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Sanders Scores Gopher 50 Modified Title

Spring Valley, MN (July 8) - By: Todd Narveson:  The USRA Modifieds were once again a part of the 38th Annual Gopher 50 held at Deer Creek Speedway. The program was presented by Biglelow Homes, Arrow Building Centers and Miner’s Outdoor & Rec. Big bonus money was also put into the purse from the Rochester Eagles Club, Tralo Companies and Carroll’s Corn.

A packed house was on hand to witness the Modifieds along with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model series. A big field of 40-USRA modifieds signed in and ran five heat races with the top 12 in passing points locked into the feature. The rest raced through two B-mains with the top six going to the Gopher 50 main event.

After the five heats were run and the passing points tallied up it was time for the redraw in front of the huge crowd. The race originally paid $3,000 to win but Carroll’s Corn of Rochester put another $2,000 on first place to make it $5,000 to win. Then Tralo Companies of Owatonna offered up the Tralo Challenge for the eight redraw drivers.

The top eight would be introduced in order of the passing points and would be asked if they would accept the challenge. The challenge was to give up their redraw spot to start 11th or 12th. Then if they came through and won they would be awarded another $5,000 bonus from Tralo. If the driver did not win they would receive $250 on top of their finish position earnings just for trying. Tralo also added additional money for second and third place and Carroll’s Corn also offered a $500 Hard Charge award.

Top passing point driver Ryan Ruter immediately accepted the challenge. Curt Myers, Mark Motl, and Cory Crapser all declined. Steve Wetzstein then accepted the offer and the remaining six drivers then drew for their positions. Rodney Sanders drew the number one and Dustin Sorensen would start second. A coin was flipped to determine who would start 11th and 12th. Ruter lost the coin flip but Wetzstein chose the 12th starting spot.

After the salute to the fans the green flag flew for the 35-lap main event. Rodney Sanders jumped to the lead followed by Dustin Sorensen and fifth starter Jason Cummins was to third on lap one. Cummins took over second from Sorensen on lap four. Sanders was in control with a good sized lead over Cummins when the leaders started to encounter lapped traffic on lap 13.

Cummins closed the gap but Sanders worked the lapped traffic to perfection. Zack Vanderbeek was on the move from 14th and Brad Waits who started in the 24h and final spot was also picked off cars. Sanders was in control when the races only yellow flag flew on lap 30 to give Cummins and the rest of the field a shot at the leader.

However Sanders would not let the yellow break hos momentum and led the final five laps to pick up the $5,000-win and his first Gopher 50 title. Cummins came home in second while Vanderbeek’s run ended in a third place finish, Cory Mahder had a good run to finish in fourth and Keith Foss raced from 13th to fifth. Brad Waits earned the Carroll’s Corn hard charger bonus as he ended up 10th after he started in row 12.

USRA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 20-Rodney Sanders, 13:03.255[1]; 2. 71-Jason Cummins, 13:04.039[5]; 3. 33Z-Zack Vanderbeek, 13:05.411[14]; 4. 55-Cory Mahder, 13:06.477[7]; 5. 95-Keith Foss, 13:06.698[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 13:07.324[2]; 7. 49-Jake Timm, 13:07.680[15]; 8. 69-Lucas Schott, 13:08.011[18]; 9. 07-Cory Crasper, 13:08.298[6]; 10. 24-Brad Waits, 13:08.765[24]; 11. 4-Cory Bruggeman, 13:09.020[16]; 12. 90-Steve Wetzstein, 13:09.439[12]; 13. 555-Ryan Ruter, 13:09.633[11]; 14. 44H-Adam Hensel, 13:09.676[19]; 15. 74-Mark Noble, 13:10.455[9]; 16. 23-Darwyn Karau, 13:10.946[23]; 17. 20M-Mark Motl, 13:11.321[3]; 18. 55S-Brian Shaw, 13:11.516[10]; 19. 1M-Curt Myers, 13:11.796[4]; 20. (DNF) 29D-Brad Dierks, 09:19.405[8]; 21. (DNF) 01-Aggen, Brandon, 07:27.411[21]; 22. (DNF) 92-Tyler Droste, 07:03.052[17]; 23. (DNF) 99-Josh Angst, 06:47.137[22]; 24. (DNF) 44-Darrell Nelson, 05:09.458[20]

