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Phillips victorious in King of America opener

By USMTS PR (Humboldt, KS) -- Despite a storied career that’s been ongoing longer than most of his competitors have been alive, to say that Thursday was monumental on many levels for Terry Phillips would be a monumental understatement.

Against a teeth-gnashing pack of 62 formidable challengers, the second-generation racer from Springfield, Missouri, stood alone at the top after dominating the opening night main event at RacinDirt USMTS King of America XII presented by Shock Hitch.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tyler Rinken

In his more than 40 starts here at the Humboldt Speedway, this was his third feature win and second in a King of America preliminary feature. The $12,000-to-win main event—which takes place Saturday—remains the lone crown jewel event missing from the hall-of-famer’s trophy case.

The 56-year-old veteran was the Sybesma Graphics Pole Award winner and he parlayed that advantage into a wire-to-wire victory in Thursday night’s 35-lapper at ‘The Hummer.’ He led every lap to pocket $3,000 and his 39th career USMTS triumph.

Phillips’s first 38 were behind the wheel of a GRT, but this was his first for his new Bloodline Race Cars chassis company.

“Man, it’s been a lot of hard work. I’ve got Cole my main here that helps build these cars here with us tonight, my daughter, Tommy Boy my new crew chief here,“ Phillips said. “I’m a little emotional tonight because I just retired from Late Model racing today. Sold out. So it’s all about the Modifieds now. Maybe we’ll be hard on ‘em or something.

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist but in the end I think it pays off—I was taught that way by my Dad (hall-of-famer Larry Phillips) so it’s just a great night to feel this good and put a pretty good whoopin’ on them… He had me welding frames together in high school so it started a long time ago. I’m proud of the bloodline crew tonight and there’s more of these to come.”

The race was nothing close to a runaway though. As is usually the case in a summit USMTS main event with 29 starters on a tight quarter-mile bullring, heavy lapped traffic midway through the feature kept the rest of the top five within sight of the leader.

The two constants were four-time USMTS National Champion Jason Hughes—the winningest driver at Humboldt with 13 career wins, including King of America V in 2015—and Dan Ebert who is slowly but surely piling up wins and experience on the USMTS campaign.

Help arrived for Phillips when a mid-race caution gave him a clear line of sight and allowed him to jump out ahead of his pursuers. It also brought into play Ryan Gustin as ‘The Reaper’ patiently searched for a way around the side-by-side second- and third-place runners Hughes and Ebert, but nothing would stand in the way of Phillips as he pedaled to an emotional and historic win on Thursday night.

“Gustin, he can drive anything with four wheels whether it’s a go kart or a drag car. Total respect for him,” Phillips added. “I knew Jason was there because he hit me in the bumper on every restart.”

“I just kind of pushed him,” Hughes said laughingly. “I didn’t know when he was gonna start and I wasn’t gonna be left there behind. I knew he’d try and sucker us on that.”

Hughes came from sixth on the grid to finish second while Gustin slipped by Ebert late to claim the third sport on the podium.

Adding to the level of impressiveness and nostalgia, six of the previous nine King of America champions followed Phillips across the finish line. The main event also featured five former USMTS National Champions with a combined ten titles between them.

If things keep going his way this weekend and beyond, Phillips just might be able to check off two bucket list crowns between Saturday and November’s finale.

Darron Fuqua and Tyler Wolff finished fifth and sixth after starting 14th and 15th, respectively. Defending King of America winner Jake O'Neil was seventh 2016 King of America winner Zack VanderBeek pocketed an eighth-place prize.

Last year’s points runner-up Tanner Mullens was ninth and Johnny Scott, who won his first and only USMTS National championship in 2018, completed the top 10.

Of note, four-time USMTS titlist Rodney Sanders finished 11th and the 2021 USMTS belt-wearer, Dereck Ramirez, wound up 18th.

The swarm returns to the Humboldt Speedway for RacinDirt King of America XII presented by Shocker Hitch and the 8th Annual Battle at The Bullring on Friday and Saturday. For more information, check out the Fast Facts.

