MASON CITY, Iowa — The Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt kicked off the three-day 10th annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals Thursday at the Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway.
In a prelude to the 25th anniversary USMTS Silver Jubilee here Aug. 16-19, Dylan Thornton looked to be on his way to his first USMTS triumph after leading the first 30 laps of the main event at North Iowa’s Action Track.
A flat tire with five laps to go doomed the young gun’s dreams while eighth-starting Jim Chisholm picked up the pieces and sped to his fifth USMTS win of his short career.
After Thornton’s blow out, 2021 USMTS National Champion Dereck Ramirez assumed the lead but Chisholm was far too strong and pulled away over to a margin of victory of more than two seconds during the final four circuits.
Behind Ramirez, four-time USMTS titlist Jason Hughes grabbed the third-place paycheck while Alex Williamson and Tim Ward completed the top five.
The finish:
Jim Chisholm, Dereck Ramirez, Jason Hughes, Alex Williamson, Tim Ward, Tom Berry Jr., Al Hejna, Gary Christian, Jake O’Neil, Cayden Carter, Kyle Brown, Aaron Benson, Rodney Sanders, Zack VanderBeek, Tyler Wolff, Terry Phillips, Jeremy Nelson, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Tanner Mullens, Dan Ebert, Steve Lavasseur, Dylan Thornton, Taton Hansen, Will Krup.