HUMBOLDT – In just his second night behind the wheel of just the third VanderBuilt Race Cars chassis to roll off the assembly line, Stormy Scott captured a much-needed victory Friday night at the Humboldt Speedway in Round 2 of the USMTS Hunt for the Casey’s Cup powered by S&S Fishing & Rental.
Scott, who captured the 2012 King of America race here, registered his fourth USMTS win of the season in impressive fashion. After leaving Rodney Sanders with the pole position at the redraw, Scott started fourth but had the lead for good after just three times around ‘The Hummer.’
Like the previous night, the main event looked like it might go green to checkered without a caution, but a pair of back-to-back yellow flags on laps 32 and 33 brought the field within striking distance of the 27-year-old from Las Cruces, N.M.
But on both restarts Scott kept his mount in front and rolled to his 41st career United States Modified Touring Series triumph-one that was worth $5,000 with the Rancho Milagro Bonus Bucks.
“This thing is unbelievable is all I can say about it,” Scott said of his two-day old race car. “I still can’t believe it. It’s crazy.”
The first restart saw Scott easily pull away from the pack, but the second attempt was bit more shaky.
“That last restart I wasn’t thinking nothing of it and I was just looking around at everything, seeing what was going on, and I got to the flagstand and figured out that my shield wasn’t closed,” he revealed. “So I went into turn one and I pulled my shield down but it kind of messed my corner up a little bit, but other than that it was an awesome race, awesome race car.”
Eighth-starting Chris Brown came up to challenge Scott on the final restart, but was unable to make the pass but held on to collect the runner-up paycheck.
Defending USMTS national champion Jason Hughes overcame a brutally tough heat race that featured four of the top five finishers in the main event, and raced out of a Real Racing Wheels “B” Main to nip Sanders for the third spot.
Meanwhile, his teammate, Ryan Gustin, finished fifth after starting in the 17th spot and earned the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Award for the second night in a row.
Thursday night’s winner at the Springfield Raceway, Tyler Wolff took sixth Friday night with Zane DeVilbiss, R.C. Whitwell, Dereck Ramirez and the track’s points leader, Mitch Keeter, rounding out the top 10.
With the win, Scott also took over the points lead in the USMTS Hunt for the Casey’s Cup and leads Gustin by nine points (541 to 532). Ramirez is third with 529 markers, followed by Wolff (516), Cade Dillard (515), Hughes (514), Zack VanderBeek (504), Brown (499), Jake Timm (484) and Joe Duvall (483).
In the support classes, Ethan Isaacs and Jay Lamons Jr. won NASCAR Whelen All-American B-Modified and NASCAR Street Stock features, respectively. In the Factory Stock feature, Jon Westhoff was the first to cross the line under the checkard flag, but he failed post-race inspection, handing Bryce Weldon the race win.
Races resume Friday night at Humboldt Speedway for Kid’s Night. All three NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions, plus Factory Stocks, Sport Compact and mechanic races will be on tap. Hot laps begin at 7:30 pm, and the green flag flies at 8 pm.