SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — The best of the best in dirt modified racing descended on the Deer Creek Speedway this weekend for the 26th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree.
Saturday night’s finale for the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt carried with it a $12,000 payday and the final battle for points in the Collins Brothers Towing USMTS North Region presented by Featherlite.
Tyler Davis was the ninth and final driver to qualify for the redraw to start the 50-lap main event. Eight of his fellow competitors drew their spots ahead of the two-time USRA Modified national champ, and they left him the No. 1 starting spot.
The green flag waved around 10:45 p.m. with 27 racers starting three-wide and nine rows deep, with the first caution happening in the first corner. About three cars were damaged, including Zach Brom who headed to the Danny Crane Racing Engines Hot Pit with a broken tie rod.
Back under green, Chisholm snuck by Davis on the outside to lead the opening lap with Davis, Cayden Carter, Jake Timm and Dan Ebert in pursuit.
Timm, who won the feature race Friday night, slipped underneath Davis for the second spot with 13 laps complete and 37 to go. Chisholm, however, was already more than three seconds ahead of his closest challenger.
Approaching the halfway point with heavy lapped traffic all over the high-banked three-eighths-mile clay oval, Timm returned to his familiar line around the high side and began to reel in Chisholm.
But Chisholm again extended his lead to just under three seconds over Timm as the leaders completed lap 30. Two laps later, Taton Hansen slowed on the front stretch to bring out the race’s second Gorsuch Performance Caution Flag.
A familiar sight this season, a trio of green machines driven by Chisholm, Timm and Brandon Davis were at the front of the field for the green-flag restart with Joe Chisholm and Tyler Davis following.
Brandon Davis darted into second place but Jim Chisholm continued to pull away from the field while Timm had his hands full with younger brother, Joe Chisholm, and Rodney Sanders filling the four spots behind the runaway leader.
Jim Chisholm was flawless to the end as the 21-year-old from Osage, Iowa, secured his second straight Featherlite Fall Jamboree championship and finale.
“I didn’t really know how close anyone was tonight,” said Chisholm in Victory Fuel Victory Lane. “They got a lot of really good guys that race behind us and I was worried the whole race that they were going to be right there. I was kind of trying to run as I smooth as I could without racking my stuff, but hard enough to maybe get myself a little room when we got to the lapped cars.”
It was a nice rebound for Jim Chisholm after a tenth-pace result on Friday night.
“We struggled last night but we got no one to blame but ourselves. You know, racing is a game that is won and lost in the shop,” he added. “We did a couple things that kind of ran out of time to make sure everything was one hundred percent and that’s kind of on me. But we got ‘er fixed up for today.”
It was his 12th career victory, tying him with Dustin Sorensen on the all-time USMTS wins list, and also solidified himself as the champion of the 2024 Collins Brothers Towing USMTS North Region presented by Featherlite.
Chisholm, who also swept all three nights of Featherlite Fall Jamboree weekend in 2019 and 2020 aboard his USRA B-Mod, also leads the Mel Hambelton Racing USMTS Central Region and Summit USMTS national points. He ranks fifth in the ARMI Contractors USMTS South Region as well.
Brandon Davis passed a dozen drivers to finish second and earn the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award while Timm took third to join the top two on the podium.
Joe Chisholm wound up fourth, Lucas Schott got by Sanders for the fifth spot, Ebert earned a seventh-place paycheck, Terry Phillips took home eighth-place money, Jacob Bleess nabbed ninth and Dustin Sorensen completed the top ten.
Tripp Gaylord of Lakewood, Colo., won the 25-lap Non-Qualifiers Race, and then forfeited his $1,500 payoff for the last starting spot in the 50-lap main event which paid $1,000 to start. He made it all the way up to 11th.
Travis Saurer, J.T. Wasmund, Kevin Stoa and Al Hejna rounded out the top five finishers in the annual consolation race.
Feature Finish (50 Laps)
1. (3) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa, 2. (14) 50III Brandon Davis, Hayfield, Minn., 3. (4) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn., 4. (12) 25 Joe Chisholm, Osage, Iowa, 5. (16) 69 Lucas Schott, Chatfield, Minn., 6. (7) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, 7. (5) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., 8. (13) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., 9. (9) 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn., 10. (17) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn., 11. (27) 77T Tripp Gaylord, Lakewood, Colo., 12. (8) 90 Ryan Wetzstein, West Concord, Minn., 13. (25) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla., 14. (1) 65 Tyler Davis, Haysville, Kan., 15. (21) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, 16. (22) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., 17. (23) 24B Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa, 18. (19) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., 19. (20) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn., 20. (2) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa, 21. (11) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa, 22. (26) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn., 23. (24) 30 Matt Leer, Bruce, Wis., 24. (6) 95 Keith Foss, Winona, Minn., 25. (10) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn., 26. (15) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn., 27. (18) 43 Zach Brom, Winona, Minn.