PRYOR CREEK, Okla. -- Jason Hughes of Watts, Okla., captured the 20-lap “A” Qualifier Friday night during the second night of the inaugural Sooner Showdown at the Salina Highbanks Speedway.

After scoring a perfect score by leading his time trials group and winning his heat race too, the 2010 USMTS national champion will be sandwiched between Ryan Gustin and Austin Siebert on the front row for the start of Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win, $1,000-to-start 30-car main event that will start three-wide.

Hughes earned the pole for Friday night’s feature but it was John Allen taking the lead from the outside of the front row when the green flag waved.

Allen—a contender for the USRA Modified national points title—paced the first six laps of the contest before Hughes blasted by to take the lead for good.

Kelly Shryock made a late-race pass on Steve Whiteaker Jr. to garner the runner-up finish, and Terry Phillips passed five cars in the last five laps—including Whiteaker—to finish third. Bryan Rowland was fifth.

Stormy Scott came from 15 to finish sixth, Zack VanderBeek came from 17 to seventh, Allen held on for eighth place, 2011 USRA Modified national champion Johnny Bone Jr. nabbed ninth and reigning USMTS Rookie of the Year Trevor Hunt passed 19 cars in 20 laps en route to a tenth-place results.

Along with Hughes, seven others earned enough overall points to lock themselves into Saturday’s $10,000-to-win finale, including Shryock, Phillips, Whiteaker, Rowland, Allen, Scott and Bone.

A full night of action is on tap for Saturday’s Sooner Showdown climax with last chance races and main events for the co-sanctioned USMTS/USRA Modifieds, plus a complete program of Pure Stocks and USRA B-Mods.

RacinDirt.TV will carry all of the action live online with flag-to-flag action of all three divisions from start to finish. Saturday’s blockbuster broadcast is just $24.95. All major credit cards and PayPal are accepted. Visit www.RacinDirt.tv to witness it for yourself.

The Salina Highbanks Speedway is a high-banked 3/8-mile clay oval located 7 miles east of Pryor on SR 20. For reservations and ticket information, visit the website at www.salinahighbanksspeedway.com or call 918-434-7223.

To learn more about the United States Modified Touring Series, visit www.usmts.com online or call 515-832-7944. You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usmts, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmts or check out our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usmtstv.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS)
Inaugural Sooner Showdown - Night #2 of 3
Salina Highbanks Speedway, Pryor Creek, Okla.
Friday, Oct. 11, 2013

Showing finishing position, starting position in parentheses, car number, driver, hometown and chassis/engine builder. The top 6 qualifiers in each heat were inverted for the heat race start. The top 12 drivers in passing points accumulated in the heat races are locked into the Seeburg “A” Qualifier.

HEAT RACE #1 (8 laps):
1. (2) 98 John Allen, Chanute, Kan.
2. (3) 60 Kip Hughes, Enid, Okla.
3. (1) 95 Donovan Lodge, Moline, Ill.
4. (6) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo.
5. (5) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
6. (4) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
7. (8) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
8. (9) FN6 Jacob Stoll, Mounds, Okla.
9. (11) 75 Gary Vaughan, Springdale, Ark.
10. (12) 4 Scott Walton, Inola, Okla.
11. (10) 36 Jeff Conner, Panora, Iowa.
12. (7) 17 Lucas Conley, Spring Hill, Kan.

HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps):
1. (2) 89 Steve Whiteaker Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas.
2. (1) 12b Johnny Bone Jr., Pea Ridge, Ark.
3. (4) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa.
4. (5) 20r Bryan Rowland, Woodward, Okla.
5. (3) 85 Thomas Tillison Jr., Wellston, Okla.
6. (6) 99h Trevor Hunt, Kearney, Mo.
7. (10) 6 Chris Theodore, Coweta, Okla.
8. (9) 83 Eddie Martin, Stilwell, Okla.
9. (7) 44 Delaney Erickson, Moodys, Okla.
10. (11) 2 Daniel Tarkington, Checotah, Okla.
11. (8) 11n Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.

HEAT RACE #3  (8 laps):
1. (6) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla.
2. (4) 4w Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark.
3. (3) 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Okla.
4. (5) 9 Ken Schrader, Concord, N.C.
5. (11) 127 Andy Morris, Okay, Okla.
6. (10) 07 Paul Cates, Salina, Okla.
7. (9) 9 Mykel Atkinson, Dewey, Okla.
8. (7) 10 J.D. Jackson, Chouteau, Okla.
9. (1) 7h Brett Hansen, Fort Gibson, Okla.
10. (8) F5 Fausten Willhite, Tahlequah, Okla.
11. (2) 1x Colby Artherton, Bartlesville, Okla.

“B” MAIN #1 (10 laps, top 7 advance):
1. (1) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M.
2. (4) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa.
3. (8) 2 Daniel Tarkington, Checotah, Okla.
4. (6) 75 Gary Vaughan, Springdale, Ark.
5. (9) 36 Jeff Conner, Panora, Iowa.
6. (2) 6 Chris Theodore, Coweta, Okla.
7. (7) 7h Brett Hansen, Fort Gibson, Okla.
8. (5) 83 Eddie Martin, Stilwell, Okla., BigChief/Geddes.
9. (3) 99h Trevor Hunt, Kearney, Mo., GRT/Geddes.
10. (10) 1x Colby Artherton, Bartlesville, Okla., Shaw/Homegrown.

