The 4dfan Report

Night #2 of Southern Iowa Speedway Fall Challenge

2011-10-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

It was another packed pits night on Saturday and a full grandstand, to close the curtain on the 2011 season at Osky. Thankfully, the temperatures were warmer than the previous night, making for a much more pleasant closure to our "bench sitting" for the year. In recognition of the 25th anniversary of this event, all four classes ran 25-lap features.

The hobby stocks started the A mains by running first. The two top finishers from the previous night's locked-in eight cars, Bill Bonnett and Adam Cline, sat on the front row. Bonnett, driving the car owned by Eric Stanton, wasted no time in establishing the lead and put distance between himself and Cline. Regular competitor, Donoven Nunnikhoven and Missouri driver Clayton Crump took to the topside of the track and pursued Bonnett, as he kept his line on the bottom of the track. It appeared the topside was the way to go, as both Nunnikhoven and Crump were able to get past Bonnett, who dropped to the third spot. With just a couple of laps remaining, Bonnett fought back, still on the bottom and got to second place---and then made the pass on Nunnikhoven for the lead on lap twenty-four. Bonnett then went home to the checkers first, securing his second win in as many nights. Nunnikhoven had to settle for second on this night, Crump crossed in third, Adam Cline was fourth and Steve Larson took fifth. A check of the official results at www.usraracing.com, indicates that the third place finishing Clayton Crump was disqualified. This then put Chris Hovden to round out the top five positions. The race went flag-to-flag.

The USRA A modifieds ran their 25-lap feature next. As previous night top two qualifiers, Colt Mather and Zack VanderBeek sat on the front row. VanderBeek took flight and pulled away from Mather as Bob Timm ran a distant third. At lap fifteen, the yellow flag flew, but not for an incident on the track. The race was halted for a medical call in the infield and a subsequent ambulance transport. One lap after the restart, second place runner Colt Mather's car shot into the the turn one wall, ending his run. VanderBeek then cruised home to the win. Steve Blatter finished as the runner up, and Ron VerBeek and Kurt Kile duked it out for third and fourth, finishing in that order. Bob Timm rounded out the top five.

In the USRA B modified feature, it was Cayden Carter repeating his win from the previous night. Carter led all 25-laps but had company on the topside the entire time. Bryon Weyer chased Carter closely as they broke away from the field. Third place running Jason Mallicoat challenged Weyer on the low side in the last couple of laps, but to no avail. Carter won--his 31st of the season I believe to hear him say--Weyer was second, Mallicoat third, fourth went to Jake Timm, the Winona, Minnesota driver, and Jared Timmerman finished in fifth.

As we thought was fitting, the last to run their feature were the stock cars. Osky has been known as a hot bed of stock car racing in the past. There has been some fantastic races in the class, often the best racing of the night, and times when three cars were coming to the checkers, three-wide. This night brought some of that action as cars were clumped together battling for positions. Nathan Wood, Shay Curtin and Shane Weller fought up front for the top spot. Curtin's run for the money ended when he hit the infamous turn one wall, resulting in a flat and his retirement to the pits. The waning laps saw Weller challenge Wood for the lead, and Steve Jackson threw his hat into the ring, challenging them both. But on this night, it was Wood taking the win...unbelievably his first of the year at the track as he commented in victory lane...Weller kept second over Jackson in third, Matt Greiner in fourth and Mike "The Flying Dutchman" VanGenderen was fifth.

And so ended another Fall Challenge, the 25th at the Southern Iowa Speedway. If memory serves me correct, we have been to them all. We truly hope it will not be the last, nor the end of weekly racing at the big ole 1/2 mile. Thanks once again goes out to Todd and Janet Staley for their dedication over the years in bringing weekly racing to the area. Thanks to announcer Tony Paris for giving a shout out to us and the other Positively Racing collegues who made the trip to the track. We will cross our fingers, and hope that next year, we will once again be sitting in the grandstands and enjoying the racing action.

Our racing adventures for 2011 have more than likely come to an end at 74 races. There is always a chance we could find a race to travel to, but nothing is planned at this time. We already have plans for starting our racing off in 2012 at Daytona International Speedway in February. We do enjoy a NASCAR race now and then, but nothing beats sitting at a good ole dirt track race in our opinion. Until next time, happy racing!

Mather, Weller, Carter, Bonnett capture night #1 wins at Osky Fall Challenge

2011-10-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Last night was night #1 of the two-night Fall Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. What a car count, as by my figures, 167 competitors came from near and far to try their hand at taming this notoriously hard to handle track. Many of those drivers found out just how hard it is to tame! At least four red flags flew for situations involving rollovers or hard hits to the walls or guard rails. Thankfully, none of those incidents resulted in injuries.

The B Modifieds had 51 cars checked in. Two large B mains whittled the starting A feature to eighteen cars of which the eight top finishers would be locked in to tonight's big feature event. By the luck of the draw, local hot shoe, 16 year old Cayden Carter, sat on the pole. It was no surprise that this race was led the entire 18-laps by the young man from Oskaloosa. He pulled away and secured yet another of his many, many wins in 2011....by nearly 3/4 of a lap over his nearest competitor. Jared Timmerman trailed a distant second the entire race but had challenges by Carter VanDenBerg and Bryon Weyer much of the race. Timmerman did take the runner up spot, with Weyer winning out over VanDenBerg as they finished third and fourth respectively. Fifth place went to Jason Mallicoat, who has been piloting the #36 car as of late, that we had seen Matt Pittman racing earlier in the season. Rounding out the top eight qualifiers were Jake Timm, Winona, Minnesota, Eric Flander and Curtis VanDerWal.

By the time the stock car feature pulled on the track, things had gotten a little nippy and the winds that had died down earlier, began to pick up again. Forty stock cars also had to be pared down to eighteen A main starters via two large B mains. Lance Deal sat on the pole along side Steve "Action" Jackson, veteran driver from Polk City, Iowa. Jackson took the lead in the 18-lapper from the start. He had to do battle with Matt Jones, Deal, Shane Weller and a plethora of other cars advancing fast! Jackson, Jones and then Weller swapped the lead until Weller secured that spot with three laps remaining and then took the checkers first. The action in this race was shades of the "old days" when stock car racing was at its finest on the "Monster 1/2 mile". It was an exciting and enjoyable race to watch. The final couple of laps had cars swapping positions continuously right up until they crossed the checkers flying. Following the winner, Weller, was Jackson in second, Nathan Wood in third, fourth was Matt Jones from Waukon, Iowa up in northeastern Iowa, and Shay Curtin, also from Waukon, was fifth. Completing the top eight qualifying spots for tonight's show were Brian Webb out of Decorah, Mike VanGenderen, (who did double duty and competed in the A modifieds class as well) and Brian Mitrisin. If last night's racing in the stock car class is any indication of things to come for tonight's action, you shouldn't miss it!

The hobby stocks also had 40 cars on hand and they too had to have two large B mains to get down to their starting field of 18 cars. Bill Bonnett in the 7B car that is usually piloted by Eric Stanton, had a good battle going on with Austin Wolfgram and Adam Cline as the laps wound down. As the white flag flew, the second place car of Wolfgram was suddenly "dead in the water" in corner two, giving second place over to Cline. Bonnett took the win, Cline was second, third went to Dan Sacquitne, Donovan Nunnikhoven took fourth and Steve Larson was fifth. Rounding out the top eight qualifiers were Nick Ulin, Clayton Crump, and Todd Reitzler.

Twenty-six A modifieds competed in the 25th annual running of the Fall Challenge. Steve Blattler and "RVB"---Ron VerBeek, were the lucky recipients of the front row for the main. It didn't take long until third row starter, Colt Mather came calling and took the lead over Blattler. From then on, there was no looking back for Mather, as he pulled away to the end. Zack VanderBeek gave it a shot in the closing laps, but had to settle for second place. Third went to Blattler, fourth to Bob Timm out of Winona, Minnesota, and fifth was Mark Elliott. Rounding out the top eight spots were Bruce Hanford, Ron VerBeek and Kurt Kile.

We are opting to head back down to the Southern Iowa Speedway and take in the action again tonight. If the racing is anything like last night, we won't be disappointed. We are really hoping this won't be the last night of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, as the reign of Todd and Janet Staley comes to an end. We thank them for what they did to bring racing to the fans. We have found ourselves sitting in that big ole grandstand on Wednesday nights for years and years, and we feel it would be a shame for that to end and the track to sit idle. We are hoping that someone will pick up the reins and guide the track to a new future. Happy racing!

Hamilton County Speedway Fall Special

2011-10-09T11:11:00.001-07:00

The Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, Iowa held a Fall Special this past Saturday night. With 183 cars packing the over-flowing pits, it was clear that drivers were not ready for their season of racing to end. Though this was our first trip of the year to the track, in prior years, it has not been often that we would see the over-flow spill into the open area west off of turn one. However, Saturday night, it was a tight fit even out there! There was a delay in the first heat reaching the track due in part to an extended driver's meeting that encircled the speaker, plus all of the hot laps needed for the large amount of race cars. The first heat hit the track at 5:49 according to my notation, and hot laps had been scheduled for 4:30 with racing to follow.

The first feature to run, the Hornets, came to the track a bit after 10 p.m. Not being very familiar with the class, we can only comment that the winner was Adam Strunk, followed by Daniel Ayers in second, the #37 of Dustin Haggard in third, fourth went to Megan Lappegard, and fifth was Paul Atchison.

The Late Models ran their 25-lap feature next. Local racer, Ryan Griffith made short work of showing his dominance and led the entire contest, pulling away from his nearest competitors. After a false initial start, the feature went flag-to-flag. Todd Cooney slipped by Scott Badker on the final lap as they finished second and third in that order. Fourth went to local driver, "Hollywood" Jason Hahne who had made the pass at lap seventeen to get around Dean Wagner who took fifth.

The Hobby Stocks followed suit with their own flag-to-flag 12-lap feature next. The IMCA Super National's champion, Cody Nielsen took off from his pole starting spot and sprinted to the lead. It wasn't long until he had company with Devin Smith and John Watson hot on his heels. By lap five, Smith took over the helm and then sailed on to the win, stretching his lead at the checkers. Nielsen kept the runner-up spot, Watson was third, followed by the 2EZ of Josh Niemand, and George Hood was fifth.

The Stock Cars ran a 15-lap feature on the half-mile. Dan Trimble and Ryan Leeman sat on the front row--Trimble shooting to the lead immediately. Mike VanGenderen, the "Flying Dutchman", took to the topside in turns one and two, trying to catch some traction--where there was very little. It was working though, and VanGenderen took the lead. Meanwhile, Steve Jackson had evidently taken note of that topside working, and also set sail up there. Caution flags flew and the cars were aligned double file behind the leader and upon the restarts, positions were changed up a bit. Jackson got the advantage over the 57V of VanGenderen and subsequent yellows that flew late in the race, found Lance Deal making the pass into second. Jackson took the win, Deal was runner-up, third went to VanGenderen, fourth to Kevin Opheim and Minnesota driver, Ken Tietz rounded out the top five. Jackson started seventh on the field and Deal came from seventeenth.

The B Modifieds also ran a 15-lap feature event. Track champion, Joel Rust and Cayden Carter drew the front row starting spots. Carter wasted no time in taking the lead and Bryon Weyer, who started fourth, made his way into the "catch up" second place spot. Ryan Ruter was piloting the #53 car on the night, and had just made the pass on Weyer for second, when his fortunes on the night were changed, as his car went spinning, bringing out a caution flag. The final few laps that remained saw Carter pull away from Weyer, who had regained the second place position after Ruter's spin. Carter crossed in first place, Weyer in second, third went to Alex Zwanziger, who I believe to be the grandson of the legendery driver, Bill Zwanziger of the '60's era, fourth was Joel Rust and fifth was Greg Sidles by inches over Jason Mallicoat, who was driving the #36 car of Matt Pittman. Upon checking the official results found on www.speednetdirect.com this morning, I discovered that the win was awarded to the second place finisher, Bryon Weyer, which leads us to believe there was a disqualification of the first place finisher for some sort of infraction. Thus the finish was Weyer in first, second was Zwanziger, third Rust, fourth Sidles, and Mallicoat was fifth.

The A Modified feature was 20-laps. Thirty-two cars were whittled to the starting field of twenty-four cars through two B-Mains. Those winners were Luke Wanninger, and Kyle Brown, who drove his first ever A modified when he jumped into his dad David Brown's car. Levi Nielsen and Chris Abelson drew the front row spots. Abelson took the lead followed by the second row starters, Keith Schmitz and JD Auringer. And then....here came that #12 car of Mark Elliott! Elliott, who had started back in tenth place, was soon up to second, Jay Noteboom had followed to gain the third spot, and then there was a dog fight behind them with Schmitz, Nielsen, Auringer, Bill Crimmins and Ricky Stephan really going at it! With about four laps remaining, Elliott established the point position and Noteboom also got around Abelson to gain second spot. That would be the way they would finish---Elliott taking the win, followed by Noteboom in second, Abelson in third, fourth went to Keith Schmitz and JD Auringer was fifth. Ricky Stephan ran a good race to finish in sixth after starting twelfth and Jammin' Jimmy Gustin came from nineteenth (he was scheduled to start 21st but a car opting to tag the field, moved him up a row) to finish seventh.

The track did rubber down and much of the racing was down around the bottom. However, as noted from some of the above starting positions and eventual finishing spots, there was passing on the dry, dusty, slick track. It was also a long night of racing with the final checkers flying at just a bit before the midnight hour. We were glad however, just to be watching racing, on a beautiful October night; knowing that it was all going to be coming to a screeching halt in the very near future. It was also nice to catch up with some racing friends and drivers as well.
Also, thanks to announcer Ryan Bergeson for the shout out to this reporter. As of right now, our plans are to catch the first of two nights of the Fall Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Friday night, October 14, and then head to the Lee County Speedway down in Donnellson, Iowa for their annual Shiverfest race on Saturday the 15th. This will most likely end our 2011 racing season. Of course, there is always a chance that we could travel a bit and catch yet another race later in the season. Time will tell. Happy racing!

Zoubek and Nelson switch it up for Octoberfest wins

2011-10-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

We took the trip back to Beatrice Speedway for the 16th running of their fall special this past weekend. We could have hardly asked for any nicer weather. Two complete programs were run each night with Friday being the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Hobby Stocks, IMCA Northern SportMods and the IMCA Sport Compacts. Saturday night, the Sport Compacts were replaced with the factory stock class. Ironically, I counted 130 cars in competition each night even with some not returning, new ones appearing, and even with the switching of classes in the Sport Compacts and factory stocks.

Friday night, the features started off with the IMCA Sport Compact class. Scott Spellmeir took the feature win followed by Tyler Fralin, Cameron Meyer, Kenny Roberts and Justice Colson rounded out the top five.

The 20-lap feature for the IMCA Hobby Stocks came next. R.J. Macku, Lincoln, Nebraska took home the trophy tonight, but had challenges by Blain Peterson and Adam Armstrong most of the way home. Peterson out of Essex, Iowa took the runner up spot, hometown boy, Adam Armstrong took third, followed by track champion Shawn Slezak in fourth and Troy Paxton from Grand Island was fifth. There was a little drama in the post race interview when Macku expressed his displeasure with an earlier in the year incident with himself and Adam Armstrong. Quick thinking announcer Derek Long, managed to pull the microphone away before too many of the R-rated words were heard! The crowd in return, voiced their displeasure with his comments quite verbally!

Up next was the 20-lapper for the IMCA Northern SportMods. Jesse Sobbing, Glenwood, Iowa took the lead by the halfway mark and sailed home to another victory. Sobbing started well back in the field and impressively and methodically made his way forward. Second place finisher was Jason Mallicoat who jumped in the ride of Matt Pittman from Jefferson, Iowa. Mallicoat is no stranger to the SportMod class having piloted his own ride very successfully a few years back. Third place was Tyler Frye, the Beatrice Speedway champion for 2011, fourth was Max Harder who finished second in points at the track, and fifth was Dusty Leonard.

The featured IMCA Modified A main was 30-laps. After a couple of early tangles, one of which was a "slobberknocker" as friend and web caster for the IMCA SuperNationals, Bucky Doren, calls a "mess involving at least five cars". Jordy Nelson had been at the helm those early laps but "Dangerous" Dan Nelson came calling by the halfway mark and was pulling away from the pack and looking to be on his way to the win. Enter that fickle yellow flag once more! That yellow flew with just two laps remaining and put Bob Zoubek right behind for the restart. Zoubek had pulled out of the pack and had been slowly reeling in the leader, but now this restart was about to make it real interesting. On the white flag, Nelson still held the advantage but Zoubek was able to make the pull past Nelson coming out of turn four and beat him to the checkers and the win. It seemed to be a popular win from the fans reaction. Dan Nelson had to settle for second on this night, followed by Johnny "The Jet" Saathoff in third (who also advanced from mid-pack) Jordan Grabouski, track champion in fourth, and Jordy Nelson fell back to finish fifth.

Saturday dawned another beautiful day and subsequent night for racing. Tonight, we would be doing it all over again except for the switch of the factory stock class in place of the IMCA Sport Compacts from the night before.

Tonight's A main action started off with the 20-lap Factory Stock feature. This is an unsanctioned class that runs weekly at the track. The track champion, Kyle Vanover, was off to the lead from the get go from starting outside the front row. Tyler Phelps then put the pressure on the leader and with six laps to go, took the lead. Phelps took the win over Vanover in second, Jeff Watts in third, Kyle Dumfort in fourth and Dana Deeke in fifth. Winner Phelps exclaimed in victory lane what a thrill it was to get the win over his nephew, Kyle Vanover.

It was another 20-lap feature for the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Troy Paxton led the troops for the early laps but there were some heavy hitters hot on his heels. Adam Armstrong, R. J. Macku, and Roy Armstrong were battling it out for positions behind Paxton. Paxton lost the handle--untouched from our view point--brought out a yellow and handed the lead over to Adam Armstrong. Roy Armstrong made the pass on Macku for second and then it was the father/son battle. Adam, in first, ran high and dad Roy, ran low. A yellow came out with two laps to go when a car spun right at the flagstand, but the top two would hold their order with Adam gaining the win over dad Roy, in second. Brandon Stigge made the pass on Macku, as they finished third and fourth in that order, and Des Moines, Iowa's John Watson rounded out the top five.
The post race interview found Adam Armstrong expressing his thanks to his dad for all he had done for him in his racing career.

The IMCA Northern SportMods ran their 20-lap feature flag-to-flag. Gary Saathoff and Tyler Frye sat on the front row with Frye getting the advantage and the lead at the start. Previous night's winner, Jesse Sobbing quickly got to second and dogged Frye until making the pass for the lead with just three laps remaining. Sobbing took his second win in as many nights and his unbelievable 53rd win of the season. Frye finished second with Greg Metz in third, fourth was Dan Bohlmeyer, and Dusty Leonard was fifth.

Then it was time for the grand finale of the night--the 30-lap IMCA Modified feature. Just looking at the front row, which had been determined by draw, it was looking like deja vu all over again as Dan Nelson drew the pole and Bob Zoubek the outside. Nelson would hold the advantage as he ran the middle of the track and Zoubek trailed behind, running the low groove. The real race was for third and fourth place with Hunter Marriott and Brian Foote challenging each other over and over again. Tonight, things were switched up from last night as Dan Nelson got the win and Zoubek took second. Third went to Hunter Marriott and fourth to Brian Foote. We noted Foote in the #18 ride instead of his normal #43 and believe it was his son's car from the past season. Johnny Saathoff came from 18th starting spot, to finish in fifth.

We enjoyed our traditional visit to the Beatrice Speedway and although the car count was not as big as their Spring Nationals in March, there was still a nice field of about 30 modifieds. A couple of cars we noticed missing in action were Dylan Smith and Brandon Blochlinger, area drivers who are usually competing at the Spring and Fall specials. Both drivers were back in Iowa racing as a support class with the Lucas Oil Late Models at the famed Knoxville Raceway. They announced at the track, that Beatrice, Nebraska driver, Jordan Grabouski was officially crowned the IMCA National Modified Champion for 2011 by three points over Texas driver Keith White.

There are still a few special left in our neck of the woods, hopefully before the snow flies. Check out the calendar at Positively Racing for a race to attend. Happy racing!

Duffy takes Night #2 HDT at the Havoc

2011-09-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

The racing action for the Marshalltown Speedway wrapped up on Saturday night with the running of Night #2 of the Havoc on the Highbanks. Joining the classes from the previous night, were the Dirt Trucks and the IMCA Sport Compacts. It was a chilly night and fans were bundled up, but the racing action was great. The grand finale of the night, the final Hawkeye Dirt Tour race of the year, found the track turn multi-grooved and what a show the drivers put on!

The IMCA Sport Compacts ran their feature first, which went flag to flag. Nine of the cars were on hand with all starting their feature event. Veteran of many years of racing, Merv Chandler, led the entire race, taking the win. Merv said in the post-race interview, that he began his IMCA racing career back in the early days of the birth of the modifieds, along about 1983/1984. Behind him in second, was his son, Brad Chandler. Third went to Tyler Whalen, fourth was Bill Whalen, Jr. and fifth Dave Moorman. We recall Moorman being a regular at the Marshalltown track when the unsanctioned front wheel drive cars ran there regularly a number of years ago. It was announced that the IMCA Sport Compacts will be running weekly at the Marshalltown Speedway in 2012.

The Mod Lite feature ran their 15-lap A main next. Colby Oberembt led the entire race and took the win. Josh May moved through the pack well to nab the runner up position, after starting toward the back of the field. Third went to his dad, James May, fourth was Joel Huggins and Justin Forsberg, a new new driver from the previous night, took fifth.