The Humboldt Speedway is a 1/4-mile semi-banked clay oval located off of US 169 to the Humboldt exit, then 0.1 mile west, then 0.5 mile south, then 0.9 mile east to 1663 Georgia Rd, Humboldt, KS 66748.

The Summit USMTS National Championship presented by RacinDirt currently features 46 nights of racing at 15 of America's premier dirt track racing venues in nine states for its Silver Anniversary season. Just the winners of those events are set to earn more than $300,000 with nearly $2 million in purses and prize money earmarked for the 2023 campaign.

Watch every USMTS event online live and on-demand from anywhere on any device with RacinDirt. Download the app at Roku, Amazon Fire, iOS, Apple TV or on Google Play.

Visit usmts.com for schedules, points, photos, souvenirs, videos and more. Follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Click here to get USMTS news delivered to your inbox.

THURSDAY RESULTS

Summit Racing Equipment A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips[1]; 2. 12-Jason Hughes[6]; 3. 55-Ryan Gustin[12]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[7]; 5. 87-Darron Fuqua[14]; 6. 4W-Tyler Wolff[15]; 7. 0-Jake O'Neil[10]; 8. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[4]; 9. 02-Tanner Mullens[11]; 10. 1ST-Johnny Scott[5]; 11. 20-Rodney Sanders[16]; 12. 15-Alex Williamson[21]; 13. K9-Will Krup[26]; 14. 65-Tyler Davis[19]; 15. 10B-Brandon Givens[28]; 16. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[25]; 17. 4RJ-Jared Russell[13]; 18. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[24]; 19. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[20]; 20. 16-Austin Siebert[17]; 21. 38T-Dylan Thornton[22]; 22. 88-Tanner Williamson[8]; 23. 21K-Kyle Brown[27]; 24. 21-Jacob Bleess[29]; 25. 4-Jeremy Nelson[23]; 26. 21X-Austin Bonner[2]; 27. 24C-Jim Chisholm[9]; 28. 26G-Ryan Gierke[18]; 29. 49-Jake Timm[3]

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 4RJ-Jared Russell[2]; 2. 20-Rodney Sanders[3]; 3. 65-Tyler Davis[1]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton[5]; 5. 90-Steve Wetzstein[4]; 6. WW1-Ricky Alvarado[6]; 7. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[11]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan[9]; 9. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[12]; 10. 1M-Curt Myers[15]; 11. 308-Pat Hoffman[8]; 12. 22B-Rick Beebe[17]; 13. 99T-TJ Tolan[14]; 14. 78-Billy Jack Brutchin[16]; 15. 32-Jesse Young[13]; 16. 45-Chase Holland[10]; 17. K9-Will Krup[7]

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 87-Darron Fuqua[1]; 2. 16-Austin Siebert[2]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[3]; 4. 4-Jeremy Nelson[6]; 5. 56X-Broc Bowen[4]; 6. 7-Al Hejna[8]; 7. 10B-Brandon Givens[5]; 8. 19SB-Lance Mari[7]; 9. 15WX-Kale Westover[13]; 10. 96-Taton Hansen[10]; 11. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[16]; 12. 33X-Justin Froemming[9]; 13. 58X-Gary Christian[11]; 14. 7X-Chris Dawson[14]; 15. 16B-Randy Brown[12]; 16. 127-Paden Phillips[15]; 17. 40-Jessy Willard[17]

Real Racing Wheels B Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 4W-Tyler Wolff[3]; 2. 26G-Ryan Gierke[1]; 3. 15-Alex Williamson[5]; 4. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[7]; 5. 21K-Kyle Brown[4]; 6. 10C-Cayden Carter[6]; 7. 91-Joe Duvall[8]; 8. 712-Trevor Hughes[10]; 9. 12H-Mike Hansen[11]; 10. 20T-Trevor Anderson[2]; 11. 174-Ethan Dotson[16]; 12. 21-Jacob Bleess[13]; 13. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[12]; 14. 25C-Cody Thompson[17]; 15. 747-Colton Eck[9]; 16. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[14]; 17. 17-Jon Plowman[15]

