OGILVIE, Minn. — It’s getting harder and harder for USMTS competitors to top the drama delivered in the previous event, but they did it again Friday night during the second round of Mod Wars presented by JPW/Jobbers Warehouse Supply and Northern Line Contracting.
It’s also becoming more difficult for fellow racers to keep pace with Summit USMTS National Championship points leader Dustin Sorensen of Rochester, Minn., who scored his fifth main event victory of the 2022 campaign and extended his series points lead.
The 42-lap feature race kicked off with polesitter Jake Timm jumping into the lead. He led with Dan Ebert and Clayton Wagamon in hot pursuit running the high side for the first 11 laps when the race’s first caution came out just as the lead trio reached the rear of the field.
Shortly after going back to green, Timm moved to the low side of the racing surface to block the advances of Wagamon, who went back to hug the high side and was able to grab the top spot to lead the 16th lap.
At the halfway point of the race, Wagamon was pulling away from everybody except for one driver—Dustin Sorensen, who started 11th on the 29-car starting grid. With 27 laps completed, the yellow flag waved again just as Sorensen crossed the finish line with a whisker’s advantage over Wagamon.
While Sorensen kept cruising along the shortest route around the Ogilvie Raceway, Wagamon put his right rear fender up against the out side wall and reeled in the 25-year-old leader, eventually taking the lead on lap 34.
Sorensen picked up the pace and regained the lead again at the conclusion of lap 36 when the race’s final caution occurred, setting up a five-lap shootout to the checkered flag.
Shane Sabraski and Lucas Schott scooted past Wagamon on the restart and Sabraski gave Sorensen a scare at the flagstand, but it was Sorensen getting to the finish line first to pocket the $5,000 top prize.
Sabraski, Schott and Wagamon were second, third and fourth while J.T. Johnson, who started 13th, rounded out the top 5. The first five finishers all hail from Minnesota.
Not to be outdone, Grant Junghans USMTS rookie of the year points leader Cayden Carter advanced 10 positions to finish sixth while Jake O’Neil turned his night around and stormed from 26th on the grid to score a seventh-place paycheck.
Jason Hughes wound up in the eighth spot at the checkered flag, Timm recovered to nab a ninth-place finish and Shane DeVolder finished 10th after starting 21st, earning the Golden State gasman the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.
With his efforts Saturday night, Sorensen padded his lead in the Summit USMTS points battle to 119 markers over Tanner Mullens, which guarantees he’ll wear the Wrisco Points Leader spoiler through the end of this week and into August.
The Finish:
Feature (42 Laps): 1. (11) 19 Dustin Sorensen, 2. (7) 7A Shane Sabraski, 3. (4) 69 Lucas Schott, 4. (2) 14W Clayton Wagamon, 5. (13) 89 J.T. Johnson, 6. (16) 10C Cayden Carter, 7. (26) 0 Jake O’Neil, 8. (15) 12 Jason Hughes, 9. (1) 49 Jake Timm, 10. (21) 44S Shane DeVolder, 11. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, 12. (3) 60 Dan Ebert, 13. (20) 2C Dave Cain, 14. (18) 4R Dereck Ramirez, 15. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, 16. (14) 02 Tanner Mullens, 17. (24) 24 Brandon Dolman, 18. (9) 87 Darron Fuqua, 19. (10) 21K Kyle Brown, 20. (27) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., 21. (8) 4 Jeremy Nelson, 22. (17) 21 Jacob Bleess, 23. (19) 06 Jeremy Nelson, 24. (23) 2G Brandon Givens, 25. (25) 75 Terry Phillips, 26. (29) 19SB Lance Mari, 27. (22) 15W Alex Williamson, 28. (12) 4W Tyler Wolff, 29. (28) 56 Colton Horner