Sorensen snookers Ramirez in unforgettable USMTS finish at The Rev

MONROE, La. (Sept. 11)—The Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s celebrates the men and women of our armed forces, first responders and other front-line workers like nobody else in American motorsports.

On the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our symbols of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Dylan Scott’s Revolution Park (The Rev) in Monroe, La., hosted the Summit Racing Equipment “Never Forget 40” presented by Wrisco on Saturday and the USMTS warriors delivered a finish that will long be remembered.

The beautiful multi-grooved clay oval provided three-wide racing all night long—none closer than the final 100 feet of the 40-lap main event when Dustin Sorensen, Dereck Ramirez and Tanner Mullens crossed the finish line with less than two-tenths of a second separating the trio.

From the outside of the front row, Jake Timm set a blistering pace early on as he led the first 24 laps before a minor bobble opened the door for points leader Dereck Ramirez to take the lead as they completed lap 25.

After a wildly entertaining first half of the race with Timm and Sorensen, Ramirez began to put a little breathing room between himself and his chasers, but the two closed the gap behind Ramirez in the late stages and Mullens came with them as lapped traffic also became a factor.

While Ramirez was smooth through the upper middle portion of the racing surface, Sorensen was aggressively pounding the moist cushion up top while Mullens was taking the shortest way around the state-of-the-art 3/8-mile.

The white flag waved with a lapped car directly in front of Ramirez and he was forced to choose a different line as the leaders entered the final set of turns.

Like Timm earlier when Ramirez took the lead, a minor miscue in the final corner opened the door for Sorensen to cut back and pull even with Ramirez while Mullens made it a three-way race to the checkered flag running the bottom line.

At the line, Sorensen edged Ramirez by a whisker and Ramirez beat Mullens to the stripe by an even smaller margin.

A jubilant Sorensen celebrated his $10,000 triumph in victory lane with his crew and parents, Mike and Elaine Sorensen. It was his second win of the season and sixth career USMTS win—one better than his crew chief and father who amassed five USMTS trophies in his career.

While Ramirez had to settle for a runner-up paycheck, he was able to pad his points lead over his closest rivals for the title—Jake O’Neil, who finished fifth, and Rodney Sanders who dropped out of the race with mechanical troubles while running in the top five.

Mullens and Timm were third and fourth while Joe Duvall, Brooks Strength, Terry Phillips, Jason Hughes and Tyler Wolff completed the top 10.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s
Summit Racing Equipment “Never Forget 40” presented by Wrisco
Revolution Park (The Rev), Monroe, La.
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown, laps completed and money won. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Casey’s “A” Main.

SIMPSON PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (1) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
2. (2) 49JR Jake Timm, Winona, Minn.
3. (4) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
4. (3) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (7) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
6. (8) 718 Tommy Cannon (R), Denham Springs, La.
7. (6) 46 Jade Luzenberg (R), Saucier, Miss.
8. (5) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
9. (9) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
10. (10) 19R Chris Kratzer (R), Wichita, Kan.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La.
2. (4) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
3. (3) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
4. (1) 2SS Mark Smith (R), Anthony, N.M.
5. (7) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (6) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
7. (5) 56 Colton Horner (R), Houston, Texas
8. (8) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
9. (9) 45 Chase Holland (R), Saucier, Miss.

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps):
1. (2) 88 Nathan Smith (R), Anthony, N.M.
2. (4) 0 Jake O’Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (1) 2G Kenny Gaddis, Diana, Texas
4. (3) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
5. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
6. (9) 12T Race Taylor (R), Leland, Miss.
7. (7) 85 Jayson Good (R), Watertown, S.D.
8. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
9. (8) 38T T.J. Tolleson (R), Bevins, Texas