Next up was the Dirt Trucks, bringing eight trucks for competition. Bret Moyer and his father, Carl Moyer sat on the front row for the start. Bret grabbed the lead and would lead all twelve laps to take the win. Father, Carl Moyer, had to settle for the runner-up spot over another son, Brad Moyer in third. Fourth went to Tony Moro and Rick Clark rounded out the top five.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran a 15-lap feature. Scott Pippert dominated this race and with the loudest rev limiter on a crate motor we've heard! Maybe it was because we were sitting directly up from where it would kick in, but it was something that I doubt anyone overlooked noticing. New driver from Friday night, Eric Knutson took second, over Tyler Pickett in third, Kenny Loftus in fourth, and Gene Nicklas in fifth.

The IMCA Northern SportMods ran a 20-lap feature. Pole sitter, Clint Luellen leaped to the lead on the first lap but what a scramble it was behind him for postion. Jake Strayer, Tyler Droste, Jenae Gustin and Cayden Carter were battling it out for spots two-five. Cayden Carter got to the second spot and then the chase was on to catch Luellen. Carter did snatch the first spot as a lap car going into turn one put the interesting twist on the situation. The skillful Carter drove to the lead with a nifty move and would soon pull away and take the comfortable win...his 30th of the season. The second position finish slipped from Luellen at the line when Tyler Droste got by him by a nose, to take second. Following Luellen, who finished third, was Jenae Gustin in fourth and Carter VanDenBerg was fifth.

It was a 20-lap feature for the IMCA Stock Cars. Jeff Wollam made an appearance for night #2 and sat on the front row along side the #15T of Jim Helle. With last night's winner, Brian Irvine, and second finisher Damon Murty buried deep in the field, it was appearing there would be a new winner on the night. Not so fast on that thought!

Jay Schmidt and Dave Atcher battled for the top spot early on and Schmidt won out and would then put some distance between himself and Atcher, But then enter Brian Irvine AND Damon Murty into the picture! When a restart occurred due to an apparent car sitting in a dangerous area as it attempted to exit into the pits, out came the yellow flag....that dreaded yellow flag that no doubt Schmidt did NOT want to see. By this time, Irvine had positioned himself into spot #2 and while under caution, made sure that Schmidt knew he was right there, knocking on the door, as he showed his ride to the leader. Irvine did make the pass on Schmidt soon after the restart, and then Murty took over the third spot. A couple of cautions would fly in the waning laps of the race, one when the #81 of Cory Adams erupted in flames in a spectacular sight! Adams drove into the infield with the car still ablaze. It was quickly extinguished, but we would imagine Adams won't soon forget his toasty exit from this race! When the race resumed, it was last night's winner, Brian Irvine taking the win once again, from having started back in 19th place. Schmidt kept second place, and Damon Murty came from the 24th spot...dead last...to take third. Fourth was Dave Atcher and veteran Andy Bryant was fifth.

The grand finale was the 30-lap Hawkeye Dirt Tour modified race. By this time, it was getting a bit nippy, and we were eating some dirt, but wow, was this race ever worth enduring every bit of that! Jacob Murray and Mark Elliott sat on the front row. Elliott secured the HDT Championship at the drop of the green flag. Of course, he still wanted a feature win, and appeared he was well on his way as he led from the start. Richie Gustin, last night's winner, drew into the picture as he made his way into second and Jon Snyder grabbed third. Snyder fell back several positions and here came Adam Larson, Todd Shute and Darin Duffy--all throwing their hat into the ring. There was a caution at lap sixteen. Not sure if this happened to be the caution that occurred because someone had opted to start burning the huge pile of branches from the summer storm (that has been sitting untouched all this time) but it was suddenly a HUGE fire blazing just to the southeast of turn one. Upon inspection and being determined to be no danger, the racing action resumed. And when it resumed, what racing we saw! The track had turned multi-grooved and cars were finding lines all over the track--often three to four wide. Elliott slipped back and then Larson took over the top spot followed by Richie Gustin and Darin Duffy. Darin Duffy? Where the heck did he come from? Duffy over took Larson without too much difficulty and Snyder also made his move past Larson. When the final checkers flew, it was Hazelton, Iowa's Darin Duffy with the HDT win under his belt...a great performance on his part. Snyder finished second, Shute came from starting eleventh, and at one point, having to rejoin the tail of the field, to take third, Larson finished fourth and Richie Gustin rounded out the top five.

Racing action is drawing to a close in our area so try to find a race to attend before you find yourself sitting home wishing for some racing action. There are several specials still up in our area. The "biggie" is the upcoming Lucas Oil Late Model Series show at the historic Knoxville Raceway. This is set for this coming weekend, September 29-October 1. Lots of big time names on the entry list as well as top runners from our area. Since this race fell at the same time this year as our traditional annual trip to Beatrice, Nebraska for their October Fest race, looks like we will be missing the late model show. With all the buzz and anticipation of this race, at least we are hoping to get filled in on how things go by fans/friends and of course, the Internet postings. Let's hope for fair weather all around and great, safe, racing action. Happy racing!

Richie Gustin nabs HDT win on Night #1 of Havoc

2011-09-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

The first night of the 5th Annual Havoc on the Highbanks at the Marshalltown Speedway is in the books. The pits were packed with 161 race cars by my count. It's always fun to see new faces racing at this end-of-the-year special. Drivers made the trip from Illinois, Missouri and California if I caught the announcements correctly. Two of the winner's scored their 39th and 29th feature win of the 2011 season.

The features kicked off with the Mod Lite A main with 17 of the machines competing.
Josh May grabbed the lead away from Bryan Zehm within the first few laps, but his night would suddenly end when his power plant went up in smoke. This put Zehm back to the point position which he kept to the checkered flag and the win. Tim Hennigar took the runner-up spot, third was Colby Oberembt, fourth Joel Huggins and James May was fifth. In the post-race interview, Zehm said he was happy to get the win in his dad Ed Zehm's old car and think we also heard him say it was his FIRST ever win.

The IMCA Hobby Stock A came to the track next. They ran a 15-lap feature which was dominated by winner Devin Smith. Smith took the lead by lap two after starting seventh and sailed home to his 39th win of the season according to a "stat person" sitting nearby. Scott Pippert and Kevin Fee duked it out for position behind him with Fee winning the second place finish, Pippert the third. Fourth went to Brandon Brinton, followed by Austin Luellen in fifth.

The 20-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature was another main event that was won in dominating fashion. Oskaloosa, Iowa young gun, Cayden Carter, took the lead on the first lap, never to look back. Carter scored his 29th victory of the season, another remarkable feat in this young man's early career. The real battle was behind Carter as Austin Kaplan, Jenae Gustin and Doug Smith jockeyed for positions. Winning the battle and finishing second was Austin Kaplan. Doug Smith came from starting 21st to take third, Jenae Gustin garnered a fourth place finish after starting 14th and Tyler Droste held on for a fifth place finish after starting on the pole.

The IMCA Stock Cars also ran a 20-lap feature. After a complete restart after the green flag initially flew, the race was run caution free. Polesitter Brian Irvine and Damon Murty, who sat along side him on the front row, put on quite the duel early on, with Irvine gaining the lead by sneaking underneath Murty in turn two...left front wheel hiking into the air. Lap traffic was looking to become a factor with just a couple of laps remaining, allowing Murty to reel the leader in, but Irvine was not deterred, and held on for the win; Murty finishing second. Third was Donavon Smith, fourth went to Jay Schmidt who had started back in the sixth row, and Steve Meyer rounded out the top five.

The grand finale was the 30-lap running of the Hawkeye Dirt Tour IMCA modified feature. This race, paying $1,000 to win, was also a qualifier for the Fast Shafts All Star Invitational for the 2012 IMCA Super Nationals. The 2011 Super National's winner, Richie Gustin, wasted no time in taking the lead from starting outside pole, led all laps, and took the win. Jon Snyder had applied a bit of pressure to Gustin as they ran the topside, but with three laps remaining, Snyder suddenly let loose with a cloud of steam, and pulled to the infield. We believe instead of a blown motor, it was a blown radiator hose. Upon the restart of the final three laps, it was Ronn Lauritzen that applied the pressure as he slipped by Vern Jackson to take second. He gave it his all the last ciruit, but came up a bit short, having to settle for the runner up spot. Jackson took third over Darin Duffy in fourth and Jacob Murray in fifth.

If you're looking for some good racing action in the Central Iowa area, the Marshalltown Speedway will be doing it all over again tonight with Night #2 of the Havoc on the Highbanks. A complete new show will be run with the same classes being joined by the Dirt Trucks and the IMCA Sport Compacts. For more information check www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Happy racing!

Super National's notes and tidbits

2011-09-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

The 29th annual IMCA Super Nationals has come and gone. Yes, it's been more than a week ago, and yes, this is late getting posted. Seems it is taking us longer and longer to get caught up on things when we are gone, let alone catching up on rest!
We had a great time though. It was our 24th straight attendance---all of the Super Nationals that have been held at the Boone Speedway. How they have grown and changed from a four-day show back then starting on Wednesday, to now the spectacular six-day affair. Back on that 1988 championship night, it was also September 10th but with a car count much less then in 2011. A note I ran across in looking back for the Friday night show was 96 modifieds, 11 late models and 31 stock cars. Only three classes were competing at that time. Drivers I found that participated back in 1988 and were racing still in the 2011 Super Nationals were Darrel DeFrance, Jeff Aikey and Craig Jacobs all in the IMCA late models and in the IMCA stock car class, Don Killen and Tony Bass. Chris Jensen ran in the stock car class back in 1988 and was in the hobby stock division this year. Merv Chandler, Denny Pittman and Rich Smith were modified participants in 1988 and while Pittman and Smith remained as modified racers (Smith having been in all 29 runnings) Merv Chandler was a 2011 Sport Compact driver.

Monday night started off with the crowning of the first IMCA Super National Champion of 2011 when the 50-lap Deery Brothers IMCA Late Model feature went to Colby Springsteen. Springsteen won his first ever Deery Brothers race that night and what a special one it was for him. Springsteen ran near the front much of the race but an unfortunate incident for the two front runners gave him the opportunity to garner that win. The #1st car of Justin Reed had held the lead until lap 40 when he lost his drive shaft just past the flagstand and second-running Terry Neal could not avoid running over it. With both drivers out of the race, Springsteen soon made the pass on Kevin Sather on the restart and then drove home to the victory.

On Tuesday, September 6, the second Super Nationals Champion was crowned. It was the first-ever IMCA Sport Compact show at the Super Nationals with a full show that night. Forty-nine of the little front-wheel wonders participated. Some people were calling it the "Bumble Bee Nationals" with their distinctive sound! We do not often see this class during the season but when we do, it is often two family names that we hear....the Chandler's and the Whalen's. They were well represented at Boone as we counted seven of them running and all making the A main championship race. The first Sport Compact Super Nationals Champion was Nate Chandler from Norway, Iowa. Brad Chandler (who I believe is a brother, but not for sure) finished second and had to push the winning car off the track after the awards ceremony as the winner had expired his motor.

By the time Saturday rolled around, only last chance races were needed in the modifieds to fill in the final nine cars in their big A main. All other classes had completed their qualifying events the previous days. The IMCA Hobby Stock 30-lap A main was run first. The race through lap 23 was being dominated by Andy Boeckman and Devin Smith as they jousted for position. A little bit too much jousting cost either of them the chance for the win as they both were out of the race at that point, when contact was made. The third place runner, Cody Nielsen inherited the lead on the restart then and motored home to the victory. Nielsen, a rookie in the division this year, is from Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Next came the 30-lap IMCA SportMod feature which proved to be a thriller at the finish. Scott Davis prevailed after having led the previous ten laps but it was Jesse Sobbing who made a tremendous charge as the checkers flew, only to come up a bit short. Scott Davis, who lists his home as Madrid, Iowa, is now a Super National's winner in two divisions, having previously taken a championship in the IMCA Stock Car class.

The 30-lap IMCA stock car feature was absolutely dominated by winner Sean Johnson. Johnson, from Independence, Iowa led all laps and was only briefly challenged by second place finisher Jeff Anderson before pulling away for the win.

Then it was time for the IMCA Modified Big Dance. The three-wide start had Richie Gustin, J. D. Auringer, and Joel Bushore sitting on the front row. Gustin shot to the lead and remained there throughout the 40-lap race, taking the win. A challenge by older half-brother Jimmy Gustin (last year's Super National winner) was looking to present an interesting scenario, but a mechanical issue suddenly found him leaving the track. Richie Gustin, Gilman, Iowa took the 2011 Super National's championship with second place going to Mike VanGenderen, Newton, Iowa, third to Darin Duffy, Hazelton, Iowa, fourth to J. D. Auringer out of Waterloo, Iowa and rounding out the all-Iowa top five was Armstrong, Iowa's Eric Dailey.

Part of the enjoyment of the Super Nationals for us each year is not only the racing, but meeting up with racer/racing friends we see there each year. Also the interesting things that happen. I was shocked when a gentleman sitting beside me turned out to be none other than the very first IMCA Modified Super National's champion back in 1983---Mike Schulte. He gave an insight of just how much the program has changed since that time back in 1983. That race was held on August 10-11, a Saturday and Sunday, at the quarter-mile then called Vinton Speedway in Vinton, Iowa. Interesting to learn that it was 100-laps. There were 43 cars participating with drivers from five states - Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. It was scheduled to be a starting field of 30 cars, but since 38 cars were still running by feature time, they aligned all in the lineup--19 rows of cars that stretched from turn one, back through turn four, for the introductions. Schulte out distanced Jack Mitchell and Merv Chandler. As mentioned earlier, Merv Chandler participated in the 2011 Super Nationals in the Sport Compact division.

We saw great spirit and resilience in the racing this year as well--from stock car driver Steve Meyer taking a nasty barrel roll down the frontstretch and destroying his car, only to go back home to Grundy Center, pull out his old car, and bring it back to Boone. Not only did he race, but he made the feature event on Saturday night. Then there was the spectacular AND scary, utter destruction of Texas driver, Keith White's modified on Friday night. He was nudged into the frontstretch wall and went airborne. We saw the battered chassis later in the pits and knowing that he immediately got out of that destroyed race car and jumped into his stock car to race in the qualifying A main that night, is really unbelievable.

Congratulations to all of the 2011 Super Nationals champions and a big thank you to ALL the racers who put a show on for the fans. The last we heard was a total car count of 822---38 late models, 49 sport compacts, 137 hobby stocks, 186 sportmods, 171 stock cars and 241 modifieds. Guest announcers on the mic along with regular announcer Johnnie Tharp were Ryan Clark, Vinton, Iowa who is a fellow Positively Racing blogger, and long-distance traveler Chet Christner who made it all the way from Las Vegas, Nevada to put in some long marathon calls for the fans. Thanks to both of those "extras" for the great job. Mother Nature blessed us for the entire six days as the weather was the best we can ever remember. The temperatures were nearly ideal and not one drop of rain fell!

Up next for us will be the Havoc on the Highbanks at the Marshalltown Speedway next Friday and Saturday, September 23-24. The following weekend will find us heading out to Beatrice, Nebraska for their annual October Fest races scheduled for Friday September 30 and Saturday October 1. More information for both of these races can be found at www.marshalltownspeedway.com and www.beatricespeedway.com. There are also other races scheduled in the upcoming weeks in our area and you can check those at www.positivelyracing.com under the "calendar" tab at the top of the page. The season will soon be coming to a halt, so us die-hard race fans all need to get out and support the sport we all love. Until next time, happy racing!

Mark Elliott wins modified feature at Boone Speedway

2011-08-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

It was a full night of racing at the Boone Speedway on Saturday night---171 cars checked into the pits--and a good crowd was on hand to witness the night's events. The Iowa State cheerleaders started the night off getting the fans into it, with beaming youngsters joining in along side them.

The Mod Lite feature had Randy Bryan leading but a lap car blocked his line, allowing Andy Hennigar passage around the outside and into the lead. A late caution flew, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Hennigar had no trouble in keeping his lead and went home to his second win of the 2011 season--his first coming back on opening night. Bryan held on to finish second and point leader Josh May came from starting twelfth to finish in third. Fourth was Colby Oberembt and Troy Hudson rounded out the top five.

Thirty-nine IMCA Northern SportMods entered the pits on Saturday night. That would call for two b-main events to complete the starting 24-car A main field. Those consy races were won by the 13M car of first-timer this year, Jason Mallicoat and Kyle Brown. Mallicoat, no stranger to racing as he was the 2006 Super National's champion in the SportMod class, made his first appearance for 2011.

The 18-lap feature, had an early "mess" in corners three and four. When the track was cleared and racing resumed, it was last week's winner, Brian Eppert leading the charge. Jeremy Embrey was flying through the pack from starting in the sixth row and by lap eight, made the pass on Eppert and into the lead. Embrey then had an easy go of it to the checkered flags flying. Embrey took his second feature win this year, Eppert finished in the runner-up spot, third went to Lynn Brockett, fourth to Lucas Landry and Eric Elliott finished in fifth.

The IMCA modified provided 20-laps of exciting action. Mark Elliott established the lead right away from his pole starting spot and led the entire race. It wasn't without a challenge from Jammin' Jimmy Gustin however. As laps wound down, Elliott chose the topside and Gustin dropped low. Jake Durbin made up distance on Gustin and challenged for second. Gustin then went back to the top to fight off Durbin's advancement. On the last corner, Gustin would slide a bit too high, losing just enough moment to allow Durbin to slip past and into second. Elliott took the win (sporting a new car with an all new color scheme) and Durbin was second over Gustin in third. Fourth was Kelly Lyons riding on his usual three wheels with the left front hiked, and Adam Larson came from row six to finish in fifth.

The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars were in fine form as usual. Rod Richards and Eric Brown were leading the troops when contact between two led to an early retirement from the contest for both. Trent Murphy then inherited the lead with Wayne Gifford and Damon Murty hot on his heels. Murty was searching different lines in the corners--low in one and two, high in three and four, in hopes of finding that perfect combination. That allowed Randy Killen to draw closer and he slipped by to take over the third spot. Murty soon ended his run, when he went off the track, up and over turn one. Meanwhile, Donavon Smith was advancing well and had taken over the third spot and was battling with Killen. At the finish line, it was Murphy with the win, Wayne Gifford kept second, Smith finished third over Randy Killen in fourth and Jerry Gifford finished in fifth.

Two IMCA Hobby Stock features were run since there were 42 cars on hand. The first feature saw a new face in victory lane. Scott Pippert, Elberon, Iowa driver, took the lead early and cruised to his first win at Boone. Eric Stanton was running in second at lap eight of the 12-lapper, but we suddenly noticed he was missing in action, and Randy Embrey was in the runner-up position. When the checkers flew, Pippert took the win in comfortable fashion with Embrey following to take second. Third went to Michael Murphy, the point leader, fourth to Dean Hartwig, veteran Boone racer, and Matt Hudspeth finished in fifth.

The last 12-lap Hobby Stock A main saw a very familiar face back in victory lane. John Watson made it two-in-a-row and his eighth win of the regular season. He had also won the Frostbuster special back on April 2nd. Second and third place finishers came from starting in row six. Kevin Fee took second over Andy Boeckman in third. Fourth went to Matt Webb and fifth to Cory Tasler.

There is still one more week of regular season racing left at Boone. Next Saturday night will be the season championships. We expect things to be a little crazy already on Saturday as we anticipate many drivers and fans already on hand for the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals that begins on Labor Day. If the rule remains the same as in years past, no new drivers will be allowed to participate in the races, but look for many new cars taking hot laps! Check out www.raceboone.com for information on the track and the Super Nationals as well. Until next time, happy racing!

