6/16/2019
Sorensen the USMTS Master on opening night at Cedar Lake
NEW RICHMOND, Wis. --Three nights of fierce racing kicked off Wednesday with opening night at the 20th Annual Masters presented by Allstar Performance at the Cedar Lake Speedway, and the competitors will be hard-pressed to exceed the bar they set tonight.
A spectacular 40-lap main event saw Jimmy Mars steal the lead from Dereck Ramirez just shy of the halfway point and Dustin Sorensen rip the win from Mars' hands with just two laps to go.
Ramirez, who started next to Sybesma Graphics Pole Award winner Clayton Wagamon on the front row, took control at the waving of the green flag and stayed out front for the first 17 laps while Wagamon, Mars and Zack VanderBeek grappled for second place.
Finding the high side to his liking, Mars powered around the outside of Ramirez to assume the lead position with 18 laps in the books, and continued to set a torrid pace on a smooth racing surface that produces multiple racing lines on the high-banked 3/8-mile of clay.
Meanwhile, tenth-starting Sorensen went around VanderBeek for third and then disposed of Ramirez three laps later and nestled up behind the rear bumper of Mars.
The final 19 laps left were breathtaking as the 2018 National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee who has thousands of laps logged at the New Richmond, Wis., speed palace, had to fight to keep the 18-year-old from Rochester, Minn., in his rear view mirror.
Sorensen was noticeably faster than Mars, bobbling once on lap 30 and then making back up eight car-lengths in a span of two laps. But the experience of Mars wouldn't allow much room to make a pass.
Finally, Sorensen began peeking at the extreme high side of turns three and four, looking to the outside of Mars for a way around. He gave it a shot on lap 36 but was forced to hit the brake pedal when Mars filled the gap before Sorensen could fill it.
A quick learner, Sorensen drove hard the the same corner the next go around, and this time he was able to get wheel to wheel with Mars as they exited the corner.
That was all she wrote.
From there, Sorensen pulled away and crossed beneath the checkered flag with his third career USMTS victory and first away from his hometown track.
"That was the most fun I've ever had in a racecar," Sorensen told the crowd during his victory lane celebration. "This is the happiest I've ever been after a race, passing a guy like Jimmy. I kind of look up to him."
Jimmy Mars leads eventual winner Dustin Sorensen in the late stages of Thursday night's USMTS main event.
Sorensen, whose Memorial Day Weekend win in 2018 made him the youngest ever USMTS feature winner, drives an MB Customs chassis, built by none other than Mars.
"I didn't think I was going to get him there, and then he started running a little lower in (turns) three and four and, I just went for it."
It was the third USMTS win for Sorensen, who trails his father Mike Sorensen by two in the career wins tally, and it was worth $3,000 to kick off the Masters weekend.
Meanwhile, the 'Iceman' held on for runner-up honors with Ramirez trailing him across the finish line in third and VanderBeek claiming the fourth spot.
Defending Masters champion Rodney Sanders, who started 17th on the grid, rounded out the top five and earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award, as well as the Eibach Spring Forward Award after advancing 21 positions throughout the night.
Another local dirt late model veteran, A.J. Diemel, was sixth, Jake Timm snagged seventh, Hunter Marriott earned an eighth-place paycheck, Michael Truscott nabbed ninth and Darrell Nelson came from 22nd to claim the final spot in the top ten.
More Masters magic: The undisputed best of the best in the world of dirt racing return on Friday and Saturday for the second and third nights of the 20th Annual Masters presented by Allstar Performance.
Featuring one of the largest event purses on the United States Modified Touring Series schedule, this year's overall purse for the crown jewel event is fatter from top to bottom with Super Late Models sharing the spotlight and competing for the same big paydays as the USMTS Modifieds all three days.
The main event pays a $5,000 top prize in each class on Friday. It all leads up to Saturday's ferocious finale which offers $10,000 to the winners of both the Super Late Model and USMTS Modified main events. USRA Late Models will also run a complete program each night.
You don't miss a night, but if you aren't able to be there in person, RacinDirt will have the entire production live at RacinDirt.com.
The Cedar Lake Speedway was founded in 1957, and today is a state-of-the-art 3/8-mile high-banked clay oval and one of the nation's leading short track facilities. The track is located 1.0 mile east of SR 35 on SR 64, then 4.2 miles north on CR C to CR CC, then left 1.8 miles.
For more information, call (612) 363-0479 or (715) 248-7119 or visit CedarLakeSpeedway.com.
To connect with the United States Modified Touring Series, visit USMTS.com (http://usmts.com/). You can also like the USMTS on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/usmts/), visit us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/usmts/), follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/usmts/), connect with us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/usmts) and watch us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/usmtstv). Keep up to speed, finish first and subscribe to USMTS e-News (http://usmts.com/subscribe).
Article Credit: Jeff Nunn
