July 23, 2023 | By USMTS

Ramirez rides to $10,000 payday in Mason City

Mason City, IA —  The best racing surface and best battles of the weekend highlighted the finale of the 10th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals presented by Christie Door Store on Saturday while the spotlight was on Dereck Ramirez as he scored his first victory of the season with the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.

The Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway provided three or four nearly equal lanes for the best of the best in dirt modified racing to give the fans at North Iowa’s Action Track a thrilling prelude to the 25th Anniversary USMTS Silver Jubilee here, August 16-19.

Tanner Mullens picked up the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award, but Ramirez was just fine when the final chip left in the bag was the No. 4.

“I’m totally fine with that,” Ramirez said after learning he’s start the 50-lap main event from the outside of the second row. “I think about seventy-five percent of my wins have come from the fourth spot, so I have no problem with that.”

He did have a problem with Mullens early on in the feature race, however, as Mullens scooted out to a big lead out of the gate using the middle groove around the smooth and speedy 1/3-mile clay oval.

After the first caution of the race occurred on lap 14, Ramirez shot to the high side and overpowered Carlos Ahumada Jr. for second place. Mullens got the same treatment just four laps later.

The yellow flag waved two more times—the first on lap 33 when fourth-running Kyle Brown suffered a flat tire and again on lap 37 when Gary Christian and Dylan Thornton came together in turn four and ended their top-ten efforts.

Mullens and Ahumada both made a charge at Ramirez on each restart, but the 2021 USMTS National Champion just got faster and faster on long runs and beat Mullens to the finish line by about four car-lengths.

“I tried to give her away there with three or four to go,” Ramirez revealed as confetti covered his racing suit in victory lane. “I was getting free going into (turn) one there and I knew I needed to move up and come back down the racetrack. I got in there a little hot and pushed and I thought ‘Well I’m just going to give it to whoever is behind me.’

That was not the case. Ramirez led the final 33 laps with flawless navigation around the high side and tip-toeing through lapped traffic which was thick at times.

The 26th USMTS win of his career was worth $10,000 to the 36-year-old from Woodward, Oklahoma. It was his first since last October at the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, where the series will visit in two weeks.

“It’s been a trying year,” he said. “This deal is tough now, everybody’s so close together and it’s just hard to make anything work. My two guys, Steve and Marco, they work their tails off. They never give up on me and I can’t thank them enough for what they do.”

Behind Ramirez, Mullens crossed beneath the checkered flags in second place with eighth-starting Jason Hughes filling the final step on the podium.

Ahumada wound up fourth while Jake Timm, who won two out of three features last weekend at the Ogilvie Raceway, came from 19th to finish fifth and collect the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.

After starting 18th, Jim Chisholm found his way to a sixth-place finish ahead of Tim Ward, 23rd-starting Zack VanderBeek, 22nd-starting Rodney Sanders and Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender Will Krup.

Tripleheader at trio of tracks on tap: The next installment of scorched dirt happens Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 3-5, with a tripleheader at three state-of-the-art facilities in Kansas and Missouri.

On Thursday, August 3, the series returns to the I-70 speedway in Odessa. Missouri, for the 2nd Annual USMTS Bushwhacker at the famed half-mile speedplant. Last year, Sanders won by a nose to snap a lengthy winless streak, but this time he rolls into town as the series points leader with a $5,000 top prize on the line. Check out the Fast Facts.

The 7th Annual USMTS Grant Junghans Memorial presented by Shop Quik takes place the following night on Friday, August 4, at the legendary Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The one-day blockbuster will see the winner walk away with $12,002 and every starter gets no less than $1,302. Check out the Fast Facts.

Saturday, August 5, brings the USMTS back to the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, for the $10,000-to-win 13th Annual USMTS Slick-Mist Show-Me Shootout presented by Foley Equipment as Ramirez returns to try for his fourth straight victory at the “Diamond of Dirt Tracks.” Check out the Fast Facts.

