FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. — Dustin Sorensen won Saturday night’s finale of the 2nd Annual Dairyland Showdown presented by Dynamic Concrete Resurfacing at Mississippi Thunder Speedway.
At 21 years of age, Sorensen added $10,000 to his bank account with the impressive victory, and padded his points lead in the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt.
The three-day event saw three drivers with an average age of 23 years old cross the Mississippi River and take home the top prize back to their home state of Minnesota.
A second-generation racer from Rochester, Sorensen started seventh in Saturday’s 50-lap main event at the high-banked one-third-mile clay oval. He remained close to the leaders for the first half of the race and then took the lead for good on lap 40.
Cory Crapser earned the pole and paced the first 20 laps of the race before giving way to Shane Sabraski in the Hot Karl Chassis entry.
Lucas Schott, who won Thursday and finished third on Friday, reeled in Sabraski midway through the contest and took over on lap 30. However, Sabraski fought back to regain the top spot four laps later.
With the only caution flag waving early in the race, the leaders remained in striking distance of each other throughout the race as they tried to navigate constant lapped traffic in the 32-car starting field.
Once Sorensen was able to sneak by Sabraski on lap 40, he never relinquished the lead. Sorenson had to fend off a furious challenge over the final mile from Grant Junghans and USMTS Rookie of the Year contender Cayden Carter, who clawed his way froward from 13th on the starting grid.
Sabraski held on the third behind Sorensen and Carter while Schott and two-time USMTS National Champion Ryan Gustin were fourth and fifth.
Sorensen’s margin of victory was less than a half-second, and it was his eighth career USMTS win, tying him with Brandon Davis, Ryan Ruter, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Tommy Weder Jr. on the all-time list.
The Finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. (7) 19 Dustin Sorensen, 2. (13) 10C Cayden Carter, 3. (2) WIN1 Shane Sabraski, 4. (3) 69 Lucas Schott, 5. (6) 75R Ryan Gustin, 6. (19) 4R Dereck Ramirez, 7. (16) 0 Jake O’Neil, 8. (8) 24C Jim Chisholm, 9. (1) 07 Cory Crapser, 10. (9) 97 Cade Dillard, 11. (5) 49 Jake Timm, 12. (20) 02 Tanner Mullens, 13. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, 14. (18) 20 Rodney Sanders, 15. (11) 75 Terry Phillips, 16. (14) 21 Jacob Bleess, 17. (30) 4W Tyler Wolff, 18. (12) 96M Mike McKinney, 19. (15) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, 20. (25) 65 Tyler Davis, 21. (17) 38T Dylan Thornton, 22. (22) 15W Alex Williamson,23. (24) 21K Kyle Brown, 24. (29) 12 Jason Hughes, 25. (26) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., 26. (32) 44S Shane DeVolder, 27. (31) 85 Jayson Good, 28. (21) 90 Ryan Wetzstein, 29. (27) 28 Parker Hale, 30. (10) A Kollin Hibdon, 31. (23) 99 Josh Angst, 32. (28) 51 Chris Oertel