POCOLA, Okla. — From pandemics to rain-outs and some mechanical misfortune too, Rodney Sanders was beginning to wonder if he’d ever hit the 100-win milestone in the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s.
The 30-year-old three-time USMTS national champ can put those worries to bed following a decisive wire-to-wire victory Saturday in the seventh annual USMTS Juggernaut presented by Drive4JRT.com at the Tri-State Speedway.
“It seemed like we were never going to get this one,” Sanders said as he and his crew celebrated win No. 100. “We’ve had good opportunities the last few nights with good draws and, man, I just totally screwed the car up.
“This is something that’s kind of hard to put into perspective. There’s only a few guys that’s done that so that’s pretty cool and now we’re just gonna keep going.”
Sanders is just the fourth racer in USMTS history to light up the third digit in career win totals. The Happy, Texas, resident is just three wins behind Ryan Gustin who garnered his 100th last August and added two more wins the last two nights.
Kelly Shryock is the all-time leader with 182 triumphs and Jason Hughes, who finished seventh Friday night, has 155 to his credit including three here at the Tri-State Speedway.
It was the first USMTS win here for Sanders who notched his first win June 26, 2009, about five hours north of here at the LA Raceway in La Monte, Mo.
Sanders drew the No. 2 pill and launched from the outside of the front row to kick off the 40-lap main event. Within a few laps, his advantage over the field was a half-straightaway.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year contender Brooks Strength of Raymond, Miss., climbed from fourth on the grid to second early on with Gustin searching the high side for a way around.
Gustin eventually found a faster line around Strength and secured the second position. With the leaders hampered by thick lapped traffic, he was closing on Sanders every lap when the first caution waved with 23 laps complete.
“The Reaper” got the break he wanted–so he thought–but later admitted that his tires “glazed over” during the slow-down period and he was never able to match the same momentum from that point on.
Jake O’Neil and Tanner Mullens both snuck past Gustin on the restart but three more yellow flags over the next seven laps slowed the action and kept the pack within striking distance of Sanders.
But on every restart, Sanders walked away from everybody, eventually crossing the finish line with more than three seconds to spare over hard-charging Terry Phillips, Mullens, O’Neil and 11th-starting Zack VanderBeek.
The finish:
Rodney Sanders, Terry Phillips, Tanner Mullens, Jake O’Neil, Zack VanderBeek, Ryan Gustin, Jason Hughes, Chad Wheeler, Tyler Davis, Joe Duvall, Calvin Iverson, Kyle Ledford, Jake Davis, Cody Jolly, Daniel Franklin, Brent Holman, Randy Henson, Nathan Hagar, Jeremy Vaughn, Gene Nicholas, Casey Skyberg, Hunter Marriott, Adam Kates, Tyler Wolff, Johnny Bone Jr., Brooks Strength, Lonnie Robins.