For its Silver Anniversary season, the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt currently features 45 nights of racing at 15 of America's premier dirt track racing venues in nine states. The winners of those events are set to earn more than $300,000 with nearly $2 million in purses and prize money earmarked for the 2023 campaign.

Watch every USMTS event online live and on-demand from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

]RESULTS

Summit Racing Equipment A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[4]; 2. 02-Tanner Mullens[1]; 3. 12-Jason Hughes[8]; 4. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[2]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[19]; 6. 24C-Jim Chisholm[18]; 7. 4TW-Tim Ward[6]; 8. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[23]; 9. 20-Rodney Sanders[22]; 10. K9-Will Krup[15]; 11. 4-Jeremy Nelson[10]; 12. 75-Terry Phillips[17]; 13. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[3]; 14. 60-Dan Ebert[21]; 15. 10C-Cayden Carter[16]; 16. 58X-Gary Christian[9]; 17. 0-Jake O'Neil[12]; 18. 10B-Brandon Givens[24]; 19. 3-Kelly Shryock[7]; 20. 4W-Tyler Wolff[13]; 21. 7-Al Hejna[11]; 22. 96-Taton Hansen[25]; 23. 38T-Dylan Thornton[14]; 24. 21K-Kyle Brown[5]; 25. 19SB-Lance Mari[20]

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. K9-Will Krup[1]; 2. 75-Terry Phillips[2]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[3]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 5. 15W-Alex Williamson[6]; 6. R-Ron Ver Beek[8]; 7. 71M-Chad Melton[7]; 8. 96-Taton Hansen[5]; 9. 17-Jon Plowman[9]; 10. 16B-Randy Brown[11]; 11. 87-Darron Fuqua[12]; 12. 5D-Devon Havlik[10]

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 10C-Cayden Carter[1]; 2. 24C-Jim Chisholm[2]; 3. 19SB-Lance Mari[3]; 4. 20-Rodney Sanders[4]; 5. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[5]; 6. 10B-Brandon Givens[6]; 7. 65D-Dustin Brown[10]; 8. 29D-Brad Dierks[9]; 9. 96T-RC Whitwell[7]; 10. 1G-Pat Graham[11]; 11. 23-Darwin Karau[8]; 12. (DNS) 11X-Tom Berry Jr

Simpson Performance Products Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4TW-Tim Ward[2]; 2. 02-Tanner Mullens[3]; 3. 12-Jason Hughes[6]; 4. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[5]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[7]; 6. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[4]; 7. R-Ron Ver Beek[1]; 8. 23-Darwin Karau[8]; 9. 5D-Devon Havlik[9]; 10. 87-Darron Fuqua[10]

Fast Shafts Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 21K-Kyle Brown[2]; 2. 7-Al Hejna[1]; 3. 10C-Cayden Carter[3]; 4. 24C-Jim Chisholm[4]; 5. K9-Will Krup[6]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 7. 10B-Brandon Givens[7]; 8. 17-Jon Plowman[8]; 9. 65D-Dustin Brown[9]; 10. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[10]

Edelbrock Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[3]; 2. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[4]; 3. 75-Terry Phillips[2]; 4. 19SB-Lance Mari[1]; 5. 4W-Tyler Wolff[6]; 6. 96-Taton Hansen[7]; 7. 20-Rodney Sanders[5]; 8. 29D-Brad Dierks[8]; 9. 16B-Randy Brown[9]