“B” MAIN #2 (10 laps, top 7 advance):
1. (1) 85 Thomas Tillison Jr., Wellston, Okla.
2. (2) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla.
3. (10) 17 Lucas Conley, Spring Hill, Kan.
4. (5) 10 J.D. Jackson, Chouteau, Okla.
5. (8) F5 Fausten Willhite, Tahlequah, Okla.
6. (9) 11n Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark.
7. (7) 4 Scott Walton, Inola, Okla.
8. (4) FN6 Jacob Stoll, Mounds, Okla., TRE/Everett.
9. (6) 44 Delaney Erickson, Moodys, Okla., GRT/Shinook.
10. (3) 9 Mykel Atkinson, Dewey, Okla., HOT/Simmons.

“A” QUALIFIER (20 laps):
1. (1) 12 Jason Hughes, Watts, Okla., Hughes/Mullins.
2. (7) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower.
3. (11) 75 Terry Phillips, Springfield, Mo., GRT/Hatfield.
4. (3) 89 Steve Whiteaker Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas, Hughes/Mullins.
5. (12) 20r Bryan Rowland, Woodward, Okla., LG2/ProPower.
6. (15) 2s Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., GRT/ProPower.
7. (17) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, LG2/ProPower.
8. (2) 98 John Allen, Chanute, Kan., Hughes/RoushYates.
9. (6) 12b Johnny Bone Jr., Pea Ridge, Ark., TRE/Homegrown.
10. (29) 99h Trevor Hunt, Kearney, Mo., GRT/Geddes.
11. (9) 95 Donovan Lodge, Moline, Ill., Kraft/Gaerte.
12. (10) 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Okla., GRT/RoushYates.
13. (5) 60 Kip Hughes, Enid, Okla., GRT/Dunsworth.
14. (25) 6 Chris Theodore, Coweta, Okla., Boyd/STK.
15. (20) 17 Lucas Conley, Spring Hill, Kan., Hughes/Willie.
16. (13) 9 Ken Schrader, Concord, N.C., Venom/RoushYates.
17. (8) 127 Andy Morris, Okay, Okla., TRE/BMS
18. (18) 91 Joe Duvall, Claremore, Okla., Hughes/BMS
19. (27) 7h Brett Hansen, Fort Gibson, Okla., Hughes/Shinook.
20. (24) F5 Fausten Willhite, Tahlequah, Okla., TRE/Shinook.
21. (26) 11n Gene Nicholas, Lowell, Ark., TRE/Kelly.
22. (22) 10 J.D. Jackson, Chouteau, Okla., Mack/Jeff’s.
23. (19) 2 Daniel Tarkington, Checotah, Okla., TRE/BMS
24. (21) 75 Gary Vaughan, Springdale, Ark., DirtWorks/JP.
25. (28) 4 Scott Walton, Inola, Okla., /.
26. (16) 85 Thomas Tillison Jr., Wellston, Okla., Hughes/Geddes.
27. (23) 36 Jeff Conner, Panora, Iowa, Skyrocket/RoushYates.
28. (14) 07 Paul Cates, Salina, Okla., Hughes/.
29. (4) 4w Tyler Wolff, Fayetteville, Ark., BMS/GNS.

Lap Leaders: Allen 1-6, Hughes 7-20.
Total Laps Led: Hughes 14, Allen 6.
Margin of Victory: 1.604 seconds.
Next Race: Saturday, Oct. 12, Salina Highbanks Speedway, Pryor Creek, Okla.

Overall Points (top 8 locked into Saturday’s “A” Main):
1. 12 Jason Hughes ... 766.5
2. 3 Kelly Shryock ... 702.5
3. 75 Terry Phillips ... 700.0
4. 89 Steve Whiteaker Jr. ... 690.5
5. 20r Bryan Rowland ... 668.5
6. 98 John Allen ... 650.5
7. 2s Stormy Scott ... 643.0
8. 12b Johnny Bone Jr. ... 615.0
9. 60 Kip Hughes ... 606.5
10. 99h Trevor Hunt ... 604.0
11. 88 Chad Wheeler ... 596.0
12. 9 Ken Schrader ... 583.5
13. 95 Donavon Lodge ... 581.0
14. 4w Tyler Wolff ... 557.0
15. 33z Zack VanderBeek ... 556.5
16. 91 Joe Duvall ... 540.0
17. 85 Thomas Tillison Jr. ... 511.0
18. 6 Chris Theodore ... 484.5
19. 127 Andy Morris ... 482.0
20. 7h Brett Hansen ... 479.0
21. 10 J.D. Jackson ... 466.0
22. 17 Lucas Conley ... 460.0
23. F5 Fausten Willhite ... 446.0
24. 07 Paul Cates ... 442.0
25. 44 Delaney Erickson ... 433.0
26. 11n Gene Nicholas ... 433.0
27. 1x Colby Artherton ... 432.0
28. 9 Mykel Atkinson ... 431.0
29. FN6 Jacob Stoll ... 426.5
30. 83 Eddie Martin ... 426.5
31. 75 Gary Vaughan ... 414.0
32. 2 Daniel Tarkington ... 406.5
33. 4 Scott Walton ... 397.0
34. 36 Jeff Conner ... 394.0

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