Sunday July 12th marked the second visit to the I-35 Speedway for tv personality and NASCAR Nationwide series driver Kenny Wallace. While his first visit resulted in a great second place finish with the USMTS series, Sunday night's visit would bring a new challenge as he mixed it up with the IMCA modifieds. Wallace's lack of experience with IMCA rules was evident as he started at the back of his heat race and basically rode around to get the feel of the track and the car. While on the mic before one of his autograph sessions, he mentioned that his crew were making lots of changes to the car to get it ready for the feature.
Before that time would come, the rest of the divisions ran their feature events. Ken Winkowitsch started in the last row of the junior hornet race, but that didn't slow him down much as he still took home the top prize. Scott Schlichting took home an easy win in the hornet feature.
Up next would be the ten lap finale for the hobby stocks. Pole sitter Zac Smith took command early while Robert See was charging hard deeper in the field. See, who won the previous night at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, started twelfth but quickly made his way to fourth at the completion of lap two. At the same time, Mick Meyers made the pass for the lead on Smith after starting seventh. See would not be done making moves towards the front as he got by two more cars a lap later to fall into second place. Heath Tulp would run up to the third spot on lap four and later make the pass on See for second using the low side of the track with two laps to go. But up front it was all Mick Meyers as he motored his way to victory lane. Meyers also took home his heat race win along with the cash dash top prize. Heath Tulp was second, Robert See third, Travis Johnson fourth, and Jeremy Solberg rounded out the top five.
Twenty bmods were on hand as they would run their twelve lap finale. Tracy Kleckner grabbed the lead on the first lap, but behind him Dan Tenold and Nate Chodur were wasting no time maneuvering their way to the front. Tenold started eighth and Chodur tenth, but both sliced their way to the top five within the first two laps of competition. On lap three Chodur moved to the inside to make the pass on Ben Kraus for the runner up spot. Two laps later, Chodur took his machine to the high side to snare the lead away from Kleckner. Tenold's march towards the front continued as he used the cushion to get by Kleckner for third at the halfway point before making the pass on Kraus for second a lap later. Adam Ackerman made his presence known as he passed two cars in one corner to move up to third before a caution came out with four laps to go. Tenold tried to ride the high line to get by Chodur, but he didn't carry enough momentum and quickly got back in line on the bottom ahead of Ackerman. Nate Chodur would take home the win followed across the line by Dan Tenold, Adam Ackerman, Ben Kraus, and Nick West. However, apparently Dan Tenold was disqualified in post-race tech as he was officially scored in last place, so that moved everybody up a spot behind him.
The "Class To Tough To Tame", the IMCA stock cars, started seventeen cars for their fifteen lap feature. Brad Broers jumped to the early lead from the pole, but that didn't last long as Mike Jergens took it away in turn two. Kevin Opheim used the cushion to make his way up to third after starting sixth as the caution flag came out. On the restart, Opheim would get by Broers for second while Larry Portis worked his way from midpack up to fourth by lap five. Joe Willier and Ryan Hiscocks made contact, resulting in both drivers suffering flat tires and ending their nights early. With just two laps to go, Portis dove to the inside of Broers to take the third spot away. But up front it was Mike Jergens taking home the win, his third of the weekend as he picked up wins on Friday night at Fairmont and Saturday night in Algona. Kevin Opheim followed him across the line in second, Larry Portis third, Brad Broers slipped back to fourth, and Bert McDaniel finished fifth.
The final racing action of the night would be the twenty lap IMCA modified feature. Terrance Prochaska took the lead into the first set of corners before Alex Yohn took command at the flagstand to complete the first lap. Prochaska would battled back and take the top spot back on lap four. Behind them Al Hejna was on the move as he powered his Harris car up to fourth on lap five after starting ninth. Hejna continued his prowl as he passed two more cars on the next lap to move into second and looked to reel in race leader Prochaska. A caution just before the halfway point bunched the field up, which at that time Scott Olson had moved his way up to sixth after starting 17th. Hejna would make the pass on Prochaska for the lead as the yellow came out again. Third on the restart, Jeremy Mills powered his Harris car to the top of the speedway to motor by Prochaska for the runner up spot. J.J. Wise and Scott Olson battled wheel to wheel for the fourth spot for a couple laps before Olson secured it. Mills began to make up ground between he and Hejna and was on his bumper as the white flag came out. Mills went high in turns one and two and lost a bit of momentum exiting the corner that allowed Hejna to pull far enough ahead to take the win at the line. Jeremy Mills, IMCA national point leader, finished close behind in second, Terrance Prochaska was third, Scott Olson fourth, and J.J. Wise rounded out the top five.
The final activity of the night would be Rocky Hardcore as he had his rollover attempt set up and ready to go. His attempt fell short of expectations, but he mentioned that he had been involved in a tv series with CMT and footage was in the production stage. So be sure to keep an eye out for him on that channel. Next week Stan Reidel will be in attendance as he will attempt to jump a bus over several cars.
For complete results, check out my website at http://www.geocities.com/racefan85/july12.pdf
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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