COLCORD, Okla. — The second of three nights at the inaugural ARMI Contractors All-American at Arrowhead Speedway on Friday had more twists and turns than a convention of contortionists, but for Rodney Sanders it was a straight line to his fifth win of the year and set him up to collect his fifth USMTS crown.
The all-new state-of-the-art one-third-mile dirt oval welcomed the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt for the three-day event on Thursday and delivered Jason Hughes from the longest winless drought of his career.
On Friday, a magnificent racing surface delivered to the tune of $5,000 for Sanders, and almost assuredly the $100,000 title and ownership of the second-ever Leon Ramirez Trophy.
Sanders set the pace for the start of the 40-lap main event on Friday, and built a 2.5-second lead by lap five over the No. 4 machines of Jeremy Nelson and Bo Day. He expanded his advantage to four seconds by the time he found the back of the field with ten laps complete.
That’s when the first of five caution flags waved and saved Sanders from having to deal with back-markers. On three other occasions, the yellow flag appeared just as Sanders could smell the tailpipe exhaust of the first lapped car.
While it did save him from traffic trouble, it also allowed erased big leads each time. The final one nearly cost him the win.
Nelson ran a distant second for the majority of the race, but kept it close with less than ten laps remaining. That’s when Timm tip-toed his way around the bottom to take second and challenge Sanders.
On Thursday, it was four-time national champion Hughes holding off Timm at the checkers by less than a half-second. On Friday, Sanders delivered the same fate to the second-generation racer from Winona, Minnesota.
“I know Jake’s been really good lately and I felt like I was pretty good around the top once we got rolling but there’s a lot of grip down there,” Sanders said. “I saw his nose down there and I felt like to win the race I had to at least go block a lap or two. I just didn’t want to overshoot it. It’s kind of hard running the top and then slow down on the bottom.
“I felt like I had a really good car early, but I didn’t know about the lapped cars. I didn’t know where I needed to be. I moved around early and I felt pretty good on the bottom too.”
After advancing nine spots to finish sixth on Thursday, Sanders could have mailed it in and cruised safely to his fifth USMTS national championship over the final four events. But “The Rocket” instead was a cruise missile.
He kicked off Friday’s show by earning the Swift Springs Fastest Lap Award with the best qualifying time of the 58 entrants. He earned the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award and then led all 40 laps of the main event to assure himself the maximum points for the night.
His effort put him out of reach in the points race. All that’s left to do is sign in Saturday night, and again October 27-28 for the final weekend and he’ll be a five-time series champ and $100,000 richer.
“Hats off to the track guys. This is a complete 180 from last night so hats off to them. The race track was great tonight.”
Despite back-to-back runner-up finishes totaling less than one second behind a pair of four-time USMTS nationals champions, Timm was impressive as he climbed from tenth and eighth on the starting grid, respectively, to garner two second-place finishes.
Nelson, meanwhile, recorded his second top-five finish in his rookie season as he held off 16th-starting hard charger Tanner Mullens for third.
Feature Finish (40 Laps)
1. (3) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, 2. (8) 49 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn., 3. (2) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn., 4. (16) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan., 5. (11) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., 6. (5) 11X Tom Berry Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, 7. (10) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, 8. (12) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., 9. (18) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., 10. (7) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla., 11. (13) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn., 12. (9) 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan., 13. (6) 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Okla., 14. (1) 4D Bo Day, Greenville, Texas, 15. (24) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., 16. (4) 01 Peyton Taylor, Batesville, Ark., 17. (17) 0 Jake O’Neil, Tucson, Ariz., 18. (25) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa, 19. (19) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis., 20. (14) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill., 21. (23) 7G Gabe Hodges, Lebo, Kan., 22. (21) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas, 23. (15) 55H A.J. Hoff, Mantorville, Minn., 24. (27) 84 John Yeoman, Joplin, Mo., 25. (28) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif., 26. (26) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa, 27. (22) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan., 28. (20) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.