The I-35 Speedway in Mason City hosted its second-to-last weekly race on Sunday, August 30th. While the temperatures were below normal, the action on the track and a little bit of drama more then made up for the chilly air.
Things got kicked off with Taylor Frerichs piloting her novice hornet to victory lane while Scott Schlichting did the same in the hornet division. Schlichting had to make a last corner pass on Patrick Barrett to get the job done.
Wayne Landheer would jump out to the early lead in the hobby stock feature before an early caution came out. Cory Gansen ducked to the inside of Terry Litwiler to grab third in turn two before going to the high line in turns three and four and passing Scott Dobel for second as the field saw the crossed flags singaling the halfway point. Gansen would take the helm after Landheer's car skated in the corner, which also allowed Stac Schroeder to move into the second spot. Schroeder used the low groove to pass Gansen for the lead while points leader Mick Meyers and Heath Tulp would get crossed up coming to the checkered flag. Stac Schroeder would cross the line first, but would have it taken away when he refused a motor claim by Heath Tulp. That awarded Cory Gansen the trophy followed by Wayne Landheer, Scott Dobel, Chad Gentz, and Guy Kimpton. By my unofficial tally, Mick Meyers will take a slim four point lead into next week's season championship night ahead of Chad Gentz with Heath Tulp ten points out of the lead.
1. 6 Cory Gansen
2. 2 Wayne Landheer
3. 83 Scott Dobel
4. 15 Chad Gentz
5. 52x Guy Kimpton
6. 71 Terry Litwiler
7. 20 Jeremy Solberg
8. 06 Kyle Schmauss
9. 50 Heath Tulp
10. 15J Travis Johnson
11. 6JR Mick Meyers
12. 18z Zac Smith
13. 10x Mason Gilbert
14. 38 Dusti Showalter
15. 65 Gary Fransiscus
16. 17 Matt Stading
17. 3R Adam Rodamaker
18. 99 Carl Runge - DNS (rolled violently over the turn 3 wall in his heat race, fortunately he was okay)
19. 51P Daniel Porter - DNS (didn't see him run a heat or the feature)
20. 51 Stac Schroeder - DQ (claim refusal)
Twenty 360-modifieds (bmods) were up next as John Warrington took the reigns early on from his outside front row start. Shane Swanson showed his strength early on as he manuevered his way through the field from seventh to fourth in a matter of just two laps before a caution came out. Swanson would get a great restart as he found himself taking over the race lead by the time the field came back around to complete the next lap. Not to be outdone, Adam Ackerman was carving his way through traffic as he climbed into the top five after starting eleventh. Just after the halfway point Ackerman made his move on the inside to pass Nick West for the runner up spot. Ackerman would quickly close the gap on Swanson's lead while Dan Tenold moved into third with two laps to go. Shane Swanson was able to hold off Ackerman at the line while Nate Chodur slipped by Nick West at the stripe for fourth. Chodur unofficially will have a 15-point advantage over Ackerman going into next week's championship night.
1. 55 Shane Swanson
2. 5 Adam Ackerman
3. 86 Dan Tenold
4. 88 Nate Chodur
5. 2 Nick West
6. 21H Matt Hoeft
7. 64 John Warrington
8. 18J Mike Jaeger
9. 44 Brian Lund
10. 69 Kyle Germundson
11. 90 George Nordman
12. 71 James Krejci
13. 17 Tyler Heetland
14. 22 Craig Klouse
15. 98 Ben Becker
16. 4JR Devin Fish
17. 32z Alex Zwanziger
18. B1 Bruce Porter
19. 21R Tony Ranes
20. 9 Thomas Buns
Thirteen IMCA stock cars made their way to the track next as two cars failed to make the call. Calvin Lange and Travis Shipman raced side by side on the first lap with Shipman getting the upper hand on lap two for the lead. Mike Jergens began his quest for a repeat performance of last week as he motored to the high side of Brad Broers to take over the third spot. Broers would lose another spot when Kevin Opheim used the low line to slip past. Jergens would take advantage of Lange's car getting loose in the corner to snag the runner up spot as he set his sights on race leader Shipman. Opheim would let his car slide from the inside to the outside and clear Lange for the third spot while Jergens used the inside line to grab the lead away from Shipman. At that point Shipman's car would lose some of it's power as it sounded like it lost a cylinder or two. Opheim was able to scoot by Shipman on the last lap to take second, but it was Mike Jergens taking home another win. Opheim will carry a 14-point lead going into next week's action ahead of Travis Hoeft with Mike Jergens one point behind Hoeft.
1. 37x Mike Jergens
2. 44K Kevin Opheim
3. 87 Travis Shipman
4. 15 Brad Broers
5. 37 Merlyn Hegland
6. 43 Calvin Lange
7. 21 Travis Hoeft
8. 81 Bert McDaniel
9. K20 Kevin Paca
10. 14A Chris Adams
11. 96 Joe Willier
12. 69 Jake Ludeking
13. 32JR Laura Curry
DNS
26 Harold Schaer
53 Wade Nall
Eleven IMCA modifieds were ready to conclude the evening with their twenty-lap finale. Outside front row starter Alex Yohn would assume command on lap one, but that was short-lived when Jeremy Mills set sail on the cushion to take the lead away on lap two. Yohn would lose a couple more spots as J.J. Wise and Shane Monson made their way by before the caution came out when Yohn's car spun as a result of a flat tire. That bunched the field up for the time being, and T.J. Stalker took advantage as he powered by Curt Badker on the outside to take the fourth position. Monson would pull to the infield, giving up third place. That put Stalker in third when the caution came out two more times. Stalker again used the outside to make a pass on Wise for the runner up spot while Rob Rose also got by Wise for third. Stalker slowly closed in on race leader Jeremy Mills, but he ran out of time as Mills took home another win. Mills will cling to a 13-point lead ahead of Rob Rose as season championship night arrives next week.
1. 10 Jeremy Mills
2. 1 T.J. Stalker
3. 123 Rob Rose
4. 68 J.J. Wise
5. 11 Alex Hanson
6. 22T Tyler Prochaska
7. 23w Robert Whalen
8. 47 Christian Wagler
9. 58 Curt Badker
10. 11x Alex Yohn
11. 25$ Shane Monson
DNS
45 Levi Nielsen
As noted, a couple points battles are brewing going into next week's season championship night. Be sure to check out the track website, www.i-35speedway.com, for official point standings.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Mills Continues to Win in Algona
After trying to decide where to go on Saturday night, the decision was finally made to attend the Algona Raceway. So I made the lengthy trek northwest to check out the action at the short track.
Ross Hingson would take home the win in the novice hornets while Jay DeVries took the checkers in the hornet feature. Peg Lewis and Heather Pesicka grabbed the trophies for the cruiser car feature.
Nineteen hobby stocks would take center stage next as Micah Lavrenz took control of the race from the pole. His lead would not last long, however, as Kyle Ricke used the cushion to motor by Lavrenz to the lead. Lavrenz would continue to backpeddle as Nick Meyer and Josh Peters made their way by using the high side as well. After the third caution of the race was displayed, Randy Hadacek used the high line to make the pass on Tim Sidles to climb to the fourth position. Peters would work under Ricke to snare the second spot away. Ricke would later jump over the cushion and open the door for three cars to scoot past. Up front Nick Meyer was able to hold off Josh Peters for the win followed by Randy Hadacek, Chad Gentz, and Tim Sidles.
1. 2 Nick Meyer
2. 5J Josh Peters
3. 5 Randy Hadacek
4. 15 Chad Gentz
5. T1M Tim Sidles
6. 16 Kyle Ricke
7. 8K Kyle Sidles
8. 24 Cory Weisharr
9. 29 Jody Bierstedt
10. 30 Kevin Kajewski
11. 01 Micah Lavrenz
12. 8 Nathan Simpson
13. 49 Cody Knecht
14. 9x Sarah Nelson
15. 90 Chad Krug
16. 88 Randy Watnem
17. T8 Brandon Nielsen
18. 2H Maurice Hingson
19. 27 Chelsea Simpson
20. 74 Brad Kathman
A great field of twenty-three bmods were up next, but things got off to a rocky start as three cars tangled in turn two on the first lap. When racing resumed it would be Ben Schultze taking command from outside the front row. Further back in the pack Josh Ruby was working his way forward as he climbed to fourth by lap two using the low groove before another caution waved. Ruby would duck low of Brandon Ostwald to take the third spot away before he and George Nordman both slipped by Schultze as Schultze slid high. Another yellow flag would be displayed when points leaders Matt Hoeft and Mike Carlson spun on a restart. Hoeft was able to get his car moving before the caution flew, but Carlson would restart from the tail. Ruby would use the high line to take over the race lead from Nordman while Doug Cook would later use the low line to make the pass for second by Nordman. Another caution came out late to set up a two-lap shootout that saw Cook dive to the inside of Ruby to take the lead at the white flag. Ruby would not give up, however, and power his way back on the outside to pull even down the backstretch. Josh Ruby gassed it up on the cushion in turn four to pull out the exciting win ahead of Doug Cook, George Nordman, Brandon Ostwald, and Bruce Wickman.
1. 30R Josh Ruby
2. 25 Doug Cook
3. 90 George Nordman
4. 21OZ Brandon Ostwald
5. 27 Bruce Wickman
6. 23 Jesse Rentz
7. 53 Wayne Rentz
8. 21H Matt Hoeft
9. 98 Dan Hanselman
10. 20x Justin Schuder
11. 74 Ben Schultze
12. 3F Jeramie Faber
13. 92 Mike Carlson
14. 20 Gerald Curry
15. 48T Troy Rink
16. 83 Jordan Jahnke
17. 38 Lucas Parsons
18. 26 Josh Fay
19. 17 Tyler Heetland
20. 00 Colby Fett
21. 11z Justin Zimmerman
22. 1i Scott Cook
23. 117 Nick De Leeuw
Eighteen IMCA stock cars were ready to thrill crowd for what ended up being the best race of the night in my opinion. Rookie Josh Hohensee shot to the lead from inside the second row, but there were several cars chomping at the bit right behind him. Kevin Opheim would find his way to second while Mike Jergens slid in line behind him. Opheim would lose a couple spots as he tried the high line, allowing both Jeregens and Chad Palmer by on the inside. A caution came out though, putting Opheim back ahead of Palmer. After several laps of running the high groove, Jergens made it stick as he took command of the lead after passing Hohensee. Opheim would follow Jergens to the second spot, but he would jump the cushion on the last lap and give way to three cars at the finish. Mike Jergens took home the win followed by Chad Palmer, Josh Hohensee, David Smith, and Kevin Opheim.
1. 37 Mike Jergens
2. 14 Chad Palmer
3. 68 Josh Hohensee
4. 8 David Smith
5. 44K Kevin Opheim
6. 43 Calvin Lange (started 18th)
7. 87 Travis Shipman
8. 96 Troy Woelbler (ran late and missed heat, started 17th)
9. TNT Roger Tripp
10. 17 Cory Oftedahl
11. 56 Tom Sierck
12. 14w David Wickman
13. 32JR Laura Curry
14. 53 Wade Nall
15. 16 Roger Picray
16. 57 Cary Heinan
17. 24 Chris Evenson
18. 32s Shane Curry
The final event of the night would be the IMCA modifieds. This class originally was the reason I made the trip to Algona. I was disappointed when I saw only nine cars in a heat race. Denny Anderson used his pole start to grab the early lead, but it only took Jeremy Mills two laps to take that lead away as he slid his machine to the cushion and set sail on the top side. His lead was never really challenged and the rest of the pack pretty much stayed single file with a few exceptions. Mills took home yet another win followed by Clayton Christensen, Denny Anderson, Ryan Watnem, and Austin Wolf.
1. 10 Jeremy Mills
2. 1cc Clayton Christensen
3. 20 Denny Anderson
4. 88 Ryan Watnem
5. 72 Austin Wolf
6. 25 Ricky Stephan
7. 46 Gary Pesicka
8. 41 Rob Hughes
9. 21 Jesse Hoeft
Other then the low modified count, the racing action was pretty intense and exciting. I'd like to thank promoter Joe Ringsdorf for his hospitality once again and also say thanks to the person in charge of putting results up on the track website. They were posted when I got home, so that helped me fill out the rest of what I was unable to write down. Be sure to check out the website, www.algonaraceway.com, for a look at the point standings as next week is season championship night. IMCA stock cars, bmods, and hobby stocks are going to come down to the wire to determine the track champion for this season.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Ross Hingson would take home the win in the novice hornets while Jay DeVries took the checkers in the hornet feature. Peg Lewis and Heather Pesicka grabbed the trophies for the cruiser car feature.
Nineteen hobby stocks would take center stage next as Micah Lavrenz took control of the race from the pole. His lead would not last long, however, as Kyle Ricke used the cushion to motor by Lavrenz to the lead. Lavrenz would continue to backpeddle as Nick Meyer and Josh Peters made their way by using the high side as well. After the third caution of the race was displayed, Randy Hadacek used the high line to make the pass on Tim Sidles to climb to the fourth position. Peters would work under Ricke to snare the second spot away. Ricke would later jump over the cushion and open the door for three cars to scoot past. Up front Nick Meyer was able to hold off Josh Peters for the win followed by Randy Hadacek, Chad Gentz, and Tim Sidles.
1. 2 Nick Meyer
2. 5J Josh Peters
3. 5 Randy Hadacek
4. 15 Chad Gentz
5. T1M Tim Sidles
6. 16 Kyle Ricke
7. 8K Kyle Sidles
8. 24 Cory Weisharr
9. 29 Jody Bierstedt
10. 30 Kevin Kajewski
11. 01 Micah Lavrenz
12. 8 Nathan Simpson
13. 49 Cody Knecht
14. 9x Sarah Nelson
15. 90 Chad Krug
16. 88 Randy Watnem
17. T8 Brandon Nielsen
18. 2H Maurice Hingson
19. 27 Chelsea Simpson
20. 74 Brad Kathman
A great field of twenty-three bmods were up next, but things got off to a rocky start as three cars tangled in turn two on the first lap. When racing resumed it would be Ben Schultze taking command from outside the front row. Further back in the pack Josh Ruby was working his way forward as he climbed to fourth by lap two using the low groove before another caution waved. Ruby would duck low of Brandon Ostwald to take the third spot away before he and George Nordman both slipped by Schultze as Schultze slid high. Another yellow flag would be displayed when points leaders Matt Hoeft and Mike Carlson spun on a restart. Hoeft was able to get his car moving before the caution flew, but Carlson would restart from the tail. Ruby would use the high line to take over the race lead from Nordman while Doug Cook would later use the low line to make the pass for second by Nordman. Another caution came out late to set up a two-lap shootout that saw Cook dive to the inside of Ruby to take the lead at the white flag. Ruby would not give up, however, and power his way back on the outside to pull even down the backstretch. Josh Ruby gassed it up on the cushion in turn four to pull out the exciting win ahead of Doug Cook, George Nordman, Brandon Ostwald, and Bruce Wickman.
1. 30R Josh Ruby
2. 25 Doug Cook
3. 90 George Nordman
4. 21OZ Brandon Ostwald
5. 27 Bruce Wickman
6. 23 Jesse Rentz
7. 53 Wayne Rentz
8. 21H Matt Hoeft
9. 98 Dan Hanselman
10. 20x Justin Schuder
11. 74 Ben Schultze
12. 3F Jeramie Faber
13. 92 Mike Carlson
14. 20 Gerald Curry
15. 48T Troy Rink
16. 83 Jordan Jahnke
17. 38 Lucas Parsons
18. 26 Josh Fay
19. 17 Tyler Heetland
20. 00 Colby Fett
21. 11z Justin Zimmerman
22. 1i Scott Cook
23. 117 Nick De Leeuw
Eighteen IMCA stock cars were ready to thrill crowd for what ended up being the best race of the night in my opinion. Rookie Josh Hohensee shot to the lead from inside the second row, but there were several cars chomping at the bit right behind him. Kevin Opheim would find his way to second while Mike Jergens slid in line behind him. Opheim would lose a couple spots as he tried the high line, allowing both Jeregens and Chad Palmer by on the inside. A caution came out though, putting Opheim back ahead of Palmer. After several laps of running the high groove, Jergens made it stick as he took command of the lead after passing Hohensee. Opheim would follow Jergens to the second spot, but he would jump the cushion on the last lap and give way to three cars at the finish. Mike Jergens took home the win followed by Chad Palmer, Josh Hohensee, David Smith, and Kevin Opheim.
1. 37 Mike Jergens
2. 14 Chad Palmer
3. 68 Josh Hohensee
4. 8 David Smith
5. 44K Kevin Opheim
6. 43 Calvin Lange (started 18th)
7. 87 Travis Shipman
8. 96 Troy Woelbler (ran late and missed heat, started 17th)
9. TNT Roger Tripp
10. 17 Cory Oftedahl
11. 56 Tom Sierck
12. 14w David Wickman
13. 32JR Laura Curry
14. 53 Wade Nall
15. 16 Roger Picray
16. 57 Cary Heinan
17. 24 Chris Evenson
18. 32s Shane Curry
The final event of the night would be the IMCA modifieds. This class originally was the reason I made the trip to Algona. I was disappointed when I saw only nine cars in a heat race. Denny Anderson used his pole start to grab the early lead, but it only took Jeremy Mills two laps to take that lead away as he slid his machine to the cushion and set sail on the top side. His lead was never really challenged and the rest of the pack pretty much stayed single file with a few exceptions. Mills took home yet another win followed by Clayton Christensen, Denny Anderson, Ryan Watnem, and Austin Wolf.
1. 10 Jeremy Mills
2. 1cc Clayton Christensen
3. 20 Denny Anderson
4. 88 Ryan Watnem
5. 72 Austin Wolf
6. 25 Ricky Stephan
7. 46 Gary Pesicka
8. 41 Rob Hughes
9. 21 Jesse Hoeft
Other then the low modified count, the racing action was pretty intense and exciting. I'd like to thank promoter Joe Ringsdorf for his hospitality once again and also say thanks to the person in charge of putting results up on the track website. They were posted when I got home, so that helped me fill out the rest of what I was unable to write down. Be sure to check out the website, www.algonaraceway.com, for a look at the point standings as next week is season championship night. IMCA stock cars, bmods, and hobby stocks are going to come down to the wire to determine the track champion for this season.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Ladehoff Repeats, Smith Wins #10 at Marshalltown
Friday night found me attending the Marshalltown Speedway for the ninth time this season. Makes sense as it is the closest track to my house, but with all my traveling I'm a bit surprised I've made it that many times. Tonight's show had a little bit extra hype as it was rumored that Kansas modified hotshoe David Murray was going to unveil his Victory car for Supernationals. Well, Murray showed up, but he didn't come alone. Jason Schoenberger, another Kansas modified driver, would also make the long pull to compete on this night.
First up though would be the dwarf cars/mod lites. Joel Huggins took control from the drop of the green flag while point leader Mike Morrill carved his way through the field to fourth place before the halfway point. Morrill would pass Josh May for the third spot before passing Johnny Murdock for second with six laps remaining. The gap was too big to make up as Joel Huggins took the win. Mike Morrill was second, Johnny Murdock third, Josh May fourth, and James May fifth.
IMCA sportmods took to the track next for their fifteen-lap feature event. Mike Grantham took the top spot on lap one while a few laps later Jake Strayer passed Bill Hildreth on the inside to snare the second spot away. Kevin Sather was working his way towards the front and found himself up to fourth until a caution flag put him back a spot in fifth on the restart. Grantham would scoot up the racetrack and allowed Brad Iverson to dart to the lead. That didn't last long, however, as Grantham would spin on the next lap to bring out the caution again. At that point, Iverson was docked two spots for apparently jumping the first restart, handing the lead over to Kevin Sather. Austin Kaplan got a run on the inside to take over third while point leader Scott Davis experienced troubles as his car spun around in turn two. Kevin Sather would capitalize on that as he took home the win and unofficially became the point leader in the process. Austin Kaplan finished second, Jake Strayer third, Brad Iverson fourth, and Neil Follett rounded out the top five.
1. 3E Kevin Sather
2. 1 Austin Kaplan
3. 18J Jake Strayer
4. 8 Brad Iverson
5. 32N Neil Follett
6. 98 Bill Hildreth
7. 3s Miles Shelman
8. 99 Jenae Gustin
9. 7R Ryan Ashton
10. 81D Scott Davis
A field of eighteen IMCA stock cars were next to do battle on the highbanks as pole sitter Tommy Thompson led the first couple of laps. Point leader Dustin Smith methodically carved his way through traffic on his way to the front while his brother David took over the lead from Thompson. At that point the Smith brothers were running first and second with David holding down the top spot. Jeff Wollam diamonded a set of corners to slip past Thompson for the third position. Dustin Smith followed his brother's tire tracks until four laps to go when he dove to the inside to take the lead away. From that point on it was all Dustin Smith as he captured his 10th win of the season at Marshalltown to extend his already impressive point lead. David Smith finished second, Jeff Wollam third, Dustin Vis fourth, and Damon Murty rounded out the top five.
