Hughes makes it four in a row, aces USMTS field at Outlaw Motor Speedway

OKTAHA, Okla. (March 19) – The Jason Hughes juggernaut kept on rolling Friday night at the Outlaw Motor Speedway near Muskogee, Okla., as he secured his fourth straight win under the USMTS banner.

After winning at the Houston Raceway Park on Feb. 20, then sweeping last weekend’s doubleheader at the Humboldt Speedway, the last thing his competition needed to do was give Hughes an ace in the hole.

With a third-place finish in his heat race, Hughes garnered enough passing points to net the eighth and final redraw position for the “A” Main. The top seven qualifiers drew their starting spots first, leaving Hughes with whatever spot went unpicked.

What remained was the ace of spades, giving Hughes the pole position. It proved to be the closest anybody would get to him.

The USMTS Modifieds last visited the Outlaw Motor Speedway for back-to-back nights of racing in 2003 with Hughes and Tommy Myer topping those two shows. Seven years later, the same pair of drivers filled the front row for Friday night’s feature race.

When the green flag waved to start the 30-lap main event on the high-banked 4/10-mile dirt oval, Terry Phillips snuck Myer for second place, but by the third lap Hughes had built a four-car-length bulge over his pursuers.

Two caution flags – one on lap 7 and the second on lap 11 – erased Hughes’ advantage, but all of the passing occurred behind the 35-year-old from nearby Westville, Okla.

Myer used the second caution flag to wrestle the runner-up spot back from Phillips on the restart, and kept Hughes within two or three car-lengths for the next dozen circuits.

With the leaders approaching a trio of lapped cars on lap 24 and Myer still within striking distance, Hughes made a diving move in turns 1-2 to slip past all three back-markers. By the time Myer cleared the traffic two laps later, Hughes was exiting the second turn as Myer was just entering the first.

Hughes cruised the rest of the way to notch his fourth straight win and pocket the $2,000 top prize while Myer and Phillips hung on to finish second and third.

Nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock grabbed fourth and Jesse Stovall rounded out the top five finishers. Sixth through tenth, respectively, went to Jon Tesch, Stormy Scott, Zack VanderBeek, Johnny Bone Jr. and Jeremy Payne.

Friday’s event was the first and only on this year’s calendar to feature both the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour and USMTS Castle Rock Recruiting Southern Series. Hughes came and went as the 2010 points leader for both campaigns.

In the Falcon Wind Power Mo-Kan Region of the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour, Hughes holds a big advantage over Shryock (317 to 262). Bone is third with 245 points, followed by Tesch (214), Dereck Ramirez (211), VanderBeek (209), Rodney Sanders (207), John Allen (203), Tommy Weder Jr. (203) and Bryan Rowland (185).

In the USMTS Castle Rock Recruiting Southern Series, Hughes leads 395 to 377 over Phillips, followed by Payne (363), Morgan Bagley (325), Shryock (314), Bumper Jones (304), John O Whittington (276), Ramirez (275), VanderBeek (263) and Randy Timms (260).

Less than an hour after the checkered flag flew Friday night, heavy rain moved into the area. A winter storm warning dumping a mix of rain and snow with temperatures near freezing in West Siloam Springs, Okla., forced USMTS officials to cancel the accompanying event on Saturday, March 20, at the West Siloam Speedway.

Officials are working on possible dates this spring to reschedule the show, along with a possible second date at a nearby facility to create a doubleheader.

Up next for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour will be the 7th Annual Nebraska Spring Thaw on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27, at the Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb. - the first event of 2010 in the Dart Great Plains Region presented by Allstar Performance.

