Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Four Star-Studded Shows Await O'Reilly USMTS Fans Labor Day Weekend

ALLISON, Iowa (Aug. 25) - The O'Reilly USMTS National
Tour swings back into action this week with four races in
Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota. This week's
quadrupleheader will serve as the seventh, eighth, ninth
and tenth events of the Casey's General Stores Hunt for
the O'Reilly USMTS National Championship.

The season-ending title chase format is in it's third
year, and the points battle has never been closer. Six
different drivers from five different States emerged
victorious in the first six events, which featured just
about every style, size and shape of dirt oval racetrack
possible.

WHERE THEY'VE BEEN...

The Casey's General Stores Hunt for the O'Reilly USMTS
National Championship kicked off on Friday, Aug. 8 at
Midway Speedway in Lebanon, Mo., where Jon Tesch of
Watertown, S.D. captured the opening event of 'The Hunt'
for the third straight year.

After rain-outs at the Springfield (Mo.) Raceway on
Saturday and Monett (Mo.) Speedway on Sunday, the rugged
O'Reilly USMTS road warriors returned to the Belleville
(Kan.) High Banks after a six-year hiatus. John Allen of
nearby Chanute, Kan., picked up the win at the "World's
Fastest Half-Mile Dirt Track" on Monday to complete a
four-for-four sweep of Modified events there in 2008.

U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., was the venue on Tuesday
as Tim Donlinger of Rochester, Minn., put himself back in
the mix for the title with a win on the high-banked
1/3-mile oval. After rain forced the postponement of
Wednesday's show at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah,
Iowa, a jam-packed grandstand of fans at the Steele County
Speedway in Owatonna, Minn., witnessed Woodward, Okla.'s
Tommy Weder Jr. hold off Donlinger for the win.

On Friday, Aug. 15, the teams made their second stop of
the season at the unique and exciting Tri-Oval Speedway in
Fountain City, Wis. Al Hejna of Clear Lake, Iowa took the
win and solidified his position as a threat to win the
crown in 2008. Back in Decorah on Saturday, Zack
VanderBeek out-maneuvered Kelly Shryock on the
quarter-mile bullring and strengthened his grip on the
points lead.

VanderBeek leads Tesch by 27 points (585 to 558) while
Shryock is just five more back in third. Fourth is
Donlinger with 546 and Hejna is a mere five behind
Donlinger in fifth. The rest of the top-10 include Allen
(494), Dereck Ramirez of Woodward, Okla. (492), Weder
(464), Alan Mondus of Lakeville, Minn. (438) and current
Rookies Rockin' Sports Bar Rookie of the Year points
leader Brandon Kenny of Woodward, Okla. (416).

WHERE THEY'RE GOING...

Although Shryock is winless in 'The Hunt' so far, a
betting man would be a wiser betting man if he put his
money on the eight-time O'Reilly USMTS National Champion
to make some noise at the next four tracks where he has
logged 15 of his 100+ career wins with the O'Reilly USMTS
National Tour.

Three of those wins have come at the Highway 3 Raceway in
Allison, Iowa during the month of August, and that's where
race fans will find the titans of the O'Reilly USMTS
National Tour this Thursday, Aug. 28 for the 4th Annual
Hawkeye Summer Classic. This will be the 13th
USMTS-sanctioned event since 1999 at the 1/2-mile oval at
the Butler County Fairgrounds.

Pits open at 4 p.m., grandstand gates open at 5, hot laps
are at 6:30 and racing starts at 7. Also running Thursday
evening will be the USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods and USRA
Hobby Stocks racing for national points in the Casey's
General Stores Weekly Racing Series.

The Highway 3 Raceway is located 0.3 miles north of SR 3
on S. Main St. (at the Butler County Fairgrounds). For
more information, check out the track's website at
www.highway3raceway.com.

On Friday, it's off to the Chateau Raceway in Lansing,
Minn. for another wheel-to-wheel battle in the 3rd Annual
Cedar River Races. This will be the fifth time the
O'Reilly USMTS National Tour has visited the 1/3-mile
semi-banked clay oval. Five different drivers have tasted
victory, including Mike Chasteen (2001), Kelly Shyrock
(2001), Jon Tesch (2006), Tommy Myer (2007) and Jason
Krohn (2008).

Also on the race card will be Midwest Modified, Street
Stock and Pure Stocks. Grandstand gates open at 5:30 p.m.
and the first green flag waves at 7:30. The Chateau
Raceway is located 5.0 miles north of Austin on US 218 to
the Lansing Exit, then 1.3 miles east on CR 2, then 0.4
mile south on CR 25, then 0.3 mile east. For more
information, call the track hotline at (507) 433-4578 or
log on to www.chateauraceway.net.

Saturday will find the Modified Monsters at the Deer Creek
Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., for the 5th Annual Labor
Day Dual, and the final tune-up race before the 10th
Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree, Sept. 17-20. A huge
field of cars is expected, along with a jam-packed
grandstand as the WDRL Late Model Series will also make an
appearance.

