Shryock takes USMTS win at I-44 Speedway
By Dusty Luthy - I-44 Speedway PR Director

LEBANON, Mo. May 13, 2006) - After two weeks of rain, the United States Modified Touring Series brought skilled drivers, fast driving and a bit of sunshine Saturday night to the Lebanon I-44 Speedway.

Forty-five touring and local drivers alike competed in the $2,000 to-win 3rd Annual Missouri Nationals show. Defending USMTS champion Kelly Shryock took home the victory. Mid America Racing Series drivers Jack Sullivan and Terry Phillips also brought Modifieds to compete with the open-wheeled cars.

"I tell you," Shryock said after his win, "there's just a lot of good cars and it's hard not to get intimidated when you see the likes of Phillips, and with him being here, it can kind of get you motivated a little bit."

Some might say the likes of Shryock could intimidate some of the best.

"We just try hard and try to keep doing what we do and what we know and when we can pull a win off like this, it's pretty cool," he said.

Phillips understands the competition. He brought both his Modified and his Late Model to get a few more laps on his cars before bigger, later-season races.

"To run against these Modified guys, that's a pretty serious bunch," Phillips said. "You got to know where you stand. I enjoy running with them, so you might as well bring the Late Model and try some things."

For the feature, Shryock started on the pole with Terry Beckham Jr. on his outside. Dustin Boney, Gary Blackburn Jr. and Al Hejna rounded out the top five starters.

Beckham latched on to the high-side of the track, grabbing the lead, followed by Shryock and Blackburn who all kept their spots for several laps. Boney, Hejna and Steve Holzkamper battled for the fourth and fifth place spots.

By the fifth lap, Dean Mahlstedt moved up a few spots from his seventh start to join the battle for fifth. On the ninth lap he had passed Blackburn to take fourth.

Ryan Ruter, who won the feature the previous night in Bolivar, was also on a charge. Ruter started the feature ninth and on lap 11, was running in sixth place. Two laps later, he secured fifth.

Green-flag racing went uninterrupted until lap 16 when Boney got turned around in turn three. On the caution, Beckham still held the lead, followed by Shryock, Hejna, Ruter and Mahlstedt.

With the restart, Hejna began pouring a little pressure on the leader, dipping down on the inside, going side by side with Beckham. Beckham kept his lead but Hejna had now taken second from Shryock.

Hejna continued his charge on the inside, taking first on lap 20. A lap later, Beckham fell to third and Ruter slipped a bit from fourth and fell to sixth as Phillips and Mahlstedt took over. Phillips qualified through the second B Feature to start 18th in the Main Feature.

A lap later, Shryock took his turn on the outside and took first from Hejna. Phillips was preparing to make another charge, but got too high on the cushion and dropped half the field to 12th.

On lap 23, a caution stalled action. Beckham, who was in third place, rolled off the track after losing a left rear spring and problems with his oil pan.

Although he said he hates to see misfortune, Shryock said you have to take advantage of it when it happens.

"Terry's always fast," he said about Beckham, "Early, it seemed like he was getting away from me. I was just going to try and save my tires a little bit and let the track blow off a little more.

"He was going to be there at the end if he hadn't broke," he added.

After traveling the high groove, Ruter found himself in third place on lap 28 as current USMTS points leader Mark Noble and Phillips were battling door to door for fifth.

Shryock, Hejna and Ruter were able to hold their top three positions to the finish. Phillips gained a spot to fourth and Mahlstedt secured fifth.

After winning the last USMTS race at I-44 Speedway last season, Hejna had high hopes for the night.

"I didn't need that long caution," Hejna said. "I wasn't ready for it; it affected the car, it affected the tires and the track. If I could have kept racing and kept my tires hot, I think I would have been ok."

Ruter said patience kept him going as his field status changed several times during the feature.

"You've got to search a little bit," Ruter said. "At the beginning I was pretty good right in the middle and it seemed like that kind of got burned off so I had to move to the top a little bit. I definitely figured out the bottom wasn't good for my car.