1. 85 Dustin Smith (shocks claimed by 22K Kevin Rose)
2. 8 David Smith
3. 3w Jeff Wollam
4. 20V Dustin Vis
5. 99D Damon Murty
6. 72 Tommy Thompson
7. 75 Rick Brown
8. 59 Tracy Gienger
9. 2 Dave Atcher
10. 17s Rob Schneider
11. 93 Michael Jaennette
12. 04 Don Vis
13. 22K Kevin Rose
14. 52 Robert Engelkes
15. 36 Trevor Titus
16. 61 Wendy Reisinger
17. 17AJ Joe Luethje
18. 94 Steve Meyer
A solid field of nineteen IMCA modifieds were ready for twenty laps of exciting action. Kyle Krampe used the outside front row to grab the lead on lap one while Mike O'Lear got inside of Rod Clement to take over second on lap three. Clement would make some contact with O'Lear going into turn one, resulting in both cars spinning and collecting a few other machines. Brett Ladehoff, last week's feature winner, dove to the inside of Krampe after the restart to take over the catbird seat on lap four. Krampe would lose the second spot a lap later to Todd Shute while on the next lap Adam Larson tried to slide up in front of Krampe in turn four. The two made contact and Krampe's machine would spin to the inside of the front stretch to bring out the caution. On the restart Larson, Jimmy Gustin, and Shute would go three-wide into turn three to determine the runner up spot. Gustin would come out with the advantage while Shute would later spin in turn two.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, David Murray was on hand and he was making a statement. He powered his new ride to third after passing Larson with five laps to go. He would later sneak by Gustin for the second position at the white flag, but that was the best he could do as Brett Ladehoff took home his second consecutive win at Marshalltown. David Murray finished with an impressive second place in his first-ever trip to Marshalltown. Jimmy Gustin was third, Adam Larson fourth, and Jon Snyder came home fifth.
1. 12x Brett Ladehoff
2. 23 David Murray
3. 19 Jimmy Gustin
4. 2L Adam Larson
5. 69x Jon Snyder
6. 43s Scott Simatovich
7. 3z Randy Havlik
8. 99M Tim Murty
9. 6 Jason Schoenberger
10. 19J Jay Schmidt
11. 83G Josh Gilman (Jimmy Gustin's backup car)
12. 40RC Rod Clement
13. 46 Tyler Vandekamp
14. 2x Mike O'Lear
15. 1K Pat Graham
16. 48J Jacob Murray
17. 5 Todd Shute
18. K1 Kyle Krampe
19. 21 David Brown
The final event of the night would be the IMCA hobby stocks. Dustin Filloon used the pole to take the lap one lead before a quick caution waved. Todd Reitzler drove to the outside of Filloon to snare the lead away while Michael Murphy used the slingshot move to pass Filloon later for second. Filloon would continue to drop back after Terry Shaffar and Devin Smith both made their way by. Shaffar would duck low on Murphy after a caution to take over the runner up spot, but it wasn't enough to knock off Todd Reitzler's journey to victory lane. Shaffar was second, Murphy third, Devin Smith fourth, and Pete Hutzel rounded out the top five.
1. 22R Todd Reitzler
2. 35 Terry Shaffar
3. 25M Michael Murphy
4. 81 Devin Smith
5. 74 Pete Hutzel
6. B00K Dylan Book
7. 12K Eric Knutson
8. 52 Josh Saunders
9. 45 Russell Keefer
Of course all these results are unofficial. Be sure to check out the Marshalltown Speedway website at http://www.marshalltownspeedway.com/ for official results. The track will have a short turnaround time as they will host the IMCA Deery Brothers late models on Tuesday, September 1. More information can be found on the track website.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
First up though would be the dwarf cars/mod lites. Joel Huggins took control from the drop of the green flag while point leader Mike Morrill carved his way through the field to fourth place before the halfway point. Morrill would pass Josh May for the third spot before passing Johnny Murdock for second with six laps remaining. The gap was too big to make up as Joel Huggins took the win. Mike Morrill was second, Johnny Murdock third, Josh May fourth, and James May fifth.
IMCA sportmods took to the track next for their fifteen-lap feature event. Mike Grantham took the top spot on lap one while a few laps later Jake Strayer passed Bill Hildreth on the inside to snare the second spot away. Kevin Sather was working his way towards the front and found himself up to fourth until a caution flag put him back a spot in fifth on the restart. Grantham would scoot up the racetrack and allowed Brad Iverson to dart to the lead. That didn't last long, however, as Grantham would spin on the next lap to bring out the caution again. At that point, Iverson was docked two spots for apparently jumping the first restart, handing the lead over to Kevin Sather. Austin Kaplan got a run on the inside to take over third while point leader Scott Davis experienced troubles as his car spun around in turn two. Kevin Sather would capitalize on that as he took home the win and unofficially became the point leader in the process. Austin Kaplan finished second, Jake Strayer third, Brad Iverson fourth, and Neil Follett rounded out the top five.
1. 3E Kevin Sather
2. 1 Austin Kaplan
3. 18J Jake Strayer
4. 8 Brad Iverson
5. 32N Neil Follett
6. 98 Bill Hildreth
7. 3s Miles Shelman
8. 99 Jenae Gustin
9. 7R Ryan Ashton
10. 81D Scott Davis
A field of eighteen IMCA stock cars were next to do battle on the highbanks as pole sitter Tommy Thompson led the first couple of laps. Point leader Dustin Smith methodically carved his way through traffic on his way to the front while his brother David took over the lead from Thompson. At that point the Smith brothers were running first and second with David holding down the top spot. Jeff Wollam diamonded a set of corners to slip past Thompson for the third position. Dustin Smith followed his brother's tire tracks until four laps to go when he dove to the inside to take the lead away. From that point on it was all Dustin Smith as he captured his 10th win of the season at Marshalltown to extend his already impressive point lead. David Smith finished second, Jeff Wollam third, Dustin Vis fourth, and Damon Murty rounded out the top five.
1. 85 Dustin Smith (shocks claimed by 22K Kevin Rose)
2. 8 David Smith
3. 3w Jeff Wollam
4. 20V Dustin Vis
5. 99D Damon Murty
6. 72 Tommy Thompson
7. 75 Rick Brown
8. 59 Tracy Gienger
9. 2 Dave Atcher
10. 17s Rob Schneider
11. 93 Michael Jaennette
12. 04 Don Vis
13. 22K Kevin Rose
14. 52 Robert Engelkes
15. 36 Trevor Titus
16. 61 Wendy Reisinger
17. 17AJ Joe Luethje
18. 94 Steve Meyer
A solid field of nineteen IMCA modifieds were ready for twenty laps of exciting action. Kyle Krampe used the outside front row to grab the lead on lap one while Mike O'Lear got inside of Rod Clement to take over second on lap three. Clement would make some contact with O'Lear going into turn one, resulting in both cars spinning and collecting a few other machines. Brett Ladehoff, last week's feature winner, dove to the inside of Krampe after the restart to take over the catbird seat on lap four. Krampe would lose the second spot a lap later to Todd Shute while on the next lap Adam Larson tried to slide up in front of Krampe in turn four. The two made contact and Krampe's machine would spin to the inside of the front stretch to bring out the caution. On the restart Larson, Jimmy Gustin, and Shute would go three-wide into turn three to determine the runner up spot. Gustin would come out with the advantage while Shute would later spin in turn two.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, David Murray was on hand and he was making a statement. He powered his new ride to third after passing Larson with five laps to go. He would later sneak by Gustin for the second position at the white flag, but that was the best he could do as Brett Ladehoff took home his second consecutive win at Marshalltown. David Murray finished with an impressive second place in his first-ever trip to Marshalltown. Jimmy Gustin was third, Adam Larson fourth, and Jon Snyder came home fifth.
1. 12x Brett Ladehoff
2. 23 David Murray
3. 19 Jimmy Gustin
4. 2L Adam Larson
5. 69x Jon Snyder
6. 43s Scott Simatovich
7. 3z Randy Havlik
8. 99M Tim Murty
9. 6 Jason Schoenberger
10. 19J Jay Schmidt
11. 83G Josh Gilman (Jimmy Gustin's backup car)
12. 40RC Rod Clement
13. 46 Tyler Vandekamp
14. 2x Mike O'Lear
15. 1K Pat Graham
16. 48J Jacob Murray
17. 5 Todd Shute
18. K1 Kyle Krampe
19. 21 David Brown
The final event of the night would be the IMCA hobby stocks. Dustin Filloon used the pole to take the lap one lead before a quick caution waved. Todd Reitzler drove to the outside of Filloon to snare the lead away while Michael Murphy used the slingshot move to pass Filloon later for second. Filloon would continue to drop back after Terry Shaffar and Devin Smith both made their way by. Shaffar would duck low on Murphy after a caution to take over the runner up spot, but it wasn't enough to knock off Todd Reitzler's journey to victory lane. Shaffar was second, Murphy third, Devin Smith fourth, and Pete Hutzel rounded out the top five.
1. 22R Todd Reitzler
2. 35 Terry Shaffar
3. 25M Michael Murphy
4. 81 Devin Smith
5. 74 Pete Hutzel
6. B00K Dylan Book
7. 12K Eric Knutson
8. 52 Josh Saunders
9. 45 Russell Keefer
Of course all these results are unofficial. Be sure to check out the Marshalltown Speedway website at http://www.marshalltownspeedway.com/ for official results. The track will have a short turnaround time as they will host the IMCA Deery Brothers late models on Tuesday, September 1. More information can be found on the track website.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
One Bounty Paid, Another One Grows @ Calhoun County Speedway
The Calhoun County Speedway in Rockwell City hosted another night of racing on the 1/5-mile oval track. On hand once again would be the IMCA stock cars, IMCA sportmods, IMCA hobby stocks, hornets, and the enduro/econo class. Unfortunately for one reason or another, the car count along with the crowd was low in numbers on this Thursday night of action.
Thirteen econo/enduro cars ran their feature first with Jason Lowe leading flag to flag for the win.
Only four IMCA hobby stocks were on hand. There was a bounty in place on Michael Murphy as the youngster has visited victory lane all three previous races thus far this season. $100 would go to the person that could beat Murphy, and Devin Smith proved to be just the man to do it. Murphy grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag, but Smith would scoot by on the low side on lap two to take the lead away. Murphy would slide back to third as Cody Gustoff took over the second spot. Murphy would regain the runner up spot with two laps to go, but by that time Devin Smith had a sizable lead as he picked up the win and the extra $100 for the bounty. Michael Murphy was second, Cody Gustoff third, and Tim Hanson rounded out the field.
Five IMCA sportmods proved that even with a low count, anything can happen. Mike Bailey took the top spot early on while point leader AJ Langenwalter suffered left front suspension damage on lap two. Langenwalter would be shown the black flag for a couple laps but did not leave the track. As the field drove into turn three Doug Smith made contact with Langenwalter and spun to the inside of turn four and clipped the inside tractor tire. Smith's night would be done while Langenwalter was sent to the pits for the damage.
As if that wasn't enough, more bizarre stuff would occur. Eric Puhrmann would also suffer left front suspension damage, but under the caution the flagman apparently felt it wasn't bad enough to send him to the pits. Puhrmann would get crossed up in turn two, at which point Jay Brannan would clip him and send Puhrmann into a spin. Puhrmann would regain control and head directly to the pits while Brannan was given the black flag apparently for rough driving. As a result, Mike Bailey was the only car technically being scored and therefore picked up the win. Not sure how the scoring will look with with everything that happened, but it was definitely a weird race.
Only four IMCA stock cars were in attendance as well on this night. A $100 bounty was placed on David Smith as he too has picked up every stock car win thus far at the track. Bill Reetz took command from his pole start and looked strong in the early going until he slipped up the track and allowed Smith under him with two laps to go. David Smith went on to take the checkered flag ahead of Bill Reetz, Brian Blessington, and Brian Snell.
I didn't stick around long enough to watch the hornet feature. It was closing in on the 10:00, which normally is early for me. However with a 90-minute drive back home and needing a good night's rest, I decided to take off at that point.
The Calhoun County Speedway will hold their season championship night on Thursday, September 24th. Be sure to check out their track website at www.calhouncountyexpo.com for more details.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Thirteen econo/enduro cars ran their feature first with Jason Lowe leading flag to flag for the win.
Only four IMCA hobby stocks were on hand. There was a bounty in place on Michael Murphy as the youngster has visited victory lane all three previous races thus far this season. $100 would go to the person that could beat Murphy, and Devin Smith proved to be just the man to do it. Murphy grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag, but Smith would scoot by on the low side on lap two to take the lead away. Murphy would slide back to third as Cody Gustoff took over the second spot. Murphy would regain the runner up spot with two laps to go, but by that time Devin Smith had a sizable lead as he picked up the win and the extra $100 for the bounty. Michael Murphy was second, Cody Gustoff third, and Tim Hanson rounded out the field.
Five IMCA sportmods proved that even with a low count, anything can happen. Mike Bailey took the top spot early on while point leader AJ Langenwalter suffered left front suspension damage on lap two. Langenwalter would be shown the black flag for a couple laps but did not leave the track. As the field drove into turn three Doug Smith made contact with Langenwalter and spun to the inside of turn four and clipped the inside tractor tire. Smith's night would be done while Langenwalter was sent to the pits for the damage.
As if that wasn't enough, more bizarre stuff would occur. Eric Puhrmann would also suffer left front suspension damage, but under the caution the flagman apparently felt it wasn't bad enough to send him to the pits. Puhrmann would get crossed up in turn two, at which point Jay Brannan would clip him and send Puhrmann into a spin. Puhrmann would regain control and head directly to the pits while Brannan was given the black flag apparently for rough driving. As a result, Mike Bailey was the only car technically being scored and therefore picked up the win. Not sure how the scoring will look with with everything that happened, but it was definitely a weird race.
Only four IMCA stock cars were in attendance as well on this night. A $100 bounty was placed on David Smith as he too has picked up every stock car win thus far at the track. Bill Reetz took command from his pole start and looked strong in the early going until he slipped up the track and allowed Smith under him with two laps to go. David Smith went on to take the checkered flag ahead of Bill Reetz, Brian Blessington, and Brian Snell.
I didn't stick around long enough to watch the hornet feature. It was closing in on the 10:00, which normally is early for me. However with a 90-minute drive back home and needing a good night's rest, I decided to take off at that point.
The Calhoun County Speedway will hold their season championship night on Thursday, September 24th. Be sure to check out their track website at www.calhouncountyexpo.com for more details.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Season Championships @ Buena Vista Raceway
It's hard to believe that its season championship night once again. Temperatures are getting cooler at night, which means the end of the season is rapidly approaching. The Buena Vista Raceway hosted their season championship night Wednesday night after being postponed a week ago.
Most IMCA tracks allow the points leaders to start at the front of the field. That is not the case in Alta as they held heat races to determine the invert spots. Josh Egesdal would lead every lap on his way to taking the IMCA sport compact victory.
Next up would be the fifteen lap IMCA hobby stock feature. Merle Bass would take control for the first three laps until his car pushed up in turn four, opening the door for Justin Nehring to grab the top spot away. Deeper in the field Devin Smith passed John Briggs on the inside with five laps to go to take over fourth place. Bass would eventually lose two more spots as Daniel and Devin Smith both made their way by. In the end it would be Justin Nehring taking home his first win of the season in Alta. He was followed across the line by Daniel Smith, Devin Smith, Merle Bass, and Craig Brotherton.
1. 20N Justin Nehring
2. 88 Daniel Smith
3. 81 Devin Smith
4. 8 Merle Bass
5. 45B Craig Brotherton
6. 87 John Briggs
7. 66 Matt Mahoney
8. 33 Ryan Roder
9. 32 Kyle Robinson
10. 21c Pat Cross
11. BooK Dylan Book
12. 33M Mathias Lux
13. 66L Lynn Wichers
14. 97 Mark Hill
15. 95 Aaron Caskey
Twelve laps would be the distance for the IMCA sportmods. Pole-sitter Jay Brannan would lead the field on lap one as Brett Meyer quickly powered his machine from last (9th) to second by the completion of the second lap. Eric Puhrmann would get by Brannan to lead the second lap, but Meyer ducked low to take over the catbird seat on lap three. Meyer's luck would turn sour with four laps remaining as smoke emerged from his car. Puhrmann would regain the top spot as Meyer's car came to a stop in turn four as a result of a broken rearend. Chris Grothe would take command of the race after passing Puhrmann before the yellow came out with two laps to go. Tim Wilcox restarted on Grothe's rear bumper and made the winning pass on the high side as they crossed the line for the white flag. Chris Grothe came home second, Eric Puhrmann third, Zach Norgaard fourth, and Jay Brannan fifth.
1. 7w Tim Wilcox
2. 90 Chris Grothe
3. 59 Eric Puhrmann
4. 14z Zach Norgaard
5. 04J Jay Brannan
6. 117 Nick De Leeuw
7. 9 Tony Pogeler
8. 1M Brett Meyer (track champ)
9. 12 Doug Smith
Only nine IMCA stock cars were in attendance tonight, but that wouldn't stop them from putting on a show for the fans. They were three-wide in turn three on the first lap before Josh Suhr would assume command on lap one. After starting eighth, Dustin Smith charged to third after two laps had been completed. Brian Blessington closed in and challenged Suhr for the lead on lap five, but somehow Smith was able to get by both cars to grab the lead for himself. David Smith worked under Suhr to climb to third on lap eight, but his night would be cut short as he slowed down the front stretch. Blessington closed in on Dustin Smith's lead with three to go, but was unable to make the pass as Dustin Smith won by less then a car length. Brian Blessington was second, Donovan Smith third, Josh Suhr fourth, and Stefan Sybesma rounded out the top five.
1. 85 Dustin Smith (track champ)
2. 92B Brian Blessington
3. 35 Donavon Smith
4. 16 Josh Suhr
5. 5B Stefan Sybesma
6. 56 Tom Sierck
7. 60 Ben Sanderson
8. 8 David Smith
9. 66z Elijah Zevenbergen
DNS
10. 01U Chris Ullrich
Ten IMCA modifieds were set to do battle for twenty laps to conclude the evening. Mark Gaskill used his outside front row start to take command early on. He and Mike Albertson made slight contact in turn two which opened the door for Justin Sackett to slip by under and dart to the lead. Jay Noteboom unveiled his new black and white car and quickly turned heads as he hammered the loud pedal from eighth to third in just three laps. Noteboom would would get to second, but was unable to reel in Sackett for the lead. Justin Sackett would take home the win followed by Jay Noteboom, Clayton Christensen, Stacey Mills, and Jeremy Mills.
1. 17 Justin Sackett
2. 7N Jay Noteboom
3. 1cc Clayton Christensen
4. 10E Stacey Mills
5. 10 Jeremy Mills (track champ)
6. z3 Mike Albertson
7. 23 Jim Thies
8. 61 Brian Schmitt
9. 52 Mark Gaskill
10. 32 Dave Mulder
DNS
11. 22BW Brad Williams
Congratulations to track champions Shannon Anderson (hobby stocks), Brett Meyer (sportmods), Dustin Smith (stock cars), Jeremy Mills (modifieds), and Cory Flanigan (sport compacts) at the Buena Vista Raceway. Although the regular season is complete, racing will resume next Thursday as the stars of the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) makes their second appearance of the year. That race will be the third of six consecutive nights in the Hunt for the USMTS national champion.
There was also talk that the track will have another race sometime in October, perhaps a two-day show. So be sure to check out the track website at www.buenvavistaraceway.net for possible details and the dates.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Most IMCA tracks allow the points leaders to start at the front of the field. That is not the case in Alta as they held heat races to determine the invert spots. Josh Egesdal would lead every lap on his way to taking the IMCA sport compact victory.
Next up would be the fifteen lap IMCA hobby stock feature. Merle Bass would take control for the first three laps until his car pushed up in turn four, opening the door for Justin Nehring to grab the top spot away. Deeper in the field Devin Smith passed John Briggs on the inside with five laps to go to take over fourth place. Bass would eventually lose two more spots as Daniel and Devin Smith both made their way by. In the end it would be Justin Nehring taking home his first win of the season in Alta. He was followed across the line by Daniel Smith, Devin Smith, Merle Bass, and Craig Brotherton.
