On an August-ending Thursday night, the Hunt County Raceway in Greenville, Texas, hosted the first of four nights for the American Racer USRA Modified Series powered by Day Motor Sports.

The fans in attendance at the former Superbowl Speedway—along with those watching from hone on RacinDirt and RaceOnTexas—were witness to a thrilling program that finished up with a spectacular caution-free 30-lap main event.

In the end, four-time USMTS national champ Rodney Sanders scored his third ARMS triumph of the 2023 campaign, but the leader and eventual winner were in doubt with every passing lap.

Polesitter Manuel Williams II of Fouke, Ark., was unable to fend off Royse City racer Jack Sartain for the first pair of laps as they raced side by side for the top spot.

Running the high side of the reborn bullring, Williams eventually inched in front of Sartain to lead a trio of laps before Mitchell Clement flexed his muscles and powered to the front to lead the sixth lap.

Meanwhile, sixth-starting “Big Daddy” Joe Duvall of Claremore, Okla., and Rodney Sanders, who rolled off from the ninth spot on the grid, were working their way forward but failing to make up ground on Clement.

With back-markers slowing Clement’s momentum, Duvall closed in on the leaders and passed Williams for second on lap 13 before powered ahead of Clement with six laps to go.

Never crossing the start-finish line in second place, Sanders instead used the shortest route around the racetrack to make it a three-wide battle for first place with Clement in the middle and Duvall up top.

Sanders was the first to cross beneath the flagstand to complete lap 27, and he pulled away over the final three laps to beat Duvall to the checkers by about two car-lengths (1.044 seconds) for the $2,000 winner’s share of the prize money.

“I was really tight there, and once I could kind of open my entry up and figure out what I needed to do I was better. We were really tight in traffic,” Sanders said in Victory Lane. “Hats off to (Hunt County Raceway officials). I don’t know how this thing could race much better. It was definitely a good race track tonight.

“In the feature I just couldn’t believe there wasn’t a yellow so I was trying to bide my time and have something for (Clement) at the end, but luckily lapped traffic played out and we were able to get the job done.”

Duvall, Clement and Williams held strong to the next three positions while Lubbock’s Chris Dawson completed the top five finishers.

Tanner Mullens of Wichita, Kan., passed 11 cars and finished sixth without the aid of a yellow flag. Sartain wound up seventh, Rockwall’s Clyde Dunn Jr. started and finished eighth.

Two Californians—D.J. Shannon of Merced and Lance Mari of El Centro—were ninth and tenth in the final rundown, with Shannon earning the Dickson Transport Hard Charger Award after clawing his way from the 21st starting spot.

Deatherage Opticians heat race awards went to Sean Gaddis, Duvall, Williams and Dawson.

With his efforts, Duvall expanded his series points lead to 98 (969 to 871) over Sean Gaddis with the elder Kenny Gaddis just 11 more points back in third.

Kale Westover (818) and Dawson (801) fill the rest of the top five, and are the only remaining drivers with a mathematical reality of catching Duvall in the title chase.

24 hours to Texarkana: Three events remain this Labor Day Weekend with the second round of action on Friday with the gods of gas gunning around the popular 67 Speedway in Texarkana, Ark., which is flourishing under the leadership of three-time American Sprint Car Series champion Tim Crawley and his family.

On Saturday, it’s off to Kevin Sustaire’s Rocket Raceway Park in Petty, Texas, for the 9th Annual Bryan Mize Memorial which pays $9,000 to the winner and attracts many of the nation’s best dirt modified monsters.

The quadrupleheader wraps up Sunday at the RPM Speedway in Crandall, Texas, for the Ronnie Sigman Memorial which carries a $4,800 top prize for the feature winner at the always-tight, always-thrilling 1/4-mile bullring.

The season finale happens Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27-28, at the Rocket Raceway Park for the ARMS Nationals.

ARMS across the nation: With a schedule featuring stops at the finest dirt ovals in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, the American Racer USRA Modified Series powered by Day Motor Sports presents the who’s who of dirt modified racing to fans all across the southern United States of America.

Special thanks to American Racer, ARMI Contractors, Day Motor Sports, Deatherage Opticians, Dickson Transport, Duvall Electric, RaceOnTexas.com, RacerWebsite.com, RacinDirt.TV, Star 1 Roofing & Construction, Summit Racing Equipment, Texas Locomotive Solutions, TNT Auto Parts and Transmissions Unlimited for their support of the American Racer USRA Modified Series powered by Day Motor Sports.

More information about the ARMS is available at usraracing.com. You can also get social with the ARMS on Facebook and Twitter.

Drivers can pre-enter for any or all ARMS events at MyRacePass.

Watch every ARMS event online live on RacinDirt and RaceOnTexas.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Racing Association
Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series
American Racer USRA Modified Series powered by Day Motor Sports
Hunt County Raceway, Greenville, Texas
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, and hometown.

