SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — Friday was the second night of the 20th annual LRS Waste Services USMTS Southern Minnesota Spring Challenge at Deer Creek Speedway and second straight win for Rodney Sanders in the Summit USMTS National Championship.
Sanders had the race won when his crew member drew the pole position for him prior to the start of the race. Despite challenges from Tanner Mullens the entire distance, the four-time USMTS National Champion led all 40 laps, extending his time at the front to 52 straight laps including Thursday’s night’s win.
Following a brief caution on lap 13, Dereck Ramirez got around Mullens to take second but the race’s third and final yellow flag waved one lap later and Mullens regained the position on the restart with Alex Williamson following into third one lap later.
Sanders fended off multiple challenges from Mullens throughout the contest, but with 11 laps to go he finally grew tired of seeing the nose of Mullens’ pink machine underneath him and snuck down to the low side of the racing surface.
“I knew at the beginning I wasn’t tight enough,” Sanders said following his 114th career USMTS triumph. “This place races really good a lot of times and I didn’t really know where I needed to be. I saw them crumbs start getting thrown across the track so I thought I’d better get down but I was awful free at the end.
A lapped car with five to go made things interesting but nobody could find the muscle to get around the Happy, Texas, native. Sanders rolled to his second victory in 24 hours and pocketed $5,000 for his efforts.
“I’ve got to thank Tanner for racing me clean. I feel like he could have dirtied me up a couple times but we’re pretty good friends and I’d race him the same.”
Mullens nipped ninth-starting Alex Williamson for the runner-up paycheck while Jake Timm claimed the fourth spot ahead of 13th-starting Tyler Wolff.
The finish:
Rodney Sanders, Tanner Mullens, Alex Williamson, Jake Timm, Tyler Wolff, Jim Chisholm, Dereck Ramirez, Brandon Davis, Jason Hughes, Dan Ebert, Tom Berry Jr., Jake O’Neil, Josh Angst, Jeremy Nelson, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Terry Phillips, Darron Fuqua, Cory Crapser, Zack VanderBeek, Parker Hale, Dylan Thornton, Lucas Schott, Chase Holland, Gary Christian, Cayden Carter, Steve Lavasseur, Kyle Brown.