The USMTS Castle Rock Recruiting Southern Series rolls back into action with the 4th Annual Texas Shootout on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 16-18. The Golden Triangle Raceway Park in Beaumont will host the opening event on Friday, the it's off to the Gator Motorplex in Willis on Saturday before wrapping up the tripleheader with a Sunday showdown at the 105 Motor Speedway in Cleveland.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also follow the USMTS on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Casey's General Store - Modified
Heat Races 3/19/2010
Heat 1 Finish Driver
1 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD (4)
2 2s - Stormy Scott -- Las Cruces, NM (5)
3 12 - Jason Hughes -- Westville, OK (8)
4 20 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK (2)
5 27j - Greg Skaggs -- Bixby, OK (3)
6 91 - Joe Duvall -- Chelsea, OK (6)
7 111 - Bumper Jones -- Mesilla Park, NM (10)
8 20 - Rodney Sanders -- Happy, TX (11)
9 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK (9)
10 63 - Ryan Whitworth -- Humboldt, KS (7)
11 1 - Mike Wroblewski -- Muskogee, OK (1)
Heat 2 Finish Driver
1 65 - Tommy Myer -- Blooming Prairie, MN (3)
2 10 - Kyle Schmidt -- Farmington, AR (5)
3 11 - Brandon Morton -- Coweta, OK (7)
4 4 - Ronnie Barbee -- Siloam Springs, AR (8)
5 5t - Randy Timms -- Wheatland, OK (9)
6 98 - John Allen -- Chanute, KS (10)
7 7x - Rory Jordan -- Victoria, TX (2)
8 11 - Josh Griggs -- Dewey, OK (4)
9 17 - Lucas Conley -- Spring Hill, KS (6)
10 20 - Troy Seidl -- Maganolia, TX (1)
Heat 3 Finish Driver
1 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA (10)
2 19r - Ryan Gustin -- Marshalltown, IA (3)
3 74 - Jeremy Payne -- Springfield, MO (5)
4 12b - Johnny Bone Jr. -- Pea Ridge, AR (9)
5 47 - Melvin Pilcher -- Springdale, AR (1)
6 23 - Brandon Davis -- Castle Rock, CO (2)
7 40 - Brian Green -- Pierce City, MO (6)
8 21 - Jarrod Havens -- Muskogee, OK (7)
9 38 - Jeremy Ross -- Locust Grove, OK (8)
10 26 - Brian Williams -- Fayetteville, AR (4)
Heat 4 Finish Driver
1 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (1)
2 16 - Austin Siebert -- Grandview, MO (2)
3 00 - Jesse Stovall -- Galena, MO (7)
4 20r - Bryan Rowland -- Woodward, OK (3)
5 34 - Ben Stephens -- Hattiesburg, MS (4)
6 8 - Colt Mather -- Webster, IA (5)
7 73 - Mickey Burrell -- Fair Grove, MO (8)
8 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (6)
9 7h - Brett Hansen -- Fort Gibson, OK (10)
10 60 - William Gould -- Calera, OK (9)
Heat 5 Finish Driver
1 75 - Terry Phillips -- Springfield, MO (6)
2 14 - Steve Lacy -- Jenks, OK (2)
3 1c - Chris Deaton -- Wann, OK (4)
4 5r - Morgan Bagley -- Longview, TX (10)
5 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS (7)
6 64L - Gary Andrews -- Muskogee, OK (5)
7 87 - John Webb -- Pauls Valley, OK (1)
8 64 - Jay Sale -- Edmond, OK (8)
9 9$ - Casey Buechler -- Claremore, OK (3)
10 117 - Jason Teague -- Tahlequah, OK (9)


A Main Prelim Report
Casey's General Store - Modified 3/19/2010
Preliminary Redraw
Driver Name Car Number Points Starting Starting
VanderBeek, Zack 33z 72.5 1 1
Phillips, Terry 75 66.5 1 2
Tesch, Jon 14 63.5 1 3
Myer, Tommy 65 62 1 4
Scott, Stormy 2s 59.5 2 5
Schmidt, Kyle 10 59.5 2 6
Shryock, Kelly 3 59 1 7
Hughes, Jason 12 58.5 3 8
Morton, Brandon 11 57 3 9 XXXXXX
Stovall, Jesse 00 57 3 10 XXXXXX
Gustin, Ryan 19r 56.5 2 11 XXXXXX
Bagley, Morgan 5r 56 4 12 XXXXXX
Siebert, Austin 16 55 2 13 XXXXXX
Lacy, Steve 14 55 2 14 XXXXXX


