Sunday, August 30, 2009

Mills and Jergens Repeat in Mason City

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!!

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