Pit gates will open at 2 p.m. and the grandstands will
begin filling up at 3, with hot laps slated for 5 and
racing at 5:30. The 3/8-mile high-banked clay oval is
located off of I-90 at Exit 209, then 11.3 miles south on
US 63 (0.7 mile north of SR 16). Day-of-race info is
available by calling (507) 346-2342 or check out
www.deercreekspeedway.com online.

The four-race weekend wraps up on Sunday, Aug. 31 at the
Dodge County Speedway in Kasson, Minn. for the 7th Annual
Kasson Klash-the 22nd USMTS event staged at the 1/3-mile
semi-banked clay oval. Gates open at 3 p.m. and the mud
starts flying at 5 p.m. Late Models, Super Stocks, Midwest
Mods and Street Stocks will also be featured.

The Dodge County Speedway (formerly Kasson Speedway) is
located 1.1 miles north of US 14 on SR 57 (at the Dodge
County Fairgrounds). For more information, call Track:
(507) 634-4281 or check out www.dodgecountyspeedway.com.

Race fans can pick up $2-off discount coupons at several
Casey's General Stores locations throughout the weekend.
On Thursday, you can get 'em in Allison, Applington and
Clarksville, Iowa for the show at Highway 3 Raceway. On
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, coupons will be available at
all Casey's General Stores locations in Austin, Owatonna,
Rochester and Stewartville, Minn.

Kelly Shryock will be on hand at area Casey's stores all
four days. On Thursday, fans can find him at the Casey's
General Store located at 100 Cherry St. in Allison from
12-2 p.m. On Friday, the eight-time O'Reilly USMTS
National Champion will be on hand to meet and greet fans
in Austin, Minn. at the Casey's store at 1702 12th St. SW
from 12-2 p.m. Saturday will find the Skyrocket pilot at
605 S. Main St. in Stewartville from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
and on Sunday Shryock fans can meet Shryock at the Casey's
General Store location at 4500 18th Ave. NW in Rochester
from 12-2 p.m.

All four events will pay $2,000 to the winner of the
O'Reilly USMTS main event.

POINTS AS OF AUG. 25, 2008:

1. 33z - Zack VanderBeek -- New Sharon, IA . 585 points (1
win)
2. 14 - Jon Tesch -- Watertown, SD . 558 (1 win)
3. 3 - Kelly Shryock -- Fertile, IA . 553
4. 3d - Tim Donlinger -- Rochester, MN . 546 (1 win)
5. 7 - Al Hejna -- Clear Lake, IA . 541 (1 win)
6. 98 - John Allen -- Chanute, KS . 494 (1 win)
7. 4r - Dereck Ramirez -- Woodward, OK . 492
8. 02 - Tommy Weder Jr. -- Woodward, OK . 464 (1 win)
9. 55 - Alan Mondus -- Lakeville, MN . 438
10. 21b - Brandon Kenny -- Woodward, OK . 416
11. 4r - Ron Ver Beek -- Oskaloosa, IA . 411
12. 14j - Jake Neal -- Omaha, NE . 406
13. 31 - Corey Dripps -- Waterloo, IA . 405
14. 18 - Justin Boney -- Leavenworth, KS . 387
15. 25 - Scott Green -- Derby, KS . 376
16. 12 - Jason Hughes -- Westville, OK . 301
17. 7k - Jason Krohn -- Slayton, MN . 298
18. 20r - Bryan Rowland -- Woodward, OK . 296
19. 49 - Bob Timm -- Rollingstone, MN . 282
20. 8j - Dustin Hyde -- Texarkana, TX . 172
21. 21m - Dean Mahlstedt -- Clear Lake, IA . 148
22. 5 - Steve Holzkamper -- Gentry, AR . 103
23. 90 - Steve Wetzstein -- West Concord, MN . 86
24. 66 - Dan Bohr -- Decorah, IA . 73
25. 19 - Jamie Burford -- Keatchie, LA . 56
26. 12b - Johnny Bone Jr. -- Pea Ridge, AR . 54
27. 5r - Morgan Bagley -- Longview, TX . 50
28. 5w - John O Whittington -- Vidor, TX . 12
29. 2w - Paul White -- Temple, TX . 11
30. 32 - Donovan Lodge -- Moline, IL . 10
31. 9 - Shane Hebert -- Lafayette, LA . 8
32. 20 - Rodney Sanders -- Happy, TX . 5
32. 13 - David Mitchell -- Ashdown, AR . 5
32. C8 - Timothy Culp -- West Monroe, LA . 5
32. 89 - Steven Whiteaker Jr. -- Corpus Christi, TX . 5
32. 38r - Jeremy Ross -- Locust Grove, OK . 5
32. 12h - Jeff Huckaby -- Texarkana, TX . 5
32. 98 - Josh Reisch -- Luverne, MN . 5
39. 19r - Ryan Gustin -- Marshalltown, IA . 4

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