Casey's General Store - Modified
B Main Finish 3/19/2010
Heat 1 Finish Driver
1 12b - Johnny Bone Jr. -- Pea Ridge, AR (1)
2 20r - Bryan Rowland -- Woodward, OK (4)
3 5t - Randy Timms -- Wheatland, OK (3)
4 47 - Melvin Pilcher -- Springdale, AR (6)
5 4 - Ronnie Barbee -- Siloam Springs, AR (2)
6 20 - Rodney Sanders -- Happy, TX (10)
7 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR (13)
8 111 - Bumper Jones -- Mesilla Park, NM (7)
9 64L - Gary Andrews -- Muskogee, OK (9)
10 98 - John Allen -- Chanute, KS (5)
11 7h - Brett Hansen -- Fort Gibson, OK (14)
12 17 - Lucas Conley -- Spring Hill, KS (15)
13 23 - Brandon Davis -- Castle Rock, CO (8)
14 11 - Josh Griggs -- Dewey, OK (12)
15 20 - Troy Seidl -- Maganolia, TX (17)
16 9$ - Casey Buechler -- Claremore, OK (16)
17 40 - Brian Green -- Pierce City, MO (11)
18 1 - Mike Wroblewski -- Muskogee, OK (19)
19 60 - William Gould -- Calera, OK (18)
Heat 2 Finish Driver
1 74 - Jeremy Payne -- Springfield, MO (1)
2 20 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK (3)
3 27j - Greg Skaggs -- Bixby, OK (5)
4 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS (4)
5 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK (14)
6 26 - Brian Williams -- Fayetteville, AR (17)
7 91 - Joe Duvall -- Chelsea, OK (7)
8 1c - Chris Deaton -- Wann, OK (2)
9 63 - Ryan Whitworth -- Humboldt, KS (16)
10 8 - Colt Mather -- Webster, IA (8)
11 21 - Jarrod Havens -- Muskogee, OK (12)
12 34 - Ben Stephens -- Hattiesburg, MS (6)
13 73 - Mickey Burrell -- Fair Grove, MO (9)
14 64 - Jay Sale -- Edmond, OK (13)
15 87 - John Webb -- Pauls Valley, OK (11)
16 7x - Rory Jordan -- Victoria, TX (10)
17 38 - Jeremy Ross -- Locust Grove, OK (15)
18 117 - Jason Teague -- Tahlequah, OK (18)


Casey's General Store - Modified
A Main Finish 3/19/2010
Finish Drive
1 12 - Jason Hughes -- Westville, OK (1)
2 65 - Tommy Myer -- Blooming Prairie, MN (2)
3 75 - Terry Phillips -- Springfield, MO (3)
4 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (4)
5 00 - Jesse Stovall -- Galena, MO (10)
6 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD (7)
7 2s - Stormy Scott -- Las Cruces, NM (8)
8 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA (5)
9 12b - Johnny Bone Jr. -- Pea Ridge, AR (15)
10 74 - Jeremy Payne -- Springfield, MO (16)
11 5t - Randy Timms -- Wheatland, OK (19)
12 5r - Morgan Bagley -- Longview, TX (12)
13 20 - Rodney Sanders -- Happy, TX (25)
14 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK (24)
15 20 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK (18)
16 26 - Brian Williams -- Fayetteville, AR (26)
17 19r - Ryan Gustin -- Marshalltown, IA (11)
18 10 - Kyle Schmidt -- Farmington, AR (6)
19 14 - Steve Lacy -- Jenks, OK (14)
20 47 - Melvin Pilcher -- Springdale, AR (21)
21 4 - Ronnie Barbee -- Siloam Springs, AR (23)
22 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS (22)
23 11 - Brandon Morton -- Coweta, OK (9)
24 20r - Bryan Rowland -- Woodward, OK (17)
25 27j - Greg Skaggs -- Bixby, OK (20)
26 16 - Austin Siebert -- Grandview, MO (13)