1. 20N Justin Nehring
2. 88 Daniel Smith
3. 81 Devin Smith
4. 8 Merle Bass
5. 45B Craig Brotherton
6. 87 John Briggs
7. 66 Matt Mahoney
8. 33 Ryan Roder
9. 32 Kyle Robinson
10. 21c Pat Cross
11. BooK Dylan Book
12. 33M Mathias Lux
13. 66L Lynn Wichers
14. 97 Mark Hill
15. 95 Aaron Caskey
Twelve laps would be the distance for the IMCA sportmods. Pole-sitter Jay Brannan would lead the field on lap one as Brett Meyer quickly powered his machine from last (9th) to second by the completion of the second lap. Eric Puhrmann would get by Brannan to lead the second lap, but Meyer ducked low to take over the catbird seat on lap three. Meyer's luck would turn sour with four laps remaining as smoke emerged from his car. Puhrmann would regain the top spot as Meyer's car came to a stop in turn four as a result of a broken rearend. Chris Grothe would take command of the race after passing Puhrmann before the yellow came out with two laps to go. Tim Wilcox restarted on Grothe's rear bumper and made the winning pass on the high side as they crossed the line for the white flag. Chris Grothe came home second, Eric Puhrmann third, Zach Norgaard fourth, and Jay Brannan fifth.
1. 7w Tim Wilcox
2. 90 Chris Grothe
3. 59 Eric Puhrmann
4. 14z Zach Norgaard
5. 04J Jay Brannan
6. 117 Nick De Leeuw
7. 9 Tony Pogeler
8. 1M Brett Meyer (track champ)
9. 12 Doug Smith
Only nine IMCA stock cars were in attendance tonight, but that wouldn't stop them from putting on a show for the fans. They were three-wide in turn three on the first lap before Josh Suhr would assume command on lap one. After starting eighth, Dustin Smith charged to third after two laps had been completed. Brian Blessington closed in and challenged Suhr for the lead on lap five, but somehow Smith was able to get by both cars to grab the lead for himself. David Smith worked under Suhr to climb to third on lap eight, but his night would be cut short as he slowed down the front stretch. Blessington closed in on Dustin Smith's lead with three to go, but was unable to make the pass as Dustin Smith won by less then a car length. Brian Blessington was second, Donovan Smith third, Josh Suhr fourth, and Stefan Sybesma rounded out the top five.
1. 85 Dustin Smith (track champ)
2. 92B Brian Blessington
3. 35 Donavon Smith
4. 16 Josh Suhr
5. 5B Stefan Sybesma
6. 56 Tom Sierck
7. 60 Ben Sanderson
8. 8 David Smith
9. 66z Elijah Zevenbergen
DNS
10. 01U Chris Ullrich
Ten IMCA modifieds were set to do battle for twenty laps to conclude the evening. Mark Gaskill used his outside front row start to take command early on. He and Mike Albertson made slight contact in turn two which opened the door for Justin Sackett to slip by under and dart to the lead. Jay Noteboom unveiled his new black and white car and quickly turned heads as he hammered the loud pedal from eighth to third in just three laps. Noteboom would would get to second, but was unable to reel in Sackett for the lead. Justin Sackett would take home the win followed by Jay Noteboom, Clayton Christensen, Stacey Mills, and Jeremy Mills.
1. 17 Justin Sackett
2. 7N Jay Noteboom
3. 1cc Clayton Christensen
4. 10E Stacey Mills
5. 10 Jeremy Mills (track champ)
6. z3 Mike Albertson
7. 23 Jim Thies
8. 61 Brian Schmitt
9. 52 Mark Gaskill
10. 32 Dave Mulder
DNS
11. 22BW Brad Williams
Congratulations to track champions Shannon Anderson (hobby stocks), Brett Meyer (sportmods), Dustin Smith (stock cars), Jeremy Mills (modifieds), and Cory Flanigan (sport compacts) at the Buena Vista Raceway. Although the regular season is complete, racing will resume next Thursday as the stars of the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) makes their second appearance of the year. That race will be the third of six consecutive nights in the Hunt for the USMTS national champion.
There was also talk that the track will have another race sometime in October, perhaps a two-day show. So be sure to check out the track website at www.buenvavistaraceway.net for possible details and the dates.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Familiar Faces Visit Victory Lane at I-35
Sunday night found many familiar faces in victory lane at the I-35 Speedway in Mason City. With just two regular season weeks left, point battles are shaping up and could still be altered before everything is said and done.
Blake Cole once again dominated the junior hornet feature. Gary Stahl took home the extra money for the pro hornet feature as he got the win.
Scott Dobel took command of the hobby stock feature, but points co-leader Chan Gentz came to a stop on the backstretch to bring out the caution. He would scurry to the work area, but lost a lot of positions by doing so. Mick Meyers made a great move to advance two positions up to third on the restart while Stac Schroeder worked under Dobel to take away the lead. Meyers would later get by Dobel as well and close in on Schroeder. Stac Schroeder had just enough at the end to hold on for the win. Mick Meyers took over the point lead with a second place finish followed by Scott Dobel, Guy Kimpton, and Terry Litwiler.
1. 51 Stac Schroeder
2. 6JR Mick Meyers
3. 83 Scott Dobel
4. 52x Guy Kimpton
5. 71 Terry Litwiler
6. 50 Heath Tulp
7. 6 Cory Gansen
8. 20 Jeremy Solberg
9. 51P Daniel Porter
10. 99 Carl Runge
11. 32 Robert Black
12. 38 Dusti Showalter
13. 15 Chad Gentz
14. 65 Gary Fransiscus
15. 17 Matt Stading
16. 5R Joe Rieks
17. 2 Wayne Landheer
DNS
18. 18z Zac Smith
A field of twenty-one bmods were next on the track, but things got off to a slow start in this one as four cars got tangled up in turn one on the start. When the green flag waved to resume action, it would be Mike Jaeger taking the top spot with Adam Ackerman making moves to nail down the second spot. Alex Zwanziger made his way to third while Nate Chodur passed Kyle Germundson on the low side to take over fourth. Ackerman would duck low on Jaeger to snare the lead away from Jaeger before a caution waved again. Dan Tenold would then be the one to watch as he first passed Zwanziger on the low side to grab the fourth spot at the halfway point before motoring by Chodur on the top side for third. Tenold went back to the bottom later to scoot by Jaeger for the runne rup spot, but he ran out of time to catch Adam Ackerman on his way to victory lane. Dan Tenold was second, Mike Jaeger third, Nate Chodur fourth, and Alex Zwanziger rounded out the top five.
1. 5 Adam Ackerman
2. 86 Dan Tenold
3. 18J Mike Jaeger
4. 88 Nate Chodur
5. 32z Alex Zwanziger
6. 21H Matt Hoeft
7. 2 Nick West
8. 64 John Warrington
9. 71 Jame Krejci
10. 4 Travis Greenfield
11. 4JR Drew Fish
12. 98J Joedy Dennis
13. 13x Parker Brumm
14. 44 Brian Lund
15. 69 Kyle Germundson
16. 55 Shane Swanson
17. 88K Tracy Kleckner
18. 21R Tony Ranes
19. 90 George Nordman
20. 29T Tyler Wirtjes
21. 98 Ben Becker
DNS
22. 6 Ben Kraus
Fourteen IMCA stock cars were ready to do battle for fifteen laps as Brad Broers took the early lead. Travis Shipman went to the high side and passed Andrew Inman for the runner up spot, but that didn't last long as Mike Jergens used the low side to get by both competitors. It didn't take long for Jergens to motor under Broers to take over the race lead. The attention then went to Kevin Opheim as he started his march towards the front by passing Inman on the outside for the fourth spot. A caution came out, and at that time Travis Shipman would exit to the pits after running second. Opheim climbed to second and tried to sneak under Jergens the last couple of laps, but Mike Jergens held his line and hit his marks on his way to picking up his 20th win of the season. Kevin Opheim finished second, Brad Broers third, Joe Willier fourth, and Bert McDaniel fifth.
1. 37x Mike Jergens
2. 44K Kevin Opheim
3. 15 Brad Broers
4. 96 Joe Willier
5. 81 Bert McDaniel
6. 21 Travis Hoeft
7. 37 Merlyn Hegland
8. 43 Calvin Lange
9. 21T Travis Prochaska
10. 3B Andy Bruggeman
11. 87 Travis Shipman
12. 59P Parker Boyd (driving Larry Portis' car)
13. 7i Andrew Inman
14. 32JR Laura Curry
The final event of the night saw Ryan Ruter jump out to the early lead in the IMCA modified feature. Points leader Jeremy Mills quickly worked his way to third after passing youngster Alex Hanson on the inside. Hanson would lose another spot to J.J. Wise while up front Levi Nielsen took the lead away from Ruter. Mills would sneak under Nielsen for the lead when Nielsen's car spun around in turn four and collected Hanson. Both drivers were okay after the hard contact. Jeremy Mills would take off like a rocket on the restart as he won by a half-lap. J.J. Wise was second, Rob Rose third, Shane Monson fourth, and T.J. Stalker finished fifth.
1. 10 Jeremy Mills
2. 68 J.J. Wise
3. 123 Rob Rose
4. 25$ Shane Monson
5. 1 T.J. Stalker
6. 11x Alex Yohn
7. 25 Keith Schmitz
8. 22T Tyler Prochaska
9. 23w Robert Whalen
10. 47 Christian Wagler
11. 555 Ryan Ruter
12. 58 Curt Badker
13. 45 Levi Nielsen
14. 11 Alex Hanson
As mentioned, only two more weeks of racing are left in the regular season at the I-35 Speedway. Don't miss out as the calendar gets set to change over to September.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Blake Cole once again dominated the junior hornet feature. Gary Stahl took home the extra money for the pro hornet feature as he got the win.
Scott Dobel took command of the hobby stock feature, but points co-leader Chan Gentz came to a stop on the backstretch to bring out the caution. He would scurry to the work area, but lost a lot of positions by doing so. Mick Meyers made a great move to advance two positions up to third on the restart while Stac Schroeder worked under Dobel to take away the lead. Meyers would later get by Dobel as well and close in on Schroeder. Stac Schroeder had just enough at the end to hold on for the win. Mick Meyers took over the point lead with a second place finish followed by Scott Dobel, Guy Kimpton, and Terry Litwiler.
1. 51 Stac Schroeder
2. 6JR Mick Meyers
3. 83 Scott Dobel
4. 52x Guy Kimpton
5. 71 Terry Litwiler
6. 50 Heath Tulp
7. 6 Cory Gansen
8. 20 Jeremy Solberg
9. 51P Daniel Porter
10. 99 Carl Runge
11. 32 Robert Black
12. 38 Dusti Showalter
13. 15 Chad Gentz
14. 65 Gary Fransiscus
15. 17 Matt Stading
16. 5R Joe Rieks
17. 2 Wayne Landheer
DNS
18. 18z Zac Smith
A field of twenty-one bmods were next on the track, but things got off to a slow start in this one as four cars got tangled up in turn one on the start. When the green flag waved to resume action, it would be Mike Jaeger taking the top spot with Adam Ackerman making moves to nail down the second spot. Alex Zwanziger made his way to third while Nate Chodur passed Kyle Germundson on the low side to take over fourth. Ackerman would duck low on Jaeger to snare the lead away from Jaeger before a caution waved again. Dan Tenold would then be the one to watch as he first passed Zwanziger on the low side to grab the fourth spot at the halfway point before motoring by Chodur on the top side for third. Tenold went back to the bottom later to scoot by Jaeger for the runne rup spot, but he ran out of time to catch Adam Ackerman on his way to victory lane. Dan Tenold was second, Mike Jaeger third, Nate Chodur fourth, and Alex Zwanziger rounded out the top five.
1. 5 Adam Ackerman
2. 86 Dan Tenold
3. 18J Mike Jaeger
4. 88 Nate Chodur
5. 32z Alex Zwanziger
6. 21H Matt Hoeft
7. 2 Nick West
8. 64 John Warrington
9. 71 Jame Krejci
10. 4 Travis Greenfield
11. 4JR Drew Fish
12. 98J Joedy Dennis
13. 13x Parker Brumm
14. 44 Brian Lund
15. 69 Kyle Germundson
16. 55 Shane Swanson
17. 88K Tracy Kleckner
18. 21R Tony Ranes
19. 90 George Nordman
20. 29T Tyler Wirtjes
21. 98 Ben Becker
DNS
22. 6 Ben Kraus
Fourteen IMCA stock cars were ready to do battle for fifteen laps as Brad Broers took the early lead. Travis Shipman went to the high side and passed Andrew Inman for the runner up spot, but that didn't last long as Mike Jergens used the low side to get by both competitors. It didn't take long for Jergens to motor under Broers to take over the race lead. The attention then went to Kevin Opheim as he started his march towards the front by passing Inman on the outside for the fourth spot. A caution came out, and at that time Travis Shipman would exit to the pits after running second. Opheim climbed to second and tried to sneak under Jergens the last couple of laps, but Mike Jergens held his line and hit his marks on his way to picking up his 20th win of the season. Kevin Opheim finished second, Brad Broers third, Joe Willier fourth, and Bert McDaniel fifth.
1. 37x Mike Jergens
2. 44K Kevin Opheim
3. 15 Brad Broers
4. 96 Joe Willier
5. 81 Bert McDaniel
6. 21 Travis Hoeft
7. 37 Merlyn Hegland
8. 43 Calvin Lange
9. 21T Travis Prochaska
10. 3B Andy Bruggeman
11. 87 Travis Shipman
12. 59P Parker Boyd (driving Larry Portis' car)
13. 7i Andrew Inman
14. 32JR Laura Curry
The final event of the night saw Ryan Ruter jump out to the early lead in the IMCA modified feature. Points leader Jeremy Mills quickly worked his way to third after passing youngster Alex Hanson on the inside. Hanson would lose another spot to J.J. Wise while up front Levi Nielsen took the lead away from Ruter. Mills would sneak under Nielsen for the lead when Nielsen's car spun around in turn four and collected Hanson. Both drivers were okay after the hard contact. Jeremy Mills would take off like a rocket on the restart as he won by a half-lap. J.J. Wise was second, Rob Rose third, Shane Monson fourth, and T.J. Stalker finished fifth.
1. 10 Jeremy Mills
2. 68 J.J. Wise
3. 123 Rob Rose
4. 25$ Shane Monson
5. 1 T.J. Stalker
6. 11x Alex Yohn
7. 25 Keith Schmitz
8. 22T Tyler Prochaska
9. 23w Robert Whalen
10. 47 Christian Wagler
11. 555 Ryan Ruter
12. 58 Curt Badker
13. 45 Levi Nielsen
14. 11 Alex Hanson
As mentioned, only two more weeks of racing are left in the regular season at the I-35 Speedway. Don't miss out as the calendar gets set to change over to September.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Gustins Rides High Line to Victory In Decorah
The United States Modified Touring Series made its second stop of the 2009 season at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah on Saturday night. This time the event meant just a little bit more as it was race number seven on the Hunt for the Championship to determine the national champion.
Thirty-one modifieds checked in through the back gate last night, but that number quickly reduced by one when Sean Rupp went for a nasty rollover in hot laps. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released for bruises.
Ryan Gustin and Kelly Shryock paced the field to Todd Staley's green flag with Gustin leading the first circuit. The battle of the 4R machines quickly got started as Dereck Ramirez looked inside of Ron VerBeek for the fourth spot. These two would be glued to each other for most of the race. As Gustin closed in on lapped traffic, Shryock began to close the gap.
Deeper in the field Jason Hughes was trying to make his way to the front as he passed Dustin Boney for the sixth spot after starting twelfth. Ron VerBeek was able to get by Dereck Ramirez for the fourth spot before the only caution of the race came out when Darrin Walch's motor expired exiting turn four. On the restart, Rodney Sanders drifted up high and lost two spots before getting a handle on fifth place. VerBeek and Ramirez continued their heated battle while Jason Krohn slid by Sanders to take over the fifth spot. Krohn and Sanders would swap that spot a couple times before the checkered flag waved.
Gustin scraped the frontstretch and turn two wall a couple times, allowing Shryock to close in late in the race. But once Gustin was able to straightened his car out he was able to inch away from the point leader. Ryan Gustin would lead all forty laps on his way to victory lane. Points leader Kelly Shryock finished second, Dereck Ramirez was third, Ron VerBeek fourth, and Jason Krohn rounded out the top five.
The Upper Iowa Speedway also ran USRA hobby stocks, USRA bmods, and USRA stock cars in support of the USMTS. Chris Hovden took home the win in USRA hobby stocks for the 17th time this season. Nathan Wood made the long tow up from southern Iowa and finished with a strong third place run.
Matt Jones had troubles in his USRA bmod heat and only made one lap, which put him deep in the field after transferring from a bmain. But that built the drama up as he closed in on Junior Boyer on the last couple of laps. Boyer slide up in turn two after taking the white flag, which allowed Jones to dive to the inside. Boyer apparently didn't see him going into turn three and the two cars made contact. Boyer's left front hopped Jones right front and sent Boyer's car up the track while Jones was able to take home the win. Brandon Hare finished second, Andrew Kelly was third, Eric Verthein fourth, and Chris Frethem rounded out the top five.
The USRA stock cars also put on a great show. Five cars were battling it out near the end of the race before Matt Greiner's car slid up and hit Austin Curtin's car. Both drivers were solidly in the top five, but the contact sent Curtin spinning to the inside while the rest of the field narrowly missed making contact. Greiner would be penalized for the contact, but up front Shay Curtin would take home the win. Not sure how the rest of the top five rundown looked as they were so close at the line, but Kurt Krauskopf, Kevin Donlan, and Mitch Hovden were all right there.
It was another good night of racing at the Upper Iowa Speedway. Racing was done around 10:30 or so, giving fans plenty of time to either go to the pits and talk with drivers or to make their way home.
The USMTS will take a little break now to gear up for another grueling road trip beginning September 1 at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. That will be the first of six consecutive nights of racing to help sort things out for the Hunt for the Championship.
For more information on the USMTS, check out their website at www.usmts.com. For Upper Iowa Speedway results, check out their website at www.upperiowaspeedway.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Thirty-one modifieds checked in through the back gate last night, but that number quickly reduced by one when Sean Rupp went for a nasty rollover in hot laps. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released for bruises.
Ryan Gustin and Kelly Shryock paced the field to Todd Staley's green flag with Gustin leading the first circuit. The battle of the 4R machines quickly got started as Dereck Ramirez looked inside of Ron VerBeek for the fourth spot. These two would be glued to each other for most of the race. As Gustin closed in on lapped traffic, Shryock began to close the gap.
Deeper in the field Jason Hughes was trying to make his way to the front as he passed Dustin Boney for the sixth spot after starting twelfth. Ron VerBeek was able to get by Dereck Ramirez for the fourth spot before the only caution of the race came out when Darrin Walch's motor expired exiting turn four. On the restart, Rodney Sanders drifted up high and lost two spots before getting a handle on fifth place. VerBeek and Ramirez continued their heated battle while Jason Krohn slid by Sanders to take over the fifth spot. Krohn and Sanders would swap that spot a couple times before the checkered flag waved.
Gustin scraped the frontstretch and turn two wall a couple times, allowing Shryock to close in late in the race. But once Gustin was able to straightened his car out he was able to inch away from the point leader. Ryan Gustin would lead all forty laps on his way to victory lane. Points leader Kelly Shryock finished second, Dereck Ramirez was third, Ron VerBeek fourth, and Jason Krohn rounded out the top five.
The Upper Iowa Speedway also ran USRA hobby stocks, USRA bmods, and USRA stock cars in support of the USMTS. Chris Hovden took home the win in USRA hobby stocks for the 17th time this season. Nathan Wood made the long tow up from southern Iowa and finished with a strong third place run.
Matt Jones had troubles in his USRA bmod heat and only made one lap, which put him deep in the field after transferring from a bmain. But that built the drama up as he closed in on Junior Boyer on the last couple of laps. Boyer slide up in turn two after taking the white flag, which allowed Jones to dive to the inside. Boyer apparently didn't see him going into turn three and the two cars made contact. Boyer's left front hopped Jones right front and sent Boyer's car up the track while Jones was able to take home the win. Brandon Hare finished second, Andrew Kelly was third, Eric Verthein fourth, and Chris Frethem rounded out the top five.
The USRA stock cars also put on a great show. Five cars were battling it out near the end of the race before Matt Greiner's car slid up and hit Austin Curtin's car. Both drivers were solidly in the top five, but the contact sent Curtin spinning to the inside while the rest of the field narrowly missed making contact. Greiner would be penalized for the contact, but up front Shay Curtin would take home the win. Not sure how the rest of the top five rundown looked as they were so close at the line, but Kurt Krauskopf, Kevin Donlan, and Mitch Hovden were all right there.
It was another good night of racing at the Upper Iowa Speedway. Racing was done around 10:30 or so, giving fans plenty of time to either go to the pits and talk with drivers or to make their way home.
The USMTS will take a little break now to gear up for another grueling road trip beginning September 1 at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. That will be the first of six consecutive nights of racing to help sort things out for the Hunt for the Championship.
