Sanders Happy Happy Happy at Webster City

A spirited battle between Sanders, Stickler and Davis carries on the tradition of fantastic racing at Hamilton County Speedway.

15th Annual Spring Classic Night #1
The Historic Karl Chevrolet Hamilton County Speedway
Webster City, Iowa  

Weather Conditions via NWS Des Moines, Iowa
57 Degrees
Mostly Cloudy
Variable winds 5-10 mph 

Car Counts Via MRP live timing and scoring 
SUMMIT USMTS Cars: 26
USRA B-mods: 21
USRA Stock Cars: 16
USRA Hobby Stocks: 13 

Qualifying: $100 winner from Hodges Farming and Dredging: Brandon Davis - 19.013   

Dice of Doom Invert: 4 
This was the second time a 4 has been rolled.  

Provisionals: None awarded. 2 drivers that DNQ didn't start the b-main due to parts failure. 

Next Race:
April 12, 2025 
Night 2 of the 15th Annual Spring Classic  
The Historic Karl Chevrolet Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City Iowa.   

SUMMIT USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt Points Standings after April 11, 2025 Post Tech 
1. Jim Chisholm 609
2. Rodney Sanders 598 (Max points of 103) +1
3. Tanner Mullens 562 -1
4. Kyle Strickler 544 +1
5. Alex Williamson 532 +2
6. *Joe Chisholm 531 -2
7. Terry Phillips 507 -1
8. *Trevor Hughes 487
9. Kyle Brown 453 +1
10. Gary Christian 426 +1

Dropped out of top 10: Reese Solander - Wasn't in attendance. Not planning a full season run. 
*denotes Grant Junghans Rookie of the Year Contenders
+/- noted as positions gained or lost from previous race  

Top 10 Recap 
1) Rodney Sanders: Starting 3rd in his "MB Buggy", Rodney bided his time during a great battle with Brandon and Kyle, taking advantage of the moment, and some lapped cars, to get by both in the same corner.  Adding another win to his future USMTS hall of fame resume and moving up to 2nd in points again. Very happy his "crew chief/son" and wife were able to make it and take the big check back to the hauler.

2) Brandon Davis: Making his 2025 debut tonight, joked the car was good, the driver was a little rusty and the little engine was sticking its tongue out at the end of the straightaways.  Picked up the Quick time, heat race win and nearly the sweep the night.  Between Webster City and Fairmont, loves the 1/2-mile tracks that fit his driving style. A former national USRA champion, he's always been one of those "what if" drivers if he was able to get a full time USMTS ride. Perhaps a Northern Lights series driver when it comes to the tracks the 50iii visits often.

3) Kyle Strickler: Started on the pole, "upset" (we'll keep it PG, but it rhymed with "missed" and starts with a P) how he finished and used up his tires at the end.  More excited that his car owner made his first A-main of the season.  Will do a little better keeping track of the laps for tomorrow night. Hates to talk about points racing this early, but podium finishes have him in a good place this early in the season.  Once he gets to more tracks he's familiar with plus getting comfortable with the open mod program will help with that championship run against drivers more familiar with the later season tracks.

4) Zack VanderBeek: Always enjoys coming to Webster City and normally has good results to show for it.  Expanded his VanderBuilt race car business to IMCA mods and now stock cars as there are more IMCA tracks in his area and plenty of customers to support between the two sanctions. Plans are to do a "hit and miss" schedule between the 3 types of cars when it allows with business and family. This stage of his racing career, just like Jason Hughes, he deserves to have that luxury now.  Good finishes and his family there is just like a win for Zack and Mr. VanderBeek (USMTS Hall of Fame crew chief and best tire prep man in the pits). 

5) Alex Williamson: Another driver that enjoys coming to Webster City.  Didn't enjoy getting a flat tire early in the race that sent him to the back.  His crew made repairs and Alex charged through the field for a great top 5. One to watch for tomorrow night, it wouldn't be an upset, but it would be one the fans would enjoy seeing in victory lane. Picked up the hard charger award from 19th to 5th place.

6) Jim Chisholm: Night started a little more intense than the 24c team wanted to have.  Initially thought a bad battery, the team was able to diagnose a bad starter when interviewed after his heat race. The team was able to make the redraw and have a top 10 run. Continues to lead in national points with a spirited battle developing between Sanders, Stricker and Mullens.

7) Tim Ward: An IMCA regular, Tim has been dipping his toe more into the open modified program.  He's had some good results in the past at Mason City and Deer Creek. Plans to run more open stuff between his IMCA and Late model duties.  Ran well in all 3 phases of the evening.

8) Joe Chisholm: Had a good qualifying and heat race.  Just missed it a little in the feature but the never give up attitude was still on full display.  What he learned tonight will be applied for tomorrow.  Joe continues to lead in the ROTY standings but will take a small hit in national points. As close as the points are already, it won't be uncommon to see drivers jump and drop multiple places.

9) Keith Foss: Made the trip to Webster City after a good showing at King of America.  Another driver who had a good qualifying and heat race.  Look for him to move up a little higher in the results tomorrow night. Having fun getting some testing done before his local tracks start their seasons.

10) Kyle Brown: Either in his IMCA car or USMTS car, Kyle has always ran well at Webster City.  A past weekly feature winner, Kyle is one to find in the top 10 at the end of the night at Webster City. Something about the dirt and track configuration has always suited his Team Harris Auto Racing car.

Honorable Mention: For being a 1/2-mile track or a little under these days, the past 3-4 years Webster City has provided exciting races.  Between TBJ vs Dan Ebert, Tanner Mullens last corner pass on Tyler Wolff, Hamilton County Speedway isn't like your normal big track/little passing tracks.  It had multiple grooves and plenty of passes.  Tomorrow night shouldn't disappoint either.  Even though the car count for USMTS may be disappointing to an outsider, the fact that the Staley family is running a handful of races again this year should be recognized.  Last season they made the decision to cut back on the original schedule and step away from the promotion duties due to low car counts and fans in the stands.  A replacement wasn't found by the fair board committee, rather than let it sit idle, Webster City will run a schedule of special events and memorial races thanks to the Staley family and staff.  

Honorable Mention 1.2: They joked they were the "B-team" tonight, but the crew behind the mics did a great job. There was also a Heartland Tour race down in Missouri that had part of the RacinDirt team down there. Normally one of the voices at Hamilton County Speedway, Mason City Motor Speedway and fill in roles, Bryan Denekas took care of the play-by-play himself. Normally a 3-person crew at Webster City, a tip of the hat to him with all the toys he was having to monitor in the booth. Pat Graham provided the pit road reports from the catwalk and Danny Crane Racing Engine Hot Pit.  Both are familiar with the area having either announced or raced in the area for many years.  This helps make the show go smoothly, especially with the local support classes.  They're familiar with the teams and can provide those little details a traveling announcer may miss unless they do their homework and visit the teams in the pits before the races.   

Follow Along: 
DirtInfo | Dirt Racing Analysis & Opinions  My writings can be found here.  As they say, things are "in the works" for some other projects.  Right now, I'll recap all the USMTS events, either in person, or thanks to the fine folks at RacinDirt | USMTS, Dirt Modifieds & Live Racing Streams.  The nights I'm at the track and in the pits,  I'll have a race recap similar to my Mason City USMTS fair race article. A modified version of the Recliner Reactions those nights will still be available. 

DirtInfo - YouTube I have a voice and face for writing so you won't see me here :).  A weekly podcast my discord friends put on with a buffet of racing topics, series, schedules and other topics of interest.  I will toss them a USMTS nugget or two when asked. More importantly, they'll always leave you with "One for the Road'.