Simpson Performance Products Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 2. 55-Ryan Gustin[4]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[6]; 4. 15-Alex Williamson[1]; 5. 19SB-Lance Mari[3]; 6. 91-Joe Duvall[7]; 7. 7-Al Hejna[11]; 8. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[5]; 9. 7X-Chris Dawson[8]; 10. 1M-Curt Myers[10]; 11. 40-Jessy Willard[9]

Fast Shafts Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek[2]; 2. 4RJ-Jared Russell[1]; 3. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr[3]; 4. 56X-Broc Bowen[4]; 5. 10B-Brandon Givens[7]; 6. 4-Jeremy Nelson[6]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan[8]; 8. 58X-Gary Christian[5]; 9. 15WX-Kale Westover[9]; 10. 127-Paden Phillips[10]; 11. 22B-Rick Beebe[11]

Edelbrock Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Williamson[2]; 2. 65-Tyler Davis[4]; 3. 0-Jake O'Neil[5]; 4. 21K-Kyle Brown[3]; 5. 4W-Tyler Wolff[6]; 6. WW1-Ricky Alvarado[10]; 7. 96-Taton Hansen[7]; 8. 747-Colton Eck[11]; 9. 21-Jacob Bleess[9]; 10. 6ST-Joseph Thomas[8]; 11. 25C-Cody Thompson[1]

Wieland Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[2]; 2. 12-Jason Hughes[5]; 3. 20-Rodney Sanders[4]; 4. 26G-Ryan Gierke[6]; 5. 90-Steve Wetzstein[9]; 6. 33X-Justin Froemming[1]; 7. 12H-Mike Hansen[3]; 8. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[7]; 9. 32-Jesse Young[10]; 10. 174-Ethan Dotson[8]

VP Race Fuels Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 24C-Jim Chisholm[2]; 2. 16-Austin Siebert[1]; 3. 02-Tanner Mullens[5]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 5. K9-Will Krup[4]; 6. 4R-Dereck Ramirez[8]; 7. 712-Trevor Hughes[7]; 8. 45-Chase Holland[6]; 9. 99T-TJ Tolan[9]; 10. 17-Jon Plowman[10]

Super Clean Heat 6 (10 Laps): 1. 21X-Austin Bonner[4]; 2. 20T-Trevor Anderson[1]; 3. 75-Terry Phillips[6]; 4. 87-Darron Fuqua[10]; 5. 308-Pat Hoffman[2]; 6. 10C-Cayden Carter[5]; 7. 99L-Steve Lavasseur[3]; 8. 16B-Randy Brown[8]; 9. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[7]; 10. 78-Billy Jack Brutchin[9]

Qualifying 1: 1. 49-Jake Timm, 00:16.212[8]; 2. 11X-Tom Berry Jr, 00:16.217[7]; 3. 55-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.294[6]; 4. 19SB-Lance Mari, 00:16.351[2]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert, 00:16.432[5]; 6. 15-Alex Williamson, 00:16.567[3]; 7. 91-Joe Duvall, 00:16.609[1]; 8. 7X-Chris Dawson, 00:16.665[9]; 9. 40-Jessy Willard, 00:16.962[11]; 10. 1M-Curt Myers, 00:16.976[4]; 11. 7-Al Hejna, 00:16.976[10]

Qualifying 2: 1. 4-Jeremy Nelson, 00:16.292[5]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian, 00:16.395[7]; 3. 56X-Broc Bowen, 00:16.453[11]; 4. 65X-Carlos Ahumada Jr, 00:16.498[2]; 5. 33Z-Zack VanderBeek, 00:16.519[10]; 6. 4RJ-Jared Russell, 00:16.585[6]; 7. 10B-Brandon Givens, 00:16.678[1]; 8. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:16.716[8]; 9. 15WX-Kale Westover, 00:16.735[4]; 10. 127-Paden Phillips, 00:16.737[9]; 11. 22B-Rick Beebe, 00:16.848[3]

