KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It took 134 days into the 2021 campaign for him to notch his 108th career win, but four-time USMTS national champion Rodney Sanders finally broke into the victory column Friday night as the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s invaded the Lakeside Speedway.
Nearly 50 of the toughest competitors in the dirt modified racing universe descended on Kansas City, Kansas, for a $10,000 top prize at the seventh annual USMTS Spring Sizzler fueled by VP Racing Fuels — the seventh event of the record-setting year.
With qualifying in the books, the field of 26 main event starters saluted fans with the traditional four-wide parade lap.
Tanner Mullens got a strong start while 2018 USMTS national champ Johnny Scott emerged in second after racing three-wide through the first corner with Sanders and Darron Fuqua’s new Casey’s-sponsored Mtn Dew Rise Energy livery.
A couple early cautions kept a rhythm from setting in during the first handful of laps but long run beginning with the fourth lap made for some incredible back-and-forth battles throughout the pack, including the front of the field where Scott slipped in front of Mullens to lead the sixth lap.
Meanwhile, Sanders and Jake O’Neil — both past Grant Junghans Memorial winners here —gave the fans a fantastic back-and-forth for second place while Mullens began a race-long fight with Dereck Ramirez for the other two positions inside the top five.
Sanders was eventually able to distance himself slightly from O’Neil and then began to challenge Scott for the lead. He pulled alongside as they raced through lap 14 and made the pass for the lead as the pair reached the flag stand to complete lap 17.
The second half of the 35-lap affair was all Sanders.
Despite some heavy lapped traffic at times and another pair of cautions — the second coming as the leader was expecting to see the white flag — Sanders was never seriously challenged the rest of the way but the action behind him remained intense to the finish.
Ramirez, who started 10th, found himself in familiar territory with a runner-up finish to Sanders while O’Neil, Lucas Schott and 17th-starting Dan Ebert were third, fourth and fifth at the checkered flag.
The finish:
Rodney Sanders, Dereck Ramirez, Jake O’Neil, Lucas Schott, Dan Ebert, Darron Fuqua, Dustin Sorensen, Austin Siebert, Jesse Glenz, Jason Hughes, Tyler Wolff, Terry Phillips, Landon Atkinson, Tanner Mullens, Brooks Strength, Zack VanderBeek, Curt Myers, Jayson Good, Jacob Bleess, Lucas Lee, Justin Johnson, Jordan Grabouski, Tyler Davis, Jake Gallardo, Johnny Scott, Lance Mari.