America's Racing Vacation, also known as the Speedway Motors IMCA Supernationals, is officially over. After crowning late model champion Ray Guss Jr Monday night and sprint car champion Shannon Eriksen Tuesday night, the rest of the week saw qualifying for Saturday's main event. Friday night saw Kevin Stoa take home the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational event for the IMCA modifieds, a race that fans across the country voted for their favorite drivers for a couple months in the summer.
Saturday got kicked off in traditional fashion as a few poker games were played to determine the starting grid for the Race of Champions for each class. Two of those Race of Champions (hobby stocks and sportmods) events would be the inaugural running. Michael Murphy would take the checkered flags first in the hobby stock event while Kevin Sather kept his great season going by winning the sportmod sprint.
Dustin Smith continued his fantastic season as he took the win in the stock car Race of Champions while Jay Noteboom added his name to the list of winners for the modified Race of Champions. Both drivers have enjoyed a lot of success this season as Smith has won somewhere in the range of eleven features just at the Marshalltown Speedway alone, while Noteboom won the Dakota Classic Tour and the Harris Clash.
I believe the first main event feature of the evening was the IMCA hobby stocks. Shannon Anderson and Devin Smith set the pace as the two separated themselves from the rest of the field. Excitement was building with about ten laps remaining as the two started to trade paint in the corners. Anderson used the inside groove to nudge Smith out of his preferred groove and grab the lead. Smith built up some momentum late in the race and closed in on Anderson and tried to use the same move in turn three on the final lap, but it didn't work out for him as his car spun around. Shannon Anderson would go on to take the checkered flag and be crown the hobby stock Supernationals Champion for 2009. This race went green to checkered, but unfortunately that would be the only feature to do so.
The IMCA Northern Sportmods were up next for their finale. Kevin Sather appeared to have the dominant car early on, but he found himself involved in two wrecks throughout the event and had to retire to the pits early. The race would definitely be a battle of attrition as many other top contenders went out as well, but when the smoke cleared it was Mike Pruitt holding off Austin Kaplan at the line to take home his first Supernationals crown.
The "class too tough to tame", the IMCA stock cars, were next on the card as they lined up for their thirty-lap event. This race would find its ups and downs for a couple drivers as both Dustin Smith and Wisconsin driver Jeremy Christians found themselves at the front of the pack at one point before getting tangled up in separate caution flags. Both drivers went to the work area and worked their way back to the front before suffering the same thing. Donavon Smith and Chad Estes were up front late in the race with Estes having the slim edge at the white flag. Donavon drove deep into turn three on the bottom side and slid up into Estes as they came out of turn four and it would be Smith at the line to etch his name into the record books as only the second driver in history to win a Supernationals Championship in two different divisions. Christians and Dustin Smith made it back to third and sixth, respectively.
It would then be time for the moment most people had waited for all week, or all year for that matter. Thirty-three IMCA modifieds were introduced to the fans and driven around the 3/8-mile oval in the back of Karl Chevrolet trucks. Drivers then had their picture taken on the stage before making their way back to their cars for the start of the race.
Pole-sitter Jake Durbin took the early command of the field and continued to stretch out his lead lap after lap. After a few cautions, David Murray and others were starting to track down Durbin until Durbin spun and collected Murray. Durbin had a tire going down that caused him to spin. That put Jay Noteboom in control and he seemed to be on his way to the win. That is until he exited turn four coming to the white flag. Noteboom's car slowed down the front stretch, sending cars behind him in a frenzy to get by. The win would come down to Randy Havlik or Craig Reetz. Havlik drove into turn three deep and came away with the exciting win. Noteboom suffered a broken rearend gear.
What a way to cap off the IMCA Supernationals for 2009!! While this website is focused on promoting the positive things in racing, I must say that I saw a considerable amount of rough driving this year that wasn't penalized. I heard the same thing from several other fans. I understand that not everything can be seen from the flagstand, but it didn't appear to me that the corner workers were doing their part. Perhaps officials could think about putting two "officials" atop the VIP tower and have each of them assigned to a set of corners. While the likelihood of that happening is slim to none, it would help make the calls that were not made last week.
America's Racing Vacation saw a total of 816 race cars in action over the course of the week. That number ranks second only to the 825 race teams that ventured to Boone last year. The Northern Sportmods continue to be the fastest growing class as they set a new record with 165 in attendance this year.
Let's hope for another great week of racing next year at the IMCA Supernationals in Boone!
I'd like to take this time to thank IMCA for their hospitality all week. It was greatly appreciated!! Every IMCA official I came in contact with were friendly and helpful.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
No comments:
Post a Comment