Just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of his last United States Modified Touring Series victory, Zack VanderBeek notched his first win of the 2015 campaign Friday night as the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s Cup powered by S&S Fishing & Rental rolled into the Mississippi Thunder Speedway.
The stars seemed to align early for VanderBeek when his nephew and crew member Nick Van Hemert drew the No. 33 pill on behalf of his uncle at the driver’s sign-in. That put VanderBeek’s No. 33z Casey’s General Stores LG2 by Owens on the pole for MSD Heat Race #1 which he won handily.
“That was good. That always helps,” VanderBeek said. “The draw is so important here when you’re racing against the caliber of drivers in this series. We haven’t done too well in that department as of late, so it was a nice to get a good draw.”
Unwilling to taunt karma, the nephew was again entrusted with the feature race redraw duties and again put VanderBeek’s machine on the pole by drawing the top slot.
When the green flag waved over the 24-car main event starting field, however, it was Jesse Sobbing blasting into the lead from the outside of the front row while VanderBeek stayed close behind.
“Jesse, he’s a gasser and he knows how to get around a racetrack,” VanderBeek noted. “He set the pace and I typically don’t take off really good on initial starts when the track’s a little greasy, so I was just kind of watching him.”
Meanwhile, Rodney Sanders and Jason Hughes-the two most dominating forces in the first five races of ‘The Hunt’ and sitting first and second in the championship points standings-were charging toward the front of the pack.
Eighth-starting Sanders clawed his way into the third spot behind VanderBeek on lap 10 while Hughes, who began the 40-lapper from the 13th spot, roared into sixth at the same time.
Cory Crapser’s breakdown on lap 13 brought out the race’s first and only caution flag, and VanderBeek made his move when the green flag returned.
Scooting by on the inside of Sobbing, VanderBeek pulled away to lead the 14th lap and began to put some distance between himself and his chasers.
He continued to build his advantage over everybody but Hughes, who worked his way into fifth on the restart, fourth on lap 16, around Sanders for third on lap 17 and then grabbed second from Sobbing with 20 laps complete.
For the final 20 laps, VanderBeek and Hughes recorded nearly identical lap times which differed by about a tenth of a second one way or the other with each passing lap. With that, Hughes was not able to chip away at VanderBeek’s ten-car-length advantage until the leader reached lapped traffic in the late stages.
While VanderBeek worked his way through a pack of back-markers, Hughes was able to close the gap in the closing laps but VanderBeek never offered up the bobble needed for Hughes to pounce and rolled to the finish line with a two-car-length advantage over the 2010 USMTS National Champion.
“We got that restart early on and the car just come alive there,” VanderBeek said in victory lane. “Looking behind us I seen (Hughes) was coming and I didn’t know where he was running, but he never a got a run and I was just trying to keep it straight and not fight the car too much. It just worked out.
“It’s been a long year and we simply couldn’t be here without the support we get from our sponsors, my family, our crew… it takes a lot to keep up with these guys.”
Sobbing remained in third and Sanders was fourth, with Dereck Ramirez rounding out the top finishers in the main event. Lucas Schott, Jesse Glenz, Johnny Scott, Jacob Bleess and Dan Ebert completed the top 10.
It was VanderBeek’s 28th career USMTS triumph. The win was worth $3,000 to the 30-year-old from New Sharon, Iowa, and his first since Aug. 16, 2014, at the Ogilvie Raceway-site of tomorrow night’s USMTS action.
Last year, VanderBeek got around Jason Krohn with six laps to go at the Ogilvie Raceway, and then held off Sanders in the closing laps to score the win.
Earlier this year, Stormy Scott netted his second career USMTS win at Ogilvie. Krohn, Jeremy Payne and Hughes each have one win to their credit here.
Presented by Mora Chevrolet and Buick, the first green flag is scheduled to wave at 6:30 p.m. Midwest Mods, Street Stocks and Hornets will round out the racing action. Adult tickets are $20, seniors and students ages 13-17 get in for $18 and kids ages 12 and under are free.
Race fans can get discount coupons good for $2 off adult general admission at Casey’s General Stores locations in Cambridge, Milaca, Ogilvie and Princeton. Cade Dillard and his No. 97 Snickers machine will be greeting fans in person about a half-mile from the track at the Casey’s General Store located at 400 West Hwy. 23 in Ogilvie from 12-2 p.m. Tune your radio to WWJO 98.1 FM to hear live broadcasts from the appearance.
The Ogilvie Raceway is a 3/8-mile semi-banked dirt oval located 2.0 miles east of Ogilvie on the south side of SR 23. For more information call 763-267-4572 or visit their website at www.ogilvieraceway.com.
To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usmtstv.