For more information on the USMTS, check out their website at www.usmts.com. For Upper Iowa Speedway results, check out their website at www.upperiowaspeedway.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Donlinger Wires Wisconsin USMTS
Going into Friday night's action at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin, Tim Donlinger found himself in 11th place in the Hunt points. Last year's USMTS National Champion found himself in the redraw and got the lucky number one.
Donlinger jumped out to the early lead with third-place starter Kelly Shryock right on his heels. After a couple of early cautions, Ryan Gustin was the one to watch. Gustin had to transfer out of a bmain event and started 18th on the grid, but methodically made his way to eighth when the caution fell on lap eleven of the twenty-five lap feature. Up front Jon Tesch used the bottom side to scoot by Shryock for the runner up spot as Gustin continued to march forward to take over the sixth spot at the halfway point. Three laps later Gustin advanced two more positions to fourth when the caution came out with seven laps to go. Shryock got a bad restart and fell back to fifth when the field completed the next lap, which opened the door for Gustin and others to take advantage. Gustin made his way to second, but was unable to track down Tim Donlinger as the Rochester driver scored his first Hunt win of the year. Ryan Gustin was second, Kelly Shryock battled back to third, Mike Steensma had a great run to finish third, and Zach VanderBeek rounded out the top five.
1. 3D Tim Donlinger
2. 19R Ryan Gustin
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 10 Mike Steensma
5. 33z Zach VanderBeek
6. 14 Jon Tesch
7. 94JR John Doelle
8. 4R Dereck Ramirez
9. 49 Bob Timm
10. 20R Bryan Rowland
For complete results, check out www.usmts.com. There you can also find updated Hunt point standings as Kelly Shryock continues to lead the way.
In other action in Fountain City, Gary Wiersgalla took home a narrow victory in the Wissota Super Stocks while Danny Hanson took home the win in the Wissota Street Stocks. Kyle Jumbeck was involved in an early caution in the Wissota Midwest Mod feature, but he rebounded nicely and climbed back to second with five laps to go. A late race move on the inside along with a little bit of contact allowed him to grab the lead and take home the $1,000 paycheck. For complete results from those divisions, check out the track website at www.mississippithunder.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Donlinger jumped out to the early lead with third-place starter Kelly Shryock right on his heels. After a couple of early cautions, Ryan Gustin was the one to watch. Gustin had to transfer out of a bmain event and started 18th on the grid, but methodically made his way to eighth when the caution fell on lap eleven of the twenty-five lap feature. Up front Jon Tesch used the bottom side to scoot by Shryock for the runner up spot as Gustin continued to march forward to take over the sixth spot at the halfway point. Three laps later Gustin advanced two more positions to fourth when the caution came out with seven laps to go. Shryock got a bad restart and fell back to fifth when the field completed the next lap, which opened the door for Gustin and others to take advantage. Gustin made his way to second, but was unable to track down Tim Donlinger as the Rochester driver scored his first Hunt win of the year. Ryan Gustin was second, Kelly Shryock battled back to third, Mike Steensma had a great run to finish third, and Zach VanderBeek rounded out the top five.
1. 3D Tim Donlinger
2. 19R Ryan Gustin
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 10 Mike Steensma
5. 33z Zach VanderBeek
6. 14 Jon Tesch
7. 94JR John Doelle
8. 4R Dereck Ramirez
9. 49 Bob Timm
10. 20R Bryan Rowland
For complete results, check out www.usmts.com. There you can also find updated Hunt point standings as Kelly Shryock continues to lead the way.
In other action in Fountain City, Gary Wiersgalla took home a narrow victory in the Wissota Super Stocks while Danny Hanson took home the win in the Wissota Street Stocks. Kyle Jumbeck was involved in an early caution in the Wissota Midwest Mod feature, but he rebounded nicely and climbed back to second with five laps to go. A late race move on the inside along with a little bit of contact allowed him to grab the lead and take home the $1,000 paycheck. For complete results from those divisions, check out the track website at www.mississippithunder.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Hughes Records 2nd Consecutive Victory
Jason Hughes recorded the most amount of wins during the USMTS National Tour earlier this season before the Hunt for the Championship began. Hughes took the checkers six times, and tonight he recorded his second consecutive Hunt feature as he led every lap of the forty-lap feature event at the Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kansas.
The final night of a five-night swing saw fifty-five cars check into the pits once again as the USMTS made their inaugural visit to the Caney facility. Once again, local favorite John Allen would have the lucky draw as he and Jason Hughes sat on the front row. Allen has had a tough week as he has blown up two motors and had his car upside down in recent events. Tonight he hopped behind the wheel of Scott Green's backup car and made the redraw.
It would be Hughes, however, getting the jump and taking command of the race. Hughes opened up a comfortable lead as Morgan Bagley challenged Allen for the runner up spot. A caution slowed the action down just once as Scott Green spun in turn one and collected a couple cars. Bagley took advantage of the restart as he snuck under Allen to take over the second position. Allen would lose two more spots as Dereck Ramirez and point leader Kelly Shryock both got by on the inside. Bagley closed in on Hughes for the lead and even got to the inside at one point, but Hughes was able to keep his momentum up and pull ahead. Hughes would change his line a little bit from that point on to keep Bagley behind him the rest of the race.
Behind them Dustin Boney was setting sail on the top side as he passed Shryock for the fourth spot. A lap later Boney used the same line to motor by Ramirez for third. Shryock challenged Ramirez on the low side as they raced for the fourth spot in which Shryock would win. Tim Donlinger was slowly making his way to the front as he climbed inside the top five, but he ran out of time as Jason Hughes took home his second straight win. Morgan Bagley finished second, Dustin Boney third, Kelly Shryock fourth, and Tim Donlinger rounded out the top five.
1. 12 Jason Hughes
2. 5R Morgan Bagley
3. 22 Dustin Boney
4. 3 Kelly Shryock
5. 3D Tim Donlinger
6. 4R Dereck Ramirez
7. 98 John Allen (driving Scott Green's backup #25 car)
8. 51 Eddie Martin
9. 4R Ron VerBeek
10. 20R Bryan Rowland
11. 14 Jon Tesch
12. 19R Ryan Gustin
13. 2 Grant Junghans
14. 7K Jason Krohn
15. 20 Rodney Sanders
16. 12T Tyler Townsend
Rodney Sanders and Tommy Myer used provisionals. Sanders finished finished one spot out of his bmain event, which meant he was unable to accumulate passing points in the feature. That should mean that Shryock extended his lead as he passed one car and finished fourth.
The USMTS officials will head back home and get things rounded up as they get ready for a three-race swing next weekend covering three states. Next Thursday they will invade the Steele County Speedway in Owatonna, MN as part of the Steele County Fair. Then they travel to the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin before finishing the swing at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah, Iowa on Saturday. For complete results and updated point standings, be sure to check out their website at www.usmts.com.
The Caney Valley Speedway also run three other support classes Saturday night, but the USMTS feature was the first to hit the track. With that being said, I decided to take off at that point so I was able to get a head start on the lengthy trip home. Plan to get up early Sunday to finish the trip and hopefully make it to another race Sunday night if Mother Nature allows.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
The final night of a five-night swing saw fifty-five cars check into the pits once again as the USMTS made their inaugural visit to the Caney facility. Once again, local favorite John Allen would have the lucky draw as he and Jason Hughes sat on the front row. Allen has had a tough week as he has blown up two motors and had his car upside down in recent events. Tonight he hopped behind the wheel of Scott Green's backup car and made the redraw.
It would be Hughes, however, getting the jump and taking command of the race. Hughes opened up a comfortable lead as Morgan Bagley challenged Allen for the runner up spot. A caution slowed the action down just once as Scott Green spun in turn one and collected a couple cars. Bagley took advantage of the restart as he snuck under Allen to take over the second position. Allen would lose two more spots as Dereck Ramirez and point leader Kelly Shryock both got by on the inside. Bagley closed in on Hughes for the lead and even got to the inside at one point, but Hughes was able to keep his momentum up and pull ahead. Hughes would change his line a little bit from that point on to keep Bagley behind him the rest of the race.
Behind them Dustin Boney was setting sail on the top side as he passed Shryock for the fourth spot. A lap later Boney used the same line to motor by Ramirez for third. Shryock challenged Ramirez on the low side as they raced for the fourth spot in which Shryock would win. Tim Donlinger was slowly making his way to the front as he climbed inside the top five, but he ran out of time as Jason Hughes took home his second straight win. Morgan Bagley finished second, Dustin Boney third, Kelly Shryock fourth, and Tim Donlinger rounded out the top five.
1. 12 Jason Hughes
2. 5R Morgan Bagley
3. 22 Dustin Boney
4. 3 Kelly Shryock
5. 3D Tim Donlinger
6. 4R Dereck Ramirez
7. 98 John Allen (driving Scott Green's backup #25 car)
8. 51 Eddie Martin
9. 4R Ron VerBeek
10. 20R Bryan Rowland
11. 14 Jon Tesch
12. 19R Ryan Gustin
13. 2 Grant Junghans
14. 7K Jason Krohn
15. 20 Rodney Sanders
16. 12T Tyler Townsend
Rodney Sanders and Tommy Myer used provisionals. Sanders finished finished one spot out of his bmain event, which meant he was unable to accumulate passing points in the feature. That should mean that Shryock extended his lead as he passed one car and finished fourth.
The USMTS officials will head back home and get things rounded up as they get ready for a three-race swing next weekend covering three states. Next Thursday they will invade the Steele County Speedway in Owatonna, MN as part of the Steele County Fair. Then they travel to the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin before finishing the swing at the Upper Iowa Speedway in Decorah, Iowa on Saturday. For complete results and updated point standings, be sure to check out their website at www.usmts.com.
The Caney Valley Speedway also run three other support classes Saturday night, but the USMTS feature was the first to hit the track. With that being said, I decided to take off at that point so I was able to get a head start on the lengthy trip home. Plan to get up early Sunday to finish the trip and hopefully make it to another race Sunday night if Mother Nature allows.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Hughes Rim-Rides to Humboldt Checkers
Another great field of cars checked into the Humboldt Speedway Friday night as night #4 of a five-night swing was on the card. 55 modifieds were narrowed down to twenty-six for the 4o-lap finale at the end of the night while factory stocks and bmods were also run in support of the USMTS modifieds.
Out of car introductions along with the redraw were held on the front stretch before things got kicked off. And as luck would have it, local favorite John Allen would be the last guy to pick but wound up with lucky number 1. Starting outside of him would be the multi-time champion Kelly Shryock. Allen would hold down the top spot on lap one while Shryock's car pushed up in turn two and allowed a couple cars to scoot by. A quick caution came out on lap two in which Tim Donlinger took advantage of to snare the lead away from Allen. Donlinger, last year's USMTS National Champion, would hold the top spot until he made contact with a tractor tire on the inside of the track and broke the left front suspension, ending his great run.
Kansas driver Dustin Boney took over the race lead, but many eyes were watching Jason Hughes' progress through the field as the Oklahoma hotshoe pedaled his way from seventh into the third spot and eventually second as he was up on the wheel on the top side. As Hughes closed in on Boney for the lead, Hughes would duck to the inside in turn two and got enough momentum to complete the pass. Another driver on the move was Zach VanderBeek. VanderBeek started 16th, but found himself up to sixth after he completed the pass on Rodney Sanders on the outside.
Kelly Shryock's car started to get better for him as he climbed back up to second after passing Boney on the inside before another caution slowed the pace down. The caution worked in VanderBeek's favor as he was able to first pass John Allen and then later Dustin Boney for fourth as the yellow waved once again. Rodney Sanders and Dustin Boney sea-sawed back and forth as the two were racing for the fifth spot as the laps clicked off. Up front Jason Hughes was able to keep his distance as he encountered lapped traffic late to take the win. Kelly Shryock finished second, Zach VanderBeek third, Tommy Myer fourth, and Rodney Sanders fifth. The top five for Sanders improves his Hunt streak to four consecutive top 5's, an accomplishment that no other driver has done.
Derrek Wilson cruised to an easy win in the factory stocks followed by Doug Scism, Travis Barker, Matt Weintz, and Scott Lucke. Paden Phillips checked out on the rest of the field in the bmod feature as he scored the win.
The track stayed in good shape throughout the night. Things did get a little dusty towards the end, but that is expected at a dirt track race. The USMTS point standings closed up a little bit as Kelly Shryock is back on top by a mere four points over Rodney Sanders. Zach VanderBeek, Dereck Ramirez, and Tommy Myer rounded out the top five. For complete results, point standings, and more check out the USMTS website at www.usmts.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Out of car introductions along with the redraw were held on the front stretch before things got kicked off. And as luck would have it, local favorite John Allen would be the last guy to pick but wound up with lucky number 1. Starting outside of him would be the multi-time champion Kelly Shryock. Allen would hold down the top spot on lap one while Shryock's car pushed up in turn two and allowed a couple cars to scoot by. A quick caution came out on lap two in which Tim Donlinger took advantage of to snare the lead away from Allen. Donlinger, last year's USMTS National Champion, would hold the top spot until he made contact with a tractor tire on the inside of the track and broke the left front suspension, ending his great run.
Kansas driver Dustin Boney took over the race lead, but many eyes were watching Jason Hughes' progress through the field as the Oklahoma hotshoe pedaled his way from seventh into the third spot and eventually second as he was up on the wheel on the top side. As Hughes closed in on Boney for the lead, Hughes would duck to the inside in turn two and got enough momentum to complete the pass. Another driver on the move was Zach VanderBeek. VanderBeek started 16th, but found himself up to sixth after he completed the pass on Rodney Sanders on the outside.
Kelly Shryock's car started to get better for him as he climbed back up to second after passing Boney on the inside before another caution slowed the pace down. The caution worked in VanderBeek's favor as he was able to first pass John Allen and then later Dustin Boney for fourth as the yellow waved once again. Rodney Sanders and Dustin Boney sea-sawed back and forth as the two were racing for the fifth spot as the laps clicked off. Up front Jason Hughes was able to keep his distance as he encountered lapped traffic late to take the win. Kelly Shryock finished second, Zach VanderBeek third, Tommy Myer fourth, and Rodney Sanders fifth. The top five for Sanders improves his Hunt streak to four consecutive top 5's, an accomplishment that no other driver has done.
Derrek Wilson cruised to an easy win in the factory stocks followed by Doug Scism, Travis Barker, Matt Weintz, and Scott Lucke. Paden Phillips checked out on the rest of the field in the bmod feature as he scored the win.
The track stayed in good shape throughout the night. Things did get a little dusty towards the end, but that is expected at a dirt track race. The USMTS point standings closed up a little bit as Kelly Shryock is back on top by a mere four points over Rodney Sanders. Zach VanderBeek, Dereck Ramirez, and Tommy Myer rounded out the top five. For complete results, point standings, and more check out the USMTS website at www.usmts.com.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Payne Victorious In Springfield
Thursday August 13th marked the second-ever visit to the Springfield Raceway for the USMTS modifieds. Hometown favorite Terry Phillips was able to cash in on that night as he found his way to victory lane earlier this year. Last night, another familiar name in the area would take home the win.
Another great field of cars checked in for action last night as fifty-one modifieds were on hand. That's down a little bit from the previous two nights, but still plenty of good competition throughout the heat races. Once again the bmain events were stacked with good drivers trying to make their way into the feature event.
Dean Mahlstedt and Jeremy Payne sat on the front row when the green flag waved. One lap in the caution quickly came out as Ryan Gustin sat on the inside of turn two. Not sure if he got help or not, but the damage was done as he started seventh and would have to tag the tail of the field. Payne would jump out to the lead as he used the top side of the speedway. Bryan Rowland had got by Mahlstedt on the start, but Mahlstedt was able to pass Rowland back to take control of the runner up spot. Zach VanderBeek found the bottom side to his liking as he moved into the third spot after passing Rowland before a caution waved again on lap six.
VanderBeek took advantage of the restart as he powered his car to the top side to make the pass on Mahlstedt for second. Corey Dripps used the same line to get by Rowland to take over fourth. Another caution flag came out as two cars spun to a stop in turns one and two. While those cars were stopped, Jason Hughes had miscalculated the cushion and dipped his rear wheels off the track. Hughes was able keep his machine moving and was not penalized as being part of the yellow.
The restart provided a little excitement. Payne appeared to be heading to the top side when he changed lanes going into turn one. He cut down low and made contact with VanderBeek's car. Both competitors were able to continue, but I'm sure the extent of the contact probably worried both of them. Corey Dripps would lose a couple spots to Bryan Rowland and Jon Tesch until Tesch's car spun to a stop on the backstretch. I didn't see what happened to the South Dakota driver, but his car was towed away to the pits. By this time Minnesota driver Tommy Myer had advanced from his twelfth starting spot to grab the fifth spot, and got another spot on the restart after Tesch's mishap.
Rodney Sanders, the number two man in points, was on the move to the front throughout the race. Sanders qualified out of the first of three bmains and started 20th, but he sliced his way foward to the seventh spot before a caution flag waved again. This time the yellow would be for points leader Kelly Shryock as he suffered a right rear tire. Al Hejna also exited the track to the work area and both drivers would return before the green flag restarted the race.
With less the nine laps to go, Terry Phillips made the pass on Tommy Myer to take over the fourth spot. Rodney Sanders would crack the top five late in the race, but up front Jeremy Payne held off all challengers as he took home the big payday. It was a little redemption for Payne after he led every lap earlier this week in La Monte, but was later disqualified in post race tech for using a tire softener on his right rear tire. Payne would not have that issue to deal with last night as all cars passed post-race tech. Zach VanderBeek finished in a close second, Dean Mahlstedt finished third, Terry Phillips fourth, and Rodney Sanders rounded out the top five.
In other action, Dave Comer battled his way back from a broke left front tire in his heat to start rear of the field in the feature and made a last lap pass for the win in the Legends feature. Colt Cheevers took the lead away from Eric Tinderholt on lap two on his way to winning the sportmod feature. There was an issue with the time limit in the sportmods, so not sure they went the scheduled twenty laps.
Shryock's bad luck coupled with Sander's great run results in Sanders taking over the Hunt point lead, although only by a mere three points. After three races, Sanders is the only driver to finish in the top five in all three. The USMTS will travel north and west as they invade the Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kansas tonight. Following that race, the series will head south to the Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kansas on Saturday. A four-day rest will follow that before the stars and cars make their way north for three races next week in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
For complete results, updated point standings, and more information on upcoming races, be sure to check out www.usmts.com.
-Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Another great field of cars checked in for action last night as fifty-one modifieds were on hand. That's down a little bit from the previous two nights, but still plenty of good competition throughout the heat races. Once again the bmain events were stacked with good drivers trying to make their way into the feature event.
Dean Mahlstedt and Jeremy Payne sat on the front row when the green flag waved. One lap in the caution quickly came out as Ryan Gustin sat on the inside of turn two. Not sure if he got help or not, but the damage was done as he started seventh and would have to tag the tail of the field. Payne would jump out to the lead as he used the top side of the speedway. Bryan Rowland had got by Mahlstedt on the start, but Mahlstedt was able to pass Rowland back to take control of the runner up spot. Zach VanderBeek found the bottom side to his liking as he moved into the third spot after passing Rowland before a caution waved again on lap six.
VanderBeek took advantage of the restart as he powered his car to the top side to make the pass on Mahlstedt for second. Corey Dripps used the same line to get by Rowland to take over fourth. Another caution flag came out as two cars spun to a stop in turns one and two. While those cars were stopped, Jason Hughes had miscalculated the cushion and dipped his rear wheels off the track. Hughes was able keep his machine moving and was not penalized as being part of the yellow.
The restart provided a little excitement. Payne appeared to be heading to the top side when he changed lanes going into turn one. He cut down low and made contact with VanderBeek's car. Both competitors were able to continue, but I'm sure the extent of the contact probably worried both of them. Corey Dripps would lose a couple spots to Bryan Rowland and Jon Tesch until Tesch's car spun to a stop on the backstretch. I didn't see what happened to the South Dakota driver, but his car was towed away to the pits. By this time Minnesota driver Tommy Myer had advanced from his twelfth starting spot to grab the fifth spot, and got another spot on the restart after Tesch's mishap.
Rodney Sanders, the number two man in points, was on the move to the front throughout the race. Sanders qualified out of the first of three bmains and started 20th, but he sliced his way foward to the seventh spot before a caution flag waved again. This time the yellow would be for points leader Kelly Shryock as he suffered a right rear tire. Al Hejna also exited the track to the work area and both drivers would return before the green flag restarted the race.
With less the nine laps to go, Terry Phillips made the pass on Tommy Myer to take over the fourth spot. Rodney Sanders would crack the top five late in the race, but up front Jeremy Payne held off all challengers as he took home the big payday. It was a little redemption for Payne after he led every lap earlier this week in La Monte, but was later disqualified in post race tech for using a tire softener on his right rear tire. Payne would not have that issue to deal with last night as all cars passed post-race tech. Zach VanderBeek finished in a close second, Dean Mahlstedt finished third, Terry Phillips fourth, and Rodney Sanders rounded out the top five.