Boone - 8-27-11

2011-08-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

Boone results - 8-27-11 - 171 cars

Modified - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 12E Mark Elliott
Heat 2 - 24 Robert Avery
Heat 3 - 4R Michael Reichart

Feature

1. 12E Mark Elliott
2. 18 Jake Durbin
3. 19 Jimmy Gustin
4. 27 Kelly Lyons
5. 2L Adam Larson
6. 93 Cale Sponsler
7. 28R Russ Dickerson
8. 20 Luke Wanninger
9. 57V Mike VanGenderen
10. 24 Robert Avery
11. 3Z Randy Havlik
12. 22D Daniel Hilsabeck
13. 5M Matthew Meinecke
14. 12C Kent Croskey
15. 19R Todd Reed - Parkview, Iowa
16. 83G Josh Gilman
17. 28 Jamie Anderson - Mason City, Iowa
18. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
19. 4R Michael Reichart
20. 1JX Jeff Streeter - Madera, CA
21. 1K Pat Graham
22. 21 David Brown
23. 22T Tyler Prochaska
24. 33M Mike Molle
25. 8X Scott Olson
26. 49T Tim Stevens
27. 20W Shay Woods - Humeston, IA
DNS: 58 Denny Pittman

SportMod - 39 cars

Heat 1 - 57 Lynn Brockett
Heat 2 - 66 Cody Hennings
Heat 3 - 22B Brian Eppert
Heat 4 - 96 Lucas Lundry

B Main #1 - 2 advance

1. 13M Jason Mallicoat
2. X4 Jason Purvis
3. 34J Jerry Hinton
4. 59 Tara Longnecker
5. 19G Gatlin Leytham - Garwin, Iowa
6. 17T Tyler Heetland - Bancroft, Iowa
7. 33 Tim Rupp - Cherokee, Iowa
DNS: 48 Blake Coant - Carlisle, Iowa
9ER Tony Pogeler - Cher0okee, Iowa

B Main #2 - 2 advance

1. 21 Kyle Brown - Kellogg, Iowa
2. 92P Mike Pruitt
3. 7W Tim Wilcox - Ida Grove, Iowa
4. 93 Mike Stark
5. 3F Cole Ferguson
6. 3 Stacey Clark
7. 28 James Reichart - Lorimor, Iowa
8. 5B Tom Burke
DNS: 63 Daniel Tasler

Feature

1. 41 Jeremy Embrey
2. 22B Brian Eppert
3. 57 Lynn Brockett
4. 96 Lucas Lundry
5. 9E Eric Elliott
6. 81D Scott Davis
7. 27 Tim Love
8. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
9. 3S Adam Shelman
10. 13M Jason Mallicoat
11. 92P Mike Pruitt
12. 2G Geoff Olson
13. 26J Joel Rust - Grundy Center, Iowa
14. 6 Darren Huntley
15. 505 Racer Hulin
16. 66 Cody Hennings
17. 23JR Nick Roberts
18. X4 Jason Purvis
19. 02 Mike Goldsberry
20. 36 Matt Pittman
21. 27X Bryon Weyer
22. 3R Randy Roberts
23. 86 Cory Rose
24. 21 Kyle Brown

Stock Car - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 12+ Ryan Rose
Heat 2 - 3H Ty Hill
Heat 3 - 25 Treny Murphy
Heat 4 - 9 Jerry Gifford

B Main - 4 advance

1. 19J Jay Schmidt
2. 50X Chad Louk - appeared to be a former Robert Stofer car
3. 31M Mark Haglund
4. 7i Andrew Inman
5. 45 Larry Crocheck
6. 1F Marcus Fagan
7. 556 Terry Cornelison
8. 6 Adam Hilgenberg
9. 5 Keith Miner
10. 05 Seth Bowen
DNS: 56 Lonnie Hodges
27M Mike Munson

Feature

1. 25 Trent Murphy
2. 22 Wayne Gifford
3. 35 Donavon Smith
4. 81X Randy Killen
5. 9 Jerry Gifford
6. 19A Alan VanGorp
7. 12+ Ryan Rose
8. 19J Jay Schmidt
9. 3H Ty Hill
10. 31 Jason York
11. 1K Tom Killen
12. 31M Mark Haglund
13. 50X Chad Louk
14. 50 Robert Stofer
15. 68P Aaron Parmer
16. 711 Michael Walrod
17. 04 Don Vis
18. 77T Trent Jeanes
19. 11C Steve Campbell
20. 7i Andrew Inman
21. 99D Damon Murty
22. 23HR Rod Richards
23. 24 Eric Brown
24. 287 John Emerson

Hobby Stock - 42 cars

Heat 1 - 40 Randy Embrey
Heat 2 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 3 - 4W John Watson
Heat 4 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 5 - 62B Andy Boeckman
Heat 6 - 38R Aaron Rudolph

Feature #1

1. 47 Scott Pippert
2. 40 Randy Embrey
3. 25M Michael Murphy
4. 74J Dean Hartwig
5. 3 Matt Hudspeth
6. 11G Nyle Godwin
7. 23 Cody Gustoff
8. 07 Jacob Keiser - Marengo, IA
9. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
10. 9 Andrew Arends
11. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
12. 8B Robert Smith
13. 29X Nathan Ballard - Marengo, IA
14. 7B Eric Stanton
15. 1R Brad Ratcliff - Webster City, IA
16. 21 Myles Michehl - Ft. Dodge, IA
17. 66M Matt Mahoney - Pierson, IA
18. 85 Seth Janssen
19. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
20. 24B Brandon Brinton
21. 14 Matt Wahlert

Hobby Stock #2

Feature

1. 4W John Watson
2. 52X Kevin Fee
3. 62B Andy Boeckman - Lake View, IA
4. 51 Matt Webb
5. 63 Cory Tasler
6. 12M Matt McDonald
7. 38R Aaron Rudolph
8. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
9. 78 Tim Hadley
10. 73D Robert Dilley - Webster City, IA
11. 22 Chris Jensen
12. 26T Jeremy Tilley
13. 99 Jeff Knight
14. 5A Tyler Pickett
15. 27R Clint Rothfus
16. 911 Darin Rothfus
17. 16B Jay Arends
18. 10B Brandon Pruitt
DNS: 20 Donnie Gustoff\
4C Curt Reed
17K Kyle Parizek - Belle Plaine, IA

Mod Lite - 30 cars

Heat 1 - 99 Josh May
Heat 2 - 4+1 Troy Hudson
Heat 3 - 15 Andy Hennigar

B Main - 3 advance

1. 89 Travis Stensland
2. 46 Kevin Grisham
3. 4L Larry Sorenson
4. 76 Terry Sorenson
5. 37 Mike Thomas
6. 08 Ben Larson
7. 33 Gayle Worthington
8. 11 Michael Stoker
DNS: 1H Kenny Hake

Feature

1. 15 Andy Hennigar
2. 64 Randy Bryan
3. 99 Josh May
4. 0B Colby Oberembt
5. 4+1 Troy Hudson
6. 5X Matt Goodin
7. 88 James May
8. 11R Jason Whitehead
9. 8 Dusty Masolini
10. 95 Mike Kennedy
11. 16 Angelo Montgomery
12. 01 David Schmalzried
13. 89 Travis Stensland
14. 20 Jeff Stensland
15. 3C Duane Coffman
16. 46Z Bryan Zehm
17. 46 Kevin Grisgham
18. 9 Rick Taylor
19. 93 Tim Milner
20. 4L Larry Sorenson
21. 23 Michael Parcel
22. X50 Joel Huggins
23. 1 John Gardner
24. DC5 Dalton Dingman - Grimes, IA

Marshalltown Speedway finds Murphy, Embrey and Hennigar repeating

2011-08-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

It was a fine weather Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway. A welcome night after five rain outs and one rain-shortened program during the 2011 season. The IMCA Stock Car, Hobby Stock and the Mod-Lite winners all repeated from last week and the Modified class sent a winner to victory lane for a seventh time.

The Micro-Sprints ran for the second time this year. Ten of the noisy little powerhouses ran a twelve-lap feature. The winner was Ben Woods from Newton, Iowa.

Up next was the Mod-Lite feature which was dominated by Tim Hennigar. Hennigar took his third win in a row as he cruised to the checkered flag. Josh May finished a distant second followed by Joel Huggins in third, James May in fourth and James May rounded out the top five.

The 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature was nearly over from the get go as well. Randy Embrey led the entire race, and took his second win in as many weeks. Clint Nelson chased Embrey the whole time, taking second. Third went to Jake Nelson, and Michael Murphy and Eric Knutson finished fourth and fifth in a close contest.

The IMCA Northern SportMod 15-lapper ran next. Zach Rawlins and Jake Strayer dueled it out for the lead for several laps and then Tyler Droste joined in the fun. Strayer established his lead and went home to the checkers first, winning for the second time this year. Droste finished in second, third was Zach Rawlins, Racer Hulins was fourth and veteran driver Scott Davis was fifth.

The IMCA Stock Car 18-lap feature was exciting as always. The early laps of the race had a multi-car accident in turn four, sending the 20L of Lauren Vis into a flip, and the results looking like a parking lot. When racing resumed, it was Trevor Titus keeping his previous lead. Titus, in his Ford Thunderbird built in about 1989 if memory serves us right, put it to the topside and was cruising along with Steve Meyer in pursuit. Jay Schmidt, Trent Murphy and Damon Murty joined in as they tried reeling the two top runners in. Titus dropped to the bottom of the infamous turns one and two and the following lap, contact was made between Titus and Meyer, sending Titus spinning and out of competition. Murphy was then at the helm as he and Murty fought it out. Murphy kept his lead, taking the win for the second week in a row, his fifth of the year, with Murty settling for second. Third went to Donavon Smith who came from starting in row six, Schmidt took fourth and Steve Meyer rounded out the top five.

The finale was the IMCA Modified feature. Duane Peterson took the immediate lead from his outside front row starting spot and looked strong. A caution bunched the field and soon it was a battle amongst six cars--Todd Conrad, Jon Snyder, Josh Gilman, Adam Larson, and Jimmy Gustin chasing Peterson. Contact was made between Peterson and Conrad at the bottom of, once again, that infamous turns one and two. The caution flag flew, and Conrad and Peterson both retired to the pits--neither probably being very happy with the other. When the race restarted, Jon Snyder was the recipient of the lead position and he then went home to grab his seventh feature at the track this season. Josh Gilman finished in second, followed by Adam Larson, Andrew Kinser, and Kyle Krampe, finishing third through fifth respectively.

It was a good night of racing at the highbanked quarter-mile and we enjoyed sharing it with racing friends. One more regular night of racing remains as next Friday night will be the Larry Wollam Season Championship. Then on Friday and Saturday, September 23-24, the final action at the track will be the Havoc on the Highbanks.
Full results and information can be found at www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Until next time, happy racing!

Southern Iowa Speedway Season Championship 2011

2011-08-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

The regular season at the monster half-mile at the Southern Iowa Speedway didn't begin until after the middle of May. What with several rain outs, the season seemed even shorter. Wednesday night concluded the 2011 regular season with the track champions being crowned in all four divisions.

In the USRA B Modified feature, it was appearing to be one of those "ho-hummers", as Carter VanDenBerg shot to the lead on the very first lap and continued to put a lot of distance between himself and any competition. Not so fast on the assuming! Drew Lawson, Cayden Carter and Curtis VanDerWal were vying for the second spot behind VanDenBerg for much of the race (which went flag-to-flag) and when VanDerWal finally established that second position in the final few laps, he began reeling in the leader. VanDenBerg was still leading with the checkered flag in his sight, but at the line, it was VanDerWal nosing him out for the win. VanDenBerg had to be content with the runner-up spot, third went to Drew Lawson, Cayden Carter was fourth, and Bill Gibson rounded out the top five. Cayden Carter is the track champion.

VanDerWal was thrilled with his win...the first we can recall for him. We do remember his racing in the mid-90's on the asphalt at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids, though the class he ran escapes us. It was an emotional VanDerWal who was interviewed by announcer Tony Paris after his win as he thanked many people.

The USRA Modified feature followed with another caution-free 15-lap feature. A "bad" start occurred at the drop of the green, and as Tony Paris so often calls those "anxious" drivers, "bad dog, no biscuit", and it was called back for a "try-again". When the real start of the race began, it was Colt Mather absolutely GONE. He pulled away to take the convincing win...his fourth of the year. Scott Dickey finished a distant second, followed by Josh Truman and Steven Blatter (the only real contest on the track) for third and fourth in that order. Fifth went to Ron VerBeek and Zack VanderBeek finished in sixth. Steven Blattler was crowned the track champion for the second year in a row.

The USRA Hobby Stocks ran next. Calvin Dhondt, the young driver from Kellogg, Iowa who just a few weeks ago was called away from the track at Osky with the devastating news that his father had been involved in a motorcycle/cow accident,(he continues his long road to recovery at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines) led the early portion of the race. Dustin Griffiths overtook Dhondt for the lead and Kris Walker followed suit making his way into second. A close battle ensued for the third spot as Dhondt, Craig Brown and Donovan Nunnikhoven diced it out. On the white flag lap, with Griffiths in command, Kris Walker let loose with a cloud of smoke on the backstretch, losing his second position, but managed to limp across the finish line many positions behind. However, with his large point lead, he was still able to hold on and take the track championship. Griffiths took his fifth win at Osky this year, followed by Calvin Dhondt, Craig Brown, Donovan Nunnikhoven and Todd Reitzler finishing second through fifth in that order.

The final event of the evening was 15-laps in the USRA Stock Car class. As lap one was scored, Kyle Harwood found himself against the frontstretch wall, bringing out a yellow flag and out of the race. There was a three-car breakaway at the front of the pack as Corey Stout (from just over by turn one) the 20dub car of Shane Weller, and Nathan Wood going at it hot and heavy. Wood later went to the work area for a quick tire change and joined the tail of the field after a caution flew. That left the 94 of Stout and the 20dub of Weller being the show of the field up front. A slight jump of the cushion by Weller in turn two, lost him a bit of momentum with a lap or two to go, giving Stout a bit of breathing room. He was able to keep the lead to the checkers and the win--his second of 2011. Weller finished in second (Weller is track champion) third went to Nathan Wood who worked his way through the pack after tagging the tail earlier, fourth was first-time visitor Mike Harward in the #01i, and Steve Jackson finished in fifth.

So ends another season of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The track has been our Wednesday night home since 1988. Prior to that, we took in specials of the 100-200 lap era of racing, so we have a long history of sitting in the old grandstand at the big ole half-mile. There is still a bit of racing remaining in 2011 at Osky however. The 25th Annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge rolls into town for two-nights of racing on Friday and Saturday, October 14 and 15. Check www.rlpromotions.com for more information as well as the official results of the races. Until next time, get out and find a race to attend and support the sport we love. Happy racing!

Osky - 8-24-11

2011-08-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

Unofficial results:

Modified

Heat - 33Z Zack VanderBeek

Feature

1. 8 Colt Mather
2. 40 Scott Dickey
3. 47 Josh Truman
4. 94 Steve Blatter - track champion 2nd year in a row
5. 4R Ron VerBeek
6. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
DNF: 15K Kyle Harwood
DNS: 22 Brandon Banks
4B Scott Boles

B Mod

Heat 1 - 1 Curtis VanDerWal
Heat 2 - 7 Carter VanDenBerg

Feature

1. 1 Curtis VanDerWal - by a bumper at the line
2. 7 Carter VanDenBerg
3. D1 Drew Lawson
4. 10 Cayden Carter - track champion
5. 38 Bill Gibson
6. 27 Bryon Weyer
7. 02 Andrew Schroeder
8. 55T Bobby Greene
9. 8 Tom Lathrop
DNF: 50X James Krier
72 Brett Lowry
3K John VanDenBerg
8X Brad Iverson
03 Mark Mundell
8T Tony Johnson

Stock Car

Heat 1 - 2J Steve Jackson
Heat 2 - 20dub Shane Weller

Feature

1. 94 Corey Stout
2. 20dub Shane Weller - track champion
3. 52 Nathan Wood
4. 01i Mike Harward
5. 2J Steve Jackson
6. 4M Brian Mitrisin
7. 7 Rick Todd
8. 73c Carl Yaw
9. 7X Todd Phillips
10. 98 Brock Welch
DNF: 15K Kyle Harwood

Hobby Stock

Heat 1 - 22R Todd Reitzler
Heat 2 - 85 Jason McDaniel

Feature

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 69X Calvin Dhondt
3. 69 Craig Brown
4. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
5. 22R Todd Reitzler
6. 558 Jim Hughes
7. 31 Dale Porter
8. 3S Steve Allen - driving the 29 car of Wes Almond after destroying his own
at the Scotland County Speedway recently
9.. 18 Kris Walker - blew on last lap - coasted across finish - track champion
10. 33 Justin Hook
DNF: 21 Nick Ulin
85 Jason McDaniel
73 Aaron Martin
77 Doug Gordon, Jr.

Brian Eppert gets first SportMod win

2011-08-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

There was a great car count at the Boone Speedway on Saturday night - 164 by my figures - and that was with another special race going on up in Webster City not all that far away. The farming session had the kids tossing rubber chickens at costumed clowns, a candy toss and drivers tossing Frisbees into the stands with prize coupons attached. A lot was thrown into one night--just a little trial run for some upcoming antics during Super Nationals we've heard. We were pleased to see another rookie grab his first win on Saturday night too. This time, it was sealed in the books in the SportMod division.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature went to Jeff Stensland for his second win of the season. Within the first couple of circuits, it was Tim Hennigar and Troy Hudson getting tangled together at the bottom of turns one and two and ending their run. Stensland was then in charge of the pack of the mighty little powerhouses, and held the lead the rest of the way to the checkers. Bryan Zehm followed Stensland to the checkers to finish in second, third went to Mike Kennedy, earlier race leader, David Schmalzried finished in fourth, and last week's winner Colby Oberembt finished in fifth.

The IMCA Northern SportMods had 39 cars on hand thus requiring TWO B mains which advanced only two cars each. Those were won by Randy Roberts and Ty Luellen. There was a false start at the drop of the green in the A main when pole-sitter Mike Stark got a little anxious and jumped the gun...sending him to restart the beginning of the race two spots behind his original place. When the race then started at the drop of the next green, Brian Eppert took the lead and motored smoothly on to victory; the race going caution free the remainder of the laps. We were pleased to see Eppert take the victory in this his rookie season in the SportMod class. Those first time wins are always a special treat to witness. Ray Lundry from Maynard, Iowa, in just his second appearance at the track, finished in second place, while third went to Eric Elliott, fourth to Adam Shelman and fifth to Rick Ringgenberg.

The IMCA modifieds ran their 20-lapper next in a flag-to-flag run. Kelly Lyons took flight in his #27 from the pole position and flew home to his second victory of the year. Lap traffic slowed Lyon's progress very little but did allow Jake Durbin to close in on the final laps, but Durbin could do no better than second. Third went to Randy Havlik, fourth to Adam Larson who came from starting fourteenth, and fifth was Todd Shute who came from the tenth starting spot.

In the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car feature--which was action packed through out the field--it was Jerry Gifford putting his name in the books for the fourth time this year. Gifford led most of the race but it was a fight for position behind him. Jay Schmidt, Wayne Gifford and Rod Richards were duking it out for second through fourth and farther back in the field, cars were going three and four wide. A little bumping and "just racing" shook the top runners up a bit in the late laps. Gifford took the win with Donavon Smith, point leader, coming from starting eleventh to take the runner-up place. Third was ninteenth place starter, Trent Murphy who fought through the traffic with a nice finish, fourth went to Wayne Gifford, and fifth to Rod Richards. Jay Schmidt fell back a bit to finish sixth.

The first of two A features for the IMCA Hobby Stock class saw Scott Lograsso under the checkers flying first. It was mentioned on a racing forum that Lograsso was later disqualified, but with that being said, and until I receive official notice of such, I will not change the finish. *Stay tuned for an update if it should happen. Lograsso held the lead from about lap four, keeping it to cross the finish line first. Curt Reed finished second (or perhaps first, we shall see) third was point leader Michael Murphy, fourth, Craig Graham and fifth, Rob Allison.

*At some point on Monday, the official results were noted as being changed. This reflected that Scott Lograsso was disqualified, thus handing the win over to Curt Reed. Second then went to Michael Murphy, third to Craig Graham, fourth to Rob Allison and Tyler Pickett was fifth.

The second Hobby Stock feature saw frequent visitor to victory lane, John Watson grab another win,--his seventh of the regular season and throw in the Frostbuster, and that makes eight wins at the track this year. Watson took the lead just past the half way mark of the 12-lap feature and pulled away. Aaron Rudolph finished in second place followed by Brandon Brinton in third. A visitor from far northwestern, Iowa, Shane Klaasen who calls Little Rock, Iowa home, took the fourth place and Tony Cox finished in fifth.

Two more weeks of regular season racing remains at the Boone Speedway, the final night being September 3rd for the season championships. Then on Labor Day, Monday September 5, it will be the start of a six-day run of the 29th annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals. It is non-stop racing that if you haven't experienced, you really should try it so you can at least say you've, "been there, done that". Until next time, happy racing!

