OWATONNA, Minn. -- On a beautiful Monday evening when the nation paused to remember the sacrifice of fallen heroes, the Steele County Speedway opened it doors for the first time in 2007 for a huge crowd to watch a full field of O'Reilly's USMTS Modifieds, Jackpot Junction Tour IMCA Sprints and Wissota Midwest Modified action.

Up-and-coming star Zach VanderBeek made quick work of the field to claim his first series win of 2007 and move closer to point leader Kelly Shryock, who struggled to 13th after contact with Jason Cummins early in the feature. At the drop of the green, Greg Skaggs led the field to the waving flag and stretched his lead early. VanderBeek, who cut his teeth at the racetrack very similar to Steele County, the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa, quickly moved into contention for the top spot. After Jason Hughes made a bold move for the lead, it was VanderBeek who used the high side of the raceway to steal away the top money spot.

With VanderBeek leading, the rest of the field tried in vain to find a new line around the smooth and fast raceway. VanderBeek simply kept the car straight and fast and cruised to the victory. Hughes nabbed second from Skaggs with a bold move on the final lap in turn one. Corey Dripps quietly ran fourth while heat race winner Steve Wetzstein rounded out the fastest five.

In the companion Jackpot Junction Tour event for the IMCA Sprints, Mike Sargent surged by early leader Keith Beckler to take the lead and held off the other 16 competitors for 20 laps to take his first career win at the Steele County Speedway. However, it looked to be in doubt when 8th-starting Chris Graf reeled in Sargent through the mid portion of the race. After a lap 15 yellow for a stalled Luther Roberts, Sargent pulled away from Graf and got the checkers. Third spot went to Beckler while 12th starting Bill Johnson lead Brett Allen to the line for fourth.

The Wissota Midwest Modified feature had a bit of controversy when leader Kenny Wytaske tangled with a lapped machine but the yellow was deemed to be for the stalled lapped car and Wytaske retained the lead. From there, he charged to the first series win of the year at Steele County over a very fast Chris Adams and Trevis Underdahl.

The next event at Steele County Speedway is an Open 360 Sprint Special on Thursday night, June 18 that will also feature the return of the Wissota Midwest Modifieds. For more information about these events or the raceway, contact Parsons at 507-363-9124 or steelecountyspeedway@hotmail.com. Log on to www.steelecountyspeedway.com for all the up-to-date information.

Thursday, June 21: Sprint Cars, Wissota Midwest Mods, Street Stocks
Monday July 9: Wissota Tri-Star Late Model Special, IMCA Sprint Cars, Wissota Midwest Mods
Thursday July 26: ASCS Sprint Cars, Wissota Midwest Mods, Street Stocks
Thursday, August 16: Steele County Free Fair Race with USMTS Modifieds, Wissota Midwest Mods
Monday, September 3: USMTS Modifieds, IMCA Sprint Cars, Wissota Midwest Mods
Saturday September 15: ASCS Sprint Cars (Season finale), Non-sanctioned B-Mods, Street Stocks
Sunday, September 16: Rain date for Saturday's show

RESULTS

Race Results for May 28, 2007

O'Reilly Auto Parts USMTS Modified A-Main

1. Zack VanderBeek (New Sharon, IA), 2. Jason Hughes (Colcord, OK), 3. Greg Skaggs (Bixby, OK), 4. Corey Dripps (Waterloo, IA), 5. Steve Wetzstein (West Concord, MN), 6. Josh Krohn (Slayton, MN), 7. Dean Mahlstedt (Clear Lake, IA), 8. Tommy Myer (Blooming Prairie, MN), 9. Ryan Gustin (Marshalltown, IA), 10. Richie Gustin Jr. (Gilmar, IA), 11. Steve Holzkamper (Gentry, AR), 12. Jake Neal (Omaha, NE), 13. Kelly Shryock (Fertile, IA), 14. Chris Brown (Cleveland, TX), 15. Brent Bohmont (Martell, NE), 16. Ron Schreiner (Hudson, WI), 17. Brad Bakken (Garner, IA), 18. Alan Mondus (Lakeville, MN), 19. Matt Sweeny (Waukon, IA), 20. Al Hejna (Clear Lake, IA), 21. Jason Cummins (New Richland, MN), 22. Jon Tesch (Watertown, SD), 23. Mike Hejna (Clear Lake, IA), 24. Mike Spaulding (Bemidji, MN)

B-Main 1.
1 Ryan Gustin, 2. Jon Tesch, 3. Chris Brown, 4. Jake Neal, 5. Brad Bakken, 6. Doug HIllson (Blooming Prairie, MN), 7. Jay Poidinger (Somerset, WI), 8. Jacob Dahle (Morristown, MN), 9. Mike Rumsey (Brownsdale, MN), 10. Tommy Weder Jr. (Woodward, OK)

B-Main 2
1. Ron Schreiner, 2. Al Hejna, 3. Steve Holzkamper, 4. Brent Bohmont, 5. Mike Hejna, 6. Tommy Myer, 7. Alan Mondus, 8. Garry Oskerson (Fairmont, MN), 9. Scott Vesely (Mosinee, WI), 10. Brian Shaw (Brownsdale, MN)

Heat Race Winners
Heat 1. Steve Wetzstein
Heat 2. Jason Hughes
Heat 3. Greg Skaggs
Heat 4. Jason Krohn

Jackpot Junction Tour IMCA Sprints A-main
1. Mike Sargent, 2. Chris Graf, 3. Keith Beckler, 4. Bill Johnson, 5. Brett Allen, 6. Jason Tostenson, 7. Jennifer Ericksen, 8. Bruce Allen, 9. Jesse Cripe, 10. Nate Laugen, 11. Brandon Allen, 12. Richard Smith Jr., 13. Luther Roberts, 14. Dan Grams, 15. Jesse Smith, 16. Dwain Wilmes, 17. Shannon Ericksen

Heat Race Winners
Heat 1. Mike Sargent
Heat 2. Bill Johnson
Heat 3. Brandon Allen

Wissota Midwest Modified A-main
1. Kenny Wytaske, 2. Chris Adams, 3. Trevis Underdahl, 4. Brandon Davis, 5. Jim Arnold, 6. Troy Dahle, 7. Ben Behne, 8. Jayme Hiller, 9. Curt Barfknecht, 10. Jason Weis, 11. Matt Larson, 13. Rob Hermel, 13. John Rishavy, 14. Vince Corbin, 15. Troy Sande, 16. Rick Toutges, 17. Darrin Toot, 18. Christian Warner, 19. Jeremy Misgen, 20. Troy Bath, 21. Justin Remus, 22. Joey Dengler, 23. Ron Houdek

Heat Race Winners
1. Trevis Underdahl
2. Kenny Wytaske
3. Brandon Davis