WEBSTER CITY, Iowa — Blue skies and dry weather greeted the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt when they showed up Wednesday at the Karl Chevrolet Hamilton County Speedway for the 14th annual USMTS Spring Classic.
After snagging the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award, Gary Christian set sail and set the pace throughout the entire 35-lap main event—all except for the final few hundred feet as Joe Chisholm snatched the lead and the win in the final turn.
Following back-to-back rainouts in Texas this month, the weather and wetness again threatened this week’s show but USMTS President and track promoter Todd Staley and his staff worked the soil all week and finally produced a nearly flawless racing surface for the drivers in attendance.
“This is probably one of the best racetracks we’ve raced on all season here on the tour,” Chisholm declared. “It really sucks we didn’t get one more cars, but even with the rain and everything else you know, Todd (Staley) came together and gave us one hell of a show.
“I thought earlier I was going to get around Gary but he fired so well after those restarts. “I don’t know if I was just in my head a little bit, and I missed marks a couple different times, but he started taking my Lane a little bit down over there and I was getting a little tight in the traffic.
“At the end of race he moved it back up and I’m like if I can just get underneath him getting in, there wasn’t really a lot on the top and they were trying to diamond back down to get a run, but as long as I can just be there—you know, kind of in the way. I figured I could do it.”
Christian settled for the runner-up paycheck while Dan Ebert snuck past Kyle Brown on the final lap to claim the third spot and final position on the podium.
“The race car was good. Hats off to Jim,” Christian said. “He just got me on the last lap, last corner so if you’re on the other side of that it feels pretty good but we keep working hard. We’ve got a winning car, so we’ll get a few,”
Including Wednesday night’s contest, the Hamilton County Fairgrounds has hosted 26 USMTS events in 25 years. The only previous winners on hand were Jason Hughes, Terry Phillips and Ebert as Chisholm notched his first in Webster City and eighth of his short USMTS career.
The finish:
Jim Chisholm, Gary Christian, Dan Ebert, Kyle Brown, Rodney Sanders, Alex Williamson, Troy Morris III, Terry Phillips, Tanner Mullens, Dereck Ramirez, Jason Hughes, Jacob Hobscheidt, Jake Timm, Gabe Hodges, Tyler Davis, A.J. Hoff, Jason Hahne, Cody Thompson, Mike Hansen, Steven Glenn, Zach Brom, Al Hejna, Lance Mari, Steve Lavasseur.