FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. -- With much more to race for than just a checkered flag, the action at Mississippi Thunder Speedway was as hot as the threatening, thick and humid mid-June weather. Anyone looking at an internet weather forecast might have made the decision that racing was not going to happen; but instead of the forecasted 100% chance of rain at 7 p.m., those race fans who gambled against Mother Nature were treated to 100% on-track action.

The River City Manufacturing USRA Modifieds learned at the last minute before opening ceremonies that they would be racing against nine-time USMTS National Champion Kelly Shryock who showed up at Mississippi Thunder Speedway for a little USRA fun.

After winning the night’s first heat race by holding off Brad Waits and defending track champion Bob Timm for the checkered flag, Shryock found himself deep in the starting lineup for the evening’s feature. Lined up outside of the fourth row, he was starting just ahead of second heat race winner and 2010 track champion Josh Angst when the green flag flew.

But a deep starting spot in a competitive field is nothing new to Shryock. Like a sculptor, the Fertile, Iowa, driver carved his way through the bulk of what was in his way en route to creating a masterpiece of art that eventually led him to the front of the field.

It wasn’t necessarily quick, first he had to deal with the mid-pack competitors all around him. Then he started checking off the drivers who started at the front of the field, then it was on to working around those at the front of the field as the feature wore on. 2009 track champion John Doelle, who was enjoying a strong run, finally gave up second which set up for a nice battle between Shryock and Timm for the lead. Shryock got by and was then out front.

What followed was a nice effort by Timm to regain the top position. Timm tried multiple and different lines in an effort to mount several challenges on Shryock, but all came up empty as he could not get up alongside and then around the feature leading blue #3.

All the while, Lucas Schott’s #69 was like wise working the field and heading towards the front. With three laps remaining, Schott had caught Timm and was challenging him for second. Coming through turn 4 towards the waving white flag, Schott turned up the intensity and made an aggressive move to the inside. The two came together relatively hard in side-slapping contact which turned second over to the young Chatfield, Minn., racer.

One final lap, one final challenge. It came down to turns 3-4 and Schott gave Shryock all he had and came up just a bit short and had to settle for a second-place finish.

“Yeah, what can you say about young Luke,” said Shryock after pulling into victory lane. “He is a great driver – a lot of natural talent there. He’s a really impressive racer.”

Timm held on for third with Waits and Doelle completing the top five.

WALSKI PICKS UP CLEAN SWEEP IN USRA B-MODS

TheEngineStore.com USRA B-Mods were racing to dethrone 14-year old Alex Williamson, who’d picked up his very first feature win just the previous Friday evening in a convincing display of speed and driver abilities.

Shaun Walski picked up a clean sweep, however, winning both the evening’s second heat race and coming from inside the second row to win the night’s feature event.

Josh Angst made a surprise appearance in the USRA B-Mod division and held off first heat race winner Jacob Bleess for second. Parker Hale grabbed fourth with Jack Baehman matching his career best feature finish in fifth.

Mississippi Thunder Speedway’s 2012 regular season action continues next Friday night, June 22, with another exciting night of dirt track action presented by Sugarloaf Ford of Winona on the high-banked 1/3-mile oval, including a $100 bonus paid to the winners of the USRA Modified and USRA B-Mod features. On-track action begins at 6 p.m. with the Sunshine Sanitation A and B Mini Mods on the “Lightning Speedway” and competition on the fast 1/3-mile gets underway at 7 p.m.

Adult general admission is $12 with senior citizen tickets only $10. Student admission (ages 13-18) is just $5 while all children 12 and under will be admitted absolutely free. The MTS Family Pass consists of two adult tickets and up to threee kid's tickets for only $25 – a $14 savings over the individual purchase of those same five tickets. Also the new “Family Friendly Pit Pricing” is also available for every event.

For more details, visit the official Mississippi Thunder Speedway website at www.mississippithunder.com.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series
Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
Friday, June 15, 2012

USRA MODIFIEDS

Heat #1: 1. Kelly Shryock, 2. Brad Waits, 3. Bob Timm, 4. Hank Rollinger Jr., 5. Jimmy Broszeit, 6. Lance Hofer, 7. Leroy Scharkey, 8. Dan Bohr.

Heat #2: 1. Josh Angst, 2. John Doelle, 3. Thomas Brink, 4. Lucas Schott, 5. Dan Hesch, 6. Bryan Hessler, 7. Jake Timm, 8. Brandon Hare.

Feature: 1. Kelly Shryock, 2. Lucas Schott, 3. Bob Timm, 4. Brad Waits, 5. John Doelle, 6. Hank Rollinger Jr., 7. Dan Bohr, 8. Jimmy Broszeit, 9. Thomas Brink, 10. Jake Timm, 11. Dan Hesch, 12. Bryan Hessler, 13. Brandon Hare, 14. Lance Hofer, 15. Leroy Scharkey, 16. Josh Angst.

USRA B-MODS

Heat #1: 1. Jacob Bleess, 2. Josh Angst, 3. Jeff Matejka, 4. Parker Hale, 5. Mike Jaeger, 6. Tyler Creeley, 7. Matt Appel, 8. Jack Baehman.

Heat #2: 1. Shaun Walski, 2. Erik Kanz, 3. Alex Williamson, 4. Brady Keefe, 5. Scott Guthrie, 6. Ben Anderson, 7. Brandon Reutzel.

Feature: 1. Shaun Walski, 2. Josh Angst, 3. Jacob Bleess, 4. Parker Hale, 5. Jack Baehman, 6. Erik Kanz, 7. Tyler Creeley, 8. Brady Keefe, 9. Matt Appel, 10. Alex Williamson, 11. Mike Jaeger, 12. Brandon Reutzel, 13. Jeff Matejka, 14. Scott Guthrie, 15. Ben Anderson.