MSD PERFORMANCE HEAT RACE #4 (8 laps):
1. (1) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M.
2. (2) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
3. (3) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
4. (4) 51W J.T. Wasmund (R), Pine Island, Minn.
5. (7) 369 Bart Taylor (R), Sheridan, Wyo.
6. (8) 444 Brooks Strength (R), Raymond, Miss.
7. (6) 2G Brandon Givens (R), Wichita, Kan.
8. (5) 7 Sean Gaddis, Diana, Texas
9. (9) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (2) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis.
2. (3) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
3. (1) 51W J.T. Wasmund (R), Pine Island, Minn.
4. (6) 444 Brooks Strength (R), Raymond, Miss.
5. (5) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
6. (4) 369 Bart Taylor (R), Sheridan, Wyo., VanderBuilt/Tim’s, $125.
7. (11) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
8. (7) 46 Jade Luzenberg (R), Saucier, Miss., MBCustoms/Mullins, $125.
9. (9) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan.
10. (12) 38T T.J. Tolleson (R), Bevins, Texas, $100.
11. (8) 85 Jayson Good (R), Watertown, S.D., MBCustoms/Tim’s, $125.
12. (13) 19R Chris Kratzer (R), Wichita, Kan., Hughes/Mullens, $125.
13. (10) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, VanderBuilt/Stoen, $125.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (12 laps, top 5 advance):
1. (1) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
2. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
3. (2) 2SS Mark Smith (R), Anthony, N.M.
4. (5) 718 Tommy Cannon (R), Denham Springs, La.
5. (6) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn.
6. (7) 56 Colton Horner (R), Houston, Texas, MBCustoms/Durham, $125.
7. (9) G17 Fito Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M., GR2/Hill, $125.
8. (11) 45 Chase Holland (R), Saucier, Miss., MBCustoms/Wall2Wall, $125.
9. (4) 12T Race Taylor (R), Leland, Miss., Shaw/Barker, $100.
10. (10) 7 Sean Gaddis, Diana, Texas, MBCustoms/PTS, $125.
11. (8) 2G Brandon Givens (R), Wichita, Kan., Hughes/Mullins, $125.
12. (12) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (9) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn., MBCustoms/Action, 40, $10,000.
2. (6) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/Cornett, 40, $5000.
3. (16) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., Mullens/Mullens, 40, $3100.
4. (2) 49JR Jake Timm, Winona, Minn., MBCustoms/OFI, 40, $2000.
5. (4) 0 Jake O’Neil, Tucson, Ariz., LG2/Cornett, 40, $1700.
6. (10) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla., MBCustoms/Stoen, 40, $1500.
7. (19) 444 Brooks Strength (R), Raymond, Miss., MBCustoms/Stoen, 40, $1200.
8. (14) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Durham, 40, $1000.
9. (8) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins, 40, $900.
10. (21) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., MBCustoms/ECE, 40, $850.
11. (22) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn., MBCustoms/Stoen, 40, $800.
12. (13) 1M Curt Myers, Cameron, Wis., Rage/Sput’s, 40, $775.
13. (20) 718 Tommy Cannon (R), Denham Springs, La., Hughes/ECE, 40, $750.
14. (11) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., Lethal/Ebert, 40, $740.
15. (18) 2SS Mark Smith (R), Anthony, N.M., MBCustoms/Mullins, 40, $735.
16. (23) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., Hughes/Mullins, 39, $730.
17. (12) 2G Kenny Gaddis, Diana, Texas, MBCustoms/PTS, 39, $725.
18. (25) 8C Chris Clark, Jackson, Wyo., Hughes/Cornett, 39, $145.
19. (7) J17 Jake Gallardo, Las Cruces, N.M., GR2/Mullins, 37, $715.
20. (24) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif., MRT/Yeoman, 28, $710.
21. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, MBCustoms/Hatfield, 27, $705.
22. (1) 97 Cade Dillard, Robeline, La., MBCustoms/Stoen, 12, $700.
23. (5) 88 Nathan Smith (R), Anthony, N.M., MBCustoms/Mullins, 12, $700.
24. (17) 51W J.T. Wasmund (R), Pine Island, Minn., GRT/Baier’s, 12, $700.
25. (15) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas, Hughes/BMS, 8, $700.

(R) = Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender

Lap Leaders: Timm 1-24, Ramirez 25-39, Sorensen 40.
Total Laps Led: Timm 24, Ramirez 15, Sorensen 1.
Margin of Victory: 0.104 second.
Time of Race: 21 minutes, 46.258 seconds (4 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Davis, Mari.
Emergency Provisionals: Clark.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Mullens (started 16th, finished 3rd).
Entries: 37.
Next Race: Friday, Sept. 24, Deer Creek Speedway, Spring Valley, Minn.
Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s Points: Ramirez 2409, O’Neil 2358, Sanders 2279, Mullens 2270, Schott 2133, Wolff 2090, Sorensen 2076, Phillips 1963, Hughes 1959, Ebert 1958.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Strength 1368, Good 1094, Givens 1044, Jesse Glenz 877, Lucas Lee 713.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 241, Hughes 221, LG2 207, Mullens 181, Lethal 162.
Compstar USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Cornett 241, Hatfield 172, Stoen 168, Mullens 157, Mullins 128.

Contingency Awards:
American Racer – Timm.
Beyea Custom Headers – Timm.
BigDeal Car Care – Sorensen, Wolff.
Bryke Racing – M. Smith.
BSB Manufacturing – Sanders.
Champ Pans – O’Neil.
Deatherage Opticians – Ebert.
Edelbrock – N. Smith.
Eibach – Mullens.
Fast Shafts – Dillard.
FK Rod Ends – Mullens.
Hooker Harness – Myers.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – J. Gallardo.
Jerovetz Motorsports Racing Parts – Clark.
K1 RaceGear by Ryan Bowers Motorsports – B. Taylor.
Keyser Manufacturing – Wolff.
KS Engineering – Schott.
KSE Racing Products – Hughes.
Maxima Racing Oils – Sorensen.
Penske Racing Shocks – Cannon.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Holland.
QA1 – Sorensen.
Race Ranch – Mike Sorensen (Sorensen).
RacerWebsite.com – Phillips.
Simpson Performance Products – Ramirez.
Summit Racing Equipment – Hughes, Mullens, O’Neil, Phillips.
Super Clean – Sorensen.
Swift Springs – Sorensen, Cannon.
Sybesma Graphics – Dillard.
Tire Demon – VanderBeek.
VP Racing Fuels – Sorensen.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Holland.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Strength.