The Late Model feature was stacked as well with 25 cars competing. The anxieties Phillips had about his Modified were silenced when he won the Late Model feature. Fellow MARS driver Sullivan also made up for his 16th place Modified finish by taking second.

Sullivan competed Friday night at Bolivar and blew his Modified engine. For Saturday night, he borrowed another Modified to make the USMTS show at Lebanon and for Monett the following night.

"It's not quite like mine," Sullivan said, "but I'm going to try it again tomorrow night."

After a few rainouts and weekends off from MARS, Sullivan said he needed a few more laps under his wheels as well. Saturday night was the first night to test out his brand new GRT car. With a Vic Hill motor, the car performed well on its inaugural night.

"This is a new car and I needed to shake it down before the Show Me," he said. "I was able to bring it home in one piece, with just a ding or two."

Will Vaught won the pole with Shane Essary to his outside. Brandon McCormick, Terry Phillips and Brad Looney rounded out the starting five.

By the third lap, Phillips had jumped to first and never looked back. Sullivan also got a good start, moving to fifth place from his ninth place start by lap three.

Looney fell back as far as seventh before getting his wheels under him and charging back, getting around McCormick for fifth on lap nine.

On lap 12, McCormick got too tight in turn two and spun around, stopping action as he went tailback.

Dave Ware was also making his presence known, working side by side with Looney for fifth on lap 16. After a caution on lap 17, Sullivan was able to go high around Vaught for second. Vaught continued to drop positions, finishing fifth in the feature. Looney and Essary were able to stay in the top five, finishing third and fourth respectively.

Always a competitive class, the Factory Stock division saw three different leaders within the first three laps of racing. Burl Woods won the pole, but was overtaken by Robbie Bryant on his outside. By the next lap, Woods had the taken lead back but lost it on lap three to Lake Mooneyham. After trading the first position with Woods later in the feature, Mooneyham took the win. Bryant, David Hendrix, Woods and Lonnie Henderson finished out the top five in the feature.

Josh Woody took home his third Super Stock feature of the season. Woody is driving a very close points race with Ben Newell, both being tied for points before Saturday's race. Tyler Brown took home his first Bomber win of the season. The Bomber points race is also a close one. Before Saturday, Dusty Rhoads was in the lead with 83 points, with Brown and Jason Huey trailing by only 6 points.

Results:
Modified

Feature

1. 3 Kelly Shryock
2. 7 Al Hejna
3. 555 Ryan Ruter
4. 75 Terry Phillips
5. 21m Dean Mahlstedt
6. 74 Mark Noble
7. 5 Steve Holzkamper
8. 98 Jeff Cutshaw
9. 26b Gary Blackburn Jr.
10. 14 John Tesch
11. 12b Johnny Bone Jr.
12. 26 Brad McEwan
13. 88 Chad Wheeler
14. 1f Jason Friesen
15. 25 Scott Roberts
16. 14x Jack Sullivan
17. x Mike Wedelstadt
18. 33z Zack VanderBeek
19. 118 Terry Beckham Jr.
20. 11 Brandon Morton
21. 20 Dustin Boney
22. 65 Tommy Myer
23. 31 Corey Dripps
24. m21 Steve Martin



Late Models

Heat 1

1. 1v Will Vaught
2. 20 Darrell Mooneyham
3. 14L Brad Looney
4. 18 Jack Sullivan
5. 22g Steve Grotz
6. 99 Larry Jones
7. 71 Jason Meadors
8. 28 Leroy Johnson
9. 21 Jeff Schlup



Heat 2

1. 15 Shane Essary
2. 75 Terry Phillips
3. 66 Brandon Maggard
4. 02 Dustin Mooneyham
5. 112 Darrin Hendricks
6. 51 Donnie Gemes
7. 72 Larry Moon