Qualifying 3: 1. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 00:16.244[6]; 2. 0-Jake O'Neil, 00:16.453[11]; 3. 65-Tyler Davis, 00:16.517[1]; 4. 21K-Kyle Brown, 00:16.523[2]; 5. 88-Tanner Williamson, 00:16.669[7]; 6. 25C-Cody Thompson, 00:16.741[5]; 7. 96-Taton Hansen, 00:16.812[8]; 8. 6ST-Joseph Thomas, 00:16.839[4]; 9. 21-Jacob Bleess, 00:16.866[3]; 10. WW1-Ricky Alvarado, 00:16.881[9]; 11. 747-Colton Eck, 00:16.958[10]

Qualifying 4: 1. 26G-Ryan Gierke, 00:16.377[7]; 2. 12-Jason Hughes, 00:16.468[6]; 3. 20-Rodney Sanders, 00:16.473[5]; 4. 12H-Mike Hansen, 00:16.492[8]; 5. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:16.534[4]; 6. 33X-Justin Froemming, 00:16.562[3]; 7. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt, 00:16.642[1]; 8. 174-Ethan Dotson, 00:16.654[2]; 9. 90-Steve Wetzstein, 00:16.716[9]; 10. 32-Jesse Young, 00:16.716[10]

Qualifying 5: 1. 45-Chase Holland, 00:16.279[10]; 2. 02-Tanner Mullens, 00:16.314[6]; 3. K9-Will Krup, 00:16.329[9]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:16.341[5]; 5. 24C-Jim Chisholm, 00:16.399[4]; 6. 16-Austin Siebert, 00:16.431[3]; 7. 712-Trevor Hughes, 00:16.497[1]; 8. 4R-Dereck Ramirez, 00:16.520[7]; 9. 99T-TJ Tolan, 00:16.822[2]; 10. 17-Jon Plowman, 00:16.822[8]

Qualifying 6: 1. 75-Terry Phillips, 00:16.664[8]; 2. 10C-Cayden Carter, 00:16.675[7]; 3. 21X-Austin Bonner, 00:16.722[2]; 4. 99L-Steve Lavasseur, 00:16.736[4]; 5. 308-Pat Hoffman, 00:16.883[9]; 6. 20T-Trevor Anderson, 00:16.907[3]; 7. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero, 00:16.913[6]; 8. 16B-Randy Brown, 00:17.045[10]; 9. 78-Billy Jack Brutchin, 00:17.177[5]; 10. (DQ) 87-Darron Fuqua, 00:16.487[1]

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BATTLE AT THE BULLRING THURSDAY RESULTS

RAYS METAL DEPOT USRA B-MODS

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. J2-Kris Jackson[6]; 2. X2-Brian Bolin[4]; 3. 56-Shadren Turner[12]; 4. 8S-Jon Sheets[9]; 5. 28-Andy Bryant[17]; 6. 6T-Michael Taylor III[1]; 7. 90-Terry Schultz[5]; 8. 18-JC Morton[13]; 9. 17B-Zach Benson[16]; 10. 17X-Mike Striegel[2]; 11. 19K-Kyle Slader[14]; 12. 5-Reece Solander[20]; 13. 14J-Jacob Hodges[15]; 14. 31-Luke Phillips[10]; 15. 21-Jacob Ellison[11]; 16. 14-Adam Brotherton[19]; 17. 3D-Dan Daniels[22]; 18. 19R-Lucas Rodin[7]; 19. 7G-Gabe Hodges[8]; 20. 54-Tyler Kidwell[23]; 21. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[18]; 22. 22T-Tyler Tesch[21]; 23. 26J-Jace Whitt[24]; 24. 17-Henry Chambers[3]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18-JC Morton[4]; 2. 17B-Zach Benson[1]; 3. 14-Adam Brotherton[3]; 4. 3D-Dan Daniels[7]; 5. 2-Scott Splittstoesser[5]; 6. 15R-Ryan Smith[9]; 7. 47V-Anthony VanEverdingen[8]; 8. 42-Jerry Morgan[12]; 9. 222-Bob Hammond[14]; 10. 23DD-George Dalbeck[6]; 11. D86-Donald McIntosh[13]; 12. 1-Doug McCollough[2]; 13. X1-Caden Bolin[11]; 14. (DNS) 8-Terry Bruner; 15. (DNS) 28K-Krew Walburn

