Chisholm cashes in on Thornton’s heartbreak at Mason City

July 20, 2023 | by Jeff Nun

The Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt kicked off the three-day 10th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals presented by Christie Door Store on Thursday at the Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway.

In a prelude to the 25th Anniversary USMTS Silver Jubilee here Aug. 16-19, Dylan Thornton looked to be on his way to his career-first USMTS triumph after leading the first 30 laps of the main event at North Iowa’s Action Track.

A flat tire with five laps to go doomed the young gun’s dreams while eighth-starting Jim Chisholm of Osage, Iowa, picked up the pieces and sped to his fifth USMTS win of his short career.

After Thornton’s blow out, 2021 USMTS National Champion Dereck Ramirez assumed the lead but Chisholm was far too strong and pulled away over to a margin of victory of more than two seconds during the final four circuits.

Behind Ramirez, four-time USMTS titlist Jason Hughes grabbed the third-place paycheck while Alex Williamson and Tim Ward completed the top five.

Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year points leader Tom Berry Jr.. was sixth, followed by Al Hejna, Gary Christian, Jake O'Neil and 18th-starting Cayden Carter.

The FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award went to Aaron Benson who started 22nd and finished 12th.

One down, two to go: Another 48 hours of action-packed dirt-flavored adrenaline remain on Friday and Saturday. The feature win on Friday will be worth $5,000 and Saturday’s USMTS North Iowa Nationals champion will take home a cool $10,000 for his or her efforts.

The next two shows will feature the mud-slinging WINS Sprint Car Series racing for $700 to win Friday and $1,200 to win Saturday. On top of that, fans will witness school bus races on both nights.

The pit gates opens at 4 p.m., grandstands open at 5 each day. Following the drivers meeting at 6:15, hot laps and qualifying begins at 6:30 with racing to follow around 7:10. All times are Central Standard Time. Youth ages 17 and under must have signed Minor Release to enter the pits.

The Mason City Motor Speedway is a 1/3-mile clay oval located 5.1 miles east of I-35 at exit 194 on SR 122 (at the North Iowa Fairgrounds). For more information, call (515) 832-6000 or check out MasonCityMotorSpeedway.com. You can also follow MCMS on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

For its Silver Anniversary season, the Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt currently features 45 nights of racing at 15 of America's premier dirt track racing venues in nine states. The winners of those events are set to earn more than $300,000 with nearly $2 million in purses and prize money earmarked for the 2023 campaign.

Watch every USMTS event online live and on-demand from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series
Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt
10th Annual USMTS North Iowa Nationals presented by Christie Door Store – Night 1 of 3
Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway in Mason City, Iowa
Thursday, July 20, 2023

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver and hometown. Heat race lineups are determined via group qualifying. The top 12 in heat race passing points advance to the Summit Racing Equipment “A” Main.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS HEAT RACE #1 (10 laps):
1. (3) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
2. (6) 11X Tom Berry Jr.., Des Moines, Iowa
3. (5) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (2) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
5. (1) 65D Dustin Brown, Clear Lake, Iowa
6. (7) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
7. (4) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
8. (8) 71M Chad Melton, Mineral Wells, Texas
9. (9) 55 Casey Schlichting, Clear Lake, Iowa
DNS – 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.

FAST SHAFTS HEAT RACE #2 (10 laps):
1. (2) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
2. (1) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
3. (5) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
4. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
5. (6) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
6. (4) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
7. (8) R Ron Ver Beek, Oskaloosa, Iowa
8. (9) 17L Lee Beemer, Fairmont, Minn.
9. (7) 5D Devon Havlik, Waterloo, Iowa

EDELBROCK HEAT RACE #3 (10 laps):
1. (1) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
2. (3) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
3. (4) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
4. (5) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
5. (6) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
6. (2) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
7. (7) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
8. (9) 16B Randy Brown, Chowchilla, Calif.
9. (8) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.

WIELAND HEAT RACE #4 (10 laps):
1. (2) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
2. (1) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
3. (7) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
4. (3) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
5. (4) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
6. (6) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
7. (8) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
8. (5) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
9. (9) 96T R.C. Whitwell, Tucson, Ariz.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #1 (15 laps, top 4 advance):
1. (1) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
2. (3) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
3. (4) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.
4. (2) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (8) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
6. (6) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
7. (7) R Ron Ver Beek, Oskaloosa, Iowa
8. (10) 23 Darwin Karau, Kasson, Minn.
9. (9) 16B Randy Brown, Chowchilla, Calif.
10. (5) 65D Dustin Brown, Clear Lake, Iowa
DNS – 96T R.C. Whitwell, Tucson, Ariz.
DNS – 87 Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, Kan.