In other action, Dave Comer battled his way back from a broke left front tire in his heat to start rear of the field in the feature and made a last lap pass for the win in the Legends feature. Colt Cheevers took the lead away from Eric Tinderholt on lap two on his way to winning the sportmod feature. There was an issue with the time limit in the sportmods, so not sure they went the scheduled twenty laps.
Shryock's bad luck coupled with Sander's great run results in Sanders taking over the Hunt point lead, although only by a mere three points. After three races, Sanders is the only driver to finish in the top five in all three. The USMTS will travel north and west as they invade the Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kansas tonight. Following that race, the series will head south to the Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kansas on Saturday. A four-day rest will follow that before the stars and cars make their way north for three races next week in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
For complete results, updated point standings, and more information on upcoming races, be sure to check out www.usmts.com.
-Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Late Caution Propels Gustin To Victory
The old saying "cautions breed cautions" was true last night as the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) made a stop at the Monett Speedway in Monett, Missouri last night. Another stellar field of sixty modifieds checked in with their sights set on improving upon the previous night's efforts. The feature ran thirty-four laps caution-free until the yellow flag was displayed. Three more cautions would be needed before Ryan Gustin drove to victory on the secon stop of the Hunt for the championship.
Six heat races were run along with three bmains once again to determine the qualifiers for the show. Four provisionals were also tagged to the rear of the field to give the field twenty-six starters once again. Jason Krohn, a former series champion, looked to be on his way to the feature after running a solid second in his heat race. However, his luck changed for the worse as he tried to run the outside line on the last lap and race leader Randy Timms slid up in front of him. Contact was made and damage was done with Krohn's left front suspension. The extent of the damage must have been severe as Krohn was unable to make it back out later for his bmain event.
Randy Timms and Jackie Dalton lined up on the front row, but two cautions came out before a lap could be completed. Before the initial green flag, Al Hejna suffered bad luck as his left front tire fell off as the field was getting ready to take the green flag. He was able to limp his car to the infield and his crew quickly put another tire on to allow him to tag the tail of the field. He was scheduled to start eleventh. The green flag would wave momentarily on the restart until Jackie Dalton spun in turn two in front of the field. Dean Mahlstedt and Jason Hughes were also victims of circumstance with Hughes retiring to the pits at that time.
Randy Timms would take control of the race when the green flag dropped for the completion of the first lap. Rodney Sanders hustled into the runner up spot as the field began to spread out. Sanders would close the gap and then later take the lead away from Timms using the bottom side. Sanders would extend his lead as the leaders encountered lapped traffic while Terry Phillips ducked under Glenn Bratti to take over the fourth spot. A caution with six laps to go bunched the field back up. At that time, the top five would be Sanders, Timms, Ryan Gustin, Terry Phillips, and Glenn Bratti.
Gustin took advantage of the double-file restart and drove to the second spot using the high line. The field was able to get in one lap before the caution waved again. Johnny Bone Jr got sideways exiting turn two and Ron VerBeek and Tim Donlinger also got caught up in the mess. While the field was stopped to allow track officials to clear the track, Bone Jr showed his displeasure with Dustin Boney as apparently Bone Jr felt Boney assisted him in getting turned around.
The green would be displayed once again before yet another yellow was displayed instead of the white flag. Before that caution was displayed, Ryan Gustin was able to ride the cushion and take over the race lead from Rodney Sanders. So Gustin would set the pace with Sanders and Terry Phillips right behind him with a two-lap shootout to determine the race winner. Gustin continued to ride the high line around the track while Phillips followed him to get by Sanders for the runner up spot. Phillips tried to close in on the final lap, but Ryan Gustin was able to keep hi momentum up on the top side as he took home the $3,000 top prize and the win. Terry Phillips was second, Rodney Sanders third, Randy Timms fourth, and Glenn Bratti rounded out the top five.
1. 19R Ryan Gustin
2. 75 Terry Phillips
3. 20 Rodney Sanders
4. 5T Randy Timms
5. 24T Glenn Bratti
6. 26 Brian Williams
7. 22 Dustin Boney
8. 3 Kelly Shryock
9. 7 Al Hejna
10. 74 Jeremy Payne
11. 4R Dereck Ramirez
12. 5R Morgan Bagley
13. 31 Corey Dripps
14. 21 Jackie Dalton
15. 22s Chad Kinder
16. 14 Jon Tesch
17. 40 Brian Green
18. 2 Grant Junghans
19. 4R Ron VerBeek
20. 00 Jesse Stovall
21. 65 Tommy Myer
22. 3D Tim Donlinger
23. 12B Johnny Bone Jr
24. 21M Dean Mahlstedt
25. 56 Tony Jackson Jr
26. 12 Jason Hughes
The track also ran four support classes last night. Danny Boyd inherited the bomber lead after the front two cars made contact with each other. One driver was given the black flag for "aggressive driving" while the victim was able to keep going. However a caution flag would come out with the black flag victim going to the tail. Danny Boyd was able to hold on for the win. James Flood led every lap on his way to winning the factory stock feature. Other classes running were the legends and rookies. Those classes were run after the USMTS forty-lap feature, and therefore I didn't keep track of them as Father Time was already closing in on the midnight hour.
It was a little frustrating having to wait for four support classes in anticipation of watching the modifieds. Especially during a mid-week special. I've been to several shows that have done this and the outcome has pretty much been the same. It was 12:15 or after when the final checkered flag waved to conclude the night. It would be a lot easier on everybody if promoters would only run maybe two support classes along with the headlining class to keep the show moving. But enough of my soapbox.
The racing was pretty good all night for the USMTS modifieds. The track had two grooves of racing, evident by Tim Donlinger's efforts in his bmain. Donlinger was rim-riding the top side and actually went over the edge in turn three. Fortunately for him, he was able to bring it back on the track after only losing one position and a caution later helped him out as well. He took advantage of that and rebounded to win that bmain. Kelly Shryock had his difficulties all night as well as he only managed a 5th place finish in his heat race. He looked to be on his way to needing a provisional to qualify, but things fell his way in his bmain and he would take home the third and final transfer spot. Dereck Ramirez and Tuesday night's feature winner Grant Junghans used provisionals to make the call for the finale.
The USMTS travels to the Springfield Raceway tonight for the third of five stops on the first swing of the Hunt. If you're in the area, be sure to check out the action as a good field of cars will be on hand again tonight. I'm sure local favorites Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne are anxious to get back "home" and defend their home turf.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Six heat races were run along with three bmains once again to determine the qualifiers for the show. Four provisionals were also tagged to the rear of the field to give the field twenty-six starters once again. Jason Krohn, a former series champion, looked to be on his way to the feature after running a solid second in his heat race. However, his luck changed for the worse as he tried to run the outside line on the last lap and race leader Randy Timms slid up in front of him. Contact was made and damage was done with Krohn's left front suspension. The extent of the damage must have been severe as Krohn was unable to make it back out later for his bmain event.
Randy Timms and Jackie Dalton lined up on the front row, but two cautions came out before a lap could be completed. Before the initial green flag, Al Hejna suffered bad luck as his left front tire fell off as the field was getting ready to take the green flag. He was able to limp his car to the infield and his crew quickly put another tire on to allow him to tag the tail of the field. He was scheduled to start eleventh. The green flag would wave momentarily on the restart until Jackie Dalton spun in turn two in front of the field. Dean Mahlstedt and Jason Hughes were also victims of circumstance with Hughes retiring to the pits at that time.
Randy Timms would take control of the race when the green flag dropped for the completion of the first lap. Rodney Sanders hustled into the runner up spot as the field began to spread out. Sanders would close the gap and then later take the lead away from Timms using the bottom side. Sanders would extend his lead as the leaders encountered lapped traffic while Terry Phillips ducked under Glenn Bratti to take over the fourth spot. A caution with six laps to go bunched the field back up. At that time, the top five would be Sanders, Timms, Ryan Gustin, Terry Phillips, and Glenn Bratti.
Gustin took advantage of the double-file restart and drove to the second spot using the high line. The field was able to get in one lap before the caution waved again. Johnny Bone Jr got sideways exiting turn two and Ron VerBeek and Tim Donlinger also got caught up in the mess. While the field was stopped to allow track officials to clear the track, Bone Jr showed his displeasure with Dustin Boney as apparently Bone Jr felt Boney assisted him in getting turned around.
The green would be displayed once again before yet another yellow was displayed instead of the white flag. Before that caution was displayed, Ryan Gustin was able to ride the cushion and take over the race lead from Rodney Sanders. So Gustin would set the pace with Sanders and Terry Phillips right behind him with a two-lap shootout to determine the race winner. Gustin continued to ride the high line around the track while Phillips followed him to get by Sanders for the runner up spot. Phillips tried to close in on the final lap, but Ryan Gustin was able to keep hi momentum up on the top side as he took home the $3,000 top prize and the win. Terry Phillips was second, Rodney Sanders third, Randy Timms fourth, and Glenn Bratti rounded out the top five.
1. 19R Ryan Gustin
2. 75 Terry Phillips
3. 20 Rodney Sanders
4. 5T Randy Timms
5. 24T Glenn Bratti
6. 26 Brian Williams
7. 22 Dustin Boney
8. 3 Kelly Shryock
9. 7 Al Hejna
10. 74 Jeremy Payne
11. 4R Dereck Ramirez
12. 5R Morgan Bagley
13. 31 Corey Dripps
14. 21 Jackie Dalton
15. 22s Chad Kinder
16. 14 Jon Tesch
17. 40 Brian Green
18. 2 Grant Junghans
19. 4R Ron VerBeek
20. 00 Jesse Stovall
21. 65 Tommy Myer
22. 3D Tim Donlinger
23. 12B Johnny Bone Jr
24. 21M Dean Mahlstedt
25. 56 Tony Jackson Jr
26. 12 Jason Hughes
The track also ran four support classes last night. Danny Boyd inherited the bomber lead after the front two cars made contact with each other. One driver was given the black flag for "aggressive driving" while the victim was able to keep going. However a caution flag would come out with the black flag victim going to the tail. Danny Boyd was able to hold on for the win. James Flood led every lap on his way to winning the factory stock feature. Other classes running were the legends and rookies. Those classes were run after the USMTS forty-lap feature, and therefore I didn't keep track of them as Father Time was already closing in on the midnight hour.
It was a little frustrating having to wait for four support classes in anticipation of watching the modifieds. Especially during a mid-week special. I've been to several shows that have done this and the outcome has pretty much been the same. It was 12:15 or after when the final checkered flag waved to conclude the night. It would be a lot easier on everybody if promoters would only run maybe two support classes along with the headlining class to keep the show moving. But enough of my soapbox.
The racing was pretty good all night for the USMTS modifieds. The track had two grooves of racing, evident by Tim Donlinger's efforts in his bmain. Donlinger was rim-riding the top side and actually went over the edge in turn three. Fortunately for him, he was able to bring it back on the track after only losing one position and a caution later helped him out as well. He took advantage of that and rebounded to win that bmain. Kelly Shryock had his difficulties all night as well as he only managed a 5th place finish in his heat race. He looked to be on his way to needing a provisional to qualify, but things fell his way in his bmain and he would take home the third and final transfer spot. Dereck Ramirez and Tuesday night's feature winner Grant Junghans used provisionals to make the call for the finale.
The USMTS travels to the Springfield Raceway tonight for the third of five stops on the first swing of the Hunt. If you're in the area, be sure to check out the action as a good field of cars will be on hand again tonight. I'm sure local favorites Terry Phillips and Jeremy Payne are anxious to get back "home" and defend their home turf.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Grant Junghans Wins USMTS Hunt Opener
Grant Junghans perhaps wasn't the fastest car all night as the USMTS opened their "Hunt" for the championship in La Monte, Missouri last night. Junghans wasn't even the first to cross the line in last night's forty lap feature event. But when the dust settled, it would be Grant Junghans' name on the big check as he took home what is believed to be his first ever USMTS feature win.
A stellar field of sixty-four modifieds checked in as the first of sixteen Hunt races kicked off. Last night's feature winner earned a cool $3,000 for his efforts as I believe all Hunt races will do so this year. With names like Jason Hughes, Eddie Martin, Alan Sharpensteen, Terry Phillips, Chad Kinder...along with series regulars Kelly Shryock, Zach VanderBeek, Al Hejna, and many others...the fans knew there were in for a great show last night.
Seven heat races along with three bmains and four provisionals narrowed the large field of cars down to twenty-six starters. Ron VerBeek and Jeremy Payne sat on the front row when the green flag dropped and Payne wasted no time in grabbing the lead. Morgan Bagley would follow Payne to second as the field began to get in their rhythm. Deep in the field, former USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn was on the loud pedal after transferring out of a bmain. After starting sixteenth, Krohn soon climbed into the top ten in the first six or seven laps. Former national champions had a rough go all last night as Kelly Shryock, Tim Donlinger, and Krohn all had to advance from a bmain.
Justin Boney had a solid top five car early in the race until he exited off turn four towards the pits. Not sure what sidelined the Kansas driver. Ron VerBeek found the top side to his liking as he powered by Morgan Bagley for the runner up spot. Bagley would continue to slide backwards as Dereck Ramirez, Grant Junghans, and Terry Phillips would later get by. Ramirez would use the inside line to scoot by VerBeek to take the second spot away while VerBeek would later lose the third spot to Junghans.
Junghans also was using the cushion successfully as he motored his way by Ramirez to take over the second position, but by that time Jeremy Payne had already opened up a straight away lead. Payne's teammate Terry Phillips, also a bmain transfer, worked his way into the top five as he drove by Ron VerBeek, but Kelly Shryock would get by Phillips late in the race. Rodney Sanders, winner of the first USMTS visit to the track this year, would have another great run and pass Ramirez for the third spot while Shryock would also get by Ramirez for fourth later.
No cautions on this night as the field ran very clean throughout the night and those that were unable to finish were able to exit the track.
Jeremy Payne crossed the finish line first by a wide margin. He scaled out okay and had his picture taken on the track. However, post-race inspection found an issue with his tire. That handed the win over to Manhattan, Kansas driver Grant Junghans. Junghans is leading the DandyLand Farms Rookie of the Year standings this season and I believe this was his first career USMTS feature win. What made Junghans' victory more special was having his parents there to see it. This was the first time I've seen his parents at the race track with him, and I think they were more excited about it then Grant was.
Payne's issue was one of many for Team Phillips. Eric Turner was disqualified after winning his heat race due to a shock issue. Terry Phillips was teched a little more thoroughly after claiming the final bmain transfer spot for his left front shocks, but was able to continue on to the feature.
Mitchell Moore drove to an easy win in the 305 sprint car feature. Moore dominated the entire race and held down a straight away advantage even after a caution flag. I counted sixteen sprint cars on hand last night, but only thirteen made the call for the finale.
The race track held up pretty nicely. There were two grooves of racing for the feature after the top side was the preferred line in the heat races. The rugged warriors of the USMTS travel southwest to the Monett Speedway in Monett, Missouri tonight for the second of five nights on this swing. After that they will travel to Springfield (MO) on Thursday before crossing the border into Kansas for Friday and Saturday stops in Humboldt and Caney, respectively.
1. 2 Grant Junghans
2. 20 Rodney Sanders
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 4R Dereck Ramirez
5. 75 Terry Phillips
6. 4R Ron VerBeek
7. 7K Jason Krohn
8. 90 Steve Wetstein
9. 5R Morgan Bagley
10. 3D Tim Donlinger
11. 33z Zach VanderBeek
(all I was able to get)
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
A stellar field of sixty-four modifieds checked in as the first of sixteen Hunt races kicked off. Last night's feature winner earned a cool $3,000 for his efforts as I believe all Hunt races will do so this year. With names like Jason Hughes, Eddie Martin, Alan Sharpensteen, Terry Phillips, Chad Kinder...along with series regulars Kelly Shryock, Zach VanderBeek, Al Hejna, and many others...the fans knew there were in for a great show last night.
Seven heat races along with three bmains and four provisionals narrowed the large field of cars down to twenty-six starters. Ron VerBeek and Jeremy Payne sat on the front row when the green flag dropped and Payne wasted no time in grabbing the lead. Morgan Bagley would follow Payne to second as the field began to get in their rhythm. Deep in the field, former USMTS National Champion Jason Krohn was on the loud pedal after transferring out of a bmain. After starting sixteenth, Krohn soon climbed into the top ten in the first six or seven laps. Former national champions had a rough go all last night as Kelly Shryock, Tim Donlinger, and Krohn all had to advance from a bmain.
Justin Boney had a solid top five car early in the race until he exited off turn four towards the pits. Not sure what sidelined the Kansas driver. Ron VerBeek found the top side to his liking as he powered by Morgan Bagley for the runner up spot. Bagley would continue to slide backwards as Dereck Ramirez, Grant Junghans, and Terry Phillips would later get by. Ramirez would use the inside line to scoot by VerBeek to take the second spot away while VerBeek would later lose the third spot to Junghans.
Junghans also was using the cushion successfully as he motored his way by Ramirez to take over the second position, but by that time Jeremy Payne had already opened up a straight away lead. Payne's teammate Terry Phillips, also a bmain transfer, worked his way into the top five as he drove by Ron VerBeek, but Kelly Shryock would get by Phillips late in the race. Rodney Sanders, winner of the first USMTS visit to the track this year, would have another great run and pass Ramirez for the third spot while Shryock would also get by Ramirez for fourth later.
No cautions on this night as the field ran very clean throughout the night and those that were unable to finish were able to exit the track.
Jeremy Payne crossed the finish line first by a wide margin. He scaled out okay and had his picture taken on the track. However, post-race inspection found an issue with his tire. That handed the win over to Manhattan, Kansas driver Grant Junghans. Junghans is leading the DandyLand Farms Rookie of the Year standings this season and I believe this was his first career USMTS feature win. What made Junghans' victory more special was having his parents there to see it. This was the first time I've seen his parents at the race track with him, and I think they were more excited about it then Grant was.
Payne's issue was one of many for Team Phillips. Eric Turner was disqualified after winning his heat race due to a shock issue. Terry Phillips was teched a little more thoroughly after claiming the final bmain transfer spot for his left front shocks, but was able to continue on to the feature.
Mitchell Moore drove to an easy win in the 305 sprint car feature. Moore dominated the entire race and held down a straight away advantage even after a caution flag. I counted sixteen sprint cars on hand last night, but only thirteen made the call for the finale.
The race track held up pretty nicely. There were two grooves of racing for the feature after the top side was the preferred line in the heat races. The rugged warriors of the USMTS travel southwest to the Monett Speedway in Monett, Missouri tonight for the second of five nights on this swing. After that they will travel to Springfield (MO) on Thursday before crossing the border into Kansas for Friday and Saturday stops in Humboldt and Caney, respectively.
1. 2 Grant Junghans
2. 20 Rodney Sanders
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 4R Dereck Ramirez
5. 75 Terry Phillips
6. 4R Ron VerBeek
7. 7K Jason Krohn
8. 90 Steve Wetstein
9. 5R Morgan Bagley
10. 3D Tim Donlinger
11. 33z Zach VanderBeek
(all I was able to get)
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Elliott Claims "Jump Start" Win @ Webster City
The Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City hosted another night of racing action on the big half-mile Saturday night, August 8th. By my count seventy-five cars were checked in, including seventeen IMCA late models and IMCA sportmods each. The heat races provided a scary moment when Jason Wagoner's car went up in a ball of flames down the backstretch before coming to a stop on the frontstretch. Jason would walk away uninjured and climb in his brother Tony's car for the feature later on in the program.
Five IMCA sport compacts kicked off feature action with Angie Webb taking control on the first lap. That lead did not last long, however, as Justin Wacha made the pass on lap two and went on to take the win. Webb was second, Daniel Ayers third, Gary Carlson fourth, and I believe Neil Nabholz rounded out the field.
1. 45 Justin Wacha
2. 52 Angie Webb
3. 4D Daniel Ayers
4. 13 Gary Carlson
5. 0N Neil Nabholz
Thirteen IMCA hobby stocks took their turn on the tacky track, but things got off to a rocky start as Steve Brannick and Matt Ring got tangled up with Brannick plastering the outside wall hard in turn two. Both drivers were okay and retired from the race. Ryan Caquelin would hold the top spot at the completion of the first lap, but points leader Justin Ades was on the move as he climbed into the second spot after passing Sid Larson on the low side. Larson would continue to slide back as Kevin Schmauss made his way by two laps later while Ades closed in on Caquelin for the lead.
