MONETT, Mo. — Rodney Sanders continued his march toward a third USMTS National Championship Sunday night, winning the 10th annual USMTS Missouri Nationals presented by Wilwood at the Monett Motor Speedway.
The 2012 and ’13 title-holder, Sanders hunted early leader Dereck Ramirez for the first 17 laps before using lapped traffic to steal the lead and then remained on top until the checkered flag waved at the end of 40 laps.
The win was worth $2,500 to the 29-year-old from Happy, Texas, and padded his points lead in both the Casey’s ‘Hunt’ and USMTS National Championship standings. It was his sixth win of the year and 92nd overall in his USMTS career.
Ramirez, on the other hand, never lost sight of ‘The Sandman’ but was unable to regain control and had to settle for the runner-up paycheck for a third consecutive night.
Sybesma Graphics Pole Award winner Jake O’Neil followed Ramirez to the finish line for a third-place showing while Hunter Marriott steered to his third top-five finish of the weekend.
Tyler Wolff held off Terry Phillips for fifth.
The finish:
Rodney Sanders, Dereck Ramirez, Jake O’Neil, Hunter Marriott, Tyler Wolff, Terry Phillips, Jason Hughes, Adam Kates, Travis Saurer, Joe Duvall, Daniel Hilsabeck, Mitch Keeter, Mike Striegel, R.C. Whitwell, Austin Siebert, Brian Green, Kyle Thompson, Lance Mari, Johnny Bone Jr.., Jeremy Vaughn, Jason Pursley, Justin Mills, Ryan Gustin.