Jason Hughes and Kelly Shryock waged another epic battle Thursday night as the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship rolled into the Buena Vista Raceway for the Battle at the Beaver presented by Cookies Bar “B” “Q” Sauce.
The two winningest drivers in the 11-year history of the United States Modified Touring Series came into the night with Shryock holding down the top spot in the points and Hughes in second, trailing by 71 markers.
While Shryock has claimed eight of the ten USMTS National Championship trophies and 151 checkered flags, Hughes is still seeking his first crown and has just over one-third as many wins as his nemesis.
But the 2009 racing season has belonged to Hughes. it was no different Thursday night as the 35-year-old from Westville, Okla., claimed his ninth USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour win of the season and fourth during the first ten races of the ‘Hunt.’
The night’s heat races were a preview of things to come. The first heat saw local favorite Justin Sackett, who won last Wednesday’s weekly feature at the track, slide by Zack VanderBeek and go on to a dominating win. His run from fifth to first made him a main event shoe-in, and was eclipsed only by Jason Krohn, who won the second heat from the sixth spot.
The third heat rolled onto the track with Shryock on the pole and Hughes to his outside on the front row. Hughes grabbed the advantage entering the first corner and held off Shryock throughout the eight-lapper. Both drivers, however, earned enough passing points to rank among the top-8 and earn a chance to draw for their starting spot in the first four rows of the feature race.
Iowa’s Colt Mather held off Arizona’s R.C. Whitwell from start to finish in the fourth and final heat race which featured drivers from six different States. To the delight of the enormous Thursday night audience, Sackett drew the pole for the 30-lap Sunoco “A” Main while Shryock snagged the outside of the front row and Hughes the eighth slot.
Sackett pulled ahead at the drop of the green flag, but the action slowed almost as quickly as it began when third-starting Mather got sideways in the first turn and bounced off of Whitwell’s machine. Behind them, the 21 other starters scrambled to avoid the melee that eventually involved eight cars. Of those, only two were unable to restart the race: Mather and defending USMTS National Champion Tim Donlinger, who had squeezed into the main event with the sixth and final transfer spot in the Real Racing Wheels “B” Main.
Back under green, Sackett led the field into the first turn and proceeded to lead the first eight laps around the bottom of the racing surface with Shryock glued to his rear bumper. Hughes, meanwhile, was flying around the high side of the oval and moved into third on lap 6.
Coming to the flagstand to complete lap 9, Shryock dove underneath Sackett while Hughes powered around the outside to lead the three-wide battle at the stripe.
After a couple of side-by-side laps, Hughes ducked down into the low groove with Shryock in tow and Whitwell battling Sackett for third.
Several caution flags slowed the pace during the middle of stages of the race, and allowed a couple of young guns to make up ground using the extreme high side in the corners. Nineteen-year old Jake Neal, who started 11th, and 15th-starting Ryan Gustin, 18, moved into the top-5 with a handful of laps to go, then got the break they needed when the yellow flag waved for the final time with four laps to go.
For the double-file restart, however, Shryock elected to start on the outside which gave Neal the inside line. Hughes brought the field back to the green flag, but Shryock was unable to close the gap using the unfamiliar top line. Neal edged in front of Shryock, then slid back to his preferred high line while Shryock crisscrossed behind him and returned to the low line.
Neither was able to mount a challenge to Hughes over the final laps as he went on to capture the $3,000 top prize and his 60th career USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour triumph.
Behind him, Shryock nipped Neal at the line for second while Gustin edged ahead of Whitwell to take the fourth spot.
During post-race tech, however, Neal was disqualified for unapproved parts discovered during inspection and Gustin was awarded third place with the rest of the field advancing one spot in the finishing order.
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