A heart pounding race, and weather, greet fans at USMTS show at Mineral City Speedway

I think the adrenaline is still flowing from last week’s USMTS show at Mineral City Speedway in Ft. Dodge. The combination of a last corner pass for the win by Ryan Gustin, coupled with fleeing from impending tornadoes, definitely left a lasting impression.

I hadn’t been to Mineral City since it had become an oval. I attended the shows there back when the CORR off-road series came to town, and that was a blast. I’ll have to say my visit to the oval was just as exciting. Three competitive classes, two features decided on the last lap, and it was run in record time as the Mineral City and USMTS personnel ran this one off in record time to beat the storms that were brewing. Great job to both of them.

In the first feature of the night, Justin Nehring and Devin Smith brought their battle to the finish line with Nehring taking first. This race also featured a roll-over in turns three and four. The driver emerged unscathed and the track crew had things picked up and we were back to racing in quick order, helping keep me and a few others relaxed as the clouds rolled over.

In the stock car feature, Mark Elliott stunk up the Dart Iron Man Challenge, starting on the front row and setting a brisk pace that nobody else could match. When I say stunk up, that’s nothing against Mark. He was just so dominant on the night; the other drivers in the 22-car field didn’t have a chance. He’s got a good car, I also saw him take third at Oskaloosa in this year’s Dart opener after starting at the tail of the field.

The evening’s USMTS main event saw Al Hejna and Brad Williams starting on the front row, but it was fourth starting Colt Mather that soon found his way to the front.

Mather stretched to an early lead, and looked like he might hang on for the win. Then, the distance between he and second-running Jason Krohn began to shrink. Krohn was reeling him in and in the closing laps made a pass for the lead. It was a pass that I thought was going to stick and see the 7K win. Krohn, Mather and the now-in-third Ryan Gustin, entered traffic as the laps wound down. Gustin soon took second and was looking to the lead. Hammering the car up top, Gustin gained on Krohn, catching him coming out of turn four as the duo headed to the checkers. A wild finish!

Even wilder was how fast the infield and the stands cleared out as lightning flashed to the east, north and west of the track. The photographers managed to catch up to Gustin at his pit stall, where we held an impromptu Victory Lane.

It was a great first experience at Mineral City, and I am looking forward to a return visit – a nice, sunny, calm, return visit.

The winner -Ryan Gustin celebrates his USMTS win pitside at Mineral City Speedway. - BWJ photo


Fast car - Ryan Gustin took the win at Ft. Dodge, his fifth USMTS win in-a-row ,coming out of turn four on the last lap. - BWJ photo

For the lead - In the closing laps, Jason Krohn (7K) went low to take the lead from Colt Mather (8). - BWJ photo

USMTS feature - Jason Schueller (3A) works for position against Mike Weiderman (37x). - BWJ photo

Stock Car Battle 1 - Jeremy Crimmins (15) works underneath Mike Van Genderen (57V). - BWJ photo

Stock Car Battle 2 - Nathan Wood (52) and Jeff Deal (22) race in close quarters in turn one. - BWJ photo