FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis.—The 2016 season opener was a chilly affair during the final weekend of April; but the first Friday night action of May was like a hot and steamy romance..

A large crowd of race fans converged on Mississippi Thunder Speedway for the second night of racing at the "Jewel Of The Upper-Midwest" to watch a the local and area racers battle for glory on a beautiful Friday evening.

CLEAN SWEEP FOR ANGST

Winonan Josh Angst is well aware of the fleeting nature of success on the race track. Even while enjoying the accolades of being a two-time track champion at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Angst has had to battle through nights at the track, or even extended stretches of nights at the track, which simply did not produce the successful results to which he's become accustom.

But it's times such as those which magnify the focus and determination of a champion.

And Friday night, May 6, allowed Angst to put that focus and determination to work in order to produce another stellar run behind the wheel of his #99 Rivercity Manufacturing USRA Modified.

After an opening night run on a heavy, tacky, "hammer-down" racing surface under near freezing conditions, a fast and smooth, yet slick, track produced under a blasting sun with daytime temperatures nearing 90, greeted the racers on Friday night; and Angst was ready to read the track, make the adjustments and drive on to victory. Twice, as a matter of fact.

After winning the early evening's second heat race, Angst jumped from the pole position at the start of the night's "Mother's Day Weekend 25" and never looked back at the competition.

There were a few moments, early on, during the 25-lap main when other competitors appeared to have the potential to challenge Angst for the lead and the eventual win... but, that never occurred.

The most likely car/driver to challenge Angst was removed from the picture early in the event when contact coming out of turn four between Keith Foss and Lucas Schott sent Schott's #69 across the track into Brad Waits' #24. Waits, the defending track champion at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, was nothing more than a passenger as his modified was turned to the right (towards the grandstands) and continued rotating until it slammed, driver's-side first, into the turn one outside wall. Luckily, Waits was able to exit the wreck under his own power with no visible injuries.

Waits did, however, take a moment to point out his displeasure towards Schott, as the #69 passed by under caution.

With green-flag conditions returning to the track Angst resumed his control of the field and led every single lap to the finish, picking up his first feature win of the 2016 season.

"The track was good down low, early," explained Angst in Victory Lane, when asked about his search for the best groove on the tricky surface, "But, then I saw it moving a little higher, and then when I noticed it beginning to take rubber, I jumped up to the very top and stayed there till the checkers."

Double duty driver Jake Timm, who also piloted a USRA Limited Late Model during the evening program, battled to a strong second place finish, followed by Foss in third.

SASS SEWS UP FEATURE WIN

Justin Sass climbed from the interior of his Centerville Welding and Repair USRA Limited Late Model presented by Big Toy Storage with a smile on his face that was large enough to match his 6-foot plus height.

The smile was partly due to the fact that he had just held off 20 laps worth of challenges for the lead by Late Model ace Curt Luhmann in order to cement his claims on the feature win... but, also due to the fact that the win came after a lot of hard work and help from family and friends.

"I need to thank everyone who helped me—not just for this win, but also just to get back on the track," said Sass in victory lane after the win. "Huge thank you to Chris Rolbiecki for making this Rocket fast as (heck). After a part failure in the heat, running the feature wouldn't have even been possible without Darin Larson and 'lefty' Josh Michel helping to get it patched together just in time."

Luhmann gave up second place to second heat race winner, and defending track champion, Lance Hofer with just two laps remaining. Jake Timm (mentioned earlier) battled to a fourth place finish to solidify two top-5 feature finishes in back to back feature races (first the Modified, followed immediately by the Late Model).

MOUDRY MOTATES TO B-MOD MASTERY

Ben Moudry blocked the high number of cautions from his mind and focused on nothing more than what was necessary to keep his #85 Out-Pace USRA B-Mod out front.

"When a large number of cautions like that happens," said Moudry after celebrating the win of the evening's 18-lap feature, "there's really no way to get your rhythm as a driver. I mean, you have to ignore it... but, that is very hard to do after a while."

Moudry kept the #12K of Casey Knutson behind him and raced his way into Victory Lane. Knutson, meanwhile, had his hands full with third heat-race winner Alex Williamson and Strum, WI's Ryan Olson who both raced from starting positions outside of the first five rows to compete at the front of the pack. Knutson held on for second just ahead of Williamson.

BECKER BEATS 'EM AGAIN

After claiming the 2015 Track Championship in the MTS Sportsman division, Jordan Becker appears ready to control the all new Jailhouse Saloon USRA Hobby Stock division in 2016. Becker raced to his second feature win in as many nights of racing at Mississippi Thunder Speedway.

Jeremy Oakes and Brian Scholl fought through a strong 5-car battle to finish second and third respectively.

Racing resumes next Friday night May 13th with another complete night of dirt-track action - which includes the first visit of the year to the LIGHTNING SPEEDWAY by the Sunshine Refuse Slingshots. The first green flag of the evening actually waives at 5:45 for those Slingshot racers followed by a 6:30 PM start for the Harmston Trucking MTS Hornets.