USRA MODIFIEDS

Star 1 Roofing Heat #1 (10 laps):
1. (2) 7 Sean Gaddis, Diana, Texas
2. (5) 88XXX Clyde Dunn Jr., Rockwall, Texas
3. (3) 13J James McCreery, Midlothian, Texas
4. (6) 2B Billy Brierton, Greenville, Texas
5. (7) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
6. (1) 32 D.J. Shannon, Merced, Calif.
7. (4) D25 David Tanner, Wichita Falls, Texas
DNS – 7M Dylan Ramey, Fort Worth, Texas

TNT Auto Parts Heat #2 (10 laps):
1. (2) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
2. (1) 15J Mitchell Clement, Bonham, Texas
3. (4) 4R Kevin Rowland, Cedar Hill, Texas
4. (8) 511 Tanner Barnhart, N. Little Rock, Ark.
5. (3) 24 Manuel Williams Sr., Fouke, Ark.
6. (5) 24W Mason Williams, Fouke, Ark.
7. (6) 2SS Mark Smith, Anthony, N.M.
8. (7) 15 Chase Wascom, Denham Springs, La.

Texas Locomotive Solutions Heat #3 (10 laps):
1. (1) 24M Manuel Williams II, Fouke, Ark.
2. (4) 2G Kenny Gaddis, Diana, Texas
3. (5) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
4. (7) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
5. (6) 15G Dennie Gieber, Frankston, Texas
6. (3) 88 Nathan Smith, Anthony, N.M.
7. (2) 88S Shawn Gammage, Greenville, Texas
DNS – 211 Chase Hatton, De Berry, Texas

ARMI Contractors Heat #4 (10 laps):
1. (1) 7X Chris Dawson, Lubbock, Texas
2. (2) 47 Jack Sartain, Royse City, Texas
3. (4) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
4. (6) 15W Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.
5. (7) 82 Max Eddie Thomas, Wills Point, Texas
6. (5) 64 Casey Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas
7. (3) 22 Kyle Hilliard, Granite, Okla.

Day Motor Sports “B” Feature (15 laps, top 8 advance):
1. (2) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
2. (1) 82 Max Eddie Thomas, Wills Point, Texas
3. (3) 15G Dennie Gieber, Frankston, Texas
4. (6) 88 Nathan Smith, Anthony, N.M.
5. (5) 32 D.J. Shannon, Merced, Calif.
6. (12) 15 Chase Wascom, Denham Springs, La.
7. (8) 64 Casey Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas
8. (10) D25 David Tanner, Wichita Falls, Texas
9. (4) 24 Manuel Williams Sr., Fouke, Ark.
10. (11) 2SS Mark Smith, Anthony, N.M.
11. (7) 24W Mason Williams, Fouke, Ark.
12. (9) 22 Kyle Hilliard, Granite, Okla.
DNS – 7M Dylan Ramey, Fort Worth, Texas
DNS – 211 Chase Hatton, De Berry, Texas
DNS – 88S Shawn Gammage, Greenville, Texas

American Racer “A” Feature (30 laps):
1. (9) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas
2. (6) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
3. (4) 15J Mitchell Clement, Bonham, Texas
4. (1) 24M Manuel Williams II, Fouke, Ark.
5. (7) 7X Chris Dawson, Lubbock, Texas
6. (17) 02 Tanner Mullens, Wichita, Kan.
7. (2) 47 Jack Sartain, Royse City, Texas
8. (8) 88XXX Clyde Dunn Jr., Rockwall, Texas
9. (21) 32 D.J. Shannon, Merced, Calif.
10. (13) 19SB Lance Mari, El Centro, Calif.
11. (14) 13J James McCreery, Midlothian, Texas
12. (12) 58X Gary Christian, Broken Bow, Okla.
13. (5) 2G Kenny Gaddis, Diana, Texas
14. (3) 7 Sean Gaddis, Diana, Texas
15. (24) 64 Casey Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas
16. (22) 15 Chase Wascom, Denham Springs, La.
17. (11) 4R Kevin Rowland, Cedar Hill, Texas
18. (20) 88 Nathan Smith, Anthony, N.M.
19. (19) 15G Dennie Gieber, Frankston, Texas
20. (23) D25 David Tanner, Wichita Falls, Texas
21. (16) 2B Billy Brierton, Greenville, Texas
22. (10) 511 Tanner Barnhart, N. Little Rock, Ark.
23. (15) 15W Kale Westover, Altus, Okla.
24. (18) 82 Max Eddie Thomas, Wills Point, Texas

Lap Leaders: Sartain 1-2, Williams II 3-5, Clement 6-24, Duvall 25-26, Sanders 27-30.
Total Laps Led: Clement 19, Sanders 4, Williams II 3, Sartain 2, Duvall 2.
Margin of Victory: 1.044 seconds.
Time of Race: 16 minutes, 25.380 seconds (no cautions).
Provisional Starters: Tanner, Fowler (track).
Dickson Transport Hard Charger: Shannon (started 21st, finished 9th).
Entries: 31.
Next Race: Friday, Sept. 1, 67 Speedway, Texarkana, Ark.
Points Standings: Duvall 969, S. Gaddis 871, K. Gaddis 860, Westover 818, Dawson 801, Wascom 547, Tanner 516, Ortega 398, Sanders 395, Mullens 381.