USMTS Mod Win

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (Aug. 3, 2005) --
While Shryock has been dominant in his Modified, Wednesday's honors belonged to this season's dominant Stock Car driver at the Oskaloosa speedplant. Coming from the eighth starting position, Brad Pinkerton used his experience on the big half-mile clay oval to score his first O’Reilly USMTS victory, and his first Modified win this season at his home track.

The two-class racer from New Sharon, Iowa, has met with limited success in the Modified ranks during the regular season, but has notched six victories in the USRA Stock Car division, along with back-to-back victories in the $10,000-to-win Pro-Line Buildings Great American Stock Car Challenge.

A stout field of 38 cars were on hand for the USMTS.com Southern Iowa Challenge, with O’Reilly USMTS veteran Mark Noble of Blooming Prairie, Minn., garnering the pole position for the 30-lap Holley "A" Main. Noble set a torrid pace early on and looked to be on track to grab his first triumph of the season. Mike Hejna of Clear Lake, Iowa, grabbed the lead on lap 10, then the gremlins that have haunted Noble all season returned as his familiar #74 Modified slowed, bringing out a caution flag and dashing his hopes of taking home the $2,000 top prize.
On the restart, Steve Stewart of Washington, Iowa, had his steering break and launched into the turn 4 wall to bring out a second yellow flag. Hejna assumed the point on the race's final restart and paced the field through lap 18 when Pinkerton blazed around the high side of Hejna to take the lead. From there, "Pinky" rode the high groove over the final 12 laps en route to the victory, holding a comfortable 10-car-length advantage at the checkered flags.
Shryock, who had won nine of the previous 13 O’Reilly USMTS events at Oskaloosa, started 18th after qualifying for the main event by finishing third in the second "B" main. The Fertile, Iowa, pilot picked off 16 cars but ran out of time and laps, settling for a runner-up finish but picking up the Olympic Fire Protection Hard Charger honors.
Hejna took home third-place money while Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie, Minn., finished fourth. Rounding out the top-5 finishers was 16th-starting Mike Hughes of Rose Hill, Iowa. Hughes had won the USRA Modified feature at the Carriker Ford Southern Iowa Speedway the previous Wednesday night after starting 18th.
Pinkerton, Brad Bakken, Myer, Dean Mahlstedt and Hejna were heat race winners. Zack VanderBeek, the track's current points leader and winner of the most recent O’Reilly USMTS event, won the first "B" main while Jason Krohn captured the second "B" main.

HEAT #1 (8 laps):
1. 17p - Brad Pinkerton -- New Sharon, IA (2)
2. 99 - Martin Bennett -- Ankeny, IA (4)
3. 55 - Alan Mondus -- Lakeville, MN (6)
4. 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA (8)
5. 14J - Jake Neal -- Omaha, NE (7)
6. 9g - Rick Gustin -- Marshalltown, IA (5) DNF
7. 7 - Al Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (3) DNF
8. 17s - Mike Spaulding -- Bemidji, MN (1) DNF

"A" MAIN (30 laps):
1. 17p - Brad Pinkerton -- New Sharon, IA (8)
2. 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA (18)
3. 7ii - Mike Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (6)
4. 65 - Tommy Myer -- Blooming Prairie, MN (7)
5. 11 - Mike Hughes -- Rose Hill, IA (16)
6. 31 - Corey Dripps -- Waterloo, IA (12)
7. 21M - Dean Mahlstedt -- Garner, IA (4)
8. 7k - Jason Krohn -- Slayton, MN (14)
9. 7 - Al Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA (15)
10. 12 - Terry Walker -- Riverside, IA (22)
11. 26 - Brad McEwan -- Storm Lake, IA (5)
12. 4R - Ron VerBeek -- Oskaloosa, IA (19)
13. 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD (20)
14. 99 - Martin Bennett -- Ankeny, IA (2)
15. 82m - Ryan Meyer -- Liberty, IL (11) -1 Lap
16. 555 - Ryan Ruter -- Kanawha, IA (24) DNF
17. 61 - Bruce Hanford -- Davenport, IA (23) DNF
18. 98 - Kevin Stoa -- Polk City, IA (17) DNF
19. 55 - Alan Mondus -- Lakeville, MN (10) DNF
20. 5t - Todd Inman -- Des Moines, IA (21) DNF
21. 50 - Brad Bakken -- Garner, IA (3) DNF
22. 74 - Mark Noble -- Blooming Prairie, MN (1) DNF
23. 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA (13) DNF
24. 17 - Steve Stewart -- Washington, IA (9) DNF

The third feature of the night was the USRA stock car feature with T.J.Criss of Oskaloosa leading all eighteen laps for his third win of 2005 season. Criss held off Jim Brown of Fremont who took second followed by Brad Pinkerton last weeks winner who started tenth and took third and Lorne Parks of Ottumwa took fourth after running second for the first fourteen before fading back.

USRA STOCK CARS
Heat#1-1.Brandon Bandstra,Lynnville 2.Matt Greiner,Washington 3.Bill Redlinger,Richland 4.Brad Pinkerton,New Sharon

Heat#2-1.Brian Edel,Oskaloosa 2.Lorne Parks,Ottumwa 3.T.J.Criss,Oskaloosa 4.Jim Brown,Fremont

Heat#3-1.Brian Mitrisin,Oskaloosa 2.Eric Flander What Cheer 3.Luke Veren,Haverhill 4.Pat Rachels,Knoxville

A-Feature 1.Criss 2.J.Brown 3.Pinkerton 4.Parks 5.Flander 6.Rachels 7.Edel 8.Bandstra 9.Mitrisin 10.Bobby Greiner Jr.,Ottumwa 11.Mark Steinke,Gibson 12.M.Greiner 13.Redlinger 14.Rick VanDusseldorp,Oskaloosa 15.Nathan Wood,Sigourney 16.Darrin Thompson,New Sharon 17.Tom Lathrop,Ottumwa 18.Zach Vanderbeek,New Sharon 19.Veren 20.Rick Brown,Kellogg