Action on "The Big 1/3 Mile" resumes immediately following the 7:00 PM Opening Ceremonies with on-track competition provided by the Rivercity Manufacturing USRA Modifieds, Centerville Welding & Repair USRA Limited Late Models presented by Big Toy Storage, Black Horse Bar & Grill USRA B-Mods, Coordinated Business Systems WISSOTA Super Stocks, REDBOX+ 600 Modifieds, & Jailhouse Saloon USRA Hobby Stocks.

• Pit gate Opens at 4:00 PM
• General Admission Grandstands open at 5:00 PM
• Family Friendly General Admission Prices continue with ALL Students - even college, 23 yrs old and younger with current Valid Student ID - and Children 17 & Under are admitted ABSOLUTELY FREE.

Mississippi Thunder Speedway is located 3.0 miles north of Fountain City on Wisconsin Highway 35. For more information, call 608-687-3282 or visit www.MississippiThunder.com on the World Wide Web.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Racing Association
USRA Weekly Racing Series
Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
Friday, May 6, 2016

USRA MODIFIEDS
1 1 99 Josh Angst Winona , Mn 100.00
2 2 49JR Jake Timm Winona , Mn 95.00
3 5 95 Keith Foss Winona , Mn 91.00
4 9 07 Cory Crapser Chippewa Falls, Wi 87.00
5 8 23K Erik Kanz Winona , Mn 84.00
6 3 21 Jacob Bleess Chatfield , Mn 81.00
7 7 69 Lucas Schott Chatfield , Mn 78.00
8 11 4A Joel Alberts Mantorville , Mn 76.00
9 6 94JR John Doelle Arcadia , Wi 74.00
10 10 19 Dustin Sorensen Rochester , Mn 72.00
11 12 44X Leroy Scharkey Rochester , Mn 70.00
12 13 6T7 Brian Albrecht Winona , Mn 68.00
13 4 24 Brad Waits Rochester , Mn 66.00
14 14 89 Jesse Glenz Cadott , Wi 45.00

USRA LIMITED LATE MODELS
1 1 24 Justin Sass Alma , Wi 100.00
2 5 11 Lance Hofer Cochrane , Wi 95.00
3 3 8 Curt Luhmann Rushford , Mn 91.00
4 6 99 Jake Timm Winona , Mn 87.00
5 2 9 Doug Herrick West Concord, Mn 84.00
6 11 6 Nick Herrick West Concord, Mn 81.00
7 13 01 Shaun Mann Buffalo City, Wi 78.00
8 10 22J Josh Crary Elgin , Mn 76.00
9 9 13 Ryan Konkel Winona , Mn 74.00
10 14 17M Matt Laduke Cochrane , Wi 72.00
11 15 97 Bob Fort Fountain City, Wi 70.00
12 8 88 Troy Langowski Winona , Mn 68.00
13 4 QQ Tony Bahr Haugen , Wi 66.00
14 7 77 Tom Brink Winona , Mn 45.00
15 12 26 Kelvin Konkel Winona , Mn 45.00

OUT-PACE USRA B-MODS
1 3 85 Ben Moudry Hastings , Mn 100.00
2 8 12K Casey Knutson Spring Grove, Mn 95.00
3 11 15W Alex Williamson Rushford , Mn 91.00
4 12 21 Ryan Olson Racing Strum , Wi 87.00
5 4 20J Jackson Hale Grand Meadow, Mn 84.00
6 7 95X Shaun Walski Winona , Mn 81.00
7 6 00R Chad Rosendahl Houston , Mn 78.00
8 21 51W Jt Wasmund Pine Island, Mn 76.00
9 19 43 Zach Brom Winona , Mn 74.00
10 5 20K Kyle Brown Minnesota City, Mn 72.00
11 1 90 Tyler Creeley Winona , Mn 70.00
12 2 35X Phillip Dunbar Rushford , Mn 68.00
13 15 11L Lyndon Johnson Montrose , Sd 66.00
14 20 19M Troy Maier Lacrosse , Wi 64.00
15 16 4K Brian Kunda Winona , Mn 62.00
16 22 19 Nick Wagner Winona , Mn 60.00
17 26 99F Josh Flury Cochrane , Wi 58.00
18 24 60 Colby Mann Caledonia , Mn 56.00
19 18 99 Bill Engler Hixten , Wi 55.00
20 17 11 Seth Scholl Holmen , Wi 54.00
21 23 09R Dax Schwanke Winona , Mn 53.00
22 10 1 Jon Van Minsel Spring Grove, Mn 52.00
23 14 48K Scott Kunda Winona , Mn 51.00
24 13 54 John Feirn Chippewa Falls, Wi 50.00
25 25 2 Nathan Butterfield Galesville , Wi 50.00
26 9 44 Brandon Reutzel Winona , Mn 50.00

USRA HOBBY STOCKS
1 1 4J Jordan Becker Caledonia , Mn 100.00
2 9 54 Jeremy Oakes Spring Grove, Mn 95.00
3 3 1 Brian Scholl West Salem, Wi 91.00
4 6 33 Derek Sutton Fountain City, Wi 87.00
5 2 7 Steve Dwyer Lacrosse , Wi 84.00
6 5 97 Bobby Jr Fort Fountain , Wi 81.00
7 8 11 Levi Sand Caledonia , Mn 78.00
8 7 18 Cody Rollinger Minnesota City, Mn 76.00
9 4 83 Josh Malchaski Minnesota City, Mn 74.00