8/19/2023
Tanner Mullens
Tanner Mullens soars to $25,000 Silver Jubilee at Mason City
Tanner Mullens raced to a career victory on Saturday night with his Mel Hambelton Ford / Sandlian Iron & Metal Auto Salvage No. 02 Bergman Tax & Accounting / Fuqua Trucking / Mullens Race Car Modified.
He collected a career-best $25,000 payday in the finale for the USMTS Silver Jubilee at Mason City Motor Speedway. He charged past Jim Chisholm to take the top spot on the 48th circuit of the 75-lap affair.
Additionally, he banked over $8,000 more for lap leader money and bonuses to bring his Saturday night take to north of $33,000.
“I could tell [Jim Chisholm] was getting tight,” Mullens said in Victory Lane, regarding his pass for the lead. “He was trying to enter a little lower and shoving the nose there, but I don’t know that I ever would’ve gotten by him if he wouldn’t have messed up. I was entering lower, trying to prevent what he did. We just managed to hang on there until the end.
“It [the car] wasn’t as good as what we were here Thursday night, but it was really good. Man, this is crazy. This is it here. It’s a lot of money Todd [Staley] put up and all the sponsors and I can't thank him enough. This helps us get up and down the road so much and it supports my entire family.”
Tanner Mullens continued the 2023 season on Thursday afternoon at Mason City (Iowa) Motor Speedway as his qualifying night came to life for the 25th Anniversary United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) Silver Jubilee.
Dividing the 71-car field in two groups for prelims on Wednesday and Thursday, Mullens topped his time trial group on Thursday with a blistering 15.095-second lap before going sixth-to-second in his heat race.
Rolling off from the pole of his preliminary feature, Tanner led wire-to-wire in the 25-lap affair to claim his sixth win of the season and a $1,000 prize. He finished 3.905 seconds ahead of Lucas Schott with Will Krup, Jeremy Nelson, and Jim Chisholm rounding out the top-five.
With Thursday’s prelim victory placing him on the front row for Saturday night’s Silver Jubilee finale, Tanner stalked early front-runners Dereck Ramirez and Jim Chisholm before making his move to the lead past the halfway point of 78-lapper.
Charging ahead of Chisholm on lap 48, Mullens kept Dan Ebert at bay despite a handful of late cautions to claim his seventh win of the season and $25,000 payday, which marked the richest of his career.
Tanner was also awarded with over $8,000 in additional lap leader and bonus money.
He notched his 10th-career USMTS victory ahead of Ebert, Jake O’Neil, Rodney Sanders, and Clayton Wagamon.
Tanner is currently in fifth in the latest USMTS point standings.
Full results can be found at www.usmts.com.
Next on the slate for the Kansas traveler is a four-race swing over the Labor Day weekend with the United States Racing Association (USRA) American Racer Modified Series (ARMS). The swing, which spans four days from Aug. 21 – Sept. 3, includes visits to Hunt County Speedway (Greenville, Texas), Texarkana (Ark.) 67 Speedway, Rocket Raceway Park (Petty, Texas), and RPM Speedway (Crandall, Texas).
For more information on the events, please visit www.usraracing.com.
Article Credit: Tyler Rinken image
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