DNS 17 Matt Miller, 1cjr Christian Rayburn



Heat 3

1. 42 Brandon McCormick
2. 10 Justin Wells
3. 55w Dave Ware
4. 75a Shannon Anastosopolis
5. 1s Kyle Steffens
6. 87 Trace Westling
7. 14m Reid Millard



Feature

1. 75 Terry Phillips
2. 18 Jack Sullivan
3. 14L Brad Looney
4. 15 Shane Essary
5. 1v Will Vaught
6. 55 Dave Ware
7. 10 Justin Wells
8. 66 Brandon Maggard
9. 75 Shannon Anastosopolis
10. 71 Jason Meadors
11. 22 Steve Grotz
12. 42 Brandon McCormick
13. 99 Larry Jones
14. 87 Trace Westling
15. 112 Darrin Hendricks
16. 1s Kyle Steffens
17. 14m Reid Millard
18. 02 Dustin Mooneyham
19. 28 Leroy Johnson
20. 51 Donnie Gemes
21. 72 Larry Moon
22. 20 Darrell Mooneyham

DNS 17 Matt Miller, 1cjr Christian Rayburn, 21 Jeff Schlup



Factory Stock

Heat 1

1. 26 Burl Woods
2. 37 Derrick Peterson
3. 14p Bud Pursley
4. 03 Tim Ellis
5. 89 Justin Grindstaff
6. 51 Jeff Tate

DNS 117 Shawn Danuser



Heat 2

1. 45 Robbie Bryant
2. 5 Lake Mooneyham
3. 76 Lonnie Henderson
4. 83 Tim Riffle
5. 25 Chad Smith
6. 54 David Hendrix
7. 42 Robert Rydeen



Feature

1. 5 Lake Mooneham
2. 45 Robbie Bryant
3. 54 David Hendrix
4. 26 Burl Woods
5. 76 Lonnie Henderson
6. 14p Bud Pursley
7. 03 Tim Ellis
8. 89 Justin Grindstaff
9. 37 Derrick Peterson
10. 42 Robert Rydeen
11. 51 Jeff Tate
12. 83 Tim Riffle

DNS 25 Chad Smith, 117 Shawn Danuser



Super Stock

Heat 1

1. 83 Ben Newell
2. 21 Josh Woody
3. t10 Rick Brown
4. 18 Mike Joplin
5. h77 Randy Hill
6. 8 Jeff Scroggins
7. 40c Nathan Cottrell
8. 4c Chuck Avis

DNS 161 Dewayne Applegate



Feature

1. 21 Josh Woody
2. t10 Rick Brown
3. 83 Ben Newell
4. 8 Jeff Scroggins
5. 77 Randy Hill
6. 40c Nathan Cottrell
7. 161 Dewayne Applegate

DNS 4c Chuck Avis, 18 Mike Joplin



Bomber

Heat 1

1. 68 Brian Monnahan
2. 32 Joe Francis
3. 7 Brandon Pister
4. t10 Tyler Brown
5. 15 Sheldon Stoufer
6. 6 J.C. Morton
7. 49 Gene Allen

DNS 244 Richard Talley



Heat 2

1. 4 Dusty Rhoads
2. 42 Donnie Jackson
3. 9 Darrin Crisler
4. 22g Grant Sharp
5. 7L Josh Lewis
6. 10 Steve Cochron
7. 84 Corey Pope
8. 23 Jason Huey
9. 07 Tim Hall



Feature

1. t10 Tyler Brown
2. 32 Joe Francis
3. 9 Darrin Crisler
4. 49 Gene Allen
5. 6 J.C. Morton
6. 10 Steve Cochron
7. 7L Josh Lewis
8. 15 Sheldon Stoufer
9. 4 Dusty Rhoads
10. 42 Donnie Jackson
11. 7p Brandon Pister
12. 84 Corey Pope
13. 22g Grant Sharp

DNS 23 Jason Huey, 07 Tim Hall, 244 Richard Talley