Wieland Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Kelly Shryock[1]; 2. 4-Jeremy Nelson[2]; 3. 0-Jake O'Neil[4]; 4. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 5. 38T-Dylan Thornton[6]; 6. 15W-Alex Williamson[3]; 7. 71M-Chad Melton[7]; 8. 96T-RC Whitwell[9]; 9. 1G-Pat Graham[8]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 12-Jason Hughes, 00:15.330[7]; 2. 4R-Dereck Ramirez, 00:15.447[6]; 3. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek, 00:15.519[1]; 4. 02-Tanner Mullens, 00:15.546[3]; 5. 4TW-Tim Ward, 00:15.664[5]; 6. R-Ron Ver Beek, 00:15.685[8]; 7. 49-Jake Timm, 00:15.689[2]; 8. 23-Darwin Karau, 00:16.014[9]; 9. 5D-Devon Havlik, 00:16.014[4]; 10. 87-Darron Fuqua, 00:16.014[10]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. K9-Will Krup, 00:15.333[4]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert, 00:15.401[9]; 3. 24C-Jim Chisholm, 00:15.419[1]; 4. 10C-Cayden Carter, 00:15.516[2]; 5. 21K-Kyle Brown, 00:15.587[8]; 6. 7-Al Hejna, 00:15.722[3]; 7. 10B-Brandon Givens, 00:15.779[6]; 8. 17-Jon Plowman, 00:15.785[5]; 9. 65D-Dustin Brown, 00:15.906[7]; 10. 11X-Tom Berry Jr, 00:15.906[10]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 00:15.300[8]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders, 00:15.417[1]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr, 00:15.472[4]; 4. 99L-Steve Lavasseur, 00:15.543[3]; 5. 75-Terry Phillips, 00:15.591[5]; 6. 19SB-Lance Mari, 00:15.614[7]; 7. 96-Taton Hansen, 00:15.688[2]; 8. 29D-Brad Dierks, 00:15.850[9]; 9. 16B-Randy Brown, 00:16.008[6]

Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:15.304[3]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian, 00:15.336[2]; 3. 0-Jake O'Neil, 00:15.373[7]; 4. 15W-Alex Williamson, 00:15.394[4]; 5. 4-Jeremy Nelson, 00:15.621[6]; 6. 3-Kelly Shryock, 00:15.649[9]; 7. 71M-Chad Melton, 00:15.746[8]; 8. 1G-Pat Graham, 00:16.033[1]; 9. 96T-RC Whitwell, 00:16.530[5]

WESTERN IOWA NON-WING SPRINTS

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 97X-Cam Schafer[8]; 2. 11B-Ben Woods[15]; 3. 7B-Scott Brandt[4]; 4. 93-Josh Most[7]; 5. 10Z-Zach Widdes[6]; 6. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[1]; 7. 4T-Taylor Forbes[3]; 8. 57-Buddy Parker[9]; 9. 7-Clinton Bruns[14]; 10. 17-Doug Martens[11]; 11. 38-Eric Schulz[16]; 12. 18-Nate Laugen[12]; 13. 7X-Lance Silvers[13]; 14. (DNF) 12-Doug Sylvester[10]; 15. (DNF) 93S-Glen Saville[2]; 16. (DNF) 6-Jake Kouba[5]; 17. (DNS) 22-Jeff Pellersels

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93-Josh Most[1]; 2. 6-Jake Kouba[7]; 3. 93S-Glen Saville[2]; 4. 4T-Taylor Forbes[3]; 5. 57-Buddy Parker[6]; 6. 17-Doug Martens[4]; 7. 7-Clinton Bruns[5]; 8. 11B-Ben Woods[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97X-Cam Schafer[5]; 2. 7B-Scott Brandt[2]; 3. 10Z-Zach Widdes[6]; 4. 3K-Jeremy Kerzman[8]; 5. 12-Doug Sylvester[4]; 6. 18-Nate Laugen[3]; 7. 7X-Lance Silvers[7]; 8. 38-Eric Schulz[1]

SCHOOL BUSES

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 82-Corey Streif[4]; 2. 5-Lucas Prohaska[2]; 3. 96-Reece Burggeman[6]; 4. 555-Zach Eichmann[7]; 5. 30-Jade Pringnitz[1]; 6. 30+-Tucker Brinkman[3]; 7. 1206-Erik Goll[8]; 8. 1776-Matt Braickman[10]; 9. 21ISH-Joseph Prohaska[5]; 10. 777-Dalton Cullinan[9]; 11. 73-Ty Gardner[11]; 12. 48-Ryan Drag[12]; 13. (DNS) 7-Travis Schmidt