Happy, Texas (07/24/13) – Rodney Sanders enjoyed a wildly successful weekend during the 3rd Annual Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway (Greenwood, Nebraska) as he powered his #20 Swan Energy/Kimrad Transport/MB Customs/Geddes Racing Engine Open Wheel Modified to back-to-back wins and collected almost $10,000 for his efforts.
Rodney Sanders won a thriller in United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) competition on Friday night as he topped Jason Hughes for the victory.
Thirty-six entries converged on the high-banked, 3/8 mile oval, and a win in his heat race sent Sanders to the redraw for the 30 lap feature event, where he was the recipient of the 5th starting spot. Rodney progressively worked his way forward through the top five early in the event, and by the race’s midway point he raced his way into the 2nd spot as he set his sights on the leader, Jason Hughes. The duo battled for the top spot for the next several laps before Sanders took control on lap 28. A caution on the white flag lap resulted in a two lap shootout to the checkers.
Unable to close the gap the first time around, Hughes found a sweet spot on the final lap and grinded through turns 3-4 to pull even with Sanders as they exited the final corner. As they crossed the finish line side by side, Sanders beat Hughes to the stripe by a mere 0.084 second to score the victory and pocket the $4,000 top prize. Hughes, meanwhile, settled for a disappointing runner-up finish after leading the first 28 of 30 laps. Bone Jr., Terry Phillips, and Trevor Hunt rounded out the top five finishers.
He wasn’t finished with business on Saturday night as he set his sights on another win. Preliminary action found him starting deep in the grid for a heat race, and with heavy and fast track conditions, passing would difficult. As a result he was forced to run a b-main, and would charge to a 2nd place finish to lock into the 15th starting spot for the 35 lap finale. Despite starting deep in the field Sanders had raced his way into the top five by lap 14 and would soon find himself in the 2nd position. On lap 23 Sanders shot past leader, Jason Hughes, for the top spot before going on to lead the remainder of the event to score his 15th win of the season, which was $5,350. He also earned the Mesilla Valley Transportation Hard Charger Award for passing more cars than any other competitor in the feature. Full results from the events are available at www.USMTS.com .
Rodney also competed with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) over the course of the weekend in the $27,000-to-win event. With 55 Super Late Models entered Rodney fell short of locking into the feature via heat race action, but a 3rd place finish in his b-main locked him into the 27th starting spot for the 80 lap finale on Saturday evening. Unfortunately overheating issues early in the feature forced Sanders to retire to a 33rd place finish. Full results from the program are available at www.LucasDirt.com .
The upcoming weekend, July 24th-27th will take Rodney Sanders and the Swan Energy team to Deer Creek Speedway (Spring Valley, Minnesota) for the 3rd Annual World Modified Dirt Track Championship, which will culminate with a $20,000-to-win finale on Saturday night. For more information on this mega-event please visit www.USMTS.com .
Rodney Sanders would like to thank all of his sponsors including Swan Energy, Kimrad Transport, Special Care, Outreachers Sustainable Solutions, Swan Racing, Geddes Race Engines, MB Customs, Alaron Energy, B&L Satellite Rental, STSI, Integra Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, C&R Radiators, Eibach Springs, All Star Custom Graphics, Charter Oak Production Company, Palmer Painting, D&G Contracting, FK Rod Ends, Fike’s Transmissions, Krohn Farms, Mars Race Cars, K&N Filters, Real Racing Wheels, 87 Automotive, Wichita Tank Racing, Hooker Harness, CMD Race Shocks, and MSRMafia.com Marketing Services.
For more information on Rodney Sanders, please visit www.RodneySandersRacing.net .
Thanks!
Ben Shelton, Owner
MSR Mafia – www.MSRMafia.com
The Midsouth Racing Scene – www.MidSouthRacing.com