WHEATLAND, Mo. — USRA Modified national points leader Tyler Davis flexed his muscle on Wednesday night at the ninth annual Summit USRA Nationals.
Davis rolled to a lopsided victory in the Modified Summit Shootout, his 22nd feature win of the season. He earned $1,000.
The Summit Shootout, for USRA track champions and Summit Shootout qualifying race winners this season, was the only time the Modifieds hit the track on Wednesday after two qualifying rounds and a feature race a night earlier. Davis, of Haysville, Kansas, said he tried a few things with an eye toward another qualifying round on Thursday night.
Drivers are collecting points for starting positions in Saturday’s final-night action.
“The MK1 chassis was really good,” Davis said. “I didn’t feel very good over in turns three and four. I don’t know what everybody else felt like, but it was pretty slick. We tried a few things tonight to see if we could get a little better for tomorrow and Saturday.
“I think if we make a few more little adjustments, we’ll be right there.”
Davis took the lead on lap two and opened up a four-second cushion over second-place Ryan Middaugh by lap eight. Meanwhile, Lucas Oil Speedway track champion Dillon McCowan had advanced from 10th to third by that point.
As the green-flag laps clicked away, Davis’ lead continued to grow. He was 5.7 seconds in front by lap 11, a full straightaway-margin in front of Middaugh.
The caution-free event finished up with Davis taking the checkers 6.7 seconds over Middaugh. McCowan was another second back in third, followed by Nic Bidinger and Tyler Hibner.
The USRA B-Mods, USRA Stock Cars and Hobby Stocks also were in action on Wednesday night with a total of 42 races on the program. A total of 195 cars were entered in the four classes participating on Wednesday.
Ryan Gillmore had a big night in the B-Mod division, earning two heat-race wins plus the feature triumph. He passed Colson Kirk coming to the white flag to capture the 18-lap main event for his 11th feature win of the season.
Gillmore, of Springfield, had battled Kirk throughout the 18-lap feature but hadn’t been able to get by until finally making a pass stick on a restart with one to go.
“Desperation,” Gillmore said of the winning pass. “Colson fooled me on the start. He wasn’t going to mess up. He’s too good for that. I was planning on sliders on the start of the corner and through the center of the corner I was thinking ‘uh oh.’ I was gonna run him over so I had to check up and leave the lane.
“I couldn’t ask for a better guy to race with. Not many people would have raced me like that. They’d have either given me a nudge or put the quarter panel to me. I really appreciate Colson.”
Kirk and Gillmore dueled early, trading slide jobs a couple of times during the opening three laps as Kirk stayed in row but could not separate himself from Gillmore or third-place Brandon Hare.
The race’s first caution waved on lap 11 as eighth-running Cody Brill found the wall in turn one. After the restart Kirk remained in front and had a .324-second lead over Gillmore when a lap-16 caution set the stage for a two-lap shootout to the finish.
Gillmore attempted a couple of slide jobs, but was unable to pass and another caution came out to leave a final green-white-checker finish to settle the outcome.
“As soon as those last two yellows came out, I was melting in the seat and was like there goes my chance,” Gillmore said. “But I was able to get good restarts and it worked out.”
Terry Schultz rallied from sixth to finish third with Brandon Hare fourth and J.C. Morton fifth.
Dylan Thornton continued his successful week at the Summit USRA Nationals, taking the USRA Stock Cars feature win Wednesday night.
Thornton and Mitch Hovden broke away after the start and opened up a 1.5-second gap over third-place Myles Michehl by lap five. Thompson built a five car-length margin over Hovden by the halfway point of the 18-lapper.
The caution-free race saw Thornton gradually stretch out his lead the rest of the way as he finished 1.4 seconds clear of Hovden. Michehl finished third, Dean Wille fourth and Chad Clancy wound up fifth.
Thornton, of Santa Maria, California, made it two wins in two nights after he collected Stock Cars Summit Shootout honors on Tuesday.
“It was an identical front row to last night. Mitch is a great racer and I knew he’d race me clean and we’d have a good race,” Thornton said. “This is kind of how it went last year, then the final night didn’t go our way. Hopefully, that’s different this year.”
Dylan Clinton of West Union, Iowa, rolled to the USRA Hobby Stocks feature win, leading all but the opening lap.
“That was really fun,” Clinton said in victory lane. “It puts me in a good position for these upcoming couple of days.”
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