While mist and rain covered much of the area surrounding where I live, I was optimistic and headed back to the Buena Vista Raceway on Wednesday, May 13th for the second night of racing action. Much to my surprise the sun was shining when I arrived in the parking lot. Unfortunately, the gusty winds also made their presence known as the track crew took some extra time after hot laps to water the track and pack it in before the heat races.
Just as the prior week, only four IMCA sport compacts were present tonight and it would be Cory Flanigan taking home the convincing win over Josh Egesdal.
Another strong field of IMCA hobby stocks took to the track next for their twelve lap feature. Shannon Anderson got a great jump on the start as he raced from his tenth starting spot to the lead on the very first lap. Devin Smith also made a big leap in the lineup as he went from twelfth to second by lap two and was quickly reeling in the leader. Smith made the pass for the lead at the half way point of the race, only to falter one lap later as his car slid high in turn four and handing the reigns back to Anderson. A caution flag waved with just two laps to go to give Smith another shot, but Anderson was too strong as he found victory lane. Smith finished second, Kyle Robinson came home third, Matt Mahoney was fourth, and Craig Brotherton rounded out the top five. Brotherton also made up a lot of ground as he started 19th on the grid.
Up next would be the IMCA sportmods. Eric Puhrmann raced to the early lead from his second row starting spot on lap one. However, Brett Meyer chased him down on lap two and made the pass on the bottom side in turn four. Last week's feature winner Doug Smith borrowed a car for the night and started ninth, but maneuvered through the field to finish in second. Puhrmann slipped back to third, followed by Zach Norgaard and Denny Berghahn Jr.
The IMCA stock cars have been tabbed the "Class Too Tough To Tame". That couldn't have been more evident then tonight's fifteen lap main event. The field was three-wide at the drop of the green flag and expanded to four-wide down the backstretch on the first lap. Outside front row starter Elijah Zevenbergen led lap one, but Chris Ulrich made an early charge to the front from his seventh starting spot to capture the lead on lap two. A few laps later, cars were three-wide battling for the fourth spot while it appeared Ulrich had things in hand. Donovan Smith had other plans as he made his initial start at the fast 3/8-mile track and made his way to the runner up spot just after the half-way point while brother Dustin Smith advanced up to third. Dustin Smith would later attempt to make the pass in turn two on the low side of both his brother and Ulrich and made it work until the next set of corners when Ulrich powered back by at the flagstand. The white flag waved and by this time Trent Murphy had joined the threesome at the front. The four cars would go four-wide into turn three as the crowd jumped to their feet in anticipation of a great finish. After using the bottom groove most of the race, Ulrich found himself on the top groove and powered his way off turn four to edge out the victory at the stripe. Donovan Smith came home a close second along with Murphy in third and Dustin Smith in fourth. Brian Blessington finished a few car lengths back to complete the top five in what I would call the best finish I've seen thus far this year!! What a race!!
The final feature, although not the final event, of the night would be the IMCA modifieds. A good field of sixteen cars were led to the green flag by Reese Coffee, but it would be Adam Larson taking the lead on lap one. Larson pulled away from the field momentarily until he suffered problems on lap six, handing the lead over to Jay Noteboom. That was all Noteboom needed as he had the field covered tonight, pulling away from the field on the restarts. Randy Brands was the only car running the middle to high groove of the track and wound up finishing second, just ahead of Coffee, Clayton Christensen, and Chris Abelson.
The final event of the night would be the IMCA hobby stock King of the Hill. I believe eight cars drew for their spots and raced in two-lap sprints. In the end, Shannon Anderson would lay claim as the King of the Hill as he beat Kyle Robinson in the finals. That capped off a "perfect night" for Anderson as he won his heat race, feature, and the King of the Hill.
While the wind and cold temperatures were not fun sitting in, the racing action was pretty good. Obviously track conditions were not able to hold up throughout the night with the wind, but as mentioned the stock cars put on another fantastic show for the fans. Hopefully the weather will be a little more cooperative from here on out and perhaps warm up to average temperatures for this time of year. And a little less wind would help out too!
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!
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