Growing up I used to go to the same tracks week in and week out. Nowadays, one might say I still have my "core" group of tracks. But in the event of possible weather cancellations, I find myself going where the best chance of getting a race in will happen. After attending the IMCA Deery Brothers late model race at Davenport on Friday night, I found myself in a hotel in town with hopes of traveling north to Maquoketa for another round of Deery Brothers action. However, Mother Nature did not allow for that to happen. That being said, I stopped for a bite to eat at Godfather's Pizza in Maquoketa and headed home.
Being the "obsessive fan" that I am, I started thinking about other possible tracks in which I could still attend. I came up with two: Boone or Algona. After hearing that Algona cancelled I began my journey southeast to "Iowa's Action Track", the Boone Speedway. It was announced that 135 cars were on hand for tonight's action. That seemed kinda low to me, but with today's economy I'm sure any promoter would love to see that number drive through the back gate.
The first feature on the track were the dwarf cars. Mike Kennedy would take home top honors as he beat twenty-two other competitors to the stripe. Ed Zehm (41z), Andy Hennigar (15), Jeff Stensland (20) and Randy Bryant (64) also finished in the top five.
Next up with the IMCA Sportmods. This race proved to be not only a battle of attrition, but also of time. Several cars were involved in several different mishaps as roughly half the field was MIA at the end of the race that finished under yellow and checkered after failing to complete the race in the allotted time. Rookie contender Doug Smith (12) took the lead early on from his fifth starting spot and would continue to lead until lap fourteen when his car spun in turn four after receiving pressure from last year's Sportmod national champion Luke Wanniger (20x). Smith would tag the tail of the field while Wanniger went on to take the checkers. Scott Davis (81D) and Kevin Sather (3) gave chase after a late restart, but was unable to make the move when the time limit was enforced. Davis finished second, Sather third, Paul Nagle (05) fourth, and and David Schlicht (19) rounded out the top five after transferring from the Bmain.
The show kept moving along as the IMCA modifieds hit the track next for their twenty-lap event. Jeremie Hedrick, originally from Wisconsin, shot to the lead only to spin on lap five, handing the lead over to Glidden's Mike Molle (33M). Molle would remain in control until lap fifteen when Kelly Lyons mounted a charge and briefly took the lead on the bottom side of the speedway. Molle regained the top spot two laps later and would prevail at the line while Lyons (27) suffered problems on the backstretch and collected a couple other cars. Rod Schuerman (14), Jake Durbin (18), Todd Shute (5), and Ricky Stephan (25) rounded out the top five.
The IMCA hobby stocks ran two feature events on this night. The field was split up evenly with 14 competitors starting in each race. Beau Kaplan (11) took command early in the first race and was not seriously challenged. Cody Gustoff (23) garnered the top prize in the finale of the evening.
For more results, check out http://www.positivelyracing.com and click on 4dfan report.
All in all, the racing action was intense with a lot of torn up racecars at the end of the night. The staff at the Boone Speedway kept the show rolling with the threat of weather looming. That was evident as they did not do their "farming" session after the heat race events. While the features were primarily run on the bottom of the racetrack, there were many drivers who advanced through the field. Even without the help of wrecks.
Weather permitting, plans are to attend the I-35 Speedway in Mason City Sunday night. If things don't work out for that venue, then one can only guess where "TAPFAN" will show up. Possibilities include Vinton or Quincy, Illinois.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!
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