Towards the middle of the pack, Craig Graham was slowly advancing forward as he ducked low to complete a pass on Sid Larson for fourth on lap eight. Caquelin appeared to have the preferred line, but changed his lane just enough exiting turn four that opened the door for Ades to sneak by on the outside to grab the lead at the white flag. From that point on, Caquelin could never regroup as Justin Ades went home with the win. Ryan Caquelin settled for second, Kevin Schmauss third, Sid Larson fourth, and Craig Graham lost a spot at the end thanks to a flat tire to limp home in fifth.
1. 10J Justin Ades
2. 4 Ryan Caquelin
3. 52 Kevin Schmauss
4. 28 Sid Larson
5. 13G Craig Graham
6. 87z Matt Drottz
7. 5R David Rieks ?? (Chad Koch car)
8. 99 Carl Runge
9. 45K Daniel Krieger
DNF
10. 91 Robert See
11. 51N Nate Bonin
12. 58 Matt Ring
13. 51 Steve Brannick
Dave Hubbard used the outside front row starting spot to take control of the stock car feature from the onset. Most of the race saw single file racing on the top side, although Curt Hook and Mark Elliott did attempt to pass using the low groove once in awhile. Elliott would suffer a flat tire late in the race to end his hopes of winning while Hook's car got a little lose on the exit of turn four coming to the checkers to allow Scott Bloemke to get by for fifth. But the night belonged to Dave Hubbard as he kept the rest of the field behind him for fifteen laps. Adam Silvey finished second, Jeremy Ades third, Mike Weimann fourth, and Scott Bloemke fifth.
1. 5 Dave Hubbard
2. 97 Adam Silvey
3. 10 Jeremy Ades
4. 4 Mike Weimann
5. 80 Scott Bloemke
6. 75 Curt Hook
7. 31M Mark Haglund
8. 7 Jason Minnehan
9. 20 Jason Wagoner (in 26 Tony Wagoner's car)
10. R31 Ryan Leeman
DNF
11. M5 Jim Mitchell
12. 19 Reid Keller
DNS
13. 26 Tony Wagoner
Sixteen of the seventeen IMCA sportmods made their way to the track next for their main event. Pole sitter Dustin West led the first couple of laps while Rocky Caudle moved into second place with a pass on George Gilliland on the low side. The low side didn't work well for the stock cars, but the sportmods were able to run side by side throughout the race as Sutherland would also slip by Gilliland on the bottom groove. Caudle would dethrone West as the race leader on lap four as Kevin Sather put his name in the hat. Sather raced to the fourth position on lap four and quickly passed two more cars the next lap to take over the runner up spot. Kyle Brown would slide under West to take the third spot away at the halfway point as Sather quickly closed in on Caudle for the lead.
A caution bunched the field together and Sather took advantage when Caudle went low on the first corner. Sather powered his machine to the outside to take the lead away. Sather would push up a lap later in turn two, opening the door for Caudle to reclaim the top spot. Kevin Sather would continue to run on the cushion and once again motor by Caudle on the top to snare the lead back and take home the hard-earned win. Rocky Caudle finished second, Matt Lettow third, Kyle Brown fourth, and Dustin West rounded out the top five.
1. 3 Kevin Sather
2. 99 Rocky Caudle
3. 21 Matt Lettow
4. 21K Kyle Brown
5. 85 Dustin West
6. 4ord Bob Sutherland
7. 46 Matt Northrop
8. 85T Brandon Toftee
9. 40 George Gilliland
10. 27 Bryon Weyer
11. 11J Steve Johnson
12. 11 Paul Price
13. J7B Jon Braathun
DNF
14. 64 Brandon Leeman
15. 5 Mitch Frakes
16. 13c Brian Johnson
DNS
17. T69 Dan Trusty
A field of ten IMCA modifieds were set for their feature race. Mark Elliott would need to be push started before the race, so therefore he was sent to the tail of the field. Keith Pittman garnered the top spot on lap one, but Elliott had already passed half the field to move into fourth by lap two. Elliott used the slingshot move off turn two to motor by Derek Oberle, a car I believe Elliott used to drive. A caution came out on lap three, and Elliott ducked low on Greg Cox to secure the runner up spot. By lap five, Pittman would relinquish the lead to Elliott after Elliott powered by on the low side off turn four. From that point on Mark Elliott would extend his lead to more then a straight away when the checkers waved. Keith Pittman came home second, Greg Cox third, Shane Demay fourth, and Jim Hoyle rounded out the top five.
1. 12 Mark Elliott
2. 41P Keith Pittman
3. 62 Greg Cox
4. 15M Shane Demay
5. 15A Jim Hoyle
6. 98 Derek Oberle
7. 29 Scott Forbes
8. 61 Adam Barlow
DNF
9. 20 Terrance Prochaska
10. 22T Tyler Prochaska
The final event of the night would be the IMCA late model twenty-five lap main event. Veteran racer Jeff French took command of the race with Jason Hahne right in his tire tracks. Following an early caution, Ryan Griffith made a big move that propelled him past Shawn Essex and Clint Wendel to move into the third spot before another caution quickly waved. Things quickly heated up around the fifth place cars as Todd Cooney drove by Ben Nading for fourth and Darrel DeFrance got by Clint Wendel on the low side behind them. Lap eight saw Cooney dive to the inside of Griffith to claim the third spot before another caution waved.
Jason Hahne got a great jump on Jeff French to take the lead on the restart on lap eight. Darrel DeFrance slipped by Griffith on the inside a lap later to take over fourth as another yellow flag was displayed. Cooney raced to the inside of French for the runner up spot and while Griffith followed suit to third. Cooney would close the gap to Hahne while French lost two spots when DeFrance and Al Johnson zoomed past. The final caution waved with five laps to go, but Jason Hahne was able to keep Todd Cooney behind him on his way to victory lane. Cooney was second, Ryan Griffith third, Darrel DeFrance fourth, and Al Johnson rebounded nicely to fifth after being involved in the first altercation early in the race.
1. 76 Jason Hahne
2. 30 Todd Cooney
3. X Ryan Griffith
4. 99D Darrel DeFrance
5. 8 Al Johnson
6. 3T Jeff French
7. 9 Ryan Giles
8. 32 Shawn Essex
9. 29 Nick Pedersen
10. 57 Scott Badker
11. 5R Riley Larson
DNF
12. 75 Clint Wendel
13. 66 Todd Johnson
14. 21 Ben Nading
15. 45 Mike Pedersen
16. 79 Josh Omans
17. 15 Scotty Anderson
All results are unofficial as I saw them cross the line or drop out.
Races were completed just before 10pm. Despite the heavy rain Friday night and into early Saturday morning, I thought the track stayed in decent shape. There were some soft spots and the majority of the cars used the high line, but the sportmods and late models were able to use the bottom side late in the program. Hopefully the track can figure out a way to attract more cars and fans as both were lacking a bit on this night.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Five IMCA sport compacts kicked off feature action with Angie Webb taking control on the first lap. That lead did not last long, however, as Justin Wacha made the pass on lap two and went on to take the win. Webb was second, Daniel Ayers third, Gary Carlson fourth, and I believe Neil Nabholz rounded out the field.
1. 45 Justin Wacha
2. 52 Angie Webb
3. 4D Daniel Ayers
4. 13 Gary Carlson
5. 0N Neil Nabholz
Thirteen IMCA hobby stocks took their turn on the tacky track, but things got off to a rocky start as Steve Brannick and Matt Ring got tangled up with Brannick plastering the outside wall hard in turn two. Both drivers were okay and retired from the race. Ryan Caquelin would hold the top spot at the completion of the first lap, but points leader Justin Ades was on the move as he climbed into the second spot after passing Sid Larson on the low side. Larson would continue to slide back as Kevin Schmauss made his way by two laps later while Ades closed in on Caquelin for the lead.
Towards the middle of the pack, Craig Graham was slowly advancing forward as he ducked low to complete a pass on Sid Larson for fourth on lap eight. Caquelin appeared to have the preferred line, but changed his lane just enough exiting turn four that opened the door for Ades to sneak by on the outside to grab the lead at the white flag. From that point on, Caquelin could never regroup as Justin Ades went home with the win. Ryan Caquelin settled for second, Kevin Schmauss third, Sid Larson fourth, and Craig Graham lost a spot at the end thanks to a flat tire to limp home in fifth.
1. 10J Justin Ades
2. 4 Ryan Caquelin
3. 52 Kevin Schmauss
4. 28 Sid Larson
5. 13G Craig Graham
6. 87z Matt Drottz
7. 5R David Rieks ?? (Chad Koch car)
8. 99 Carl Runge
9. 45K Daniel Krieger
DNF
10. 91 Robert See
11. 51N Nate Bonin
12. 58 Matt Ring
13. 51 Steve Brannick
Dave Hubbard used the outside front row starting spot to take control of the stock car feature from the onset. Most of the race saw single file racing on the top side, although Curt Hook and Mark Elliott did attempt to pass using the low groove once in awhile. Elliott would suffer a flat tire late in the race to end his hopes of winning while Hook's car got a little lose on the exit of turn four coming to the checkers to allow Scott Bloemke to get by for fifth. But the night belonged to Dave Hubbard as he kept the rest of the field behind him for fifteen laps. Adam Silvey finished second, Jeremy Ades third, Mike Weimann fourth, and Scott Bloemke fifth.
1. 5 Dave Hubbard
2. 97 Adam Silvey
3. 10 Jeremy Ades
4. 4 Mike Weimann
5. 80 Scott Bloemke
6. 75 Curt Hook
7. 31M Mark Haglund
8. 7 Jason Minnehan
9. 20 Jason Wagoner (in 26 Tony Wagoner's car)
10. R31 Ryan Leeman
DNF
11. M5 Jim Mitchell
12. 19 Reid Keller
DNS
13. 26 Tony Wagoner
Sixteen of the seventeen IMCA sportmods made their way to the track next for their main event. Pole sitter Dustin West led the first couple of laps while Rocky Caudle moved into second place with a pass on George Gilliland on the low side. The low side didn't work well for the stock cars, but the sportmods were able to run side by side throughout the race as Sutherland would also slip by Gilliland on the bottom groove. Caudle would dethrone West as the race leader on lap four as Kevin Sather put his name in the hat. Sather raced to the fourth position on lap four and quickly passed two more cars the next lap to take over the runner up spot. Kyle Brown would slide under West to take the third spot away at the halfway point as Sather quickly closed in on Caudle for the lead.
A caution bunched the field together and Sather took advantage when Caudle went low on the first corner. Sather powered his machine to the outside to take the lead away. Sather would push up a lap later in turn two, opening the door for Caudle to reclaim the top spot. Kevin Sather would continue to run on the cushion and once again motor by Caudle on the top to snare the lead back and take home the hard-earned win. Rocky Caudle finished second, Matt Lettow third, Kyle Brown fourth, and Dustin West rounded out the top five.
1. 3 Kevin Sather
2. 99 Rocky Caudle
3. 21 Matt Lettow
4. 21K Kyle Brown
5. 85 Dustin West
6. 4ord Bob Sutherland
7. 46 Matt Northrop
8. 85T Brandon Toftee
9. 40 George Gilliland
10. 27 Bryon Weyer
11. 11J Steve Johnson
12. 11 Paul Price
13. J7B Jon Braathun
DNF
14. 64 Brandon Leeman
15. 5 Mitch Frakes
16. 13c Brian Johnson
DNS
17. T69 Dan Trusty
A field of ten IMCA modifieds were set for their feature race. Mark Elliott would need to be push started before the race, so therefore he was sent to the tail of the field. Keith Pittman garnered the top spot on lap one, but Elliott had already passed half the field to move into fourth by lap two. Elliott used the slingshot move off turn two to motor by Derek Oberle, a car I believe Elliott used to drive. A caution came out on lap three, and Elliott ducked low on Greg Cox to secure the runner up spot. By lap five, Pittman would relinquish the lead to Elliott after Elliott powered by on the low side off turn four. From that point on Mark Elliott would extend his lead to more then a straight away when the checkers waved. Keith Pittman came home second, Greg Cox third, Shane Demay fourth, and Jim Hoyle rounded out the top five.
1. 12 Mark Elliott
2. 41P Keith Pittman
3. 62 Greg Cox
4. 15M Shane Demay
5. 15A Jim Hoyle
6. 98 Derek Oberle
7. 29 Scott Forbes
8. 61 Adam Barlow
DNF
9. 20 Terrance Prochaska
10. 22T Tyler Prochaska
The final event of the night would be the IMCA late model twenty-five lap main event. Veteran racer Jeff French took command of the race with Jason Hahne right in his tire tracks. Following an early caution, Ryan Griffith made a big move that propelled him past Shawn Essex and Clint Wendel to move into the third spot before another caution quickly waved. Things quickly heated up around the fifth place cars as Todd Cooney drove by Ben Nading for fourth and Darrel DeFrance got by Clint Wendel on the low side behind them. Lap eight saw Cooney dive to the inside of Griffith to claim the third spot before another caution waved.
Jason Hahne got a great jump on Jeff French to take the lead on the restart on lap eight. Darrel DeFrance slipped by Griffith on the inside a lap later to take over fourth as another yellow flag was displayed. Cooney raced to the inside of French for the runner up spot and while Griffith followed suit to third. Cooney would close the gap to Hahne while French lost two spots when DeFrance and Al Johnson zoomed past. The final caution waved with five laps to go, but Jason Hahne was able to keep Todd Cooney behind him on his way to victory lane. Cooney was second, Ryan Griffith third, Darrel DeFrance fourth, and Al Johnson rebounded nicely to fifth after being involved in the first altercation early in the race.
1. 76 Jason Hahne
2. 30 Todd Cooney
3. X Ryan Griffith
4. 99D Darrel DeFrance
5. 8 Al Johnson
6. 3T Jeff French
7. 9 Ryan Giles
8. 32 Shawn Essex
9. 29 Nick Pedersen
10. 57 Scott Badker
11. 5R Riley Larson
DNF
12. 75 Clint Wendel
13. 66 Todd Johnson
14. 21 Ben Nading
15. 45 Mike Pedersen
16. 79 Josh Omans
17. 15 Scotty Anderson
All results are unofficial as I saw them cross the line or drop out.
Races were completed just before 10pm. Despite the heavy rain Friday night and into early Saturday morning, I thought the track stayed in decent shape. There were some soft spots and the majority of the cars used the high line, but the sportmods and late models were able to use the bottom side late in the program. Hopefully the track can figure out a way to attract more cars and fans as both were lacking a bit on this night.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Three New Faces Grab Wins in Marshalltown
After the rain cut Thursday's Night of 1,000 Stars program short in Britt, my attention was then figuring out where I wanted to go Friday night. I decided to head south to Marshalltown, the closest track to home. Mother Nature tried to thwart action there as she dropped plenty of moisture on the fairgrounds, but promoter Toby Kruse and his crew were able to get the track in shape. The infield and pit area were soggy and muddy.
The night would get kicked off with a special father-son match race. Engelkes Racing was the sponsor for the night, and they had never been on the track in competition together. Robert (father) started on the outside in his stock car while Ryan (son) lined up his sportmod on the inside. They kept it close until the white flag waved, and then Ryan took off to take the win.
After seventeen heat races and a couple bmain events, the stage was set for feature action. First to hit the track would be the dwarf car/mod-lite event. Joel Huggins wasted no time in grabbing the lead from the pole before the caution flag waved early on. Mike Morrill would make his way towards the front as he found himself in fifth when that first caution waved. Two laps later he slid up to the third spot while Jason Masengarb followed him to fourth. With five laps remaining, Huggins had opened up his lead to a straight away. Tim Hennigar, Thursday night's winner in Britt, would slip past Masengarb to take fourth with three laps to go. But nobody was going to catch Joel Huggins on this night as he took home the win. Josh May was second, Mike Morrill third, Tim Hennigar fourth, and Jason Masengarb rounded out the top five. Two Colorado drivers were also in attendance on this night. Brad and Kris Bayne both traveled to Britt Thursday and made the trip to Marshalltown as well. They finished 10th and 17th Friday night.
The IMCA sportmods took their turn on the track. A field of twenty-nine cars were funneled down to twenty-four and Bryan Rodman used his outside front row start to take the early lead. After an early caution, Kyle Brown ducked low on Shawn Simatovich to take over the runner up spot. By lap four Scott Davis had advanced from his sixteenth starting spot up to sixth. Drew Fish and Luke Wanninger made contact on the front stretch and Wanninger would try to move to the inside in turn one. He drifted up in front of Fish, but Fish did not hit the brakes and spun Wanninger around. Fish would later be black flagged for his actions while Wanninger would later retire to the pits after being motioned to the tail for being stopped on the caution.
Davis was able to make his way to third before the red flag came out for Curt Hilmer. Hilmer's car caught a rut in turn one and he rolled violently several times. He would be okay. Point leader Kevin Sather had to start deep in the field after having to transfer out of the bmain. After starting 22nd, Sather sliced his way to sixth. Late in the race, Neil Follett got the jump on a restart to power by Davis on the outside to move into the third spot while Sather passed another car to crack the top five. Bryan Rodman would be the one standing in victory lane when all was said and done as he picked up his first career win. Kyle Brown was second, Neil Follett third, Scott Davis fourth, and Kevin Sather rounded out the top five.
A field of twenty-nine IMCA stock cars were narrowed down as well for their feature that saw pole sitter Tommy Thompson lead in the early going. Damon Murty charged his way up to the top five at the completion of lap three while Clay Deppe replaced Thompson at the front of the field. Murty made his way to third while point leader Dustin Smith was on the move into the sixth spot.
Thompson would lose the runner up spot to Murty a short time later as Smith was continuing his march to the front by also passing Thompson for the third spot. Deppe's lead began to shrink as both Murty and Smith closed in from behind. Deppe's car slipped up the track in turn two, allowing Murty and Smith to race by. Murty's time at the front would be short as Smith also made the pass for the lead with two laps to go. Deppe would exit the track a lap later as the caution came out. Murty would try to stay glued to Smith's rear bumper, but he was unable to do so as Dustin Smith captured yet another feature win. Damon Murty was second, Michael Jaennette third, Rob Schneider fourth, and Eric Flander rounded out the top five.
Twenty-one IMCA modifieds made their way to the track for their twenty-lap feature next. Tim Stevens used his pole to take the top spot, but he bobbled in turn four and lost four spots to hand the lead over to David Brown. After a restart, Brett Ladehoff challenged Brown on the inside as the two raced wheel to wheel for a couple laps before another caution was displayed. A lap after that restart, Tim Murty was able to power his machine by Ladehoff on the outside and then dart to the inside of Brown in turn three to take over the race lead.
Scott Simatovich would be the one to watch late in the race as he made the pass on Ladehoff for second and later got by Murty on the inside for the lead. As the laps were winding down, Randy Havlik would get by Jake Durbin for the fifth spot after Havlik started 18th. Up front it was Scott Simatovich grabbing his first career IMCA modified feature win. Tim Murty settled for second, Brett Ladehoff third, Scott Hogan fourth, and Randy Havlik fifth.
Clint Nelson took command of the IMCA hobby stocks as the green flag waved. Jennifer Hulin made her presence be known as she took over the runner up spot. The fifth and sixth row starters were making a convoy towards the front as they grabbed positions fifth through eighth. Those would include Michael Murphy, Todd Reitzler, Pete Hutzel, and Devin Smith. A caution came out to bunch the field up which allowed Eric Larson to drive by Hulin on the outside to take over the runner up spot. Eric Larson would improve one spot better as he made the pass for the lead later on and take home his first career win. He was followed across the line by Jennifer Hulin, Mike Vibbard, Michael Murphy, and Todd Reitzler.
The final event of the night would be the stock car king of the hill. Only five cars participated and the final would be Damon Murty against Donnie Bown. Bown's car pushed up in turn two and he called it quits as Murty would be crowned the king of the hill.
Mother Nature tried to show her head throughout the late stages of the night but was unsuccessful. The track stayed heavy all night which meant it was a little more difficult for drivers starting at the back to make their way to the front, although several were able to do so. Three first-time winners able to enjoy their moment in the sun in victory lane.
The night was also a somewhat special one for me. Friday night was my 100th race of the season already. Many will call me stupid, many will call me crazy. I just call myself a race fanatic!! If you'd like to see what races I've attended this year, you can check out my personal website at http://www.geocities.com/racefan85/index.html and click on 2009 races.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
The night would get kicked off with a special father-son match race. Engelkes Racing was the sponsor for the night, and they had never been on the track in competition together. Robert (father) started on the outside in his stock car while Ryan (son) lined up his sportmod on the inside. They kept it close until the white flag waved, and then Ryan took off to take the win.