Boone - 8-20-11

2011-08-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

8-20-11 - 164 cars

Modified - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 3Z Randy Havlik
Heat 2 - 27 Kelly Lyons
Heat 3 - 58 Denny Pittman

B Main - 3 advance

1. 51 Tyler VandeKamp
2. 5M Matthew Meinecke
3. 19R Todd Reed - Parkview, IA
4. 71 Dennis Laveine - West Burlington, IA
5. 5D Devin Havlik
6. 33D Scott Hogan
7. 1X Steve Streeter - Medera, CA

Feature

1. 27 Kelly Lyons
2. 18 Jake Durbin
3. 3Z Randy Havlik
4. 2L Adam Larson
5. 5 Todd Shute
6. 10M Jeremy Mills
7. 28R Russ Dickerson
8. 93 Cale Sponsler
9. 58 Denny Pittman
10. 19 Jimmy Gustin
11. 62 Greg Cox
12. 22T Tyler Prochaska
13. 24 Robert Avery
14. 94 Fred Schimmels
15. 28 Jamie Anderson
16. 26 Steve Glenn - Hamilton, MO
17. Matthew Meinecke
18. 12C Kent Croskey
19. 20W Shay Woods - Humeston, IA
20. 51 Tyler VandeKamp
21. 19R Todd Reed - Parkview, IA
22. 56 Jeff Marriott - Chillicothe, MO
23. 1JX Jeff Streeter - Madera, CA
24. 49T Tim Stevens

SportMod - 39 cars

Heat 1 - 22B Brian Eppert
Heat 2 - 196 Ray Lundry
Heat 3 - 33 Tim Rupp - Cherokee, IA
Heat 4 - 9E Eric Elliott

B Main #1 - 2 advance

1. 3R Randy Roberts
2. 9X Austin Lucas
3. 11 Beau Kaplan
4. 20T Mike Tanner - Kansas City, MO
5. 13T Taylor Mussellman
6. 22J Jeff Blume
7. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
8. 81 Max Leonard - Ladora, IA
DNS: 24 Brian Miller
6 Darren Huntley

B Main #2 - 2 advance

1. 32L Ty Luellen
2. X4 Jason Purvis
3. 5B Tom Burke
4. 52M Dustin Miller - Pattonsburg, MO
5. 22X Troy Oliver
6 56 Joe Simbro
7. 99K Kody Havens - Wiota, IA
8. 3 Stacey Clark
DNS: 63 Daniel Tasler

Feature

1. 22B Brian Eppert - First feature win
2. 196 Ray Lundry
3. 9E Eric Elliott
4. 3s Adam Shelman
5. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
6. 93 Mike Stark
7. 66 Cody Hennings
8. 23JR Nick Roberts
9. 81D Scott Davis
10. 2G Geoff Olson
11. 57 Lynn Brockett
12. 3R Randy Roberts
13. 505 Racer Hulin
14. 86 Cory Rose
15. 33 Tim Rupp
16. 77 Jack Myer
17. 27 Tim Love
18. 59 Tara Longnecker
19. 1TO Tyler Olson
20. 3L Clint Luellen
21. 9X Austin Lucas
22. 96 Lucas Lundry - Maynard, IA
23. X4 Jason Purvis
24. 32L Ty Luellen

Stock Car - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 24 Eric Brown
Heat 2 - 22 Wayne Gifford
Heat 3 - 45 Larry Crocheck

B Main - 3 advance

1. 56 Lonnie Hodges
2. 41X Brad Schebel - Essig, MN
3. 04 Don Vis
4. 556 Terry Cornelison
5. 5 Keith Miner
6. 93 Michael Jaennette
7. 27 Gary Bass
DNS: 3s Bryan Snell

Feature

1. 9 Jerry Gifford
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 22 Wayne Gifford
5. 23HR Rod Richards
6. 19J Jay Schmidt
7. 24 Eric Brown
8. 19A Alan VanGorp
9. 75 Curt Hook
10. 45 Larry Crocheck
11. 25J Josh Daniels
12. 271 Randy Brands, Boyden, IA
13. 12+ Ryan Rose
14. 3H Ty Hill
15. 15X Bob Daniels
16. 04 Don Vis
17. 68P Aaron Parmer - Humeston, IA
18. 41X Brad Scheibel
19. 05 Seth Bowen
20. 31 Jason York
21. 27M Mike Munson - Boxholm, IA
22. 56 Lonnie Hodges
23. 94 Steve Meyer
24. 50 Robert Stofer

Hobby Stock - 39 cars

Heat 1 - 13G Craig Graham - Webster City, IA
Heat 2 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 3 - 47 Scott Pippert - Elberon, IA
Heat 4 - 901 Shane Klaasen - Little Rock, IA

Feature #1

1. 83S Scott Lograsso - crossed first but was dq'd in tech. Win goes to Reed
Lograsso was scored as last.
2. 4C Curt Reed
3. 25M Michael Murphy
4. 13G Craig Graham
5. 12A Rob Allison
6. 5A Tyler Pickett
7. 51 Matt Webb
8. 74J Dean Hartwig
9. J4 John Yaw
10. 20N Justin Nehring - Storm Lake, IA
11. 26T Jeremy Tilley
12. 911 Darin Rothfus
13. 14 Matt Wahlert
14. 77C Andy Coffman
15. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
16. 22 Chris Jensen
17. 36S Mike Smith
18. 2J Ralph Jones
19. 47 Scott Pippert
20. 67 Ed Mahlstedt

Feature #2

1. 4W John Watson
2. 38R Aaron Rudolph
3. 24B Brandon Brinton
4. 901 Shane Klaasen - Little Rock, IA
5. 1BC Tony Cox
6. 7B Eric Stanton
7. 32X Kyle Robinson - Cherokee, IA
8. 99 Jeff Knight
9. 8B Robert Smith
10. 27R Clint Rothfus
11. 9 Andrew Arends
12. 20T Richard Yaw II
13. 85 Seth Janssen
14. 12M Matt McDonald
15. 16B Jay Arends
16. 17 Lee Farmer - Bethany, MO
17. T71 Marcus Kyle
18. 32 Bill Atcheson
19. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh

Mod Lite - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 46ZL
Heat 2 - 57 Lynn Brockett
Heat 3 - 99 Josh May

B Main - 3 advance (only 3 showed on track and was checkered and not run)

1. 82 Charlie Brown
2. 89 Travis Stensland
3. 23 Mike Parcel
DNS: 33 Gayle Worthington
73 Jason Smithson
15 Andy Hennigar
00 Phillip Reeves
64 Randy Bryan

Feature

1. 20 Jeff Stensland
2. 46Z Bryan Zehm
3. 95 Mike Kennedy
4. 01 David Schmalzried
5. 0B Colby Oberembt
6. 88 James May
7. 99 Josh May
8. 11R Jason Whitehead
9. 1 John Gardner
10. 3C Duane Coffman
11. 8 Dusty Masolini
12. 5X Matthew Goodin
13. 89 Travis Stensland
14. 82 Charlie Brown
15. 93 Tim Milner
16. 76 Terry Sorenson
17. 4L Larry Sorenson
18. 11 Michael Stoker
19. 57 Tim Hennigar
20. 4+1 Troy Hudson (new car tonight with a "5" on it)
21. 9 Rick Taylor
22. 46 Kevin Grisham
DNS: 09 Joel Keenan
23 Michael Parcel

VanDenBerg grabs win in his OWN car this time

2011-08-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway was the scene of their weekly racing program. A little added entertainment included a dozen of the Vintage cars racing open-wheeled cars of yesteryear as well as the '50's era full bodied cars. A few sprinkles fell from a "boiling" overhead cloud, but it quickly moved on and caused no problems in the racing.

Two A mains were run for the visiting Vintage racers. They were divided into two groups. The open-wheeled division went to the 3R "super modified" of Austin Russell. This brought back memories of what we first saw running at the Knoxville Raceway "way back when". The full bodied feature...those of the '50's...went to John Schroyer in his 1957 Chevy.

The Mod Lite's ran next in their 18-lap feature. Tim Hennigar dominated in taking the win, leading all laps and pulling away. Mike Morrill finished in second, Andy Hennigar in third, fourth went to Jeff Stensland and fifth to Randy Bryan.

Randy Embrey returned to the track in his IMCA hobby stock. After taking the checkers last week, and then being disqualified for not having enough weight hung on his crate motor, (25# minimum, 30# maximum) he opted to return and redeem himself in his now legal ride. He once again took the checkers first and this time, was officially declared the winner as he lead all 12 laps of the A main event. He had tight action chasing him with the next three finishers battling it out. Kevin Fee took the runner up position over Michael Murphy in third, Scott Pippert in fourth and Clint Nelson rounded out the top five.

A nice field of 29 IMCA Northern SportMods came to play, requiring a B main to complete the 24-car starting field for the A main. The father-son duo of Zach and Tom Rawlins fought it out for the top spot in the early going but soon it would be the #7 of Carter VanDenBerg moving up to challenge from his 9th starting position. VanDenBerg snatched the lead and pulled away for his second win of 2011 at the track. VanDenBerg had won his first feature back on August 5, and at that time, had jumped in a borrowed car, that of Brett Lowry. This time, he sealed the win in his own car. Tyler Droste followed the winner up through the field to nab the runner up spot. Jenae Gustin had a nice run to take third, fourth was Tom Rawlins and fifth was Scott Davis. It appears that Scott Davis has now taken over the point lead by himself after previously being tied with Cayden Carter. Carter encountered an abrupt stop against a dirt mound on the backstretch, sending him to the tail to restart and finishing far behind the leaders.

The 18-lap IMCA stock car feature saw some fierce battling between Jay Schmidt, Damon Murty and Trent Murphy. Those drivers were opting for running top side in corners three and four for the most part but Murphy then dove to the bottom to overtake Schmidt for the lead. Schmidt went in a little hard after going to the bottom in turns one and two, lost momentum, allowing Murty to take over the runner up spot. At the checkers, it was Murphy winning his fourth of the year, Murty taking second, third went to Schmdit, fourth to Kevin Rose and Todd Reitzler was fifth.

The finale for the evening was the 20-lap IMCA modified feature. Pole sitter, Andrew Kinser showed some muscle early as he lead the charge during the early laps. A caution would then bunch the field changing things up and Jon Snyder, flying to the lead with Adam Larson in tow. Snyder continued running the highline until late, he opted for the bottom in turn one...the tail kicked out and he ended up sideways, collecting third place runner Ronn Lauritzen who was close on his heels. Adam Larson was now at the helm with Jammin' Jimmy Gustin pedaling hard behind him. Larson went on to the win, his fourth of the year at Marshalltown, and Gustin had to settle for second on this night. Third went to last week's winner, Josh Truman, fourth to visiting driver, Jacob Murray from Hartford, Iowa, and Todd Conrad was fifth. Snyder now holds a slim four point lead over Gustin for the track title in the modified division, making for a shoot out in the last couple of night's racing left.

Yes, just two nights of regular season racing remains at the fast quarter-mile. The season has flown by for sure. Don't forget the Havoc on the Highbanks set for September 23-24 though. Full results and information can be found at www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Happy racing!

Meinecke wins his first modified feature

2011-08-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to see someone get their first win, and Saturday night at the Boone Speedway, we did just that when a rookie to the IMCA modified ranks put it in the record books. There was a good field of 159 cars on hand with new drivers in several classes. There was also a little added entertainment on the night as well when several drivers stuffed themselves into cardboard racers, and ran a foot race to the checkered flag. Hobby stock driver, Tony Cox took the win in that contest. The local Walmart also donated around 15 bikes that were given away to lucky youngsters.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature found Colby Oberembt taking his third win of the season. Oberembt, sporting a new body on his ride, led all but the first of the 15-lap race.
Matthew Goodin took the second position, while third went to the 4+1 of Troy Hudson. Hudson started thirteenth on the field and chased the leaders down. Fourth went to Joel Huggins and fifth to Tim Hennigar.

The IMCA Northern SportMod feature found an early battle between Brian Eppert, Nick Roberts and Brian Miller. Roberts grabbed the lead about lap twelve and was then able to pull away from the competition--taking his first win at the track in 2011. Brian Miller got around Eppert as they finished second and third respectively. Geoff Olson came from starting in row five, to take fourth place, and Scott Davis, the point leader, rounded out the top five.

The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature was next on the schedule. You couldn't miss the bright neon colored #5M of Matthew Meinecke who shot to the lead from his pole starting spot...and led the entire race to the checkers. Meinecke, who fended off the challenges of Joel Bushore, is a rookie to the modified ranks, having previously raced in the SportMod division. Congratulations to him on this achievement in just his first year in the class. Bushore retained the second spot and third went to Jake Durbin who fought around Cale Sponsler late in the race as they finished third and fourth in that order. Jimmy Gustin completed the top five.

The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars, always gives the crowd some thrills. This was one of those instances when it's never over until it's over held true. Just when you thought you knew who was going to win, a mishap would throw that out the window. Several leaders, Dave Baugh, Jerry Gifford and Jay Schmidt amongst them, all saw their hopes dashed. One of the most spectacular occurrences was when Josh Brauckman got sideways low in corner one, rolled and Dave Baugh launched up and over the rolling car...very high in the air...and came down on all four tires. Both drivers were okay thankfully, with only major repairs to look forward to. A second incident happened when Jay Schmidt, leading, and challenger Trent Murphy got together, ending both their nights as well. The green remained out during that skirmish, and the lucky driver to avoid it all was Donavon Smith, who took over the lead and motored home to the win. Jerry Gifford took the runner up spot ahead of Steve Meyer in third, Ryan Rose in fourth, and Ryan Leeman was fifth.

It's been a while since two A features were required for the IMCA Hobby Stock class...back in late May. With 38 cars on hand (I believe that is perhaps the "magic number" for TWO features) the cars were split into the two A main events and no B mains were run.

Hobby main #1 went to Michael Murphy, a driver who has visited victory lane NINE times this season. If I was a betting person, I might just put my money on him taking a Super Nationals championship this year...he knows the track well! Even starting back in row five, he worked his way methodically through traffic, passed then leader Brandon Brinton on lap seven of the 12-lapper, and pulled away for another convincing win. Second place went to one of several visiting drivers on the night, the #49 of Cody Knecht out of Whittemore, Iowa. Brandon Brinton took third place, fourth went to veteran Dean Hartwig, and fifth was Curt Reed.

Hobby feature #2 went to Aaron Rudolph who captured his first win of the year. Rudolph led all but the first lap of the race. He fended off John Watson who challenged for the lead with Tony Cox nipping at his heels. The race ended with Rudolph crossing the finish line in first, a little shuffling behind changed the expected finish a bit, as Cox took second ahead of Eric Stanton in third, and somehow, Watson ended up being pushed across the line to finish fourth. Veteran driver making his first appearance on the track this year, Chris Jensen, finished in fifth.

There are still three more weeks of regular season racing remaining at the Boone Speedway before the Super Nationals scheduled for September 5-10. Many more races remain on the calendar around our area as well. Check out the calendar on www.positivelyracing.com for a race you may want to take in. Happy racing!

Boone - 8-13-11

2011-08-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

159 cars

Modified - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 93 Cale Sponsler
Heat 2 - 19 Jimmy Gustin
Heat 3 - 33M Mike Molle

Feature

1. Matthew Meinecke - 1st modified win
2. 87 Joel Bushore
3. 18 Jake Durbin
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 19 Jimmy Gustin
6. 24 Robert Avery
7. 33M Mike Molle
8. 28R Russ Dickerson
9. 10M Jeremy Mills
10. 58 Denny Pittman
11. 57V Mike VanGenderen
12. 22T Tyler Prochaska - Iowa Falls, IA
13. 94 Fred Schimmels
14. 27 Kelly Lyons
15. 12c Kent Croskey
16. 83G Josh Gilman
17. 77C Craig Carlson
18. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
19. 5D Devin Havlik
20. 02 Brian Law
21. 14M Matthew Kiner - Aurora, NE
22. 28 Jamie Anderson - Mason City, IA
23. 00x Jim Cooper
24. 3Z Randy Havlik
25. 3 Cody Taylor - Waukee, IA
DNS: 12E Mark Elliott
4R Mike Reichart

SportMod - 34 cars

Heat 1 - 57 Lynn Brockett
Heat 2 - x4 Jason Purvis
Heat 3 - 24 Brian Miller
Heat 4 - 81d Scott Davis

B Main - 4 advance

1. 505 Racer Hulin
2. 41 Jeremy Embrey
3. 64X Brandon Leeman
4. 3L Clint Luellen
5. 33 Tim Rupp - Cherokee, IA
6. 9E Eric Elliott
7. 196 Ray Lundry, Maynard, IA
8. 02 Mike Goldberry
9. 36 Matt Pittmam
10. 77 Jack Myer
11. 93 Mike Stark - West Des Moines
12. 22J Jeff Blume
13. 29B Ben Wilson
DNS 56 Joe Simbro

Feature

1. 23Jr Nick Roberts
2. 24 Brian Miller
3. 22B Brian Eppert
4. 2G Geoff Olson
5. 81D Scott Davis
6. 41 Jeremy Embrey
7. X4 Jason Purvis
8. 3s Adam Shelman
9. 59 Tara Longnecker
10. 57 Lynn Brockett
11. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
12. 505 Racer Hulin
13. 27 Tim Love
14. 3R Randy Roberts
15. 63 Daniel Tasler
16. 99C Rocky Caudle
17. 777 Jayme Duinink
18. 3L Clint Luellen
19. 6 Darren Huntley
20. 64X Brandon Leeman
21. 96 Lucas Lundry
22. 22X Troy Oliver - Des Moines, IA
23. 48 Blake Coant
24. 3 Stacey Clark

Stock Car - 35 cars

Heat 1 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Heat 2 - 19J Jay Schmidt
Heat 3 - 23HR Rod Richards

B Main - 4 advance

1. 22 Wayne Gifford
2. 04 Don Vis
3. R31 Ryan Leeman
4. 55 Cory Bushnell
5. 31 Jason York
6. 68P Aaron Parmer - Humeston
7. 76 Norman Belew
8. 6 Adam Hilgenberg - Waukee
9. 20x Dustin Wannarka - Winnebago, MN
10. 56 Lonnie Hodges
11. 5 Keith Miner
DNS 556 Terry Cornelison
25X Bob Daniels
3H Ty Hill
2L Jon Lang

Feature

1. 35 Donavon Smith
2. 9 Jerry Gifford
3. 94 Steve Meyer
4. 12+ Ryan Rose
5. R31 Ryan Leeman
6. 25J Josh Daniels
7. 19A Alan VanGorp
8. 45 Larry Crocheck
9. 36 Tom Suess - New Ulm, MN
10. 28W Don Wear
11. 04 Don Vis
12. 99 Tony Arnold - Sloan, IA
13. 22 Wayne Gifford
14. 19J Jay Schmidt
15. 25 Trent Murphy
16. 22S Toby Smith
17. 23HR Rod Richards
18. 05 Seth Bowen
19. 22X Josh Brauckman
20. 81B Dave Baugh
21. 55 Cory Bushnell
22. 93 Michael Jaennette
23. 50 Robert Stofer
24. 24 Eric Brown

Hobby Stock - 38 cars

Heat 1 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 2 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 3 - 83S Scott Lograsso
Heat 4 - 38R Aaron Rudolph

Feature #1

1. 25M Michael Murphy
2. 49 Cody Knecht - Whittemore, IA
3. 24B Brandon Brinton
4. 74J Dean Hartwig
5. 4C Curt Reed
6. 00H Adam Hagen
7. 13G Craig Graham - Webster City, IA
8. 21 Myles Michehl - Ft. Dodge, IA
9. 99 Jeff Knight
10. 96 Mark Hidlebaugh
11. 83S Scott Lograsso
12. 78 Tim Hadley
13. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
14. T71 Marcus Kyle
15. 16B Jay Arends
16. 26T Jeremy Tilley
17. 10 Adam Suhrbier - Ft. Dodge
18. 31X Dustin Wipf
DNS: 2J Ralph Jones

Feature #2

1. 38R Aaron Rudolph
2. 1BC Tony Cox
3. 7B Eric Stanton
4. 4W John Watson
5. 22 Chris Jensen
6. 19B Jim Brown
7. 3 Matt Hudspeth
8. 63 Cory Tasler
9. J4 John Yaw
10. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
11, 27R Clint Rothfus
12. 9 Andrew Arends
13. 14 Matt Wahlert
14. 5A Tyler Pickett
15. 8B Robert Smith
16. 12M Matt McDonald
17. 911 Darin Rothfus
18. 2 Nick Meyer - Whittemore, IA
19. 2R Jordan Riesberg - Dawson, IA

Mod Lite - 25 cars

Heat 1 - X50 Joel Huggins
Heat 2 - 99 Josh May
Heat 3 - 89 Travis Stensland

Feature

1. 0B Colby Oberembt
2. 5X Matthew Goodin
3. 4+1 Troy Hudson
4. X50 Joel Huggins
5. 57 Tim Hennigar
6. 99 Josh May
7. 20 Jeff Stensland
8. 46Z Bryan Zehm
9. 95 Mike Kennedy
10. 89 Travis Stensland
11. 01 David Schmalzried
12. 64 Randy Bryan
13. 88 James May
14. 8 Dusty Masolini
15. 3C Duane Coffman
16. 11R Jason Whitehead
17. 46 Kevin Grisham
18. 73 Jason Smithson
19. 76 Terry Sorenson
20. 4L Larry Sorenson
21. 33W James Mitenberger - Des Moines
DNS: 41Z Ed Zehm
11 Michael Stoker

Truman takes modified win at Marshalltown

2011-08-13T08:25:00.001-07:00

Two new drivers reached victory lane on Friday night at the Marshalltown Speedway--coming out of the modified and stock car classes. The youngsters also enjoyed a race of their own as they "motored" down the frontstretch in their cardboard cruisers. The participants were delighted with the trophies they came away with.

The Mod Lite division ran their A main right after the cardboard cruiser competition was completed. Tim Hennigar wasted no time in getting to the front, grabbing the lead by lap two. Hennigar would lead the remainder of the race and win his third feature at the track for 2011. Josh May gave it his all, but only managed a close second place finish. Third went to Mike Morrill, fourth to Randy Bryan and James May rounded out the top five.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks ran next. The beginning of the race found the #52 car of Josh Saunders shoved off of the backstretch, gathering weeds, and taking a bumpy ride. Saunders was able to gather the car back under him, and continue on, but many positions behind. Randy Embrey took the checkers in this 12-lap feature, leading the entire race. Kevin Fee chased Embrey and visitor Devin Smith came from tenth spot, to apply some pressure as well. At the finish, Fee followed Embrey to finish in second, Smith in third, Eric Knutson finished fourth and Michael Murphy in fifth. However, after a post-race tech, Embrey was disqualified for the engine being too light on his crate motor. This handed the win over to Kevin Fee and moved the other drivers all up a position as well. Fifth would then go to Eric Larson.

The IMCA Northern SportMod feature had some great close racing up front. Brett Lowry led much of the race but the competition behind him drew closer and closer as Racer Hulin and Cayden Carter applied the pressure. The final couple of exciting laps found those three cars jockeying for position. On the final lap, Carter would make the pass and take the win, his sixth this year, while Lowry held on for a runner up finish and Racer Hulin finished in third. Fourth was Jenae Gustin and Scott Davis took fifth.

Steve Meyer came away with his first IMCA Stock Car feature win of the year. Meyer led the entire race but what a race it developed into when Meyer, Tracy Gienger and Jay Schmidt went head-to-head for the top spot. That intense battle ended when Schmidt would suddenly be off power and exited the track. Trent Murphy then moved into the picture as did Jeff Wollam. The 18-lap event ended with Meyer taking the top spot, Gienger in second, third went to Trent Murphy, fourth to Jeff Wollam, and Damon Murty finished a distant fifth.

The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature proved to be a thriller. Josh Truman shot his #47 ride to the front right away with Richie Gustin giving chase. Gustin would briefly take the lead, but a yellow flag flew, sending him back to restart in second. The remainder of the race would see Truman and Gustin battling for the lead. Truman ran high, Gustin low. Gustin had many opportunities to do one of the infamous slide jobs in front of Truman coming out of turn four, but opted out of that choice, giving the fans some great intense racing enjoyment for the final race to the checkers. Truman took the win, his first at Marshalltown this year, Richie Gustin finished in a close second. Third went to Jimmy Gustin who earlier had lost several positions when avoiding an on track incident, fourth was Danny Fetter and Scott Simatovich finished in fifth.

Racing continues at the Marshalltown Speedway next Friday night when it will be the annual Cliff Chambers Memorial. Chambers was a former promoter of the track. Full results and other information on the track and upcoming events can be found at the track website, www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Happy racing!

Murty wins stock feature, Sponsler gets modified win at Boone

2011-08-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, August 6, we returned to the Boone Speedway for another night of regular racing in all five divisions. We noticed that there were a few puddles here and there, and we were told that they had had a considerable amount of rain on Thursday, nearly 1.5 inches, and that it had also rained steadily on Friday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. That extra rain on the track and not being able to work it properly as they do for those days leading up to Saturday night racing, proved to bring some uncommon holes in the corners.

