OWATONNA, Minn. -- The first race of the season to the newly designed Owatonna Raceway saw some fast modifieds check in for the racing action. Fifty-two of America’s top modifieds checked in for the racing action.

The racing started early giving fans and drivers a chance to make it home at a decent time. Racing starting during the heat of the day made for a dusty track and track officials did try to keep the dust down on the speedway as much as possible. The new dirt put on the track by the fairboard was hard to keep moisture in and will be a lot better on the next races as we will be starting later so not so much sunlight.

That did not mean there was not good racing as several heat races were won by someone other than the front row cars. The Haulmark Heat Races were the first to the speedway and Mark Noble took the win in heat one followed by Scott Megonigle. Heat two would see Mike Hejna take the top spot from fourth ahead of Jay Ihrke. The third heat would see Scott Drake win over John VanDenBerg from seventh. The fourth heat would go to Brad Waits beating Craig Scott. The fifth heat race saw Justin Boney come from fifth and take the top spot over Doug Hillson. The Harris Auto Racing B-mains were won by Ron Shreiner and Darin Walker.

The stage was set for the Midwest Motorsports A-main. Justin Boney and Mike Hejna would start from the front row and Hejna would jump out into the early lead and look to be cruising onto his first ever USMTS win. A couple cautions would wave on lap eleven.

At the restart Hejna would come by the line and sparks would fly into the air and leave Hejna with no power and twenty-two other cars dicing all over the speedway causing a big melee on the backstretch with drivers going everywhere. Brad Waits would take his modified up the dirt mound after Tommy Myer would hit him. This accident took out several top runner including current point leader Justin Boney. Mike Hejna, Boney, Ryan Ruter, Darin Walker, Waits, and Myer would return.

At the restart Kelly Shryock would take the point with Craig Scott right behind. Mark Noble would be third. Noble would move to second and start reeling in Shryock when an axle would let go on the #74 Dirt Works modified. The race would finish caution free with Craig Scott with his best finish ever in USMTS Scott Drake, John VanDenBerg and Nate Wasmund rounding out the top five.

A great weekend of racing for several drivers. Nate Wasmund, Eddie Martin, John VanDenBerg, and Kelly Shryock. Shryock went from almost eighty points behind in National points to being eighteen points out of the top spot.

Myer still holds the point lead with Boney second and Shryock third. Up next for the USMTS will be the start of the National Tour next weekend at the Jackson Speedway in Jackson, MN before heading north to North Dakota. This will feature twenty-two days of action. The series will have one travel day on Wednesday to get ready for Jamestown, ND on Thursday before moving to Minot, ND on Friday-Sunday for the Roughrider Classic. One more travel day on Monday before starting a twelve-day swing that will start in Nebraska.

All in all the Memorial Weekend saw some great modified racing with some very strong modifieds from all over the country on hand for the racing action. We are working on getting more moisture on the tracks, but when you have so many cars it is very hard for track promoters to keep up when the wind keeps blowing and you start racing so early in the day. USMTS races are usually very competitive and fans are rarely disappointed in the racing action and the tracks that had problems this past weekend will have them fixed before the next visit to the speedway and fans will be treated to the same great modified racing that USMTS bring to each speedway. So we hope to see everyone when the USMTS is back to the area in mid June.

RESULTS

Heat #1: Mark Noble, Scott Megonigle, Kelly Shryock, Don Gumke, Jason Slegh, Joel Lisowski, Jimmy Davis, Dustin Wagner, Marty Thompson, Dain Schultz, Barry Underdahl.

Heat #2: Mike Hejna, Jay Ihrke, Jason Hughes, Steve Wetzstein, Darin Walker, Dan Bohr, David Siercks, Jason Cummins, Joey Jensen, Corey Dripps, Kevin Stoa.

Heat #3: Scott Drake, John VanDenBerg, Tommy Myer, Mark Elliott, Darin Toot, Chad Behne, Jordan Steier, Nathan Chodur, James Parker, Jerry Young, Al Hejna.

Heat #4: Brad Waits, Craig Scott, Dennis Hillson, Nate Wasmund, Ryan Ruter, Ricky Kluver, Mark Trautner, Nathan Kilwine, Mike Schendel, Dean Mahlstedt.

Heat #5: Justin Boney, Doug Hillson, Eddie Martin, Pat Graham, Ron Schreiner, Jay Poidinger, Todd Stinehart, KyleChiglo, David Schuster, Jon Tesch.

B-main #1: Ron Schreiner, Darin Toot, Eddie Martin, Dan Bohr, Ryan Ruter.

B-main #2: Darin Walker, Mark Elliott, Don Gumke, Jimmy Davis, Jerry Young.

A-main: Kelly Shryock, Craig Scott, Scott Drake, John VanDenBerg, Nate Wasmund, Jason Hughes, Dan Bohr, Jon Tesch, Tommy Myer, Eddie Martin, Don Gumke, Ron Schreiner, Mark Elliott, Corey Dripps, Jerry Young, Mark Noble, Scott Megonigle, Jimmy Davis, Justin Boney, Ryan Ruter, Darin Walker, Brad Waits, Mike Hejna, Darin Toot.