After seventeen heat races and a couple bmain events, the stage was set for feature action. First to hit the track would be the dwarf car/mod-lite event. Joel Huggins wasted no time in grabbing the lead from the pole before the caution flag waved early on. Mike Morrill would make his way towards the front as he found himself in fifth when that first caution waved. Two laps later he slid up to the third spot while Jason Masengarb followed him to fourth. With five laps remaining, Huggins had opened up his lead to a straight away. Tim Hennigar, Thursday night's winner in Britt, would slip past Masengarb to take fourth with three laps to go. But nobody was going to catch Joel Huggins on this night as he took home the win. Josh May was second, Mike Morrill third, Tim Hennigar fourth, and Jason Masengarb rounded out the top five. Two Colorado drivers were also in attendance on this night. Brad and Kris Bayne both traveled to Britt Thursday and made the trip to Marshalltown as well. They finished 10th and 17th Friday night.
The IMCA sportmods took their turn on the track. A field of twenty-nine cars were funneled down to twenty-four and Bryan Rodman used his outside front row start to take the early lead. After an early caution, Kyle Brown ducked low on Shawn Simatovich to take over the runner up spot. By lap four Scott Davis had advanced from his sixteenth starting spot up to sixth. Drew Fish and Luke Wanninger made contact on the front stretch and Wanninger would try to move to the inside in turn one. He drifted up in front of Fish, but Fish did not hit the brakes and spun Wanninger around. Fish would later be black flagged for his actions while Wanninger would later retire to the pits after being motioned to the tail for being stopped on the caution.
Davis was able to make his way to third before the red flag came out for Curt Hilmer. Hilmer's car caught a rut in turn one and he rolled violently several times. He would be okay. Point leader Kevin Sather had to start deep in the field after having to transfer out of the bmain. After starting 22nd, Sather sliced his way to sixth. Late in the race, Neil Follett got the jump on a restart to power by Davis on the outside to move into the third spot while Sather passed another car to crack the top five. Bryan Rodman would be the one standing in victory lane when all was said and done as he picked up his first career win. Kyle Brown was second, Neil Follett third, Scott Davis fourth, and Kevin Sather rounded out the top five.
A field of twenty-nine IMCA stock cars were narrowed down as well for their feature that saw pole sitter Tommy Thompson lead in the early going. Damon Murty charged his way up to the top five at the completion of lap three while Clay Deppe replaced Thompson at the front of the field. Murty made his way to third while point leader Dustin Smith was on the move into the sixth spot.
Thompson would lose the runner up spot to Murty a short time later as Smith was continuing his march to the front by also passing Thompson for the third spot. Deppe's lead began to shrink as both Murty and Smith closed in from behind. Deppe's car slipped up the track in turn two, allowing Murty and Smith to race by. Murty's time at the front would be short as Smith also made the pass for the lead with two laps to go. Deppe would exit the track a lap later as the caution came out. Murty would try to stay glued to Smith's rear bumper, but he was unable to do so as Dustin Smith captured yet another feature win. Damon Murty was second, Michael Jaennette third, Rob Schneider fourth, and Eric Flander rounded out the top five.
Twenty-one IMCA modifieds made their way to the track for their twenty-lap feature next. Tim Stevens used his pole to take the top spot, but he bobbled in turn four and lost four spots to hand the lead over to David Brown. After a restart, Brett Ladehoff challenged Brown on the inside as the two raced wheel to wheel for a couple laps before another caution was displayed. A lap after that restart, Tim Murty was able to power his machine by Ladehoff on the outside and then dart to the inside of Brown in turn three to take over the race lead.
Scott Simatovich would be the one to watch late in the race as he made the pass on Ladehoff for second and later got by Murty on the inside for the lead. As the laps were winding down, Randy Havlik would get by Jake Durbin for the fifth spot after Havlik started 18th. Up front it was Scott Simatovich grabbing his first career IMCA modified feature win. Tim Murty settled for second, Brett Ladehoff third, Scott Hogan fourth, and Randy Havlik fifth.
Clint Nelson took command of the IMCA hobby stocks as the green flag waved. Jennifer Hulin made her presence be known as she took over the runner up spot. The fifth and sixth row starters were making a convoy towards the front as they grabbed positions fifth through eighth. Those would include Michael Murphy, Todd Reitzler, Pete Hutzel, and Devin Smith. A caution came out to bunch the field up which allowed Eric Larson to drive by Hulin on the outside to take over the runner up spot. Eric Larson would improve one spot better as he made the pass for the lead later on and take home his first career win. He was followed across the line by Jennifer Hulin, Mike Vibbard, Michael Murphy, and Todd Reitzler.
The final event of the night would be the stock car king of the hill. Only five cars participated and the final would be Damon Murty against Donnie Bown. Bown's car pushed up in turn two and he called it quits as Murty would be crowned the king of the hill.
Mother Nature tried to show her head throughout the late stages of the night but was unsuccessful. The track stayed heavy all night which meant it was a little more difficult for drivers starting at the back to make their way to the front, although several were able to do so. Three first-time winners able to enjoy their moment in the sun in victory lane.
The night was also a somewhat special one for me. Friday night was my 100th race of the season already. Many will call me stupid, many will call me crazy. I just call myself a race fanatic!! If you'd like to see what races I've attended this year, you can check out my personal website at http://www.geocities.com/racefan85/index.html and click on 2009 races.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Hejna Notches Sixth USMTS Win of Season at Oskaloosa
The Casey's General Store United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) made another visit to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night, August 5th. Thirty-two cars were on hand in hopes of taking home the win as the "regular season" winds down before the Hunt begins next week. Also on hand would be the USRA stock cars, USRA bmods, and USRA hobby stocks.
The evening was also a little extra special for the fans as NASCAR personalities Kenny Wallace was on hand to race and Michael Waltrip was there watching. Both were gracious enough to take time to sign autographs before the races as well. Waltrip would later throw the green flag to start the USMTS feature.
Before that could happen, the other three classes of competition would run their features. A great field of nineteen bmods took the green flag and Carter VanDenBerg would get the jump from the pole to snare the early lead. Cayden Carter would move up to the third spot on lap two while Andrew Schroeder was on a mission to sneak up to fourth on the bottom side by lap three. A caution came out on lap six, and Schroeder was on the gas on the restart as he powered his machine to second. Track point leader Tyler Groenendyk also had a great restart as he manuevered his way from seventh to the runner up spot on the next circuit. Schroeder and Groenendyk raced side by side for the lead until another caution flag waved. Groenendyk made the pass for the lead on the cushion, but his night would come to an end as he slowed down the backstretch and pulled in to the pits. Two more cautions would wave allowing Mike Shelton to advance his way to the runner up spot, but on the final lap Carter VanDenBerg would sneak by on the outside at the line to take it away. But the night belong to Andrew Schroeder as he took home the win. Perhaps just as special to him was having Michael Waltrip being in victory lane photos with him. Carter VanDenBerg was second, Mike Shelton third, Bryon Weyer fourth, and Cayden Carter rounded out the top five. Schroeder started ninth on the grid.
Next up would be the USRA stock car fifteen lap feature that saw Shane Weller take the top spot from the drop of the green flag. Matt Greiner made his way to fourth after starting eighth, but most of the cars would utilizing the top side which provided minimal passing throughout the race. Greiner would get by Mike VanGenderen with two laps remaining to take over the second spot, but he couldn't catch Shane Weller on his way to the checkered flag. Again Michael Waltrip would join Weller in victory lane. Matt Greiner finished second, Mike VanGenderen third, Nathan Wood fourth, and Chase Mitrisin in fifth.
Fifteen USRA hobby stocks were now ready to rumble for fifteen laps that saw Danny Thrasher take command early from the pole. Nathan Wood, who started twelfth, quickly made his way to fifth by the completion of lap four and three laps later made the bottom side work to get by Andrew Hustead for third. Hustead would lose another spot to Kris Walker on the next circuit while Hustead and Jimmy Hayes battled it out behind him. Those two raced side by side for a couple laps before Hustead was able to secure the spot. Wood would close in on Dustin Griffiths for the second spot late in the race, but was unable to make the pass. Danny Thrasher would take the flag-to-flag win followed by Dustin Griffiths, Nathan Wood, Kris Walker, and Andrew Hustead.
Sixteen year old Chase Junghans and local favorite Zach VanderBeek found themselves on the front row of the thirty-lap USMTS feature event. Junghans would race to the lead and stay there for three laps until the caution came out. Before the caution waved Ryan Gustin had already passed four cars to move up to the third spot. VanderBeek ducked low on Junghans in turn one on the restart to snare the lead away as the yellow flag was displayed once again. Kelly Shryock would use the top side to get by Junghans for the runner up spot while Al Hejna used the low groove to slide up to third. Shryock power by VanderBeek on the top side on lap six. Behind them Gustin would get back by Hejna for third while deeper in the pack, Jon Tesch and Tommy Myer would making strides towards the front as both transferred out of the first of two bmains earlier. After starting fifteenth and seventeenth, respectively, both drivers were solidly in the top ten at the completion of lap ten.
VanderBeek was determined to run the low groove and closed up to run side by side with Shryock for the lead, but they would also have to contend with Ryan Gustin as the youngster closed in on their rear bumpers. Gustin would follow Shryock on the top side and get by VanderBeek while Hejna was reeling in all four drivers. Tommy Myer was patiently making his way forward as he advanced to the sixth spot, but all eyes were on the front several cars as Hejna got by VanderBeek for third. As the laps clicked away, Gustin would take the lead from Shryock in turn two with ten laps to go. Later Hejna would scoot by Shryock to snag the second spot while Myer climbed into the top five.
A caution with four laps to go bunched the field up with Gustin leading the pack on the restart. That didn't last long as Hejna powered his machine to the middle of turns one and two and drove to the lead. Another quick caution came out with three to go, and Tommy Myer used that restart to power his way to second. He didn't have enough time to track down the leader as Al Hejna motored his way to victory lane for the sixth time this season. Tommy Myer was second, Kelly Shryock third, Zach VanderBeek fourth, and Colt Mather fifth. Gustin slipped back to seventh at the finish.
The modified feature was one of the best ones I've seen this year. Four or five cars all within striking distance for the lead is something rarely seen, and when all the cars takes turns with the lead, you know you're watching something special.
The Southern Iowa Speedway will take next Wednesday off due to the Knoxville Nationals running next week. The USMTS travels to Knoxville, Illinois tonight for their annual visit to that facility. Thanks to Todd Staley and his family/staff for the hospitality. For complete results, check out 4dfan's blog also found here at www.positivelyracing.com or you can also check out the track website at www.rlpromotions.com/oskaloosa.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
The evening was also a little extra special for the fans as NASCAR personalities Kenny Wallace was on hand to race and Michael Waltrip was there watching. Both were gracious enough to take time to sign autographs before the races as well. Waltrip would later throw the green flag to start the USMTS feature.
Before that could happen, the other three classes of competition would run their features. A great field of nineteen bmods took the green flag and Carter VanDenBerg would get the jump from the pole to snare the early lead. Cayden Carter would move up to the third spot on lap two while Andrew Schroeder was on a mission to sneak up to fourth on the bottom side by lap three. A caution came out on lap six, and Schroeder was on the gas on the restart as he powered his machine to second. Track point leader Tyler Groenendyk also had a great restart as he manuevered his way from seventh to the runner up spot on the next circuit. Schroeder and Groenendyk raced side by side for the lead until another caution flag waved. Groenendyk made the pass for the lead on the cushion, but his night would come to an end as he slowed down the backstretch and pulled in to the pits. Two more cautions would wave allowing Mike Shelton to advance his way to the runner up spot, but on the final lap Carter VanDenBerg would sneak by on the outside at the line to take it away. But the night belong to Andrew Schroeder as he took home the win. Perhaps just as special to him was having Michael Waltrip being in victory lane photos with him. Carter VanDenBerg was second, Mike Shelton third, Bryon Weyer fourth, and Cayden Carter rounded out the top five. Schroeder started ninth on the grid.
Next up would be the USRA stock car fifteen lap feature that saw Shane Weller take the top spot from the drop of the green flag. Matt Greiner made his way to fourth after starting eighth, but most of the cars would utilizing the top side which provided minimal passing throughout the race. Greiner would get by Mike VanGenderen with two laps remaining to take over the second spot, but he couldn't catch Shane Weller on his way to the checkered flag. Again Michael Waltrip would join Weller in victory lane. Matt Greiner finished second, Mike VanGenderen third, Nathan Wood fourth, and Chase Mitrisin in fifth.
Fifteen USRA hobby stocks were now ready to rumble for fifteen laps that saw Danny Thrasher take command early from the pole. Nathan Wood, who started twelfth, quickly made his way to fifth by the completion of lap four and three laps later made the bottom side work to get by Andrew Hustead for third. Hustead would lose another spot to Kris Walker on the next circuit while Hustead and Jimmy Hayes battled it out behind him. Those two raced side by side for a couple laps before Hustead was able to secure the spot. Wood would close in on Dustin Griffiths for the second spot late in the race, but was unable to make the pass. Danny Thrasher would take the flag-to-flag win followed by Dustin Griffiths, Nathan Wood, Kris Walker, and Andrew Hustead.
Sixteen year old Chase Junghans and local favorite Zach VanderBeek found themselves on the front row of the thirty-lap USMTS feature event. Junghans would race to the lead and stay there for three laps until the caution came out. Before the caution waved Ryan Gustin had already passed four cars to move up to the third spot. VanderBeek ducked low on Junghans in turn one on the restart to snare the lead away as the yellow flag was displayed once again. Kelly Shryock would use the top side to get by Junghans for the runner up spot while Al Hejna used the low groove to slide up to third. Shryock power by VanderBeek on the top side on lap six. Behind them Gustin would get back by Hejna for third while deeper in the pack, Jon Tesch and Tommy Myer would making strides towards the front as both transferred out of the first of two bmains earlier. After starting fifteenth and seventeenth, respectively, both drivers were solidly in the top ten at the completion of lap ten.
VanderBeek was determined to run the low groove and closed up to run side by side with Shryock for the lead, but they would also have to contend with Ryan Gustin as the youngster closed in on their rear bumpers. Gustin would follow Shryock on the top side and get by VanderBeek while Hejna was reeling in all four drivers. Tommy Myer was patiently making his way forward as he advanced to the sixth spot, but all eyes were on the front several cars as Hejna got by VanderBeek for third. As the laps clicked away, Gustin would take the lead from Shryock in turn two with ten laps to go. Later Hejna would scoot by Shryock to snag the second spot while Myer climbed into the top five.
A caution with four laps to go bunched the field up with Gustin leading the pack on the restart. That didn't last long as Hejna powered his machine to the middle of turns one and two and drove to the lead. Another quick caution came out with three to go, and Tommy Myer used that restart to power his way to second. He didn't have enough time to track down the leader as Al Hejna motored his way to victory lane for the sixth time this season. Tommy Myer was second, Kelly Shryock third, Zach VanderBeek fourth, and Colt Mather fifth. Gustin slipped back to seventh at the finish.
The modified feature was one of the best ones I've seen this year. Four or five cars all within striking distance for the lead is something rarely seen, and when all the cars takes turns with the lead, you know you're watching something special.
The Southern Iowa Speedway will take next Wednesday off due to the Knoxville Nationals running next week. The USMTS travels to Knoxville, Illinois tonight for their annual visit to that facility. Thanks to Todd Staley and his family/staff for the hospitality. For complete results, check out 4dfan's blog also found here at www.positivelyracing.com or you can also check out the track website at www.rlpromotions.com/oskaloosa.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A-Train Derails Competition In Cresco
The United States Modified Touring Series made it's second stop of the season at the Cresco Speedway on Tuesday, August 4. Last night would also see the weekly classes of competition on hand as well as NASCAR personalities Kenny Wallace and Michael Waltrip. Wallace would race throughout the night while Waltrip got behind the wheel of Layne Meyer's car for a special dash race with Wallace and USMTS regular Kelly Shryock before the show started. Of course time was also taken for fans to get autographs from the two.
The first feature to take to the track after track prep would be the USRA hobby stocks. Seventeen cars were set to race fifteen laps in which Chris Hovden bolted out to the lead from the pole. Two early yellows kept the field close, but things got spread out after that as every car was running the preferred low groove. The track appeared to be a little slimy yet at that point, but Chris Hovden held Brandon Hare behind him throughout the race to take home the win. Brandon Hare finished a close second, Dan Hovden third, Mitch Hovden fourth (driving Steve Holthaus' car), and Dan Sacquitne rounded out the top five. The track announcer stated that Holthaus is recovering from a shoulder injury. Hopefully that's nothing too serious and he'll return to the track in the near future.
1. 70 Chris Hovden
2. 56H Brandon Hare
3. 16 Dan Hovden
4. 70H Mitch Hovden
5. 18 Scott Spilde
6. 18 Scott Spilde
7. 98 Kyle Anderson
8. 9 Mark Lewis
9. 71 Adam Cline
10. 5K Keith Schwartzhoff
11. 01 Kory Adams
12. 24 Randy Banks
13. 7K Andy Stinson
14. 62 Sergey Zhiganov
15. 101 Bernie Adams
16. 88 Robert Anderson
17. 17x Bruce Gerlemen
18. 34 Chris Dahl
In a rare change of events, the USMTS modified feature would be run next. Al Hejna and Kelly Shryock were the lucky recipients of the redraw as they paced the field to Michael Waltrip's green flag. Hejna would get the early advantage using the low groove. Zach VanderBeek started seventh on the grid, but worked under Ryan Gustin to make his way to the fourth spot. The field spread out and primarily used the bottom side of the speedway. Some of the cars at the back began to use the top side as Hejna closed in on their rear bumpers.
Hejna was able to use both lanes of racing to maneuver his way through the slower cars to maintain his six car-length advantage. Ryan Gustin used the lapped traffic to sneak under both Zach VanderBeek and Jason Krohn to slide into the third spot. Gustin, Monday night's winner in Fort Dodge, had too much ground to make up by that time. Shryock appeared to close the gap a little late in the race, but Al Hejna would take home the caution-free win. Kelly Shryock was second, Ryan Gustin third, Jason Krohn fourth, and Zach VanderBeek completed the top five. As mentioned, the race was run without a caution for 40 laps! The PA system went out at the start of the race as they were playing "God Bless the USA", a tradition at USMTS races. Officials got it fixed during the bmod feature.
1. 7 Al Hejna
2. 3 Kelly Shryock
3. 19R Ryan Gustin
4. 7K Jason Krohn
5. 33z Zach VanderBeek
6. 3D Tim Donlinger
7. 4R Dereck Ramirez
8. 90 Steve Wetstein
9. 65 Tommy Myer
10. 14 Jon Tesch
11. 18 Michael Long
12. 49 Bob Timm
13. 5w Darrin Walch
14. 29D Brad Diercks
15. 36 Kenny Wallace
16. 66 Dan Bohr
17. 27M Mark Schulte
18. 35 Jeff Schluetter
19. 2 Grant Junghans
20. 18 Chase Junghans
21. 55 Brian Shaw
22. 27s Jason Schlangen
23. 72 Doug Hillson
24. 12H Mike Hansen - DNS
The USRA bmods hit the track next for their feature. Seventeen cars took the green flag that saw Eric Verthein race to the lead again from the pole. Thus far all pole sitters were victorious in their respective races, so Verthein was hoping the trend would continue.
A caution came out on lap five when Brian Lund's machine spun to a stop. By that time Ben Moudry had raced his way from eleventh to the top five. Up front Jimmy Broszeit was applying pressure to Verthein, but the caution would again wave as Lund and Justin Lewis got tangled up on the inside of turn two. After another caution, 13-year old driver Tyler Droste used the outside line to make the pass to climb into the top five. Droste would advance one more spot before the checkers waved as he passed Matt Jones on the outside. Eric Verthein would hold on to take the win followed by Jimmy Broszeit, Shane Panos, Tyler Droste, and Matt Jones.
1. 16 Eric Verthein
2. 88x Jimmy Broszeit
3. 58 Shane Panos
4. 92 Tyler Drose
5. 23 Matt Jones
6. 7 Brian Freilinger
7. 14 Brian Schrage
8. 14M Brain Mahlstadt
9. 18J Mike Jaeger
10. 32 Dan Felthus
11. 19 Brandon Hare
12. 12B Paul Brandenburg
13. 44 Justin Lewis
14. 95 Josh Gesell
15. 82 Chris Fretheim
16. 85 Ben Moudry
17. 44L Brian Lund
The final event of the night would be the USRA stock cars. Kurt Krauskopf jumped out front early on from outside the front row, but the pace slowed early as Shawn Peter drove in a little too hard and made contact with Kyle Falck. A couple other cars got collected as well, but most of them were able to continue. Tom Schmitt drove his car to the outside and was passing for the fourth spot before the yellow waved again.