We had been checking the radar during the heat racing, as off to the west, the clouds had been building. Nice to have the sun go behind the nearing bank of clouds, but we were not liking the looks of what that might bring to the racetrack. The officials had also been taking into account the approaching "stuff", and just as soon as the final B main was run, the first A main, the Dwarf/Mod Lites, were brought to the track.

The old saying, "The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry", held true as the first couple of laps brought TWO red flags for the Dwarf/Mod Lite feature. The first was when the 41Z of Ed Zehm tumbled over coming out of turn four. He was able to fire it up and drive off into the pits. One lap after the restart, the second red flew! This time it was for the 09 of Joel Keenan who put his ride on it's lid at the top of turn one. Thankfully, he too was okay.

Last week's winner, Joel Huggins, was leading on the restart after the second red flag. He would continue that lead to the checkered flag, taking his second win in as many weeks. Andy Hennigar chased and tried to catch the leader, but had to settle for the runner up spot. Point leader Josh May finished in third, fourth went to Randy Bryan and Mike Kennedy was fifth.

The 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature started nearly as the Dwarf's had started, though this would just be a yellow flag, when numerous cars piled it up in the bottom between turns one and two. The results left crumpled sheet metal, some dangling from cars, but most able to continue. This wouldn't be the only contact made through the duration of the feature, and by the end of the race, there was a lot of body work to be done.

By lap three, Eric Elliott had weathered the incidents, and was leading the race. Clint Luellen was attempting to reel Elliott in and third place runner, Racer Hulin, who had started back in row nine, was closing fast as well. Time ran out for any of those two challengers to get any closer and the finish remained as stated--Elliott won, Luellen took second, and Hulin third. Fourth went to Austin Lucas and point leader Scott Davis came home in fifth.

Next up, the IMCA Modified 20-lap SCHEDULED feature. This too would have several cautions as well as another red flag. The red occurred when the #27 of Kelly Lyons tumbled over in turn four. Thankfully, he too was okay, but again, more costly repairs for numerous drivers, Lyons included, were mounting up! A nasty rut/hole in between turns three and four was the culprit in many instances. Former track champion, Cale Sponsler had made his way to the lead as the laps wound down. A time limit was accessed around lap sixteen, and, as went the night, another yellow flew, and the race was called complete. Sponsler won, Jake Durbin finished second, Fred Schimmels was third, fourth went to last week's winner Randy Havlik and point leader Russ Dickerson rounded out the top five.

A nice field of 28 stock cars came to compete, resulting in a b main to whittle the starting A main to 24 cars. Randy Killen sealed his spot in the feature line up by winning the consolation race. Terry Cornelison led the field through the first seven laps, but that ended when he found himself riding the frontstretch wall on two wheels at the flagstand--causing flagman Nick Brueklander to alertly step out of the flagstand. By lap eight, it was "The Chelsea Charger", Damon Murty taking the helm and he would take it home to the checkers. This was Murty's first win at the Boone Speedway this year. Alan VanGorp came from row five, to follow Murty across the finish line in second. Third went to Trent Murphy, fourth was Eric Brown, and longtime racer, Robert Stofer finished in fifth.

The final race, the IMCA Hobby Stocks ran their 12-lap A main next to complete the night's racing. So far, nothing more than a few random sprinkles had dared to fall at the track, though the lightning had been flashing all around for a while. The first lap brought a bit of excitement when Robert Smith had trouble controlling his car after a mishap, but the green flag stayed out. Cory Tasler led the race from the start, which was beginning to look like finally a flag to flag feature. It wasn't to be when a car blew on the frontstretch, resulting in a green-white-checkered finish. Talser took the win, his first of 2011, with Boone's Tony Cox following him to finish in second. Third was multi-time winner John Watson, fourth was point leader Michael Murphy and Aaron Rudolph finished in fifth.

So ended another night at the Boone Speedway, thumbing it's nose at the approaching rain. We can only hope that this continues to hold true, especially during the fast approaching Super Nationals coming up September 5 through the 10th. Information on the Super Nationals can be found at www.raceboone.com as well as full results and point standings and other information. Happy racing!

Boone - 8-6-11

2011-08-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

Boone results - 133 cars

Modified - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 19 Jimmy Gustin
Heat 2 - 83G Josh Gilman
Heat 3 - 93 Cale Sponsler

Feature

1. 93 Cale Sponsler
2. 18 Jake Durbin
3. 94 Fred Schimmels
4. 3Z Randy Havlik
5. 28R Russ Dickerson
6. 83G Josh Gilman
7. 19 Jimmy Gustin
8. 87 Joel Bushore
9. 58 Denny Pittman
10. 20X Chad Louk
11. 51 Tyler Vandekamp
12. 5M Matthew Meinecke
13. 24 Robert Avery
14. 32H Lloyd Henderson
15. 5D Devin Havlik
16. 57V Mike VanGenderen
17. 1+ Bill Davis, Jr.
18. 27 Kelly Lyons
19. 8x Scott Olson
20. 75H Garry Hall
21. 55H Larry Hall
22. 77c Craig Carolson
DNS: 75 Denny Rosenberg

SportMod - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 25 Scott VanBuskirk
Heat 2 - 23JR Nick Roberts
Heat 3 - 81D Scott Davis
Heat 4 - 9E Eric Elliott

B main - 4 advance

1. 27 Tim Love
2. 29B Ben Wilson
3. 3S Adam Shelman
4. X4 Jason Purvis
5. 777 Jayme Duinink
6. 22J Jeff Blume
7. 7X Kris Law
8. 56 Joe Simbro
9. 57X Doug Bartels - Lytton, IA
10. 48 Blake Coant - Carisle, IA
11. 83 Dane Larson
12. 33R DJ Robinson

Feature

1. 9E Eric Elliott
2. 3L Clint Luellen
3. 505 Racer Hulin
4. 9X Austin Lucas
5. 81D Scott Davis
6. 6 Darren Huntley
7. 35 Bruce Egeland
8. 22B Brian Eppert
9. 3R Randy Roberts
10. 25 Scott VanBuskirk
11. 59 Tara Longnecker
12. 22H Clay Hale - Cameron, MO
13. X4 Jason Purvis
14. 3S Adam Shelman
15. 29B Ben Wilson
16. 2G Geoff Olson
17. 27 Tim Love
18. 23JR Nick Roberts
19. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
20. 24 Brian Miller
21. 32L Ty Luellen
22. 57 Lynn Brockett
23. 63 Daniel Tasler
DNS: 3 Stacey Clark

Stock Car - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 27 Gary Bass
Heat 2 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Heat 3 - 19A Alan VanGorp

B main - 3 advance

1. 81X Randy Killen
2. 56 Lonnie Hodges
3. 31 Jason York
4. 5 Ross Marshall
5. 77T Trent Jeanes
DNS: 81B Dave Baugh
3H Ty Hill

Feature

1. 99D Damon Murty
2. 19A Alan VanGorp
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 24 Eric Brown
5. 50 Robert Stofer
6. 22X Josh Brauckman
7. 22 Wayne Gifford
8. 81X Randy Killen
9. 35 Donavon Smith
10. 56 Lonnie Hodges
11. 93 Michael Jaennette
12. 12+ Ryan Rose
13. 31 Jason York
14. 11J Jeff Johnson
15. 05 Seth Bowen
16. 556 Terry Cornelison
17. 94 Steve Meyer
18. 28W Don Wears
19. 45 Larry Crocheck
20. 27 Gary Bass
21. 25X Bob Daniels
22. 25J Josh Daniels
23. 9 Jerry Gifford
24. 23HR Rod Richards

Hobby Stock - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 2 - 3A Austin Luellen
Heat 3 - 38R Aaron Rudolph

Feature

1. 63 Cory Tasler
2. 1BC Tony Cox
3. 4W John Watson
4. 25M Michael Murphy
5. 38R Aaron Rudolph
6. 4C Curt Reed
7. 74J Dean Hartwig
8. 9 Andrew Arends
9. 27C Cory Adams
10. 3 Matt Hudspeth
11. 911 Darin Rothfus
12. 27R Clint Rothfus
13. 46J Jesse Hopkins
14. 8B Robert Smith
15. 14 Matt Wahlert
16. 16B Jay Arends
17. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
18. 26T Jeremy Tilley
19. 85 Seth Janssen
20. 36S Mike Smith
21. T71 Marcus Kyle
22. 5A Tyler Pickett
23. 2R Jordan Riesberg - Dawson, IA
24. 3A Austin Luellen
25. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
26. 24B Brandon Brinton
DNS: J4 John Yaw

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 41Z Ed Zehm
Heat 2 - 89 Travis Stensland
Heat 3 - 09 Joel Keenan

Feature

1. X50 Joel Huggins
2. 15 Andy Hennigar
3. 99 Josh May
4. 64 Randy Bryan
5. 95 Mike Kennedy
6. 46Z Bryan Zehm
7. 01 David Schmalzried
8. 8 Dusty Masolini
9. 5X Matthew Goodin
10. 93 Tim Milner
11. 3C Duane Coffman
12. 76 Terry Sorenson
13. 4L Larry Sorenson
14. 88 James May
15. 46 Kevin Grisham
16. 82 Charlie Brown
17. 09 Joel Keenan
18. 89 Travis Stensland
19. 41Z Ed Zehm
20. 20 Jeff Stensland
21. 11R Jason Whitehead
22. 9 Rick Taylor
DNS: John Gardner

VanDenBerg nabs a win in a borrowed car at Marshalltown

2011-08-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Friday night, we had to duck a few raindrops AGAIN at the Marshalltown Speedway, but the track won out on this night. We were lucky, as we know that there were some pretty heavy downpours not far from the track...we drove through them to get there! The crowd also enjoyed an added bonus of the modified Gambler race--winner takes all--as well as seeing two new faces get to victory lane for the 2011 season.

The first feature was the Dwarf/Mod Lites. Eleven cars were on hand, but during hot laps, a visiting driver from Arizona, Mike Martin, caught fire and was eliminated for the night. He made the trip from Gilbert, Arizona along with Robert Mros who was able to start the feature.

James May led the 15-lap feature through lap six when a caution flew and bunched the field behind him. By lap eight, Andy Hennigar had made the pass to take the lead and Josh May followed him to take the second place. Hennnigar would then "slip up" a bit in turn four, and loose several spots. Josh May then pulled away from the field and took his seventh regular season win,--eight, counting the Frostbuster. Randy Bryan took second over James May in third place, Mike Morrill in fourth and Andy Hennigar in fifth.

The 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature returned Kevin Fee to victory lane for the third time this season--fourth counting the Frostbuster. Brice Udelhoven took advantage of his pole starting position and led much of the race. Fee wasn't to be out done however, and made the pass on Udelhoven in the late laps, and then pulled away for the win. Udelhoven kept second, third went to Jennifer Hulin, fourth to Eric Larson, and Eric Knutson was fifth.

There was a little change in the format, as the IMCA Modifieds ran their 20-lap feature next. This was due to the fact that the finale of the evening would be the Modified Gambler race. Todd Shute made the pass on early leader Todd Conrad, but a couple of other drivers were coming fast--Jon Snyder and visitor for the night, Richie Gustin from Gilman, Iowa. Snyder took over the lead and with three laps to go, it was close racing behind with Gustin, Ronn Lauritzen, Shute, Jimmy Gustin and Josh Truman fighting for positions. Snyder took the win, Lauritzen ran a great race to finish in the runner up spot, Richie Gustin finished in third, fourth went to Todd Shute and Jimmy Gustin held off Josh Truman at the line, to take the fifth place--Truman finishing in sixth.

The IMCA Northern SportMods ran their 15-lap event next. Father-son duo of Zach and Tom Rawlins ran up front the first couple of circuits, but it was a quickly advancing Carter VanDenBerg taking the lead shortly thereafter. VanDenBerg, driving the borrowed car of Brett Lowry, came from starting ninth, and convincingly took his first win at the Marshalltown Speedway. Jared VanDeest finished in the runner up spot, third went to Doug Smith, Jenae Gustin was fourth and Dylan Book rounded out the top five.

The 18-lap IMCA Stock Car A main finished the feature racing. Last week's winner, Todd Reitzler, led the early race, but had issues in turn four and lost many positions--a look at his right rear tire after the race, showed a very shredded tire, though still inflated. The race then was between Jeff Wollam and point leader Trent Murphy. Wollam chose the lower line, while Murphy opted for the outside. Meanwhile, Tracy Gienger threw his hat in the ring as well as Jay Schmidt. At the end of 18 laps, it would be Jeff Wollam taking the checker first, followed closely by Gienger in second, Murphy in third and Schmidt in fourth. Damon Murty rounded out the top five. A happy Wollam in victory lane thanked his sponsors and praised his new car, thrilled to get the win after nearly three year's absence.

The added bonus of the evening was the battle among six IMCA modified drivers who raced for all the marbles in a "Gambler" race--the winner takes all the cash tossed in from the competing drivers. Jon Snyder had a successful night for sure, as after taking the feature win earlier, also out ran the others in the Gambler race. Luke Wanninger finished second, Richie Gustin third, fourth was Ronn Lauritzen and visitor Mike Jergens was fifth. Todd Shute had his night conclude on a sour note, as he slipped off of turn three, and rolled his #5 ride. He was okay.

Racing continues next week at the Marshalltown Speedway. Check out their website at www.marshalltownspeedway.com for more information. Happy racing!

Four straight for Carter at the Southern Iowa Speedway

2011-08-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

The fans at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night were able to sit in much more comfortable conditions from what has been the norm for a couple of weeks straight. And speaking of straight, Cayden Carter just keeps rolling along and chalking up the wins, grabbing his fourth-in-a-row at Osky.

The USRA B Modifieds started the feature action off. Curtis VanDerWal led the first few circuits. Cayden Carter moved quickly from starting tenth on the field, to take the lead by lap four. From there on, it was all Carter, who stretched his lead and motored home to his fourth straight feature win at the track. Carter, sporting a new flashy body on his #10 ride, nabbed his 22nd feature win in the 2011 season. Quite an accomplishment for the young man. Bill Gibson took the runner up spot, followed by Curtis VanDerWal in third, Carter VanDenBerg in fourth, and Andrew Schroeder rounded out the top five.

The USRA Modified 15-lap feature went flag-to-flag. The finish ended nearly the way it started as Zack VanderBeek shot to the lead from his pole starting position and cruised to his fourth win of the year at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Ron VerBeek, aka "RVB" finished a distant second. Colt Mather, caught VerBeek, but ran out of time for a real challenge and finished in third. Steven Blattler finished in fourth and last week's winner, Josh Truman was fifth. It didn't take long for the entire field of seven cars (Scott Dickey had mechanical problems and was not able to run) to be stretched out over half the track, and remaining so for most of the 15 laps.

The USRA Hobby Stocks were up next. Multi-time winner Dustin Griffiths rocketed to the lead from starting on the pole with Todd Reitzler having a few kisses off the fence but still managing to trail in second place--Kris Walker gave chase in third. A red flag situation on lap seven quieted the distinctive popping sound of the crate motors running up front, when Jared Sanders and Steve Allen ended up on their lids on the backstretch. Both drivers were okay. The restart put Kris Walker on Griffith's tail, Reitzler in third. Those three battled for a couple of laps, with Walker winning out and taking the lead. Walker took the win, his second of 2011 at Osky, with Griffith taking second, Reitzler in third, Jason "Mighty Mouse" McDaniel in fourth and I observed Nick Ulin nipping Craig Brown for fifth at the line. However, a question about a red light flickering on during that final lap may have caused some of the field to slow down, so a check of the official results will need to be checked out at www.raceosky.com. There was no red light situation.

Fifteen laps of the USRA Stock Car feature concluded the night's racing. Shane Weller took the win in convincing fashion, leading all but the first lap. Nathan Wood was the only one able to make the bottom of the track work, as he finally fought his way past Corey Stout and took over the second spot. At the finish, Weller won, Wood finished second, Brian Mitirsin battled past Stout at the finish as they took third and fourth in that order, and Kyle Harwood took fifth.

When we arrived at the track, we noticed the track was really dry, and no water truck in sight. When the truck did finally make an appearance, it barely moved, and then was "dead in the water". Eventually, with a little prodding, pulling and pushing, the truck was "activated" and was able to dump a minimum of water on the track before racing got under way. Announcer Tony Paris, told the crowd that the water truck had mechanical issues early in the day, a part was replaced, and then would still not run! Just another of the trials and tribulations of getting a show in!

There will be no regular Wednesday night racing for the next TWO weeks at the Monster Half-Mile at the Southern Iowa Speedway. However next week on Monday August 8, and Tuesday August 9, the Front Row Challenge and the Ultimate Challenge will be held. Check www.oskychallenges.com for complete information on these sprint warrior races that have become an annual tradition. The following Wednesday, August 17 will also be silent at the Southern Iowa Speedway as a little race will be going on down the road at Knoxville Raceway...something called the Knoxville Nationals. The final race of the regular season will then be held at Osky on August 24 when the season championships will be run.

Try to get out and support our great sport and take in a race or two before the season winds down. You can check the calendar at Positively Racing. Happy racing!

Osky - 8-3-11

2011-08-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Unofficial results - 48 cars

Modified - 8 cars

Heat - 4R Ron VerBeek

Feature

1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 4R Ron VerBeek
3. 8 Colt Mather
4. 94 Steven Blattler
5. 47 Josh Truman
DNF: 22 Brandon Banks
15K Kyle Harwood
DNS: 40 Scott Dickey

B Modified - 14 cars

Heat 1 - 02 Andrew Schroeder
Heat 2 - 38 Bill Gibson

Feature

1. 10 Cayden Carter - 22nd feature win of the year
2. 38 Bill Gibson
3. 1 Curtis VanderWal
4. 7 Carter VanDenBerg
5. 02 Andrew Schroeder
6. 72 Brett Lowry
7. 8T Tony Johnson
8. 03 Mark Mundell
9. 16 Mike Shelton
10. 777 Jayme Duinink
11.8 Tom Lathrop
DNF: 49G Brandon Groenendyk
48R Nathan Redlinger
95J Jason Hall

Stock Car - 12 cars

Heat 1- 52 Nathan Wood
Heat 2 - 20dub Shane Weller

Feature

1. 20dub Shane Weller
2. 52 Nathan Wood
3. 4M Brian Mitrisin
4. 94 Corey Stout
5. 15K Kyle Harwood
6. 7M Jason Minnehan
7. 2J Steve Jackson
8. 98 Brock Welch
DNF: 73C Carl Yaw
7X Todd Phillips
15 Cody Padgett
7 Rick Todd

Hobby Stock - 14 cars

Heat 1 - 69 Craig Brown
Heat 2 - 22R Todd Reitzler

Feature

1. 18 Kris Walker
2. 10G Dustin Griffiths
3. 22R Todd Reitzler
4. 85 Jason McDaniel
5. 21 Nick Ulin
6. 69 Craig Brown
7. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
8. 558 Jim Hughes
9. 57 Scott Shull
10. 69X Calvin Dhondt
11. 73 Aaron Martin
DNF: 33 Curt Hook
4 Jared Sanders - upside down on backstretch
3s Steve Allen - upside down on backstretch

Havlik grabs another win at Boone

2011-07-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

We headed over to our regular home away from home on Saturday night, the Boone Speedway. Much of the evening was used detangling cars on the track, entertaining the crowd, but causing some costly repairs to the drivers. It was almost like a full moon night---with no full moon! You would have thought the drivers were going for BIG money or a Supernationals win at times.

The MADCRA Dwarf Car feature saw the bright yellow X50 of Joel Huggins lead nearly the entire 15-lap event, taking his first win of 2011 at the speedway. Andy Hennigar tried his best to catch Huggins, but had to settle for second place on this evening. Jason Whitehead finished in third place, fourth went to Travis Stensland and fifth to last week's winner, Joel Keenan. The race went flag-to-flag.

The IMCA Northern SportMods ran next for their 18-lap event. Tara Longnecker was looking strong, leading past the halfway mark. By lap ten, Daniel Tasler had grabbed the lead from Longnecker and continued it on to the checkers. Tasler took his second win on the season.
Second place went to Geoff Olson who had started in eleventh place. Eric Elliott was third, fourth went to Clint Luellen, and point leader Scott Davis came from thirteenth to finish in fifth. Longnecker held on for a sixth place finish.

Joel Bushore was like a rocket in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature, leading the pack through lap ten, pulling away even after cautions bunched the field and the ensuing restarts. An incident in turn one would end that when Bushore spun, gathering several cars behind him, allowing others to take the high road out of danger and continue on. Intense battling would then be between Mike VanGenderen, Randy Havlik, Jimmy Gustin, and Josh Gilman for the top spots. VanGenderen suffered a flat tire, taking him out of the equation with three laps remaining, but the others battled on. Havlik grabbed the prize, holding off Jimmy Gustin at the checkers to take his third win of 2011. Gustin, who finished as runner up, was followed closely by Josh Gilman in third, Russ Dickerson got in on the action to finish fourth, and Jake Durbin rounded out the top five.

The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars, brought it to the track next for their 18-lap A main. Josh Daniels looked to be headed to victory lane, taking advantage of his pole starting spot. Daniels led from the start, withstanding the threats of Robert Stofer, Jerry Gifford and Alan VanGorp, who was running the high line in an attempt to gain positions. VanGorp's charge ended when he wound up at a stand still between turns one and two, ending his chances for a top finish. Jerry Gifford made his way past Stofer to pick up second place and was gaining rapidly on leader Daniels. Gifford edged past Daniels on the white flag lap, and just held him off at the checkers, capturing his third feature win of the season. Robert Stofer finished in the third spot, Wayne Gifford, brother of the winner, came home in fourth, and Jay Schmidt came from starting eighteenth, to finish in fifth.