B Feature 1 (14 Laps): 1. 95-Keith Foss, 04:22.684[1]; 2. 49-Jake Timm, 04:24.253[5]; 3. 92-Tyler Droste, 04:25.152[3]; 4. 44H-Adam Hensel, 04:25.354[6]; 5. 01-Aggen, Brandon, 04:29.252[2]; 6. 23-Darwyn Karau, 04:30.224[8]; 7. 32-Shaun Peterson, 04:30.863[12]; 8. 73JR-Greg Pfeifer Jr, 04:30.950[7]; 9. 21-Jacob Bleess, 04:31.835[14]; 10. 4A-Joel Alberts, 04:34.176[9]; 11. 1G-Patrick Graham, 04:34.636[13]; 12. 6T7-Brian Albrecht, 04:36.325[10]; 13. 61T-Tammy Soma Clark , 04:38.848[4]; 14. (DNF) 24S-Charlie Steinberg, 02:47.093[15]; (DNS) 1-Greg Jensen,

B Feature 2 (14 Laps): 1. 33Z-Zack Vanderbeek, [1]; 2. 4-Cory Bruggeman, 04:32.500[2]; 3. 69-Lucas Schott, 04:32.949[4]; 4. 44-Darrell Nelson, 04:33.753[7]; 5. 99-Josh Angst, 04:34.631[11]; 6. 24-Brad Waits, 04:36.780[14]; 7. 21J-Joey Jensen, 04:38.842[12]; 8. 18-Mick Glenn, 04:39.888[8]; 9. 45-Levi Nielsen, 04:42.182[5]; 10. 72-Doug Hillson, [13]; 11. 28-Parker Hale , 04:44.912[6]; 12. 00-Owen Grube, 04:28.935[3]; 13. 1A-Dwaine Hanson, 04:30.354[9]; 14. 77-Jacob Stark, 04:32.564[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Rodney Sanders, [1]; 2. 55-Cory Mahder, [3]; 3. 71-Jason Cummins, [7]; 4. 69-Lucas Schott, [2]; 5. 73JR-Greg Pfeifer Jr, [5]; 6. 4A-Joel Alberts, [4]; 7. 99-Josh Angst, [6]; 8. 21J-Joey Jensen, [9]; 9. 21-Jacob Bleess, [8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20M-Mark Motl, [2]; 2. 29D-Brad Dierks, [3]; 3. 33Z-Zack Vanderbeek, [4]; 4. 00-Owen Grube, [1]; 5. 49-Jake Timm, [7]; 6. 44-Darrell Nelson, [8]; 7. 32-Shaun Peterson, [6]; 8. 1G-Patrick Graham, [5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Curt Myers, [3]; 2. 55S-Brian Shaw, [2]; 3. 01-Aggen, Brandon, [1]; 4. 92-Tyler Droste, [5]; 5. 44H-Adam Hensel, [6]; 6. 23-Darwyn Karau, [7]; 7. 6T7-Brian Albrecht, [8]; 8. (DNF) 24-Brad Waits, [4]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 555-Ryan Ruter, [4]; 2. 74-Mark Noble, [1]; 3. 4-Cory Bruggeman, [2]; 4. 95-Keith Foss, [8]; 5. 45-Levi Nielsen, [7]; 6. 18-Mick Glenn, [3]; 7. 1-Greg Jensen, [5]; 8. 72-Doug Hillson, [6]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 07-Cory Crasper, [2]; 2. 90-Steve Wetzstein, [5]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen, [7]; 4. 61T-Tammy Soma Clark , [1]; 5. 28-Parker Hale , [6]; 6. 1A-Dwaine Hanson, [4]; 7. 77-Jacob Stark, [3]; 8. (DNF) 24S-Charlie Steinberg, [8]

 

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