Sunday, August 2nd marked a return trip to the I-35 Speedway in Mason City as I was traveling back from my trip to Wisconsin the previous night. The night would prove to be perfect weather for racing as the sun was shining and tempatures were hovering in the mid 70's.
The two divisions of hornets would hit the track first. Jordan Prehn grabbed the top spot from the start of the junior hornets, but Ken Winkowitsch quickly took it away on the second lap. Blake Cole marched from the back of the pack to the front and took the lead as the white flag was displayed as he went on to take the win. Jesse Harang jumped out front early in the "pro" hornet class and never looked back on his way to the checkers.
Eighteen hobby stocks entered the track and it was Scott Dobel taking command in the early going while cars raced three-wide behind him for the fifth spot momentarily. Cory Gansen was able to move his car to the front as he found himself passing Kory Adams for the runner up spot on lap four. As the halfway point approached, Chad Gentz and Stac Schroeder were charing to the front as they settled into the third and fourth spots, respectively. Schroeder's luck would run out as his car spun on the exit of turn two on the low side to bring out the caution. Mick Meyers made a late-race charge as he went to the high side of Dobel to take over the second spot with two laps to go and set his sights on race leader Gentz. Meyers got to the rear bumper, but was unable to make a move as Chad Gentz held on for the win. Mick Meyers was second, Scott Dobel third, Kory Adams fourth, and Heath Tulp rounded out the top five.
1. 15 Chad Gentz
2. 6JR Mick Meyers
3. 83 Scott Dobel
4. 01 Kory Adams
5. 50 Heath Tulp
6. 20 Jeremy Solberg
7. 101 Bernie Adams
8. 51 Stac Schroeder
9. 15J Travis Johnson
10. 38 Dusti Showalter
11. 65 Gary Fransiscus
12. 18z Zac Smith
13. 6 Cory Gansen
14. 06 Kyle Schmauss
15. 71 Terry Litwiler
16. 32 Robert Black
17. 51P Daniel Porter
18. 17 Matt Stading
The 360 modifieds (bmods) were next up as they got ready to run their twelve-lap event. George Nordman stormed out to the early lead while Adam Ackerman and Shane Swanson raced for the fifth position. Ackerman would get that spot and move up to the fourth position as the halfway point clicked off. Swanson looked low on Ackerman in turn two, but couldn't make it stick and would end up losing a spot to Dan Tenold as a result. As the field made their way off turn four coming to the checkers, Alex Zwanziger drove to the high side and powered by Tony Ranes to take the runner up spot at the line. But it would be George Nordman making his way to victory lane after leading every lap. Alex Zwanziger was second, Tony Ranes third, Dan Tenold fourth, and Adam Ackerman fifth.
1. 90 George Nordman
2. 32z Alex Zwanziger
3. 21R Tony Ranes
4. 86 Dan Tenold
5. 5 Adam Ackerman
6. 55 Shane Swanson
7. 88 Nate Chodur
8. 21H Matt Hoeft
9. 2 Nick West
10. 69 Kyle Germundson
11. 18J Mike Jaeger
12. 64 John Warrington
13. 4 Travis Greenfield
14. 22 Craig Klouse
15. 88K Tracy Kleckner
16. 29T Tyler Wirtjes
17. 98J Joedy Dennis
18. 49 Nate Whitehurst - DNS
Sixteen IMCA stock cars took the green flag that saw rookie driver Calvin Lange take control early on. After an early caution, Aaron Haggerty tried to use the bottom of the speedway, but he had no other drivers using that groove and would lose two spots as a result. That moved Travis Hoeft and Travis Shipman up to third and fourth spot, respectively. Another caution came out when Kevin Opheim stopped on the track with a flat tire. Bert McDaniel would use the restart to get by Haggerty for the fifth spot while up front Travis Prochaska was glued to the back bumper of Lange. Prochaska tried several times to duck low exiting turn two, but couldn't complete the pass by the time they entered turn three and pulled back in line. Lange would push up a bit in turn two later and Prochaska was there to take advantage as he zoomed by to grab the lead. Further back Mike Jergens was making up for lost time as he started fifteenth on the grid after not finishing his heat race due to a flat tire. Jergens maneuvered up to sixth, and then later would pass two cars in turn four alone to move into fourth. He would then slide up and make contact with Travis Hoeft with two laps to go to make his way to third, but that's as far as he could get as Travis Prochaska picked up his first career stock car win. Calvin Lange was second, Mike Jergens third, Travis Hoeft fourth, and Travis Shipman rounded out the top five.
1. 21T Travis Prochaska
2. 43 Calvin Lange
3. 37x Mike Jergens
4. 21 Travis Hoeft
5. 87 Travis Shipman
6. 81 Bert McDaniel
7. 37 Merlyn Hegland
8. 110 Ken Tietz
9. 62 Aaron Haggerty
10. 96 Joe Willier
11. 14A Chris Adams
12. 15 Brad Broers
13. 44K Kevin Opheim
14. 7i Andrew Inman
15. 32JR Laura Curry
16. 59 Larry Portis - DNF
The final event of the night would be the IMCA modifieds, and it had it's share of excitement. Alex Yohn used the pole to race out to the early lead, but points leader Jeremy Mills quickly worked his way to fourth on lap three after starting tenth. Mills ducked low of T.J. Stalker on the exit of turn two and tried to move back up in line before entering turn three. When Mills moved up, Stalker's front bumper was there and Mills's car would spin to the inside of turn three. He would then restart his car and pull to the edge of the track and stop to bring out the caution. When Stalker drove by under the yellow, Mills would pull alongside and make contact with his rear bumper, which then prompted Stalker to retaliate. Both drivers swerved at each other, resulting in both going to the tail of the field.
When racing resumed Eric Dailey tried to work under Rob Rose for the third spot, but was unable to get enough traction and pulled back in line as the top side was the only place working at that point. Mills was working his way back to the front and dove low in turn three only to slide up and make contact with Alex Hanson. Because of the contact, Mills would be black flagged for "questionable" driving and sent to the pits. Back up front Terrance Prochaska bobbled and gave up the runner up spot to Rob Rose. Prochaska would lose that spot a bit later as Dailey raced by. A caution came out on lap thirteen, but it didn't affect the outcome as the night belonged to Alex Yohn as he took home the win. Rob Rose finished second, Eric Dailey third, Terrance Prochaska fourth, and Shane Monson fifth.
1. 11x Alex Yohn
2. 123 Rob Rose
3. 7 Eric Dailey
4. 20 Terrance Prochaska
5. 25$ Shane Monson
6. 68 J.J. Wise
7. 1 T.J. Stalker
8. 22T Tyler Prochaska
9. 23w Robert Whalen
10. 11 Alex Hanson
11. 47 Christin Wagler
12. 58 Curt Badker
13. 45 Levi Nielsen
14. 10 Jeremy Mills - black flagged
The races were completed by 8:45. Promoter Joe Ringsdorf added lots of new dirt to corners one and two to increase the banking, and in talking with one of the drivers he mentioned that it was good dirt. Very tacky and should work well the rest of the season. Next week there will be NO RACES in Mason City as a pyrotechnics display will be going on all week long at the faigrounds.
- Racing may be a hobby, but it's DEFINITELY addictive!!
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