The night was polished off with the running of the IMCA Hobby Stock 12-lap feature. This race too had it's early incidents--one of which found Marcus Kyle upside down on the backstretch with Matt Wahlert up against him. Both drivers were okay. Jay Arends, Robert Smith and Matt McDonald all held the lead briefly in the very early laps, but to few people's surprise, it was the familiar #4W of John Watson who took over the helm at lap seven. Newcomer for the year, Scott Pippert from Elberon, came from starting twelfth to briefly challenge Watson to no avail. Watson took the win, his sixth on the regular season, seventh including the Frostbuster, and Pippert had to settle for second. Scott Lograsso came from fifteenth to take third, Michael Murphy came from winning the B main to finish fourth, and Matt McDonald rounded out the top five.

Racing continues next week at the Boone Speedway, with grandstand opening at 6, hot laps at 6:45 and races at 7:30. More information may be found at www.raceboone.com. Until next time, happy racing!

Boone 7-30-11

2011-07-30T23:21:00.000-07:00

Boone - 7-30-11 128 cars

Modified - 20 cars

Heat 1 - 77c Craig Carolson
Heat 2 - 87 Joel Bushore

Feature

1. 3Z Randy Havlik
2. 19 Jimmy Gustin
3. 83G Josh Gilman
4. 28R Russ Dickerson
5. 18 Jake Durbin
6. 1+ Bill Davis, Jr.
7. 94 Fred Schimmels
8. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
9. 4R Michael Reichart
10. 58 Denny Pittman
11. 57V Mike VanGenderen
12. 43S Scott Simatovich
13. 33M Mike Molle
14. 24 Robert Avery
15. 87 Joel Bushore
16. 93 Cale Sponsler
17. 5D Devin Havlik
18. 5M Matthew Meinecke
19. 77C Craig Carlson
DNS: 75 Denny Rosenberg

SportMod - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 6 Darren Huntley
Heat 2 - 63 Daniel Tasler
Heat 3 - 59 Tara Longnecker

B Main - 3 advance

1, 35 Bruce Egeland
2. 77 Jack Myer
3. 32L Ty Luellen
4. 91 Shawn Hunter
5. 777 Jayme Duinink
6. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
7. 28 James Reichart

Feature

1. 63 Daniel Tasler
2. 2G Geoff Olson
3. 9E Eric Elliott
4. 3L Clint Luellen
5. 81D Scott Davis
6. 59 Tara Longnecker
7. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
8. 6 Darren Huntley
9. 3R Randy Roberts
10. 12E Eric Flander
11. 505 Racer Hulin
12. X4 Jason Purvis
13. 24 Brian Miller
14. 57 Lynn Brockett
15. 32L Ty Luellen
16. 23JR Nick Roberts
17. 22B Brian Eppert
18. 5B Tom Burke
19. 35 Bruce Egeland
20. 27 Tim Love
21. 77 Jack Myer
22. 22J Jeff Blume
23. 3 Stacey Clark
24. 3s Adam Shelman

Stock Car - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Heat 2 - 50 Robert Stofer
Heat 3 - 19A Alan VanGorp

Feature

1. 9 Jerry Gifford
2. 25J Josh Daniels
3. 50 Robert Stofer
4. 22 Wayne Gifford
5. 19J Jay Schmidt
6. 25 Trent Murphy
7. 24 Eric Brown
8. M2 Matt Fox
9. 94 Steve Meyer
10. 556 Terry Cornelison
11. 93 Michael Jaennette
12. 11J Jeff Johnson
13. 45 Larry Crocheck
14. 05 Seth Bowen
15. 19A Alan VanGorp
16. 3H Ty Hill
17. 35 Donavon Smith
18. 5X Ross Marshall
19. 56 Lonnie Hodges
20. 99D Damon Murtty
21. 77 Andy Bryant
22. 55 Cory Bushnell
DNS: 3s Bryan Snell

Hobby Stock - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 47 Scott Pippert
Heat 2 - 8B Robert Smith
Heat 3 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 4 - 5A Tyler Pickett

B main - 4 advance

1. 25M Michael Murphy
2. 1BC Tony Cox
3. 46J Jesse Hopkins
4. 911 Darin Rothfus
5. 3A Austin Luellen
6. 78 Tim Hadley
7. 27R Clint Rothfus
8. 85 Seth Janseen
9. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
10. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
11. 4C Curt Reed
12. 31X Dustin Wipf

Feature

1. 4W John Watson
2. 47 Scott Pippert
3. 83S Scott Lograsso
4. 25M Michael Murphy
5. 12M Matt McDonald
6. 74J Dean Hartwig
7. 8B Robert Smith
8. 12K Eric Knutson
9. 1BC Tony Cox
10. 31 Rex Bonnett
11. 99 Jeff Knight
12. 3 Matt Hudspeth
13. 63 Daniel Tasler
14. 911 Darin Rothfus
15. 16B Jay Arends
16. 9 Andrew Arends
17. 26T Jeremy Tilley
18. 24B Brandon Brinton
19. 22S Rick Reiter
20. 46J Jesse Hopkins
21. 5A Tyler Pickett
22. T71 Marcus Kyle
23. 14 Matt Wahlert
24. 38R Aaron Rudolph

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 25 cars

Feature

1. X50 Joel Huggins
2. 15 Andy Hennigar
3. 11R Jason Whitehead
4. 89 Travis Stensland
5. 09 Joel Keenan
6. 4+1 Troy Hudson
7. 99 Josh May
8. 95 Mike Kennedy
9. 0B Colby Oberembt
10. 5X Matthew Goodin
11. 64 Randy Bryan
12. 46Z Bryan Zehm
13. 88 James May
14. 01 David Schmalzried
15. 8 Dusty Masolini
16. 23 Michael Parcel
17. 93 Tim Milner
18. 3C Duane Coffman
19. 76 Terry Sorenson
20. 20 Jeff Stensland
21. 82 Charlie Brown
22. 4l Larry Sorenson
23. 9 Rick Taylor
DNS: 33 Gayle Worthington
08 Ben Larson

Short field, quick show at Osky

2011-07-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

The Monster 1/2 Mile at the Southern Iowa Speedway was light on car count Wednesday night, as we had anticipated---only 39 total cars; 4 modifieds. The heat hasn't helped the car or crowd count lately, nor has the economy, plus there were several other races going on in the area. One of those being the big race up at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minnesota--the World Modified Dirt Track Championship--a 4-day show paying $20,000 to win the Saturday feature race. That being said, it still only drew a couple of modified drivers away from the Osky track on Wednesday evening.

Josh Truman came away with the win in the USRA modified feature--the first we can recall for him at the Southern Iowa Speedway. Ron VerBeek finished as runner up, Steven Blattler was third, and Scott Dickey was fourth.

The USRA stock car feature had Shane Weller leading the pack for the first nine laps. On the backstretch on lap nine, Kyle Harwood made the pass to take over the lead and would go home to the win. Weller had to settle for second, Steve Jackson was third, fourth went to Brian Mitrisin, and Corey Stout--"from just over by turn one" as announcer Tony Paris always says, finished in fifth.

The USRA hobby stocks ran next. Jason McDaniel took off to the lead from his outside front row starting spot. After winning four-in-a-row, Dustin Griffiths was trying to make it number five. Griffiths, after starting 8th on the grid, was into the second spot by lap two and it was looking like that might just come true. It didn't happen, as McDaniels pulled away to seal the win. Griffiths had to settle for the runner up position, Kris Walker trailed him for third, fourth went to Steve Allen, and Donovan Nunnikhoven rounded out the top five.

The USRA B modifieds polished off the night's racing. Cayden Carter flew to his sixth win at the track this season, leading all 15 laps. Carter pulled away after a restart at nine laps down. Andrew Schroeder finished a distant second, Carter VanDenBerg took third place, Bill Gibson was fourth and Brett Lowry was fifth.

The races were done by 9:23 p.m., being run in less than two hours. Full official results and information on the Southern Iowa Speedway can be found at www.raceosky.com. There is still a lot of racing left in the season. Check out the calendar at Positively Racing for a race you may wish to catch in the area...support the sport of dirt track racing. Happy racing!

Osky - 7-27-11

2011-07-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Unofficial results: 39 total cars

Modified - 4 cars

Heat - 94 Steve Blattler

Feature

1. 47 Josh Truman
2. 4R Ron VerBeek
3. 94 Steve Blattler
4. 40 Scott Dickey

B Mod - 14 cars

Heat 1 - 02 Andrew Schroeder
Heat 2 - 10 Cayden Carter

Feature

1. 10 Cayden Carter
2. 02 Andrew Schroeder
3. 7 Carter VanDenBerg
4. 38 Bill Gibson
5. 72 Brett Lowry
6. 64 Casey Greubel
7. 16 Mike Shelton
8. 23JR Nick Roberts
9. 03 Mark Munell
10. 48R Nathan Redlinger
DNF: 1 Mike Wanders
8T Tony Johnson
DNS: 34J Jerry Hinton
49G Brandon Groenendyk

Stock Car - 9 cars

Heat - 2J Steve Jackson

Feature

1. 15K Kyle Harwood
2. 20dub Shane Weller
3. 2J Steve Jackson
4. 4M Brian Mitrisin
5. 94 Corey Stout
6. 52 Nathan Wood
7. 98 Brock Welch
DNF: 55 Steve Hill
DNS: 73c Carl Yaw

Hobby Stock - 12 cars

Heat 1 - 85 Jason McDaniel
Heat 2 - 69 Craig Brown

Feature

1. 85 Jason McDaniel
2. 10G Dustin Griffiths
3. 18 Kris Walker
4. 3s Steve Allen
5. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
6. 22R Todd Reitzler
7. 21 Nick Ulin
8. 69 Craig Brown
9. 33 Justin Hook
10. 69X Calvin Dhondt
DNF: 15 Jeremiah Fry
29 Wes Almond

Harris Clash Round II, Beuseling and Sobbing dominate in flag-to-flag wins

2011-07-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

It seems that each time I write lately, it always starts off the same way, "It was a hot and humid night". It held true again for round two of the Harris Clash on Tuesday night. This time, it was the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models and the IMCA SportMods that showcased the evening. By my count, there were 38 late models and 59 sportmods that competed. The track rubbered down early, and both features went caution free and turned into "ho hummers".

The 35-lap Deery Brothers feature ended nearly the way it started. Nate Beuseling, Silvis, Illinois driver, leaped to the lead from his pole starting spot, stretched his lead, wound through lap traffic, and easily took the win. Todd Cooney, who had started right beside Beuseling, chased the leader but was never a real threat, and would take that second place finish. Third went to Mike Garland who started fifth, Jay Johnson advanced from seventh to take fourth and Matt Strassheim started fourth and finished in fifth.

The finale was the 20-lap IMCA SportMod feature. This race was over from the get go. Jesse Sobbing, Glenwood, Iowa driver who campaigns his #99 ride 5-6 times a week, started second and ran away and hid. Austin Kaplan came from starting sixth to finish a distant runner up. Jim Gillenwater finished in third place, and Carter VanDenBerg, sporting a new body on his #7, advanced the most, finishing fourth after starting back in twelfth. Beau Kaplan, the pole sitter, rounded out the top five.

We enjoyed our evening at the races---though it was a very hot one---with family and other racing addicts like us. Our thanks to Bob Harris for the gracious hospitality and all the hard work it takes putting on the show. Full results can be found at www.knoxvilleraceway.com under "results". Happy racing!

Lyons and Keenan score first wins of the year

2011-07-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

The hot, humid weather was still hanging around on Saturday night but as the evening wore on, it became a bit more comfortable. Black clouds once again skirted the race track, moving off to the southeast as if drawn by a magnet. Two drivers got to victory lane for the first time this year, and others returned to reap their rewards.

One of the first time winners was in the Dwarf/Mod Lite class. We've noticed that driver, Joel Keenan, was improving week after week, and it was on this night that he cashed in on that and took his first win. Keenan took the lead from Jason Whitehead in the first handful of laps, and was later only briefly challenged by Andy Hennigar who caught him in the dwindling laps. Keenan persevered to the checkers, with Hennigar chasing him to the finish line to take second. Point leader, Josh May worked his way up to a third place finish, followed by Ed Zehm in fourth and Jason Whitehead finished in fifth.

The IMCA SportMods started all 24 cars for their 18-lap feature. The race was dominated by winner Daniel Tasler, who grabbed his second win of the year. Tasler pulled away from the pack, with second place finisher Lynn Brockett far behind. Eric Elliott finished in third place, Geoff Olson was fourth and Rick Ringgenberg rounded out the top five.

The 20-lap modified feature went to Kelly Lyons for his first win of the season. Lyons won in dominating fashion, leading all laps. Randy Havlik, Jimmy Gustin, Scott Simatovich, and Mike VanGenderen were fighting for position behind Lyons. Havlik would be taken out of the picture when he lost the handle in turn one, and fell backwards after gathering it back in. Jimmy Gustin did his best in trying to catch Lyons, but he would finish a distant second. Mike VanGenderen got his ride into third place, Josh Gilman took fourth and fifth went to Bill Davis, Jr.

The 18-lap IMCA stock cars were in their regular fine form with door-to-door racing at times. Jay Schmidt went from starting thirteenth, to grab the lead by lap seven. That would end about lap nine, when he exited the track with what appeared to be a flat tire. That handed the lead over to Trent Murphy who stretched it out and won going away. Donavon Smith, point leader, came from twelfth, to finish in the runner up spot, Ty Hill was third, Eric Brown was fourth and fifth went to Jerry Gifford. This was Murphy's second win at Boone this year.

The night ended with the 12-lap IMCA hobby stock feature. A familiar face to the winner's circle at Boone visited once again. John Watson grabbed the lead from Tyler Pickett with a couple of laps remaining to win for the fifth time during the regular season, sixth time counting the Frostbuster back on April 2nd. Pickett had to settle for second place, Aaron Rudolph chased Pickett to take third, fourth went to Michael Murphy, point leader, and veteran Dean Hartwig took fifth.

This week we plan for Round 2 of the Harris Clash at Knoxville Raceway on Tuesday night, April 26th. This portion will see the IMCA SportMods and the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models in action at the famed track. You can find more information about the race at www.harrisclash.com. Stay cool and happy racing!

Boone - 7-23-11

2011-07-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

Boone - 7-23-11 - 121 cars

Modified - 22 cars

Heat 1 - 27 Kelly Lyons
Heat 2 - 77C Craig Carlson
Heat 3 - 5M Matthew Meinecke

Feature

1. 27 Kelly Lyons
2. 19 Jimmy Gustin
3. 57V Mike VanGenderen
4. 83G Josh Gilman
5. 1+ Bill Davis, Jr.
6. 43S Scott Simatovich
7. 94 Fred Schimmels
8. 75 Denny Rosenberg
9. 28R Russ Dickerson
10. 77C Craig Carlson
11, 3Z Randy Havlik
12. 5M Matthew Meinecke
13. 4R Michael Reichart
14. 18 Jake Durbin
15. 93 Cale Sponsler
16. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
17. 24 Robert Avery
18. 12C Kent Croskey
DNS: 58 Denny Pittman
87 Joel Bushore
20X Chad Louk
5D Devin Havlik

SportMod - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 63 Daniel Tasler
Heat 2 - 02 Mike Goldsberry
Heat 3 - 9E Eric Elliott

1. 63 Daniel Tasler
2. 57 Lynn Brockett
3. 9E Eric Elliott
4. 2G Geoff Olson
5. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
6. 3R Randy Roberts
7. 27 Tim Love
8. 86 Cory Rose
9. 32L Ty Luellen
10. 3s Adam Shelman
11. 3L Clint Luellen
12. 22B Brian Eppert
13. 22J Jeff Blume
14. 28 James Reichart
15. 13T Taylor Musselman
16. 77 Jack Myer
17. 3 Stacey Clark
18. 72R Mike Hogencamp - Waterloo, IA
19. 505 Racer Hulin
20. 6 Darren Huntley
21. 34J Jerry Hinton
22. 56 Joe Simbro
23. 02 Mike Goldsberry
24. 66L Anthony Onstot - Norwalk, IA

Stock Car - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 25 Trent Murphy
Heat 2 - 3H Ty Hill
Heat 3 - 25J Josh Daniels

Feature

1. 25 Trent Murphy
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 3H Ty Hill
4. 24 Eric Brown
5. 9 Jerry Gifford
6. 93 Michael Jaennette
7. 11J Jeff Johnson
8. 55 Cory Bushnell
9. 22 Wayne Gifford
10. 27 Gary Bass
11. 48 Kevin Godwin
12. 45 Larry Crocheck
13. 12+ Ryan Rose
14. 25J Josh Daniels
15. 05 Seth Bowen
16. 77T Trent Jeanes - Chariton, IA
17. 5 Keith Miner
18. 19J Jay Schmidt
19. 81B Dave Baugh
20. 22S Toby Smith
21. 23HR Rod Richards
22. 556 Terry Cornelison
23. 19A Alan VanGorp
DNS: 2L Jon Lang
25x Bob Daniels

Hobby Stock - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 8B Robert Smith
Heat 2 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 3 - 83S Scott Lograsso

Feature

1. 4W John Watson
2. 5A Tyler Pickett
3. 38R Aaron Rudolph
4. 25M Michael Murphy
5. 74J Dean Hartwig
6. 7B Eric Stanton
7. 8B Robert Smith
8. 14 Matt Wahlert
9. 20T Richard Yaw II
10. 85 Seth Janssen
11. 12M Matt McDonald
12. 4C Curt Reed
13. 9 Andrew Arends
14. 63 Cory Tasler
15. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
16. 27R Clint Rothfus
17. 26T Jeremy Tilley
18. 83S Scott Lograsso
19. 24B Brandon Brinton
20. 77C Andy Coffman
21. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
22. 36S Mike Smith
23. 16B Jay Arends
24. 911 Darin Rothfus
25. 3A Austin Luellen
26. 1BC Tony Cox
27. 99 Jeff Knight

Mod Lite - 23 cars

Heat 1- x50 Joel Huggins
Heat 2 - 09 Joel Keenan
Heat 3 - 41Z Ed Zehm

Feature

1. 09 Joel Keenan
2. 15 Andy Hennigar
3. 99 Josh May
4. 41Z Ed Zehm
5. 11R Jason Whitehead
6. 46Z Bryan Zehm
7. 89 Travis Stensland
8. 8 Dusty Masolini
9. 95 Mike Kennedy
10. 88 James May
11. 5X Matt Goodin
12. 23 Michael Parcel
13. X50 Joel Huggins
14. 9 Rick Taylor
15. 93 Tim Milner
16. 8W Joe Wood
17. 08 Ben Larson
18. 4L Larry Sorenson
19. 20 Jeff Stensland
20. 76 Terry Sorenson
21. 0B Colby Oberembt
22. 01 David Schmalzried
23. 3C Duane Coffman

Jenae Gustin doubles up at Marshalltown

2011-07-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

What can you say about this dang Iowa weather we have been having. We thought the heat wave was suppose to end on Thursday, but it was still sweltering on Friday when we made our trip back to the Marshalltown Speedway. It was double feature night after last week's features had been rained out, so we were looking forward to seeing a lot of racing. Little did we know that before the night ended, we would not only be experiencing exciting racing but Mother Nature would show her hand as well for a little "extra" fun!

The night started a bit early with the make-up features immediately on the track.
The Dwarf/Mod Lites started it off. Mike Morrill powered around leader Jeff Stensland early. Meanwhile, Josh May had gotten into second and was trying to reel in Morrill who had a lengthy lead. That would end when Morrill went up in smoke.
May would then go on to take the win, Stensland retaining the runner up spot, third was Dusty Masolini, fourth Joel Huggins, and fifth went to James May.

In the IMCA Northern SportMod make-up feature, D.J. Robinson took the lead on the start, but it was soon Jenae Gustin making a strong move to power around him and into the lead. Gustin looked strong in taking the feature win over Scott Davis, Cayden Carter, Robinson, and Jared VanDeest in the 21J car.

The make-up feature for the IMCA stock cars saw Tracy Gienger get another win, his second on the year. He fended off the close challenges of Steve Meyer, Curt Hook, Damon Murty and Trent Murphy who were dicing it out behind him. Murty would draw close with a lap to go, but Gienger took the checkers, Murty finished second, Murphy was third, Meyer fourth and Donavon Smith was fifth as he got around Hook who ended up in sixth.

The IMCA modfied make-up feature came next. Adam Larson checked out on this one, taking the easy win, his second time visiting victory lane at Marshalltown this year.
Jimmy Gustin finished a distant second, Jon Snyder was third, Ronn Lauritzen took fourth and Scott Simatovich was fifth. We noted four "new" cars tagging the field, but since they were not "on scene" last week, they were not scored. Those were the #66 of Jared Siefert out of Wisconsin, #78 Adam Bolen, #5D Devin Havlik--son of former racer Jeff Havlik-- and the #85 of Dustin Smith. This was also the case in the other classes, with cars that were not there last week, tagging and not being scored.

The final make-up feature was the IMCA hobby stocks. Michael Murphy scored another win, his third of the year. He outdistanced Kevin Fee who finished second. Third was Brice Udelhoven, fourth Eric Larson and Calvin Dhondt was fifth.

By this time, there were changing weather conditions and the heat racing was put into high gear. At one point, the temps dropped drastically, almost as though someone had opened the fridge door! The black clouds loomed to the north and all were hoping "it" would avoid the Speedway. The raindops did fall when the final heats of the night--the IMCA modifieds ran. Fans ran for shelter, some to never return, but some of us remained to wait out the shower. Thankfully, it was only about a 15-minute delay and then we were back in action and the final modified heat was completed.

The first A feature was quickly brought to the track, the Dwarf/Mod Lite 15-lapper.
Josh May would repeat his earlier make-up feature win. He won easily over second place finisher, Mike Morrill. Morrill had to use a borrowed car, that of Jeff Stensland, in scoring his second place finish. Third was Andy Hennigar, followed closely by Joel Huggins in fourth, and Travis Stensland rounded out the top five.

