SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — Dereck Ramirez notched his first win of the season with the Summit USMTS National Championship on Saturday night by leading every lap of the 19th Annual Southern MN Spring Challenge at Deer Creek Speedway.
For the defending USMTS national champ, it was an emotional post-race celebration following his first win since the passing of his father Leon Ramirez.
Leon passed in February after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer.
“I still got my family and they all love me and I know that my dad is smiling down and he’s happy,” Ramirez told RacinDirt’s Trenton Berry following the race.
Shortly thereafter, the USMTS announced that this year’s champ will earn the richest paycheck in series history as $100,000 will be awarded to the Summit USMTS National Championship points champion.
In addition, the USMTS will begin a new annual tradition of awarding a one-of-a-kind trophy to the USMTS National Champion, which will be named the Leon Ramirez Trophy from now until the USMTS sees its final checkered flag.
It was a display of domination from the drop of the first green flag.
Ramirez led every lap of his heat race, earned the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award and then led all 40 laps of the main event — all to pocket $10,000 and score his 20th career USMTS triumph.
Four-time USMTS National Champion Rodney Sanders chased Ramirez around the high-banked three-eighths-mile clay oval for most of the race, but settled for the runner-up paycheck at the finish.
Sanders’ last USMTS victory was at this event one year ago.
Points leader Dustin Sorensen registered a solid third-place finish, with Jacob Bleess holding off Terry Phillips for fourth.
The rest of the top 10 were Jake Timm, Zack VanderBeek, Dan Ebert, Jim Chisholm and Brandon Davis.
The race results:
SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (40 laps): 1. (1) 4R Dereck Ramirez; 2. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders; 3. (6) 19 Dustin Sorensen; 4. (4) 21 Jacob Bleess; 5. (8) 75 Terry Phillips; 6. (9) 49 Jake Timm; 7. (18) 33Z Zack VanderBeek; 8. (7) 60 Dan Ebert; 9. (2) 24C Jim Chisholm; 10. (10) 50III Brandon Davis; 11. (16) 69 Lucas Schott; 12. (15) 10C Cayden Carter; 13. (13) 4W Tyler Wolff; 14. (14) 02 Tanner Mullens; 15. (12) 77T Tripp Gaylord; 16. (5) 90 Ryan Wetzstein; 17. (23) 21K Kyle Brown; 18. (28) 44S Shane DeVolder; 19. (21) 25C Cody Thompson; 20. (24) 12 Jason Hughes; 21. (20) 87 Darron Fuqua; 22. (22) 07 Cory Crapser; 23. (25) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr.; 24. (30) 56 Colton Horner; 25. (29) 85 Jayson Good; 26. (17) 44 Adam Hensel; 27. (19) 24B Aaron Benson; 28. (11) 0 Jake O’Neil; 29. (26) 19SB Lance Mari; 30. (27) 38T Dylan Thornton.