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 19K-Kyle Slader[1]; 2. 28-Andy Bryant[2]; 3. 5-Reece Solander[6]; 4. 54-Tyler Kidwell[5]; 5. 21X-Jake Smith[4]; 6. 98-Kenton Allen[3]; 7. ZEE28-Randy Zimmerman[9]; 8. 77-Tyler Frye[15]; 9. 50-Brady Caul[10]; 10. 7-Anthony Tanner[7]; 11. 34G-Billy Gordon[12]; 12. 12-Jaden Varnson[8]; 13. 24-Tyler Hughes[14]; 14. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[11]; 15. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[13]

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 14J-Jacob Hodges[1]; 2. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[5]; 3. 22T-Tyler Tesch[8]; 4. 26J-Jace Whitt[7]; 5. 16-Garrett Paull[3]; 6. 11S-Darren Engesser[11]; 7. U2-Cory Berquist[10]; 8. RED1-Dan Wheeler[13]; 9. 2K-Mike Keever[9]; 10. 33-Dustin Daniels[14]; 11. 33C-Cole Boston[6]; 12. 17L-Chris Leathers[12]; 13. 22-Brian McGowen[4]; 14. 18R-Rodney Sigg[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7G-Gabe Hodges[1]; 2. 6T-Michael Taylor III[5]; 3. 56-Shadren Turner[6]; 4. 2-Scott Splittstoesser[3]; 5. 33C-Cole Boston[4]; 6. 23DD-George Dalbeck[10]; 7. 15R-Ryan Smith[9]; 8. X1-Caden Bolin[2]; 9. D86-Donald McIntosh[7]; 10. (DNS) 28K-Krew Walburn

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. J2-Kris Jackson[1]; 2. 8S-Jon Sheets[4]; 3. 18R-Rodney Sigg[2]; 4. 19K-Kyle Slader[9]; 5. 54-Tyler Kidwell[7]; 6. 5-Reece Solander[10]; 7. 50-Brady Caul[5]; 8. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[6]; 9. 19-Josh Wahlstrom[3]; 10. 77-Tyler Frye[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17X-Mike Striegel[1]; 2. 17B-Zach Benson[2]; 3. 14-Adam Brotherton[3]; 4. 18-JC Morton[6]; 5. 3D-Dan Daniels[4]; 6. 26J-Jace Whitt[8]; 7. ZEE28-Randy Zimmerman[9]; 8. 11S-Darren Engesser[7]; 9. RED1-Dan Wheeler[5]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 90-Terry Schultz[1]; 2. 31-Luke Phillips[4]; 3. 98-Kenton Allen[3]; 4. 21X-Jake Smith[6]; 5. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[7]; 6. 12-Jaden Varnson[2]; 7. 2K-Mike Keever[9]; 8. 42-Jerry Morgan[5]; 9. 222-Bob Hammond[8]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. X2-Brian Bolin[3]; 2. 19R-Lucas Rodin[6]; 3. 16-Garrett Paull[1]; 4. 28-Andy Bryant[8]; 5. 22-Brian McGowen[9]; 6. 22T-Tyler Tesch[2]; 7. U2-Cory Berquist[5]; 8. 34G-Billy Gordon[7]; 9. 24-Tyler Hughes[4]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Henry Chambers[2]; 2. 21-Jacob Ellison[3]; 3. 1-Doug McCollough[5]; 4. 14J-Jacob Hodges[9]; 5. 7-Anthony Tanner[1]; 6. 47V-Anthony VanEverdingen[7]; 7. 8-Terry Bruner[8]; 8. 17L-Chris Leathers[6]; 9. 33-Dustin Daniels[4]

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