The hobby stock featue went to Lake City's visiting driver on the night, Devin Smith. Smith is currently leading IMCA national points in the hobby stock division, and his performance showed just how strong he is. Kevin Fee finished in second place, Michael Murphy was third, Newton's Josh Saunders was fourth and Eric Larson was fifth.

The IMCA stock car's 18-lap feature saw a new driver visit victory lane. Grinnell's Todd Reitzler took his first ever win in the stock car division, after moving up from the hobby stock ranks. Two hard-chargers, Damon Murty and Donavon Smith were coming fast behind him, but as they duked it out, Reitzler took the checkers first.
Donavon Smith finished second ahead of Murty in third. Fourth was Steve Meyer and Michael Jaennette rounded out the top five positions.

Jenae Gustin made it two-for-two tonight, winning her second feature of the night in the IMCA Northern SportMod division. The crowd had shown its pleasure in her first win, and with this win, they were even more demonstrative, with the cheers coming from all over the stands! She had also won her heat race earlier, making it a clean sweep for the night. Doug Smith challenged her a bit, but in the dwindling laps, Gustin pulled away for the easy win. Racer Hulin finished third, Tyler Droste fourth, and Cayden Carter was fifth.

The finale was the 20-lap IMCA modified feature. Ronn Lauritzen charged to the lead, and looked poised for a possible win. Enter the 69X car of Jon Snyder, who was coming hard and fast on the topside of the track. Snyder took the lead and then the eventual win. Meanwhile, Adam Larson had caught Lauritzen and made the late pass to snatch second place away. Lauritzen finished third, Jimmy Gustin was fourth and Scott Simatovich was fifth.

The program ended about 10:15, escaping Mother Nature's little antics. We all tasted the heat, winds, rains, cooling, and back to heat again. We know some friends in Las Vegas, who would have savored it all! Not so much us locals!

The full results can be found at the track's website, www.marshalltownspeedway.com.
The season is quickly winding down, so get out and enjoy a race somewhere,whether back at the Marshalltown Speedway or otherwise. We all need to support the sport we love. Happy racing!

VanderBeek grabs USMTS home track win

2011-07-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

It was a classically hot July night at the Southern Iowa Speedway for the rescheduled "USMTS Spring Classic", weathered out several months back. The car count for the modifieds only numbered eighteen, but we venture to guess that no one went home disappointed in the exciting finish to the 30-lap feature! The USRA B modifieds and stock cars were also competing in their "Ironman Series" along with the USRA hobby stocks in a regular season's point race.

The USRA B modifieds ran a 20-lap feature in their "Ironman Challenge" series. Cayden Carter took his ride to the front early and went away with another of his numerous wins this year. Carter VandenBerg, who had just won his first ever feature at Eldon on Saturday night, had a nice run to take the runner-up spot. Third went to Andrew Schroeder, fourth to John VandenBerg, fifth to Curtis VanDerWal and Jenae Gustin finished sixth.

The 15-lap hobby stock feature was another easy win for Dustin Griffiths---his fourth-in-a-row at Oskaloosa. He was leading early and never challenged. Donovan Nunnikhoven and Todd Reitzler finished second and third. The best race on the track was for fourth through sixth with Steve Allen, Kris Walker and Craig Brown finishing in that order.

The 20-lap USRA stock car "Ironman Challenge" found lots of action around the track with cars going multi-lanes wide at times. Jason Minnehan held the top spot for the first few circuits until Justin Temeyer grabbed the lead with five laps down. A couple of laps later, with Temeyer still leading, he was off power, and into the pits. We had noticed a wet right front tire, and evidently an overheating problem was what forced him from the race. This handed the lead over to Mike VanGenderen who had slipped past Minnehan for the runner-up spot. VanGenderen had little trouble in maintaining his top spot from there on out, even after a restart bunched the field at fourteen laps down. He took the checkers and his second win at Osky, over Jason Minnehan in second, and Kevin Donlan, last week's second-night Shootout winner, in third. McClelland, Iowa's Jeff Joldersma finished in fourth and Nathan Wood recovered from a lap one incident that sent him to the tail, to finish in fifth.

Thirty laps awaited the USMTS modified drivers. By this time, even the Southern Iowa Fair going on behind the grandstand, was nearly closed down and dark. All attention was now on the powerhouses before us on the track. After the top eight in passing points had drawn for their starting positions, it was "The Reaper", Ryan Gustin to the point position, questioning many if it was even going to be a contest. Gustin has been one successful young man in the USMTS the past couple of seasons. It was to few people's surprise, that Gustin took off to a sizable lead through the halfway mark. A couple of other guys had some differing opinions on the outcome however, as Zack VanderBeek and Cory Dripps each threw their hats in the ring. Dripps made a spectacular run on the topside cushion powering his way to the lead past Gustin, and hoping for the win. With a mere three laps left in the books, it was looking to be Dripps in the winner's circle, but in the meantime, VanderBeek had gotten past Gustin to give chase to Dripps. Dripps led at the white flag, but the home track was good to VanderBeek on this night, as he made the final couple of turns work for him, and took the checkers first. Dripps took the runner up spot, Gustin was third, fourth went to Colt Mather and veteran Kelly Shryock, took fifth, making it a clean sweep through five for Iowa drivers. The next three positions went to Terry Phillips out of Springfield, Missouri, Rodney Sanders from Happy, Texas and Jeremy Payne also from Springfield, Missouri.

We enjoyed spending the night at the races with fellow Positively Racing buddies and other racing friends. Check out Tapfan's Tours, Back Stretch and maybe even Barry will get in on the act this time at Running the High Side. No doubt, we all had some different takes on the night's racing. You can also find the full results at www.usmts.com, www.usraracing.com and www.raceosky.com. Until next time, get out and find a race to attend and support our great sport of dirt track racing. Happy racing!

Michael Murphy wins eighth hobby stock feature at Boone

2011-07-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

We spent another evening at the Boone Speedway and what a hot night it was! This July heat and humidity is oppressing with no end for several days. But, it didn't stop the racing on Saturday night at Boone. However, I'm sure the drivers all went home a few pounds lighter from loosing water weight!

Ed Zehm repeated his win from last week in winning the 15-lap Dwarf/Mod Lite feature. He had no problem after gaining the lead in the early laps, and pulled away from the pack. Dusty Masolini was the runner up, but was not a contender for Zehm, trailing by quite a distance. Third place was Colby Oberembt, fourth was James May, the point leader, and fifth went to David Schmalzried.

The Northern SportMods had quite the time completing their scheduled 18-lap A main. Yellow flags flew often. So often in fact, that at 13 laps down, the race was put under a time limit--race to the checkers or the next yellow. Scott Davis had taken the lead from Stacey Clark by the halfway mark and was still leading when the race was put under the time limit. On the restart, it would be a RED flag that flew ending the race, when Tara Longnecker was pushed high off of turn one, and rolled her ride. Thankfully, she was okay. The race was called complete with Davis taking his second win at the track this year, bolstering his large point lead even more. Stacey Clark finished as the runner up, third went to Geoff Olson who had started back in row seven, fourth was Randy Roberts, and Cory Rose rounded out the top five.

The 20-lap IMCA modified race had several leader changes---one at the last moment. Craig Carlson led the charge in the early goings holding the lead over rookie Matthew Meinecke and then Jake Durbin. Durbin snatched the lead away from Carlson with nine laps in the books and looked to have things pretty well in control as he pulled away. Jimmy Gustin had other ideas about the outcome of the race, as he reeled in Durbin lap after lap. Gustin took the lead from Durbin on lap seventeen and appeared to be sailing on to victory. With the white flag waving as he approached the flagstand, Gustin suddenly slowed drastically, and pulled into the pits. This handed the lead back to Durbin, who would then take the checkers and the win. Carlson took the runner up spot, followed by Bill Davis, Jr., Cale Sponsler, and Russ Dickerson finishing in that order. Durbin had won the night before at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines, making it two-in-a-row for him.

Enter the IMCA stock cars for their 18-lap contest. Week after week, they prove to put on quite the show with their close racing, as was the case again. Ty Hill led the early laps but he had lots of close company behind---in three-wide racing! Wayne Gifford, Jerry Gifford, Jay Schmidt, Trent Murphy and Donavon Smith were fighting for position when a yellow flew with just three laps remaining. Cars were shuffled back, Jay Schmidt developed mechanical problems, and on the restart, it was the #22 of Wayne Gifford to the point starting place. Donavon Smith gave it a great effort, falling just a bit short of overtaking Gifford at the checkers. Wayne Gifford took his first win at the speedway this year and Smith had to be content for second on this night. Third went to Ty Hill, fourth to Jerry Gifford, brother of winner Wayne, and fifth was Trent Murphy. Smith remains the point leader at the track.

The IMCA hobby stocks raced for twelve laps around the track, and once again, it was Michael Murphy taking the win--his eighth this year. Murphy was leading by halfway, and pulled away for the win at the end. Aaron Rudolph came from eighth starter, to take second, John Watson and Eric Stanton came from row five to finish third and fourth and Bill Atcheson took fifth.

So ended another night of "HOT" racing at the Boone Speedway. Doesn't sound like we have much relief in sight through at least Thursday. Here's hoping it doesn't kick up any more nasty storms like last week. What the heck is a "derecho" anyway? Had never heard of it before but that is what the huge straight-line windstorm is being called that came through central Iowa last Monday morning. It wreaked havoc on many, with the Marshalltown Speedway and Benton County Speedway being hit with damage as well.

Regular season racing continues next week at the Boone Speedway with hot laps at 6:45 and racing at 7:30. Be sure and check www.raceboone.com for more information.

Full results are listed in blog below. Happy racing!

Boone - 7-16-11

2011-07-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

Results 7-16-11 - 120 cars

Modified - 18 cars

Heat 1 - 1+ Bill Davis, Jr.
Heat 2 - 5M Matthew Meinecke

Feature

1. 18 Jake Durbin
2. 77C Craig Carlson
3. 1+ Bill Davis, Jr.
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 28R Russ Dickerson
6. 94 Fred Schimmels
7. 83G Josh Gilman
8. 4R Michael Reichart
9. 3Z Randy Havlik
10. 5M Matthew Meinecke
11.75 Denny Rosenberg
12. 24 Robert Avery
13. 19 Jimmy Gustin
14. 27 Kelly Lyons
15. 57V Mike VanGenderen
16. 58 Denny Pittman
17.75H Garry Hall
18. 55H Larry Hall

SportMod - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 81D Scott Davis
Heat 2 - 22B Jeff Blume
Heat 3 - 6 Darren Huntley

B Main - 3 advance

1. 24 Brian Miller
2. 66A Anthony Onstot - Norwalk, IA
3. 02 Mike Goldsberry
4. 33R DJ Robinson
5. 13T Taylor Musselman - Norwalk, IA
6. 35 Bruce Egeland
7. 56 Joe Simbro

Feature

1. 81D Scott Davis
2. 3 Stacey Clark
3. 2G Geoff Olson
4. 3R Randy Roberts
5. 86 Cory Rose
6. 505 Racer Hulin
7. 6 Darren Huntley
8. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
9. 2 Bill Wears
10. 24 Brian Miller
11. 3S Adam Shelman
12. T17 Tom Rawlins
13. 66A Anthony Onstot
14. 27 Tim Love
15. 77 Jack Myer
16. 02 Mike Goldsberry
17. X4 Jason Purvis
18. 28 James Reichart
19. 59 Tara Longnecker
20. 9E Eric Elliott
21. 22B Brian Eppert
22. 57 Lynn Brockett
23. 63 Daniel Tasler
24. 22J Jeff Blume

Stock Car - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 25 Trent Murphy
Heat 2 - 19J Jay Schmidt
Heat 3 - 18 Jeff Harkrider

Feature

1. 22 Wayne Gifford
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 3H Ty Hill
4. 9 Jerry Gifford
5. 25 Trent Murphy
6. 11J Jeff Johnson
7. 55 Cory Bushnell
8. 19A Alan VanGorp
9. 50 Robert Stofer
10. 3s Bryan Snell
11. 25J Josh Daniels
12. 45 Larry Crocheck
13. 48 Kevin Godwin, Earlham, IA
14. 18 Jeff Harkrider
15. 54 Robbie Merckle
16. 05 Seth Bowen
17. 5X Ross Marshall
18. 556 Terry Corenlison
19. 19J Jay Schmidt
20. 93 Michael Jaennette
21. 24 Eric Brown
22. 23HR Rod Richards
23. 22X Josh Brauckman
24. 76 Norm Belew
DNS: 2L Jon Lang

Hobby Stock - 26 cars

Heat 1 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 2 - 25M Michael Murphy
Heat 3 - 4C Curt Reed

Feature

1. 25M Michael Murphy
2. 38R Aaron Rudolph
3. 4W John Watson
4. 7B Eric Stanton
5. 32 Bill Atcheson
6. 20T Richard Yaw
7. 8B Bobby Smith
8. 74J Dean Hartwig
9. 9 Andrew Arends
10. 27R Clint Rothfus
11. 85 Seth Janssen
12. 99 Jeff Knight
13. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
14. 26T Jeremy Tilley
15. 16B Jay Arends
16. 31 Rex Bonnett
17. 12M Matt McDonald
18. 5A Tyler Pickett
19. 47W Shaun Wirtz
20. 4C Curt Reed
21. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
22. 1BC Tony Cox
23. 911 Darin Rothfus
24. T71 Marcus Kyle
DNS: 83S Scott Lograsso
63 Cory Tasler

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 41Z Ed Zehm
Heat 2 - 09 Joel Keenan
Heat 3 - 11R Jason Whitehead

Feature

1. 41Z Ed Zehm
2. 8 Dusty Masolini
3. 0B Colby Oberembt
4. 99 Josh May
5. 01 David Schmalzried
6. 89 Travis Stensland
7. 09 Joel Keenan
8. 20 Jeff Stensland
9. 95 Mike Kennedy
10. 88 James May
11. 5X Matthew Goodin
12. 82 Charlie Brown
13. 3C Duane Coffman
14. 46 Kevin Grisham
15. 93 Tim Milner
16. 9 Rick Taylor
17. 76 Terry Sorenson
18. 4L Larry Sorenson
19. 23 Michael Parcel
20. 15 Andy Hennigar
21. 11R Jason Whitehead
22. 64 Randy Bryan
DNS: 46Z Bryan Zehm

Donlan wins Osky Shootout in a thriller!

2011-07-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

It was back to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa on Tuesday night, for night #2 of the Great American Stock Car Shootout. And what a stock car feature we saw! Also on the docket were the B-mods, hobby stocks, and "alternative rule" modifieds.

The hobby stocks ran their 15-lap A main first and the outcome was the same as the previous night. Dustin Griffiths took his #10G back to victory lane, repeating his win from Monday night, and making it three-in-a-row at the track. It was close coming to the checkers but Griffths prevailed over Craig Brown, who finished in second place. Jason McDaniel took third, fourth went to northern Iowa driver Chris Hovden, and Todd Reitzler rounded out the top five.

It was rather disappointing to see only eleven modifieds running the "alternative" rules...no spoiler, steel-headed motor with flat tappets, among some other regulations. All eleven cars were able to start the feature, and all finished the race. "RVB", Ron VerBeek started from the outside front row and led all 15 laps. Montour, Iowa driver, Dan Fetters took home second place, third went to Mike VanGenderen, fourth to Nick Deal, who made the trip over from Walnut, Iowa and Greg Cox was fifth after making some adjustments from falling out of hot laps and not able to start his heat race.

The B modifieds had 32 cars in attendance, requiring a B-main qualifier. That was won by Jake Timm out of Minnesota. A couple of yellows flew in the first few laps and on a restart at lap four, it was Cayden Carter already at the helm from his sixth starting spot. From there on, it was all Carter, as he distanced himself from the pack. Last night's winner, Brandon Hare was running second until Andrew Schroeder caught and passed him for second place. Schroeder would then finish as runner up, and Hare in third. Matt Lettow took the fourth place and Jeremy Embrey edged out Jenae Gustin at the line as they finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Now came the main event--the 30-lap stock car feature. And who should be sitting on the pole after the redraw amongst the top in passing points from the heats, but promoter Todd Staley. Justin Temeyer sat along side. As the green flag waved, some cars didn't make it out of turn two. Getting the brunt of the situation, the #7 car of Rick Todd ended up sideways on the wall with the #31M of Mark Haglund underneath him. Those two drivers were not able to continue.

When the racing did get underway, it was a show between Staley and Temeyer. Those two battled it out through lap fourteen. Then Shay Curtin out of Waukon, Iowa passed Staley to take over second and continue the chase to catch Temeyer. There was tight racing all around the racy track, giving the fans what they came for. At lap twenty, Shay Curtin had caught and passed Temeyer for the lead, but Temeyer fought back, regaining the lead. That however, was only momentary, as Kevin Donlan, Decorah, Iowa, made his way into the lead. A tight pack of five or so cars were running up front with positions changing nearly every remaining lap. When all was said and done though, it was Kevin Donlan taking home the $1,500 paycheck. Temeyer, out of Independence, Iowa held the runner up spot, and Shay Curtin was third. Fourth went to McClelland, Iowa's Jeff Joldersma who started near the back of the field, and fifth was Mike VanGenderen, who rebounded from the red flag at the start of the race, changed three tires, and tagged the tail.

The stock car race brought back memories of the good ole days. Amongst the fans setting in our area, we agreed it may have been the best race we'd seen at the Monster Half-Mile in a long time. It was exciting.

After wondering all day if the racing at Osky would even happen---we had rain all day, we had heard nothing to the contrary, so we headed out--in the rain! To our relief, a dry line on the pavement appeared just a short distance from Oskaloosa. There was sure a change in the temperature from the previous night as well. We went from sweltering heat, to immediately putting on a sweatshirt as we got to the grandstand last night...adding layers as the evening progressed! Only in Iowa!

We are up for a bit of R & R for a couple of days after racing 12 out of 15 days. It's been a fun run, but it's catching up with us a bit. Until next time, happy racing!

More complete results are listed below. For official results, you can check www.rlpormotions.com.

Osky - 7-12-11

2011-07-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

Unofficial results - 82 cars

Modified - under "alternative rules" - 11 cars

Heat 1 - 4R Ron VerBeek
Heat 2 - 70 Jesse Dennis

Feature

1. 4R Ron VerBeek
2. 26 Dan Fetters
3. 57V Mike VanGenderen
4. 55D Nick Deal
5. 62 Greg Cox
6. 22 Brandon Banks
7. 70 Jesse Dennis
8. 8X Scott Olson
9. 51 Tyler VandeKamp
10. 7W Mark Winkle
11. 4D Doug Pratt

B-Mod - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 17T Brandon Groenendyk
Heat 2 - 10 Cayden Carter
Heat 3 - 56H Brandon Hare
Heat 4 - 02 Andrew Schroeder

B-Main

1. 19 Jake Timm

Feature

1. 10 Cayden Carter
2. 02 Andrew Schroeder
3. 56H Brandon Hare
4. 21L Matt Lettow
5. 41 Jeremy Embrey
6. 19J Jenae Gustin
7. 1 Curtis VanderWal
8. 19 Jake Timm
9. 3K John VandenBerg
10. 7 Carter VandenBerg
11. 26J Joel Rust
12. 8T Tony Johnson
13. 03 Mark Mundell
14. 7+ Jared Timmerman
15. 2G Geoff Olson
16. 64 Brandon Leeman
17. 80 Josh Bonnstetter
18. K0 Ken Kositzky
19. 16 Mike Shelton
DNF: 38 Bill Gibson
14 Brian Schrage
88X Jimmy Broszeite
17T Brandon Groenendyk
8J AJ Johnson
28 Parker Hale

Stock Car - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 7M Jason Minnehan
Heat 2 - 94 Corey Stout
Heat 3 - 56T Justin Temeyer

Feature - and it was a dandy!

1. 33D Kevin Donlan - Decorah
2. 56T Justin Temeyer
3. 11 Shay Curtin
4. 66 Jeff Joldersma
5. 57V Mike VanGenderen
6. 52 Nathan Wood
7. 14 Todd Staley
8. 01U Chris Ullrich
9. 2J Steve Jackson
10. R31 Ryan Leeman
11. 7 Jason Minnehan
12. 20dub Shane Weller
13. 27T Tory Reicks
14. 4M Brian Mitrisin
15. 30 Mark Massey
DNF: 7M Jason Minnehan
67 Kyle Falck
23 Chad Walter
98 Brock Welch
412 Mark Elliott
19G Rick Gustin
31M Mark Haglund
26 Greg Harch - Bloomfield
7 Rick Todd

Hobby Stock - 15 cars

Heat 1 - 22R Todd Reitzler
Heat 2 -85 Jason McDaniel

Feature

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths - 3 wins in a row
2. 69 Craig Brown
3. 85 Jason McDaniel
4. 70c Chris Hovden
5. 22R Todd Reitzler
6. 21 Nick Ulin
7. 20s Jeremy Autin - Clarinda
8. 18 Kris Walker
9. 18X Chris Spilde
10. 32T Bobby Greene
11. 3s Steve Allen
12. 35 Casey Greubel
DNF: 69X Calvin Dhondt
2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
33 Justin Hook

Blog to follow

Iron Man Challenge wins to VanGenderen and Hare

2011-07-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa was the scene Monday of night #1 of the 15th Annual Musco Lighting Great American Stock Car Shootout. The stock cars and the B-Mods were both part of the USRA Iron Man series, and the USRA modifieds and hobby stocks were also in competition.

The 15-lap USRA hobby stock feature was up first. Five cars broke away from the pack with Nick Ulin leading last week's winner, Dustin Griffiths, visiting driver Chris Hovden from Creso, Craig Brown and Todd Reitzler. Griffiths would make the pass for the lead with just two laps remaining, repeating his win from last week. Ulin kept second, Craig Brown was third, fourth was Hovden and Todd Reitzler was fifth.

