KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Lakeside Speedway hosted the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt on Saturday for the final night of the 12th Annual Jayhawk Classic at the historic half-mile dirt oval.
Just another USMTS race. Just another incredible finish — This time between two rivals from the Sunflower State.
The green flag waved over the field with 40 laps the distance for one driver’s $10,000 payday, and polesitter Jason Hughes took advantage right away as the four-time USMTS National Champion charged forward to lead the first seven laps.
Tyler Davis of nearby Haysville, Kan., started next to Hughes on the front row but dropped back about six car-lengths before he began to reel the leader in a few laps later. Davis grabbed the top spot on the eighth lap but Hughes wrestled it right back one lap later.
Hughes currently sits second on the all-time USMTS wins list with 155 victories, but none have occurred at Lakeside where the series has experienced 24 main events since 2012.
Behind the lead duo was Tanner Mullens, Carlos Ahumada Jr. and Dereck Ramirez with everybody in the top five searching every inch of the racing surface to find an advantage.
Davis found it on lap 15 as sped back into the lead. His reign was short-lived, however, as Mullens snagged first place just shy of the halfway mark before the race’s first and only caution came about on the 23rd lap.
From that moment forward, it was anybody’s race to win and a barnburner to the end. Nonetheless, Mullens was in charge from lap 19 until the finish. Almost.
As Mullens and Davis continued to bang the outside concrete wall each orbit while riding a skinny line of moisture, the wear and tear started to become visible. Over the course of the final seven laps or so, the rear spoiler on Mullens’ Mullens Chassis began to flop around in the wind while Davis pulled up to his rear bumper with two laps remaining.
Then, as the white flag waved, Davis went to the top side in the first turn while Mullens went from middle to top. The two raced nose-to-tail down the backstretch and into the final corner.
Davis shot down low and got himself for a risky slider on the leader. He completed the slide job and drove away in the final few hundred feet for the win. Mullens, meanwhile, suffered a flat tire in the final corner so, unaware to Davis, his victory hopes were already dashed when Davis got by and got the $10,000 winner’s share of the prize money.
“We’ve sucked all year,” Davis proclaimed. “I don’t think we’ve been focused enough and this week I said we got to get our (crap) together. “That cushion was pretty gnarly down there and I gave up the lead by going to the bottom and hitting that rut and I know Tanner was trying to protect the same thing.
“I knew my only way to get it back was going to be a slide job at the end so I just really went in as hard as I could but I seen the white flag and he tucked in a little low. I just buried it in the corner and had the speed down the backstretch and we pulled it off.”
It was the third career USMTS triumph for Davis, who bookended last season with wins at the Rocket Raceway Park and his home track at 81 Speedway.
Despite the last-lap tire failure, Mullens held off Ramirez for runner-up honors while Rodney Sanders and points leader Jake O’Neil came from 14th and 20th, respectively, to finish fourth and fifth.
“My daughter said, ‘You don’t win any more… You suck Dad,’ so we put our hard hats on and got to work,” added Davis—the defending Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series national champ in the USRA Modified division.
Feature Finish (40 Laps)
1. (2) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., 2. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., 3. (7) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., 4. (14) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, 5. (20) 0 Jake O’Neil, Tucson, Ariz., 6. (1) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., 7. (4) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas, 8. (18) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa, 9. (6) 01 Jacob Hobscheidt, Plattsmouth, Neb., 10. (13) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., 11. (15) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla., 12. (17) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan., 13. (11) 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Okla., 14. (16) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa, 15. (24) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn., 16. (19) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa, 17. (22) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill., 18. (5) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa, 19. (9) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, 20. (10) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., 21. (8) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, 22. (23) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., 23. (12) 3B Nic Bidinger, Perry, Kan., 24. (21) 25C Cody Thompson, Sioux City, Iowa