VanderBeek roars in Kansas City, scores runner-up finish at 2nd Annual USRA National Championships

Zack VanderBeek and the Casey's General Store 33z Racing team packed their bags, loaded the LG2 by Owens Modified and made tracks to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., this past weekend for the 2nd Annual USRA National Championships.

Things got kicked off on Thursday and VanderBeek set the tone for the three-day event with a convincing win in his heat race from the third starting spot. In the 20-lap main event, VanderBeek started second and that's exactly where he finished as he chased polesitter Kerry Davis from beginning to end.

On Friday, the night got started off a bit more rocky than the previous night with 'The Z-Man' finding himself in the fourth row of a tough "B" Main. After a third-place finish, he started 17th in the feature race and wasted no time in continuing his march forward. At the end of the 20-lapper, VanderBeek had passed eleven cars and went into Saturday's program with a sixth-place finish.

With the USRA Modified finale on Saturday starting three wide for the 35-lap championship race, VanderBeek started in the middle of the front row. Darron Fuqua, who started on the outside of the front row, got the early lead and that proved to be the move of the race. VanderBeek had a strong and steady car, but the racing surface locked down early and VanderBeek followed Fuqua to the checkered flag while holding off Rodney Sanders for the second spot.

It was a successful three nights of racing on the historic half-mile oval, with VanderBeek taking $3,840 back home to New Sharon, Iowa.