Schmitt would work the inside on the restart and make his way to third while Kyle Falck was making up ground from the tail on the top side as he made his way back into the top ten. Shortly thereafter, Schmitt would coast to a stop on the exit of turn four to end his night. Tory Reicks made the pass on Krauskopf on the restart, but all eyes were focused on Brian Gjere as he set sail on the cushion. Gjere drove from fifth to second in a matter of two laps and quickly closed in on Reicks until the red flag came out when Kevin Bidne's car got sideways, caught a rut, and over he went. Bidne would be okay, and that would set up a three-lap sprint to the checkers. A rare single file restart was used, but Gjere was unable to get his momentum back as Tory Reicks took home the win. Brian Gjere was second, Kevin Donlan third, Shawn Peter fourth, and Jake Ludeking rounded out the top five. Ironically Reicks, Gjere, and Donlan finished that way in the first stock car heat race.
1. 27T Tory Reicks
2. 23 Brian Gjere
3. 33 Kevin Donlan
4. 27 Shawn Peter
5. 69 Jake Ludeking
6. 20E Emery Fretheim
7. 67 Kyle Falck
8. 42 Dan Christopher
9. 37 Loren Kuennen
10. 121G Arlen Hoy
11. 97 Lynn Panos
12. 11 Jake Lampert
13. 60 Kurt Krauskopf
14. 48 Casey Sebastian
15. 62 Kevin Bidne
16. 18 Tom Schmitt
17. 83 Rod Rema
18. 40 Austin Curtin
19. 5 Mike Bergan
20. 11x Shay Curtin
Races were completed at 11:10pm, a little lengthy for a Tuesday night. Perhaps that's why the USMTS was run earlier in the program. The grandstand was jam-packed with fans as they came out to not only see the races, but Wallace and Waltrip. It was announced that the only other race to be held at Cresco would be the IMCA Deery Brothers late model race on Tuesday, August 25th.
The USMTS warriors travel south tonight to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Jason Hughes picked up the win earlier in the season while local favorite Brad Pinkerton won both races last year. After Osky, the USMTS will travel across the border to Knoxville, Illinois for that annual event. They have a day off Friday before venturing to Moberly, Missouri Saturday.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
The first feature to take to the track after track prep would be the USRA hobby stocks. Seventeen cars were set to race fifteen laps in which Chris Hovden bolted out to the lead from the pole. Two early yellows kept the field close, but things got spread out after that as every car was running the preferred low groove. The track appeared to be a little slimy yet at that point, but Chris Hovden held Brandon Hare behind him throughout the race to take home the win. Brandon Hare finished a close second, Dan Hovden third, Mitch Hovden fourth (driving Steve Holthaus' car), and Dan Sacquitne rounded out the top five. The track announcer stated that Holthaus is recovering from a shoulder injury. Hopefully that's nothing too serious and he'll return to the track in the near future.
1. 70 Chris Hovden
2. 56H Brandon Hare
3. 16 Dan Hovden
4. 70H Mitch Hovden
5. 18 Scott Spilde
6. 18 Scott Spilde
7. 98 Kyle Anderson
8. 9 Mark Lewis
9. 71 Adam Cline
10. 5K Keith Schwartzhoff
11. 01 Kory Adams
12. 24 Randy Banks
13. 7K Andy Stinson
14. 62 Sergey Zhiganov
15. 101 Bernie Adams
16. 88 Robert Anderson
17. 17x Bruce Gerlemen
18. 34 Chris Dahl
In a rare change of events, the USMTS modified feature would be run next. Al Hejna and Kelly Shryock were the lucky recipients of the redraw as they paced the field to Michael Waltrip's green flag. Hejna would get the early advantage using the low groove. Zach VanderBeek started seventh on the grid, but worked under Ryan Gustin to make his way to the fourth spot. The field spread out and primarily used the bottom side of the speedway. Some of the cars at the back began to use the top side as Hejna closed in on their rear bumpers.
Hejna was able to use both lanes of racing to maneuver his way through the slower cars to maintain his six car-length advantage. Ryan Gustin used the lapped traffic to sneak under both Zach VanderBeek and Jason Krohn to slide into the third spot. Gustin, Monday night's winner in Fort Dodge, had too much ground to make up by that time. Shryock appeared to close the gap a little late in the race, but Al Hejna would take home the caution-free win. Kelly Shryock was second, Ryan Gustin third, Jason Krohn fourth, and Zach VanderBeek completed the top five. As mentioned, the race was run without a caution for 40 laps! The PA system went out at the start of the race as they were playing "God Bless the USA", a tradition at USMTS races. Officials got it fixed during the bmod feature.
1. 7 Al Hejna
2. 3 Kelly Shryock
3. 19R Ryan Gustin
4. 7K Jason Krohn
5. 33z Zach VanderBeek
6. 3D Tim Donlinger
7. 4R Dereck Ramirez
8. 90 Steve Wetstein
9. 65 Tommy Myer
10. 14 Jon Tesch
11. 18 Michael Long
12. 49 Bob Timm
13. 5w Darrin Walch
14. 29D Brad Diercks
15. 36 Kenny Wallace
16. 66 Dan Bohr
17. 27M Mark Schulte
18. 35 Jeff Schluetter
19. 2 Grant Junghans
20. 18 Chase Junghans
21. 55 Brian Shaw
22. 27s Jason Schlangen
23. 72 Doug Hillson
24. 12H Mike Hansen - DNS
The USRA bmods hit the track next for their feature. Seventeen cars took the green flag that saw Eric Verthein race to the lead again from the pole. Thus far all pole sitters were victorious in their respective races, so Verthein was hoping the trend would continue.
A caution came out on lap five when Brian Lund's machine spun to a stop. By that time Ben Moudry had raced his way from eleventh to the top five. Up front Jimmy Broszeit was applying pressure to Verthein, but the caution would again wave as Lund and Justin Lewis got tangled up on the inside of turn two. After another caution, 13-year old driver Tyler Droste used the outside line to make the pass to climb into the top five. Droste would advance one more spot before the checkers waved as he passed Matt Jones on the outside. Eric Verthein would hold on to take the win followed by Jimmy Broszeit, Shane Panos, Tyler Droste, and Matt Jones.
1. 16 Eric Verthein
2. 88x Jimmy Broszeit
3. 58 Shane Panos
4. 92 Tyler Drose
5. 23 Matt Jones
6. 7 Brian Freilinger
7. 14 Brian Schrage
8. 14M Brain Mahlstadt
9. 18J Mike Jaeger
10. 32 Dan Felthus
11. 19 Brandon Hare
12. 12B Paul Brandenburg
13. 44 Justin Lewis
14. 95 Josh Gesell
15. 82 Chris Fretheim
16. 85 Ben Moudry
17. 44L Brian Lund
The final event of the night would be the USRA stock cars. Kurt Krauskopf jumped out front early on from outside the front row, but the pace slowed early as Shawn Peter drove in a little too hard and made contact with Kyle Falck. A couple other cars got collected as well, but most of them were able to continue. Tom Schmitt drove his car to the outside and was passing for the fourth spot before the yellow waved again.
Schmitt would work the inside on the restart and make his way to third while Kyle Falck was making up ground from the tail on the top side as he made his way back into the top ten. Shortly thereafter, Schmitt would coast to a stop on the exit of turn four to end his night. Tory Reicks made the pass on Krauskopf on the restart, but all eyes were focused on Brian Gjere as he set sail on the cushion. Gjere drove from fifth to second in a matter of two laps and quickly closed in on Reicks until the red flag came out when Kevin Bidne's car got sideways, caught a rut, and over he went. Bidne would be okay, and that would set up a three-lap sprint to the checkers. A rare single file restart was used, but Gjere was unable to get his momentum back as Tory Reicks took home the win. Brian Gjere was second, Kevin Donlan third, Shawn Peter fourth, and Jake Ludeking rounded out the top five. Ironically Reicks, Gjere, and Donlan finished that way in the first stock car heat race.
1. 27T Tory Reicks
2. 23 Brian Gjere
3. 33 Kevin Donlan
4. 27 Shawn Peter
5. 69 Jake Ludeking
6. 20E Emery Fretheim
7. 67 Kyle Falck
8. 42 Dan Christopher
9. 37 Loren Kuennen
10. 121G Arlen Hoy
11. 97 Lynn Panos
12. 11 Jake Lampert
13. 60 Kurt Krauskopf
14. 48 Casey Sebastian
15. 62 Kevin Bidne
16. 18 Tom Schmitt
17. 83 Rod Rema
18. 40 Austin Curtin
19. 5 Mike Bergan
20. 11x Shay Curtin
Races were completed at 11:10pm, a little lengthy for a Tuesday night. Perhaps that's why the USMTS was run earlier in the program. The grandstand was jam-packed with fans as they came out to not only see the races, but Wallace and Waltrip. It was announced that the only other race to be held at Cresco would be the IMCA Deery Brothers late model race on Tuesday, August 25th.
The USMTS warriors travel south tonight to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Jason Hughes picked up the win earlier in the season while local favorite Brad Pinkerton won both races last year. After Osky, the USMTS will travel across the border to Knoxville, Illinois for that annual event. They have a day off Friday before venturing to Moberly, Missouri Saturday.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Fort Dodge USMTS Checkers to Gustin
August 3rd saw me travel to the Mineral City Speedway as they hosted a USMTS event. This event was postponed from an earlier date in which Kenny Wallace was scheduled to be on hand. Wallace was scheduled to be on hand last night, but due to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race being postponed from Sunday to Monday he was unable to attend. Nevertheless, the racing would go on without him and prove to be a good race even with a disappointing twenty-three car field. Also racing last night were the stock cars and bmods.
Twenty laps would be the distance for the bmods as they took to the track first. Mike Pruitt jumped out front, but a caution quickly slowed the pace on lap two. That turned out to be the only caution of the race. On the restart Matt Lettow moved into the top five while a lap later Scott Davis found his way to ninth after starting sixteenth. Davis would only be able to gain one more position the rest of the race. Up front Jim Lampe used the high side to make the pass on Pruitt for the lead and then started to pull away. Lettow would work his way by Tim Wilcox to take over the fourth spot while Bryon Weyer got by Pruitt to claim the runner up spot. Lettow would later give up his spot as something broke in the left front suspension. Jim Lampe would suffer the same luck, but his misfortune turned out not to be as costly as he was able to limp his machine around the final lap and take home the win. Bryon Weyer, Mike Pruitt, Tim Wilcox, and Scott Forbes rounded out the top five.
1. 22 Jim Lampe
2. 27 Bryon Weyer
3. 92 Mike Pruitt
4. 7w Tim Wilcox
5. 29 Scott Forbes
6. 21 Matt Lettow
7. 64 Brandon Leeman
8. 81D Scott Davis
9. 20G Mike Grantham
10. 4ord Bob Sutherland
11. 12 Doug Smith
12. 99 Mark Elliott
13. 46 Matt Northrop
14. 20x Luke Wanninger
15. 20 Chad Louk
16. 40 George Gilliland
17. 47 Rodney Slagle
18. 52 Brian Kosiski
19. 321 Andy Tiernan
20. 36 Matt Pittman
21. 63 Daniel Tasler
22. 53 Tim Hanson
23. 59 Eric Puhrmann
24. 57 Doug Bartles
25. 8 Bill Hoover
Stock cars were next up for their twenty lap finale. Jeff Deal took command from the start. Matt Fox was working the low side in the early laps and got freight-trained by four cars on the top side. Deal's night would end early as his motor expired on lap four to bring out the caution. That handed the reigns over to Randy Biederman. Mitchell Griffith took his machine to the bottom side and made it work in a patient manner. He would advance to the third spot and later the runner up spot while further back Mike Jergens had worked his way up to the top five after starting eleventh. Jergens' luck would falter as he had a right rear tire go flat and forced him to the pits. He was able to get it changed and make it back out. Griffith ducked to the inside of Biederman to grab the top spot, but that was short-lived as he and Jason Minnehan got tangled up in turn one that ended both of their nights. Jim Mitchell would inherit the race lead, but Matt Fox would claim the top spot from him as Rod Richards followed him to second. Fox would take home the win followed by Richards, Jim Mitchell, Mike Jergens, and Wayne Crimmins.
1. M2 Matt Fox
2. 23HR Rod Richards
3. M5 Jim Mitchell
4. 37 Mike Jergens
5. 35 Wayne Crimmins
6. R31 Ryan Leeman
7. 43 Calvin Lange
8. z28 Jeff Zehr
9. 24B Randy Biederman
10. 57 Mitchell Griffith
11. 7 Jason Minnehan
12. 57v Mike VanGenderen
13. 32JR Laura Curry
14. 15 Jeremy Crimmins
15. 22 Jeff Deal
The USMTS feature would be the final event of the night as the modifieds were ready for their thirty-lap event. Ryan Dolan raced to the lead from his second starting spot, but the action would get slowed down on lap five when Jon Tesch and Tommy Myer got together and went over the banking in turn one. Tesch would not be able to return. Al Hejna, who started tenth, would take to the high side and make the pass on Zach VanderBeek to take over the fourth spot. Corey Dripps, running second at the time, would drift up in turn two which allowed Kelly Shryock to scoot by under him. That set up a three- car battle for third as Dripps would receive heavy pressure from Hejna and VanderBeek. While that was happening, Shryock appeared to be reeling in Dolan for the lead.
Hejna would get the better end of the three-way battle for the time being, but VanderBeek would get passed by youngster Ryan Gustin. Gustin didn't stay in fourth spot very long as he swung to the inside in turn three and passed both Dripps and Hejna to move into the third spot. VanderBeek would use the low groove to get by Dripps while Gustin caught Shryock. Gustin tried to sneak by on the bottom side, but Shryock used the momentum off the cushion to remain ahead of him. Shryock would take the low side away on the following lap, but Gustin was able to get by on the top side and quickly set his sights on Dolan. Gustin went back to the bottom to make the winning pass, but a caution came out with two laps to go. Shryock used the restart to get by Dolan, but VanderBeek was able to get by both drivers as the checkers waved. But the night belonged to Ryan Gustin as he bagged the $2,000 top prize. Zach VanderBeek was second, Kelly Shryock third, and Al Hejna edged out Ryan Dolan for the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
1. 19R Ryan Gustin
2. 33z Zach VanderBeek
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 7 Al Hejna
5. 7 Ryan Dolan
6. 1K Pat Graham
7. 4R Dereck Ramirez
8. 31 Corey Dripps
9. 21M Dean Mahlstedt
10. 65 Tommy Myer
11. 35 Jeff Schluetter
12. 4R Ron VerBeek
13. 73 Brad Moriarty
14. 85D Mark Dotson
15. 12H Mike Hansen
16. z3 Mike Albertson
17. 2 Grant Junghans
18. 12 Mark Elliott
19. 42 Jeff Nielson
20. 35 Bill Crimmins
21. 14 Jon Tesch
22. 18 Chase Junghans - DNS
23. 8 Colt Mather - DNS
The racing was some of the best I've seen at Fort Dodge. The bmods only had one yellow and ran through at a quick pace. The stock cars had some troubles, but they were able to widen the groove out for the USMTS feature. Hats off to the track crew at Mineral City Speedway for their efforts and great track last night!
The Mineral City Speedway will be back in action Friday night as they will have kids' night. The USMTS heads east as they invade the Cresco Speedway tonight. NASCAR personalities Kenny Wallace and Michael Waltrip are also slated to be in action in Cresco.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
Twenty laps would be the distance for the bmods as they took to the track first. Mike Pruitt jumped out front, but a caution quickly slowed the pace on lap two. That turned out to be the only caution of the race. On the restart Matt Lettow moved into the top five while a lap later Scott Davis found his way to ninth after starting sixteenth. Davis would only be able to gain one more position the rest of the race. Up front Jim Lampe used the high side to make the pass on Pruitt for the lead and then started to pull away. Lettow would work his way by Tim Wilcox to take over the fourth spot while Bryon Weyer got by Pruitt to claim the runner up spot. Lettow would later give up his spot as something broke in the left front suspension. Jim Lampe would suffer the same luck, but his misfortune turned out not to be as costly as he was able to limp his machine around the final lap and take home the win. Bryon Weyer, Mike Pruitt, Tim Wilcox, and Scott Forbes rounded out the top five.
1. 22 Jim Lampe
2. 27 Bryon Weyer
3. 92 Mike Pruitt
4. 7w Tim Wilcox
5. 29 Scott Forbes
6. 21 Matt Lettow
7. 64 Brandon Leeman
8. 81D Scott Davis
9. 20G Mike Grantham
10. 4ord Bob Sutherland
11. 12 Doug Smith
12. 99 Mark Elliott
13. 46 Matt Northrop
14. 20x Luke Wanninger
15. 20 Chad Louk
16. 40 George Gilliland
17. 47 Rodney Slagle
18. 52 Brian Kosiski
19. 321 Andy Tiernan
20. 36 Matt Pittman
21. 63 Daniel Tasler
22. 53 Tim Hanson
23. 59 Eric Puhrmann
24. 57 Doug Bartles
25. 8 Bill Hoover
Stock cars were next up for their twenty lap finale. Jeff Deal took command from the start. Matt Fox was working the low side in the early laps and got freight-trained by four cars on the top side. Deal's night would end early as his motor expired on lap four to bring out the caution. That handed the reigns over to Randy Biederman. Mitchell Griffith took his machine to the bottom side and made it work in a patient manner. He would advance to the third spot and later the runner up spot while further back Mike Jergens had worked his way up to the top five after starting eleventh. Jergens' luck would falter as he had a right rear tire go flat and forced him to the pits. He was able to get it changed and make it back out. Griffith ducked to the inside of Biederman to grab the top spot, but that was short-lived as he and Jason Minnehan got tangled up in turn one that ended both of their nights. Jim Mitchell would inherit the race lead, but Matt Fox would claim the top spot from him as Rod Richards followed him to second. Fox would take home the win followed by Richards, Jim Mitchell, Mike Jergens, and Wayne Crimmins.
1. M2 Matt Fox
2. 23HR Rod Richards
3. M5 Jim Mitchell
4. 37 Mike Jergens
5. 35 Wayne Crimmins
6. R31 Ryan Leeman
7. 43 Calvin Lange
8. z28 Jeff Zehr
9. 24B Randy Biederman
10. 57 Mitchell Griffith
11. 7 Jason Minnehan
12. 57v Mike VanGenderen
13. 32JR Laura Curry
14. 15 Jeremy Crimmins
15. 22 Jeff Deal
The USMTS feature would be the final event of the night as the modifieds were ready for their thirty-lap event. Ryan Dolan raced to the lead from his second starting spot, but the action would get slowed down on lap five when Jon Tesch and Tommy Myer got together and went over the banking in turn one. Tesch would not be able to return. Al Hejna, who started tenth, would take to the high side and make the pass on Zach VanderBeek to take over the fourth spot. Corey Dripps, running second at the time, would drift up in turn two which allowed Kelly Shryock to scoot by under him. That set up a three- car battle for third as Dripps would receive heavy pressure from Hejna and VanderBeek. While that was happening, Shryock appeared to be reeling in Dolan for the lead.
Hejna would get the better end of the three-way battle for the time being, but VanderBeek would get passed by youngster Ryan Gustin. Gustin didn't stay in fourth spot very long as he swung to the inside in turn three and passed both Dripps and Hejna to move into the third spot. VanderBeek would use the low groove to get by Dripps while Gustin caught Shryock. Gustin tried to sneak by on the bottom side, but Shryock used the momentum off the cushion to remain ahead of him. Shryock would take the low side away on the following lap, but Gustin was able to get by on the top side and quickly set his sights on Dolan. Gustin went back to the bottom to make the winning pass, but a caution came out with two laps to go. Shryock used the restart to get by Dolan, but VanderBeek was able to get by both drivers as the checkers waved. But the night belonged to Ryan Gustin as he bagged the $2,000 top prize. Zach VanderBeek was second, Kelly Shryock third, and Al Hejna edged out Ryan Dolan for the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
1. 19R Ryan Gustin
2. 33z Zach VanderBeek
3. 3 Kelly Shryock
4. 7 Al Hejna
5. 7 Ryan Dolan
6. 1K Pat Graham
7. 4R Dereck Ramirez
8. 31 Corey Dripps
9. 21M Dean Mahlstedt
10. 65 Tommy Myer
11. 35 Jeff Schluetter
12. 4R Ron VerBeek
13. 73 Brad Moriarty
14. 85D Mark Dotson
15. 12H Mike Hansen
16. z3 Mike Albertson
17. 2 Grant Junghans
18. 12 Mark Elliott
19. 42 Jeff Nielson
20. 35 Bill Crimmins
21. 14 Jon Tesch
22. 18 Chase Junghans - DNS
23. 8 Colt Mather - DNS
The racing was some of the best I've seen at Fort Dodge. The bmods only had one yellow and ran through at a quick pace. The stock cars had some troubles, but they were able to widen the groove out for the USMTS feature. Hats off to the track crew at Mineral City Speedway for their efforts and great track last night!
The Mineral City Speedway will be back in action Friday night as they will have kids' night. The USMTS heads east as they invade the Cresco Speedway tonight. NASCAR personalities Kenny Wallace and Michael Waltrip are also slated to be in action in Cresco.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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