Schott Goes From 7th to 4th at Mississippi Thunder Speedway

FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. -- In a matter of 24 hours, Brad Waits went from worst to first as he captured the 40-lap main event Saturday night as the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Tour powered by Swan Energy invaded the Mississippi Thunder Speedway for the 3rd Annual Rivercity Rumble.

Waits sat out the remainder of the night on Friday after being involved in a crash in his heat race, but on Saturday the driver from Rochester, Minn., sat in victory lane with a $3,000 check in his hands – just one week after pocketing $20,000 at the World Modified Dirt Track Championship.

Event sponsor Rivercity Manufacturing tempted the previous night’s winner, Ryan Gustin, with a $3,000 bonus if he would agree to start at the rear of the field and could win from there.

Much to the crowd’s delight, Gustin forfeited his second row starting spot and elected start dead last in the 27-car field for a chance at a $6,000 haul.

Ben Mattick started on the pole for the WIX Filters “A” Main with Josh Angst on his outside for the drop of the green flag. Angst fended off Mattick and Waits for the first five laps, but Waits muscled his way to the front to lead the sixth lap.

Behind the leaders, Lucas Schott raced outside of Corey Dripps for fourth place with Rodney Sanders joining the battle in the top 5 while Waits and Angst pulled away in a side-by-side race for the lead.

Waits eventually pulled away and left the field to battle it out for runner-up honors.

Meanwhile, Gustin was working his way forward but got no help from the flagman as the first caution flag finally waved on lap 33 when Sanders and Mattick both slowed with flat tires while Gustin hovered in the 13th spot.

Waits bolted away from the field on the restart en route to another win at the former Tri-Oval Speedway where he was virtually unbeatable in year’s past.

Kelly Shryock gained ground and finished second followed by Dripps, Schott and Tim Donlinger. Dereck Ramirez, Bob Timm, Mike Wedelstadt and Doug Hillson rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Gustin also retired from the race with six laps to go due to a flat tire. Although he wound up 19th, simply taking the green flag in his heat race earlier locked up the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region points title worth $2,500 for the 20-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa.

Finishing behind ‘The Reaper’ in the Yeager Machine Upper Midwest Region points were Shryock, Zack VanderBeek, Sanders, Dripps, Jason Miller, Ramirez, Jason Krohn, Keith Foss and Hillson.

With their top-10 finishes in the final rankings, the Hunt for the USMTS Casey’s General Stores National Championship powered by Swan Energy added Miller, Foss and Hillson to the Class of 2011 who will be chasing this year’s crown.

RIVERCITY MANUFACTURING HEAT RACE #5 (8 laps):
1. (2) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa.
2. (3) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla.
3. (8) 69 Lucas Schott (R), Chatfield, Minn.
4. (6) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn.
5. (7) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn.
6. (1) 18 Mick Glenn, Minnesota City, Minn.
7. (4) 29h Joe Horgdal (R), Kasson, Minn.
8. (5) 11 Lance Hofer, Cochrane, Wis.

WIX FILTERS “A” MAIN (40 laps):
1. (3) 24 Brad Waits, Rochester, Minn., Skyrocket/ASI, 40, $2000.
2. (7) 3 Kelly Shryock, Fertile, Iowa, Skyrocket/ProPower, 40, $2100.
3. (5) 31 Corey Dripps, Waterloo, Iowa, BC/Mullins, 40, $1500.
4. (6) 69 Lucas Schott (R), Chatfield, Minn., Hughes/GMPP, 40, $1000.
5. (9) 3d Tim Donlinger, Rochester, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $900.
6. (10) 4r Dereck Ramirez, Woodward, Okla., Hughes/ProPower, 40, $800.
7. (8) 49 Bob Timm, Winona, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 40, $700.
8. (11) X Mike Wedelstadt, New London, Wis., Sidebiter/Yeoman, 40, $650.
9. (16) 72 Doug Hillson, Blooming Prairie, Minn., Hillson/CRE, 40, $600.
10. (15) 7k Jason Krohn, Slayton, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 40, $550.
11. (13) 33z Zack VanderBeek, New Sharon, Iowa, Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $600.
12. (21) 65 Tommy Myer, Blooming Prairie, Minn., GRT/GMPP, 40, $450.
13. (12) 555 Ryan Ruter, Kanawha, Iowa, Sidebiter/Sput’s, 40, $425.
14. (25) R4 Ron Ver Beek, Oskaloosa, Iowa, Skyrocket/Midstate, 40, $300.
15. (17) 52 Jason Thoennes (R), Garfield, Minn., MasterSbilt/Sower, 40, $375.
16. (24) 5 Brandon Beckendorf (R), Danube, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 40, $350.
17. (2) 99 Josh Angst, Winona, Minn., Skyrocket/Sput’s, 36, tire, $300.
18. (19) 95 Keith Foss (R), Winona, Minn., Skyrocket/Brink, 36, mechanical, $400.
19. (27) 19r Ryan Gustin, Marshalltown, Iowa, Hughes/Mullins, 34, tire, $500.
20. (4) 20 Rodney Sanders, Happy, Texas, Hughes/Geddes, 33, tire, $500.
21. (1) 4 Ben Mattick, Mantorville, Minn., Fegers/Dave’s, 33, tire, $300.
22. (14) 94jr John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis., 32, mechanical, $300.
23. (26) 96 Jay Ihrke, Dover, Minn., Fegers/Dean, 32, mechanical, $100.
24. (23) 12m Jason Miller, Osceola, Wis., Hughes/Mullins, 32, mechanical, $400.
25. (20) 0 Les Duellman, Winona, Minn., DirtDueler/Brink, 30, suspension, $350.
26. (18) 10 Mike Steensma, Luverne, Minn., Hughes/Sput’s, 29, handling, $350.
27. (22) 1st Johnny Scott, Las Cruces, N.M., Hughes/ASI, 9, mechanical, $350.