HUMBOLDT — On Wednesday night, New Mexico’s Stormy Scott became a first-time USMTS winner as he brought home the victory on opening night at the King of America II Modified Nationals.
Twenty-four hours later, William Gould added his name to the most elite club in all of open-wheel dirt modified racing as the Sooner State speedster grabbed his career first USMTS main event win on River’s Edge Scrap Management Qualifying Night at the Humboldt Speedway.
After a 15th-place finish Wednesday night, the 39-year-old from Calera, Okla., rolled the dice and used his “mulligan” to try and better his qualifying effort Thursday.
The gamble paid off as he led the final 17 circuits of the 35-lap main event to earn himself a spot in tonight’s $15,000-to-win championship race.
Also running during the four-night event at Humboldt Speedway are the USRA B-Mods. In Thursday’s races, Scott Drake of Joplin, Mo., won the 20-lap main race with Wednesday night’s winner Shawn Strong of Billings, Mo., in second place. Steven Mullenburg, Sparta, Mo., ran third and Jimmy Davis of Chanute was fifth.
For the King of America qualifiers, while Stormy Scott led every lap in dominating Wednesday’s feature, the first 18 laps of Thursday’s nightcap were anything but boring with Ryan Ruter stealing the lead away from polesitter Corey Dripps on the first lap.
Dripps battled back on the high side of the 3/8-mile clay oval and wrestled the lead away from Ruter on lap 8. Meanwhile, Gould came along with Dripps as the top three runners separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
Using the middle groove, Gould nipped Dripps at the line to lead lap 14 with Ruter making it three-wide in the next turn. Dripps regained the advantage the next time around, but Gould fought back once again to be scored as the leader on lap 16.
Still racing side by side, Dripps regained the top spot for the next two laps but appeared to lose control of his machine as the leaders raced out of turn 4 to complete lap 19. The result was Dripps spinning to bring out the race’s first and only caution.
On the restart, Gould looked like a sitting duck with Ruter, defending USRA Modified National Champion Johnny Bone Jr., defending USMTS National Champion Ryan Gustin, Steven Whiteaker Jr., Mike Steensma, 11-time Humboldt winner Jason Hughes and Dereck Ramirez on his tail for the restart.
Unphased by the restart, Gould pulled out to a two- car lead over Ruter. Two laps later, Bone and Gustin slipped by Ruter to take second and third with Gould in their crosshairs.
Neither driver was able to make up any ground on Gould.
Gustin got by Bone to take the runner-up finish, with Steensma and Whiteaker coming home fourth and fifth. Sixth through tenth were Mark Dotson, Ruter, Ramirez, Jon Tesch and Johnny Scott.
For Tesch, it was an impressive rebound from a disappointing “B” main earlier, where he and Scott had battled for the lead for 11 laps before contact with Rodney Sanders on lap 12 sent both drivers to the rear of the field.
As the fastest overall qualifier in group time trials, Tesch earned a provisional start in the “A” main and made the best of it, racing from 27th on the starting grid to ninth at the finish with just one caution to aid his effort.
Along with Gould, five other drivers — Gustin, Bone, Steensma, Whiteaker and Dotson — also assured themselves a spot among the first 18 starters in Saturday’s main event.
