Even though the weather forced a delay of about four and a half hours, Mike Murphy Jr. had to of believed it was well worth the wait. That's because the Kalona, Illinois driver found his way to victory lane at the Boone Speedway as opening night of the IMCA Supernationals got underway Monday evening.
Light but persistent rain showers initially postponed the start of the festivities as the track prep crew waited until the rain had stopped to begin reworking the track. After the track had been reworked and a few hot laps sessions had been run, light rain again fell upon the track and forced another delay. The first green flag of heat race action would finally get thrown at around 7:35 for the first of fourteen IMCA hobby stock heats. Sprinkled in amongst those would be five IMCA Deery Brothers Summer Series qualifying heats for the late models. Jason Hahne would take the narrow victory in heat one over Jeremiah Hurst. Jeff Aikey sailed to the win in heat two while Craig Jacobs took heat three. Ray Guss Jr claimed the fourth heat with Travis Smock leading the field to the checkers in the fifth and final heat. Two B-mains and a handful of provisionals would set an unprecedented 30-car field and three-wide start for the 30th Annual IMCA Speedway Motors Supernationals event.
After participating in his 400th straight start in Deery Series action on Sunday in Burlington, the "Iron Man" Darrel DeFrance redrew the pole of the 50-lap main event. Craig Jacobs and Jason Hahn would make up the rest of the front row. When the green flag dropped it would be DeFrance getting the advantage into turn one. However a mishap in turn four involving four cars would bring out the first of many caution flags. With a complete restart, the green didn't stay out long as Ryan Griffith got into the rear of Craig Jacobs in turn
one and collected a few cars to slow the action once again.
The third try was the charm, however, as DeFrance roared to the lead. Hahne would take over the top spot on lap two as he rode the cushion. Jason Utter quickly made his way to the front as he slipped into the runner-up position on lap three. Utter would take the top spot away from Hahne on lap five while Hahne gave way to Andy Eckrich for second. Mike Murphy Jr made his way into the fourth spot after he had some good luck go his way. Murphy started at the tail of his heat race earlier in the night and only managed a fifth place finish. He would go on to win his B-main and was scheduled to start inside row eight. However with the earlier cautions he was able to restart in the fourth row without a lap in the books.
The leaders would catch lapped traffic on lap ten, and it was a heavy dose of lapped traffic. At one point the slower cars were three-wide in front of the front-runners. That allowed Andy Eckrich to slip by Utter on the inside for the lead. A caution on lap fourteen would find one of those lapped cars getting into Eckrich and causing him to spin out, sending him to the tail. It was noticed under yellow that second-running Hahne had spoiler damage, and it would prove to be costly as he would back-peddle following the green flag waving once again. Murphy dove to the inside to take over the second spot while Craig Jacobs and DeFrance later made their way past. Perennial contenders Ray Guss Jr and Jeff Aikey were also on the move from mid pack as they climbed into a battle for fifth on lap eighteen. Guss would secure the position for a short time before Aikey found the top side to his liking to pass both Guss and DeFrance for fourth.
Up front Utter and Murphy had checked out on the field as they held a straight away advantage. Utter would bobble on lap 33, handing the reigns over to Murphy at the top of the leader board. One lap later Utter's car came to a rest atop turn three with suspension issues. So the top five on the restart would be Murphy, Jacobs, Aikey, DeFrance, and Guss. Aikey would power by Jacobs on the restart while Guss used the same top groove to get by DeFrance and Jacobs for third.
The final caution of the race came with just eight laps remaining. The field would be aligned with Murphy the leader followed by Aikey, Eckrich, Callahan, and DeFrance rounding out the top five. The Delaware double-file restart was just what Eckrich needed as he motored under Aikey to snare the second spot away. DeFrance used the same line to sneak by Callahan. Eckrich closed in on Murphy in the late stages, but Murphy was able to pull away on the final lap to take home the win. Eckrich would settle for second, Aikey third, DeFrance fourth, and Guss completed the top five.
Unfortunately this race didn't end until 12:15, and with a lot of racing still to be run I decided I'd better head for home and type up this blog so I can drive back later today for more racing action. So for hobby stock and sportmod updates, you'll have to check out the IMCA website.
This is my first attempt at writing a blog since March. I've had computer issues all summer and still have not got it fixed. Thankfully a relative agreed to let me use their laptop for the week so I can cover the 30th Annual Speedway Motors IMCA Supernationals.
So for now, I'm out...
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