Tyler Wolff Was Hungry For His First USMTS Win And Ran Away From The Pack
Tyler Wolff Was Hungry For His First USMTS Win And Ran Away From The Pack
Tyler Wolff got the benefit of the inversion and made the most of his opportunity by leading all 40 laps at Springfield in the USMTS to score his first win.
Rookie of the year contender Tyler Wolff scored his first United States Modified Touring Series victory Thursday night after starting from the pole at Springfield (Missouri) Raceway and leading all 40 laps.
Wolff passed five cars in his qualification heat, earning the most passing points in the 45-car field. But he came up one position short as Rodney Sanders won his heat. Wolff got the last word, however, by grabbing the final victory as Sanders finished second behind him in the main.
"The car was awesome," Wolff said. "We've been working on the car the last few weeks trying to get it honed in. We've been pretty close, but we're pretty excited about how the car handled."
Jake Timm lined up outside of Wolff in the A-main and pursued the rookie for the first eight laps before Wolff started to separate himself the rest of the field. Four laps later Wolff hit lapped traffic.
As the space between Wolff and Timm grew, it gave way for more challengers for the second position. With 12 laps remaining, Sanders got around Timm to claim the spot. Timm fell one more position to fourth as Ryan Gustin charged from 18th and claimed third with eight laps remaining.
The biggest surprise of the race was point leader Zack Vanderbeek, who despite being on a 20-race, top five streak failed to grab even a top 10 as he crossed the line in 13th.
Wolff is currently third in the Grant Junghans Rookie of the Year contest behind RC Whitwell and Travis Saurer.
Whitwell advanced to the feature by winning the first of two B-mains. Saurer advanced by finishing second in the same B-main.
Whitwell finished in 12th, and Saurer crossed in 17th.
Top 10 Finishers
1. Tyler Wolff
2. Rodney Sanders
3. Ryan Gustin
4. Jake Timm
5. Jackie Dalton
6. Johnny Bone Jr.
7. Dereck Ramirez
8. Chris Brown
9. Cade Dillard
10. Joe Duvall
Complete Results, with heat finishes
Wolff passed five cars in his qualification heat, earning the most passing points in the 45-car field. But he came up one position short as Rodney Sanders won his heat. Wolff got the last word, however, by grabbing the final victory as Sanders finished second behind him in the main.
"The car was awesome," Wolff said. "We've been working on the car the last few weeks trying to get it honed in. We've been pretty close, but we're pretty excited about how the car handled."
Jake Timm lined up outside of Wolff in the A-main and pursued the rookie for the first eight laps before Wolff started to separate himself the rest of the field. Four laps later Wolff hit lapped traffic.
As the space between Wolff and Timm grew, it gave way for more challengers for the second position. With 12 laps remaining, Sanders got around Timm to claim the spot. Timm fell one more position to fourth as Ryan Gustin charged from 18th and claimed third with eight laps remaining.
The biggest surprise of the race was point leader Zack Vanderbeek, who despite being on a 20-race, top five streak failed to grab even a top 10 as he crossed the line in 13th.
Wolff is currently third in the Grant Junghans Rookie of the Year contest behind RC Whitwell and Travis Saurer.
Whitwell advanced to the feature by winning the first of two B-mains. Saurer advanced by finishing second in the same B-main.
Whitwell finished in 12th, and Saurer crossed in 17th.
Top 10 Finishers
1. Tyler Wolff
2. Rodney Sanders
3. Ryan Gustin
4. Jake Timm
5. Jackie Dalton
6. Johnny Bone Jr.
7. Dereck Ramirez
8. Chris Brown
9. Cade Dillard
10. Joe Duvall
Complete Results, with heat finishes