6/2/2024
Rodney Sanders
Sanders earns 9th-place result in The Big Deal at MTS, wins twice at Mason City
On Wednesday through Saturday, Rodney Sanders was one of 145 Modified competitors in the inaugural running of The Big Deal at Mississippi Thunder Speedway. He came away from the $100,001-to-win show with a solid top-10 finish, then won two features at Mason City Motor Speedway on Sunday.
When the action kicked off on Wednesday at Mississippi Thunder, Sanders was runner-up in his group qualifying session, with his overall position making Thursday his prelim night for the new One Nation Under Modifieds (ONUM)-sanctioned event at the track in Fountain City, Wisconsin.
Sanders maneuvered from eighth to second in his heat race on the 1/3-mile clay oval on Thursday, putting him on the front row for the night’s 30-lap, $5,000-to-win feature. He ultimately slipped two positions in the race and finished fourth behind Cade Dillard, Brandon Davis and Joe Chisholm. Kyle Davis completed the top five.
Sanders’ impressive total of qualifying points locked him into Saturday’s A-Main, where he started from the fourth position. He held a spot in the top five for much of the 100-lap finale before ultimately recording a ninth-place result.
On Sunday, Sanders and his team traveled to Mason City, Iowa, where Sanders began the night by winning the USRA Modified makeup feature at the 1/3-mile Mason City Motor Speedway. The program had been halted due to rain on May 19. He took the victory over Joe Chisholm, J.T. Wasmund, Ben Nading and Darwin Karau.
For Sunday’s regularly scheduled event at Mason City, Sanders went to a backup car and missed the heat, forcing him to start from shotgun on the field in the feature race. He picked up eight spots in the 20-lap A-Main and took the checkered flag 1.120 seconds in front of Wasmund. Chisholm, Kevin Stoa and Nading completed the top five.
The wins represented Sanders’ sixth and seventh feature triumphs of the year and netted him a total of $2,300.
Full results are here for The Big Deal and at www.masoncitymotorspeedway.com.
Article Credit: Jaction Photography image