REAL RACING WHEELS “B” MAIN #2 (15 laps, top 4 advance):
1. (1) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
2. (2) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
3. (3) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
4. (4) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
5. (7) 10B Brandon Givens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (9) 71M Chad Melton, Mineral Wells, Texas
7. (6) 17 Jon Plowman, Woodbine, Iowa
8. (8) 17L Lee Beemer, Fairmont, Minn.
9. (11) 5D Devon Havlik, Waterloo, Iowa
10. (10) 55 Casey Schlichting, Clear Lake, Iowa
DQ – (5) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.

SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT “A” MAIN (35 laps):
1. (8) 24C Jim Chisholm, Osage, Iowa
2. (2) 4R Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (3) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
4. (6) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
5. (4) 4TW Tim Ward, Harcourt, Iowa
6. (7) 11X Tom Berry Jr.., Des Moines, Iowa
7. (5) 7 Al Hejna, Clear Lake, Iowa
8. (10) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
9. (9) 0 Jake O'Neil, Tucson, Ariz.
10. (18) 10C Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa
11. (11) 21K Kyle Brown, Madrid, Iowa
12. (22) 24 Aaron Benson, Clear Lake, Iowa
13. (13) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
14. (16) 33Z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa
15. (15) 4W Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
16. (21) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
17. (23) 4 Jeremy Nelson, Alexandria, Minn.
18. (14) 65X Carlos Ahumada Jr., El Paso, Texas
19. (17) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
20. (20) 60 Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minn.
21. (24) 99L Steve Lavasseur, River Falls, Wis.
22. (1) 38T Dylan Thornton, Orcutt, Calif.
23. (12) 96 Taton Hansen, Spicer, Minn.
24. (19) K9 Will Krup, Mt. Carmel, Ill.

Lap Leaders: Thornton 1-30, Ramirez 31, Chisholm 32-35.
Total Laps Led: Thornton 30, Chisholm 4, Ramirez 1.
Margin of Victory: 2.061 seconds.
Time of Race: 13 minutes, 35.140 seconds (2 cautions).
Provisional Starters: Nelson, Lavasseur.
Emergency Provisionals: none.
FK Rod Ends Hard Charger: Benson (started 22nd, finished 12th).
Entries: 37.
Next Race: Friday-Saturday, July 21-22, Pritchard Family Auto Stores Mason City Motor Speedway, Mason City, Iowa.
Summit USMTS National Championship Points: Sanders 1983, Hughes 1907, Chisholm 1872, O'Neil 1851, Ramirez 1807, Ebert 1798, Mullens 1780, Berry 1775, Carter 1724, Wolff 1723.
Grant Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year Points: Berry 1719, Krup 1577, Nelson 1415, Christian 1226, Lavasseur 1173.
FK Rod Ends USMTS Hard Charger Points: Chisholm 116, O'Neil 97, Sanders 93, Hughes 76, Givens 64.
Miller Welders USMTS Manufacturers Championship Points: MBCustoms 168, Mullens 159, Hughes 154, VanderBuilt 123, Harris 118.
Callies/JE Pistons USMTS Engine Builder of the Year Points: Mullins 188, Cornett 171, Stoen 163, Hatfield 153, KSE 142.

Contingency Awards:
Aero Race Wheels – Schlichting.
American Racer – Ramirez.
Beyea Custom Headers – Williamson.
BigDeal Car Care – Chisholm.
Bryke Racing – Wolff.
BSB Manufacturing – Lavasseur.
Champ Pans – Ward.
Collins Brothers Towing – Thornton.
Deatherage Opticians – Vanderbeek.
Edelbrock – Ward.
Fast Shafts – Thornton.
FK Rod Ends – Benson.
Hooker Harness – Benson.
Hyperco – Williamson.
Integra Racing Shocks & Springs – Ahumada.
Keyser Manufacturing – Carter.
KSE Racing Products – Benson.
MD3 – Thornton.
Mel Hambelton Racing – Ramirez.
Mesilla Valley Transportation – R. Brown.
Midwest Wrap Co. – Thornton.
MSD Performance – Hughes.
Penske Racing Shocks – Sanders.
PEM Racing Gears & Drivetrain – Ebert.
QA1 – Hejna.
Quarter Master – Christian.
RacerWebsite.com – Hansen.
Salty’s BBQ & Catering – Chisholm.
Simpson Race Products – Hejna.
Summit Racing Equipment – Beemer, D Brown, Schlichting, Ward.
Super Clean – Chisholm.
Swift Springs – Sanders, Ward, Chisholm.
Sybesma Graphics – Thornton.
VP Racing – Chisholm.
Wehrs Machine & Racing Products – Schlichting.
Willy's Carb & Dyno Shop – O’Neil.
Wilwood Disc Brakes – Hejna.