunching the field that had gotten into lap traffic. At the caution it was Noble, Myer, Bechmam, Walker, and Scott Drake. At the restart Terry Beckham would get shuffled back to sixth and another driver four-time champion Kelly Shryock who used a provisional to get in would be charging from the rear.

Noble changed his line the last lap and would go to the bottom in three and four and leave just enough room for Myer to stick his Kraft Kar and the two would drag to the checkered with Myer winning by inches. Rounding out the top five was Scott Drake, Darin Walker and Kelly Shryock. With the win Tommy Myer has taken over the National point lead and caught Justin Boney in the south region points.

Scott Drake did take the southern series point lead back from Jason Hughes after a sixteenth place finish on Friday. Next up for the USMTS will be the USMTS Kansas Spring Nationals in Liberal, KS Friday and Saturday May 16-17th two complete shows paying $2000 and $3000 to win. The series will finally move back to the north on Memorial weekend with four stops in Minnesota.

RESULTS

THURSDAY

55 cars

Heat 1-Johnny Bone Jr., Kelly Shryock, Tim Weaver, Eddie Martin, Aaron Morey, Gary Vaughan, Brandon Morton, Chris Bragg, Tate Cole, John Fenton.

Heat 2-Terry Beckham II, Chris Henigan, Darin Walker, Doug Ford, Keith Olmstead, Lindsey Shields, Jerry Thompson, Shawn Brassfield, Kevin Peters.

Heat 3-Jason Hughes, Scott Drake, Justin Boney, Klint Pursley, William Gould, Carl Kincaid, Brian Slader, Brandon Watson, Dean Mahlstedt.

Heat 4-Gary Andrews, Phil Dixon, Mike Withrow, Bobby Allen, John Schwab, Jarrod Havens, Dennis Salder, Jason Hollis Farrel Skelton.

Heat 5-Tommy Myer, Kenny Gaddis, Mark Noble, Chad Wheeler, Randy Frailey, George White, Billy Wheeler, Dave Hardesty, BJ Robinson.

Heat 6- Larry Campbell, Wade Enyart, Tony Anderson, Andy Milliken, Dena Wilson, Jamie Burford, Tommy Weder, Jim Burford, Kenny Holdridge.

B-main #1: Mark Noble, Chad Wheeler, Phil Dixon, Gary Vaughan, Tim Weaver.

B-main #2: Darin Walker, Randy Frailey, Dena Wilson, Tony Anderson, Bobby Allen.

A-main: Jason Hughes, Tommy Myer, Gary Andrews, Justin Boney, Scott Drake, Larry Campbell, Johnny Bone Jr., Darin Walker, Chad Wheeler, Eddie Martin, Terry Beckham II, Kelly Shryock, Tim Weaver, Gary Vaughan, Phil Dixon, Tony Anderson, Chris Henigan, Shawn Brassfield, Kenny Gaddis, Mike Withrow, Wade Enyart, Randy Frailey, Mark Noble, Dena Wilson.

FRIDAY

66 Cars

Heat 1-Chad Wheeler, Jarrod Havens, William Gould, Wade Enyart, David Grigg, Randy Timm, Robert Sliva, Charles Nelson, Doug Ford, Mike Hornback, Tate Cole.

Heat 2-Joseph McBirnie, Darin Walker, Chris Henigan, Tim Weaver, Ronny Yielding, Kelly Shryock, Tommy Myer, Dan Daniels, Dena Wilson, Gary Andrews, George White.

Heat 3-John Logue, Kenny Gaddis, Aaron Morey, Phil Dixon, Justin Boney, Jamie Burford, Brian Slader, Tommy Weder Jr., Tommy Weder, Tommy Fulton, Steve Hunt.

Heat 4- Eddie Martin, Mark Noble, Gary Vaughan, Jerry Thompson, Mike Withrow, Jason Hollis, Bobby Allen, Andy Milliken, Farrel Skelton, Lindsey Shields, Keith Olmstead.

Heat 5- Scott Drake, Freddy Hogrefe, Randy Zimmerman, Dennis Salder, Larry Campbell, Klint Pursley, Chriss Bragg, Kevin Peters, Dave Hardesty, John Fenton, Jared Russell.

Heat 6-John Schwab, BJ Robinson, Terry Beckham II, Jason Hughes, Brandon Morton, Shawn Brassfield, Johnny Bone Jr., Bill Dillard, Jim Burford, Billy Wheeler, Randy Frailey.

B-main #1: Terry Beckham II, Tommy Myer, Tim Weaver, Aaron Morey, Gary Vaughan.

B-main #2: Scott Drake, Justin Boney, BJ Roninson, Klint Pursley, Phil Dixon.

B-main #3: Jason Hughes, Chris Henigan, Jerry Thompson, Randy Frailey, Jason Hollis.

A-main: Tommy Myer, Mark Noble, Scott Drake, Darin Walker, Kelly Shryock, Terry Beckham II, Eddie Martin, William Gould, John Logue, Justin Boney, John Schwab, Chad Wheeler, Chris Henigan, Tim Weaver, Jerry Thompson, Jason Hughes, Joseph McBirnie, Freddy Hogrefe, Kevin Peters, Johnny Bone Jr., BJ Robinson, Jarrod Havens, Gary Andrews, Kenny Gaddis, Randy Zimmerman.