BELLEVILLE, Kan. — Naysayers and doubters were eating crow following Friday night’s opener of the Belleville Dirt Nationals while Dereck Ramirez was celebrating a $5,000 victory after a great race from start to finish.
It was the third visit to the Belleville High Banks for the Summit USMTS National Championship, but this time they raced on a purpose-built quarter-mile bullring built inside the half-mile track.
As the field crossed the start-finish line to complete lap 20 of 40, rookie Cayden Carter was the leader but one lap later it was Ramirez—the defending Summit USMTS National Champion—in control and he never looked back.
With just two cautions to slow the action, lapped traffic was a constant battle for the leaders as Ramirez primarily raced the bottom while Carter churned the clay on high side of Mike Van Genderen’s work of art, regularly leaving their comfort zones to find a way around slower cars.
In the end, Ramirez won going away after an opening half of side-by-side dueling between the two front-runners.
It was the 21st USMTS win of his career and second of the 2022 campaign.
Jason Hughes—the only driver in the field who was here in Belleville for the first two events in 2002 and 2008—was solid all night and took home a third-place paycheck for his efforts while Zack VanderBeek, who was here for the 2008 show along with Ramirez, took fourth ahead of 11th-starting Tanner Mullens.
Not to be outdone, Terry Phillips raced from 19th on the starting grid to sixth at the checkered flag, earning the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.
The finish:
Dereck Ramirez, Cayden Carter, Jason Hughes, Zack VanderBeek, Tanner Mullens, Terry Phillips, Dustin Sorensen, Darron Fuqua, Dylan Thornton, Rodney Sanders, Jordan Grabouski, Jake O’Neil, Dan Ebert, Tyler Wolff, Steven Bowers Jr., Austin Siebert, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Kyle Brown, Brandon Givens, Jacob Bleess, Jayson Good, Lance Mari, Shane DeVolder, Colton Horner, Kale Westover.