The USRA modifieds had but eleven cars competing, with two unable to make the starting call. Zack VanderBeek repeated his win from last week as well. Colt Mather finished a distant second, Scott Dickey was a distant third, and Josh Truman a distant fourth. Steve Blattler rounded out the top five.

The USRA B-mods had a good field of 31 cars on hand, which required a B-main to whittle the starting field to 24 cars. Andrew Schroeder took the win in that consolation race. The leader of the race through lap nine of the 20-lapper, was Bill Gibson. When a yellow flew at that point, the leader suddenly pulled into the pits, and out of the race. This handed the lead over to Brandon Hare from Elma, Iowa who fended off the challenges of Cayden Carter and took the feature win. Carter was the runner up and cousin Carter VandenBerg, finished in third place. Andrew Schroeder had a fine race, having come from the B-main, to finish in fourth, and Roland, Iowa's Matt Lettow rounded out the top five.

The stock car feature was 25 laps. The top eight cars in passing points from their heat races, redrew for their starting positions. The luck of the draw put veteran driver, Rick Gustin on the pole and Nathan Wood along side. Most of the race turned into a two-man show--Gustin and Mike VanGenderen. Those two ran around the top of the track, leaving the competition behind. Gustin led through lap ten but by lap twelve, it was VanGenderen at the helm. VanGenderen, "The Flyin' Dutchman" went on to grab his first ever win at Osky, a comfortable distance ahead of Gustin, in second. Independence, Iowa driver, Justin Temeyer finished in third, Nathan Wood in fourth and Tory Reicks, Waukoma, Iowa, rounded out the top five.

We plan to head back down to the Southern Iowa Speedway for night #2 action of the Great American Stock Car Shootout, with the B-mods, hobby stocks and the modifieds under "alternative" rules tonight. We are really hoping that the "alternative" rule will draw more drivers to come and try their hand at the Monster Half-Mile. For the sake of the drivers and fans, let's also hope it's not at hot as last night! This will be a complete new show for all classes of cars.

More complete results are listed below. You can also check www.rlpromotions.com for the offical results and more information. Happy racing!

Osky - 7-11-11

2011-07-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Unofficial results - 82 cars

Modified - 11 cars

Heat 1 - 8 Colt Mather
Heat 2 - 33Z Zack VanderBeek

Feature

1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 8 Colt Mather
3. 40 Scott Dickey
4. 47 Josh Truman
5. 94 Steve Blattler
6. R21 Ryan Schafter
7. 26 Dan Fetters
DNF: 4R Ron VerBeek
57V Mike VanGenderen
DNS: 77 Jim Lynch
22 Brandon Banks

B Mods - 31 cars

Heat 1 - 21L Matt Lettow
Heat 2 - 1 Curtis VanderWal
Heat 3 - 27 Bryon Weyer
Heat 4 - 38 Bill Gibson

B Main - 8 advance

1. 02 Andrew Schroeder
2. 88X Jimmy Brosziet - Postville, IA
3. 2G Geoff Olson - Sioux City, IA
4. 36 Matt Pittman
5. 3K John VandenBerg
6. 80 Josh Bonnstetter - Slayton, MN
7. 23K Ben Kates
8. 64 Brandon Leeman
9. 8J AJ Johnson
10. 19 Jake Timm - Winona, MN
11. 20G Mike Granthem
12. 72 Brett Lowry
13. 8 Tom Lathrop
14. 50X Jim Krier

DNS: 4ord Bob Sutherland

Feature

1. 56H Brandon Hare - Elma, IA
2. 10 Cayden Carter
3. 7 Carter VandenBerg
4. 02 Andrew Schroeder
5. 21L Matt Lettow - Roland, IA
6. 1 Curtis VanderWal
7. 19J Jenae Gustin
8. 3K John VandenBerg
9. 41 Jeremy Embrey
10. 0 Mike Wanders
11. 88x Jimmy Brosziet - Postville, IA
12. 80 Josh Bonnstetter - Slayton, NN
13. 03 Mark Mundell
14. 19 Jake Timm - Winona, MN
15. 17T Brandon Groenendyk
16. 23K Ben Kates
17. 36 Matt Pittman
DNF:8T Tony Johnson
38 Bill Gibson
64 Brandon Leeman
28 Parker Hale - Minnesota
7+ Jared Timmerman
2G Geoff Olson
DNS: 27 Bryon Weyer

Stock Car - 22 cars

Heat 1 - R31 Ryan Leeman
Heat 2 - 67 Kyle Falck - Decorah, IA
Heat 3 - 19G Rick Gustin

Feature

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 19G Rick Gustin
3. 56T Justin Temeyer
4. 52 Nathan Wood
5. 27T Tory Reicks
6. 66 Jeff Joldersma
7. 14 Todd Staley
8. 20dub Shane Weller
9. 01U Chris Ulrich
10. 4M Brian Mitrisin
11. 67 Kyle Falck
12. 94 Corey Stout
13. 7M Jason Minnehan
14. 2J Steve Jackson
15. 7 Rick Todd
DNF: R31 Ryan Leeman
15K Kyle Harwood
15 Cody Padgett
98 Brock Welch
30 Mark Massey
73c Carl Yaw
DNS: 11 Shay Curtin

Hobby Stock - 18 cars

Heat 1 - 3s Steve Allen
Heat 2 - 21 Nick Ulin
Heat 3 - 70C Chris Hovden - Cresco, IA

Feature

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 21 Nick Ulin
3. 69 Craig Brown
4. 70C Chris Hovden
5. 22R Todd Reitzler
6. 4W John Watson
7. 3s Steve Allen
8. 18 Kris Walker
9. 69X Calvin Dhondt
10. 18X Chris Spilde
11. 32T Bobby Greene
12. 19B Jim Brown
DNF: 85 Jason McDaniels
12 Kincaide
33 Justin Hook
2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
27C Cory Adams
57 Scott Shull

Blog to follow

Hogan Memorial goes to Jerry Luloff

2011-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

We took the trip east to the Benton County Speedway this past Sunday night, for the annual Hogan Memorial event which honors Dick and Janet Hogan. Thirty-three modifieds were on hand, all wanting to take home the honor of winning this special memorial race. It was a hot and sticky humid night for fans, but the drivers were no doubt more miserable than us fans who could at least catch a bit of a breeze now and then.

The hobby stock class was scheduled to be the first feature run after the intermission. However, things got changed up a bit after the cars were unable to race the just watered track---slipping and sliding and going nowhere. They were sent off the track and the IMCA Sport Compacts were sent out.

The Sport Compact feature was won by Brett Vanous who snatched the win away from Brad Chandler at the finish line. Third was Merv Chandler, fourth Jacob McVay and fifth went to Gary Peiffer.

The hobby stocks returned to the track next for their 15-lap A main. Scott Pippert won, pulling away from second place finisher, Justin Stander. Trailing a ways behind Stander to take third, was Brad Forbes, fourth went to Doug Laughridge, and Matt Brown crossed in fifth.

The 15-lap IMCA SportMod feature saw an abundance of yellow flags flying. So many so, that the feature would be put under a time limit---the race would end with the next yellow, or when all laps were completed. As often happens, the race then did get completed without another yellow. Racer Hulin, from Laurel, Iowa put his ride to the topside and took the win going away from second place finisher Danny Dvorak.
Aric Becker, Ken Kositzky and Doug Hilmer finished third through fifth in that order.

The 15-lap stock cars ran next. Justin Temeyer out distanced Damon Murty to take the win. Scooter Dulin barely finished ahead of Bob Ahrendsen as they were third and fourth and Andy Bryant rounded out the top five.

The 40-lap modified race honoring the Hogans had a twist thrown in--a halt at 20 laps down. The cars stopped on the track and were allowed five minutes for any changes. Scott Hogan seemed determined to take the race honoring his parents, as he led the first 20 laps and then charged off to retain it when the race resumed. Jerry Luloff, however, saw a chance to sneak under Hogan in the waning laps, took the lead and held off Hogan the rest of the way. Luloff took the win, Scott Hogan was runner up, third went to Brandon Banks with a fine run, and fourth was Jeff Waterman. Fifth went to Mike Burbridge and sixth was Wisconsin driver, Dan Ratajczak, two drivers who chose to run the bottom and make it work.

The heat and humidity were sweltering but we still enjoyed our night at the races. That uncomfortable weather, came before the storms that kicked up in the wee hours this morning. The news reports that Vinton was hit hard and we hope that the Benton County Speedway survived without damage. They are scheduled for racing this Thursday, July 14 for a fair race.

It's was good to enjoy the racing action amongst other racing friends and fanatics. Be sure and check out fellow Positively Racing crony's take of the races last night for more details under "Tapfan's Tours" and "In Staging". There are many special racing events going on in our area now, so seek one out and support our great sport of dirt track racing. Happy racing!

VanGenderen and Watson score fourth wins of the season

2011-07-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

There was a bit of relief for fans on Saturday night at the Boone Speedway. The previous night had been awful with the heat and humidity, so the more comfortable conditions were welcomed! There were 122 cars competing and the 14 heats and the one B required, were completed in just one hour.

The Mod Lites saw a new winner as Ed Zehm took the checkers. Zehm, though no stranger to the track or victory lane in the past, scored his first win of the year at the speedway. The 15-lap race went green-to-checkers, with Zehm in command all of those laps. Joel Keenan finished in second, a distance behind. Third was Matthew Goodin, fourth Joel Keenan, and Josh May took fifth. The race did end under a yellow/checkered situation, when Tim Hennigar came to a rest in turn four at the top of the berm when contact with another car caused his situation. He was just seconds from finishing in third place as the cars raced to the checkers.

The Northern SportMods had 27 cars strong. All cars advanced to the A feature. Darren Huntley led the field with Daniel Tasler in tow through lap ten. Third place runner, Eric Elliott saw his chance and took it, passing both Huntley and Tasler to take over the lead a couple of laps later. Elliott pulled away to take the flying checkers and the win. This was Elliott's second win of the year. Huntley kept the runner up spot and Geoff Olson came from starting 15th, to capture the third spot. Daniel Tasler was fourth and Cory Rose, fifth.

The IMCA modifieds ran their 20-lapper next. Rookie Matthew Meinecke in his brightly colored car #5M, sat on the pole along side veteran driver, Craig Carlson. Mike VanGenderen, who sat right behind the polesitter, wasted no time in taking his #57V to the lead, taking over by lap four. Row four starters, Randy Havlik and Jake Durbin, advanced to second and third and would continue to chase the elusive VanGenderen to the checkers. This was VanGenderen's fourth win of the season, and a repeat from last week. Havlik finished in second, Durbin in third. Denny Rosenberg took the fourth position and rookie in the modified class, Matthew Meinecke, rounded out the top five.

The IMCA stock cars were up next for their 18-lap A feature. Eric Brown was in charge the entire race, jumping to the lead from his outside front row starting spot. A couple of yellow flags flew, bunching the field, but Brown pulled away each time, keeping his lead. Rod Richards dogged Brown most of the race, to finish second. Trent Murphy was scored in third place, Michael Jaennette took fourth and fifth went to Robert Stofer.

The 12-lap hobby stock feature concluded the night's events. Austin Luellen appeared to be on his way to a feature win as he led much of the race. Never count out John Watson, however. Watson, was reeling in Luellen quickly with just a couple of laps remaining and was able to make the pass on the white flag lap. Watson repeated his win from the previous week, making it four wins on the regular season. He had also won the Frostbuster back in early April, making it five times at the track this year. Luellen had to settle for a second place finish, Richard Yaw II took third, fourth belonged to Matt Hudspeth, and fifth went to point leader, Michael Murphy.

As a note, transponders were tested for the first time in the modified class. Sounds like there were a few bugs that need to be worked out, but by Super Nationals time, things should be good to go.

Full results are listed below. More information on the Boone Speedway can be found at www.raceboone.com. Racing continues next week at the speedway with hot laps at 6:45, racing at 7:30. Happy racing!

Boone - 7-9-11

2011-07-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

122 cars

Modified - 19 cars

Heat 1 - 57V Mike VanGenderen
Heat 2 - 5M Matthew Meinecke

Feature

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen - repeat from last week
2. 3Z Randy Havlik
3. 18 Jake Durbin
4. 75 Denny Rosenberg
5. 5M Matthew Meinecke
6. 83G Josh Gilman
7. 19 Jimmy Gustin
8. 77c Craig Carlson
9. 5 Todd Shute
10. 93 Cale Sponsler
11. 1+ Billy Davis, Jr.
12. 58 Denny Pittman
13. 43S Scott Simatovich
14. 4R Michael Reichart
15. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
16. 24 Robert Avery
17. 28R Russ Dickerson
18. 87 Joel Bushore
19. 23 JJ Scott

SportMod - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 3 Stacey Clark
Heat 2 - 66 Cody Hennings
Heat 3 - 32L Ty Luellen

Feature

1. 9E Eric Elliott
2. 6 Darren Huntley
3. 2G Geoff Olson
4. 63 Daniel Tasler
5. 86 Cory Rose
6. 3R Randy Roberts
7. 59 Tara Longnecker
8. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
9. 81D Scott Davis
10. 505 Racer Hulin
11. 27 Tim Love
12. X4 Jason Purvis
13. 5B Tom Burke
14. 28 James Reichart
15. 35 Bruce Egeland
16. 02 Mike Goldsberry
17. 66 Cody Hennings
18. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
19. 56 Lynn Brockett
20. 3 Stacey Clark
21. 22B Brian Eppert
22. 56 Joe Simbro
23. 34 Colin Rodgers - Britt, IA
24. 39 Larry Embrey
25. 22J Jeff Blume
26. 24 Brian Miller
27. 32L Ty Luellen

Stock Car - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 25 Trent Murphy
Heat 2 - 23HR Rod Richards
Heat 3 - 11J Jeff Johnson

Feature

1. 24 Eric Brown
2. 23HR Rod Richards
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 93 Michael Jaennette
5. 50 Robert Stofer
6. 22 Wayne Gifford
7. 35 Donavon Smith
8. 19A Alan VanGor[p
9. 55 Cory Bushnell
10. 9 Jerry Gifford
11. 77 Andy Bryant
12. 45 Larry Crocheck
13. 25J Josh Daniels
14. 11J Jeff Johnson
15. 556 Terry Cornelison
16. 5 Keith Miner
17. 3H Ty Hill
18. 55X Steve Hill
19. 81B Dave Baugh
20. 12+ Ryan Rose
21. 2L Jon Lang
22. 22X Josh Brauckman
DNS: 31 Jason York

Hobby Stock - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 63 Cory Tasler
Heat 2 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 3 - 33J Jesse McCollaugh

Feature

1. 4W John Watson - repeat from last week
2. 3A Austin Luellen
3. 20T Richard Yaw II
4. 3 Matt Hudspeth
5. 25M Michael Murphy
6. 14 Matt Wahlert
7. 38R Aaron Rudolph
8. 1BC Tony Cox
9. 8B Bobby Smith
10. 32 Bill Atcheson
11. 12M Matt McDonald
12. 27R Clint Rothfus
13. 4C Curt Reed
14. 7B Eric Stanton
15. 16B Jay Arends
16. 5A Tyler Pickett
17. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
18. 46J Jesse Hopkins
19. 9 Andrew Arends
20. 63 Cory Tasler
21. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
22. 911 Darin Rothfus
23. T71 Marcus Kyle
24. 26T Jeremy Tilley
DNS: 66 Andy Mahlstedt

Mod Lite - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 41Z Ed Zehm
Heat 2 - X50 Joel Huggins
Heat 3 - 95 Mike Kennedy

Feature

1. 41Z Ed Zehm
2. 09 Joel Keenan
3. 5X Matthew Goodin
4. X50 Joel Huggins
5. 99 Josh May
6. 3C Duane Coffman
7. 8 Dusty Masolini
8. 20 Jeff Stensland
9. 89 Travis Stensland
10. 0B Colby Oberembt
11. 15 Andy Hennigar
12. 95 Mike Kennedy
13. 11R Jason Whitehead
14. 64 Randy Bryan
15. 46 Kevin Grisham
16. 88 James May
17. 9 Rick Taylor
18. 01 David Schmalzried
19. 93 Tim Milner
20. 57 Tim Hennigar
21. 4L Larry Sorenson
22. 37 Mike Thomas
23. 82 Charlie Brown
24. 46Z Bryan Zehm

Snyder wins fourth of the season

2011-07-09T08:12:00.001-07:00

It was one of those traditionally hot and humid July nights at the Marshalltown Speedway last night. Whew! It was a welcome relief when the sun became low enough to dip below the tree line---bringing an immediate cooling to where we were in the grandstand. I noted 91 cars on hand and a couple of new faces made their way into the winner's circle for the 2011 season at Marshalltown.

The Mod Lite feature kicked off the features. A caution for an incident in turn one halted the action early, with one car, James May, ending up on his lid. He was okay.
As racing resumed, it was Charlie Brown, with those spooky clowns on the side of his car, spurting off into the lead. Brown held his lead the remainder of the race, taking his first win at the track this year. Colby Oberembt was unable to reel in the leader, and had to be content with the runner up spot. Third went to Mike Morrill, and Andy Hennigar took fourth and Joel Huggins, fifth.

The hobby stock feature had an incident on the frontstretch just as the green flag flew to start the race. This would eliminate a couple of cars before the real action ever got started. Two cars were unable to start the A feature and with the two being eliminated at the start, this would leave only ten cars to battle in the feature event. Kevin Fee pretty much had the race his way as he led most of the laps, and took his third win at the track this year, which includes the Frostbuster. Michael Murphy was pedaling hard, but was unable to be much of a threat and had to settle for second. Third went to Jake Nelson, fourth to Eric Knutson, and fifth to Jennifer Hulin.

The IMCA Northern SportMods had 27 cars in attendance, with three cars unable to start the main. The race was plagued with yellow flags flying at what seemed like, every turn! It appeared that Cayden Carter was on his way to yet another win. Carter, still leading at the white flag, would have Tyler Droste slip underneath him on that final lap, and snatch the win away....his first at Marshalltown. Carter was second, Scott Davis took third, Carter VandenBerg was fourth and Brad Iverson rounded out the top five.

The IMCA stock cars had cars running five-wide at times and in clusters. Andy Bryant left them fighting behind him for position as he led the field early. A few laps later, it was Marshalltown's own Jeff Wollam taking the lead--but wait--here came the "Chelsea Charger", Damon Murty on the topside! Murty ran the topside of the track and Wollam preferred the low side. Murty got that momentum going up top and took the lead and then the win, his second of the season. Wollam was runner up with point leader Michael Murphy in third. Fourth went to Tracy Gienger and Curt Hook was fifth.

The final feature, the IMCA modifieds, was dominated by Jon Snyder. This would be Snyder's fourth win. Ronn Lauritzen chased Snyder most of the race to snare a second place finish. A newcomer to the track this year, Dan Fetters, came from starting at the tail of the starting lineup, to have a great run and finish in third. Fourth went to first timer this year, though no stranger to the track, as Brett Ladehoff finished in fourth. Scott Simatovich rounded out the top five.

Full results and other information on the track may be found at www.marshalltownspeedway.com. It will be back to another regular night of racing at the track next week with hot laps 6:45 and racing at 7:30. Happy racing!

Stout takes stock car feature at Osky

2011-07-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

We got back to our regular Wednesday night routine for racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night. What with the numerous rain outs, and a couple of other obligations on Wednesday nights, our visits have been few this season. It was good to get back to our norm again. It was also nice to see four new drivers get to victory lane for 2011, as they tamed the half-mile monster.

The B-mods ran first with their 15-lap race. LeRoy Groenendyk dueled it out with Bill Gibson the first five laps until a yellow flag resulted in a restart situation.
It was Andrew Schroeder who took advantage of the bunched-car restart, swung around Groenendyk to grab the lead, and Cayden Carter soon followed suit to get the runner up position. However, Groenendyk wasn't done, as he grabbed second back from Carter but had nothing for leader Schroeder. Andrew Schroeder, known as the "Kool-Aid Kid" was a happy camper in victory lane, taking his first win of the 2011 season at the track, and it being his birthday as well! Groenendyk was second, Carter third, fourth went to Bill Gibson, and Carter VandenBerg came from the tail of the starting field, to take fifth.

The USRA modifieds only had eight cars in attendance. Wade Francis and Scott Dickey were unable to start the A main as they suffered mechanical issues. Ron VerBeek and Zack VanderBeek put on quite a show early, battling back and forth for the lead. VanderBeek eventually took command and pulled away, taking his first win of 2011. Ron VerBeek took the runner up spot over Steven Blattler in third, fourth was visitor for the first time, Ryan Dolan driving the #11D car, and fifth was Corning, Iowa driver, Ryan Schafter.

The 15-lap hobby stock feature was a battle to the finish line between Kris Walker and Dustin Griffiths. Griffiths would be the victor on this night as he nipped Walker for the win....popping all the way. The popping noise was actually the rev limiter on the crate motor, as he explained in the post race interview with announcer Tony Paris. Calvin Dhondt, Kellogg, Iowa, finished in third, followed by last week's winner, Craig Brown in fourth, and Steve Allen rounded out the top five.

A couple of visiting drivers in the stock car class came to do a little "testing of the waters" in probable anticipation of next Monday and Tuesday's Great American Stock Car Shootout at the track. One of those drivers, veteran Rick Gustin, driving one of John Hunnell's stable cars, was in command through lap twelve of the 18-lap feature. On that fateful lap twelve, a caution flag flew, and Gustin's car then let loose with smoke, and he came to a stop in turn four. His night would be over, the apparent victim of a blown motor.

When the action resumed, Cory Stout, Steve Jackson and Nathan Wood were the cars fighting for the front; Stout leading. With three laps remaining, Wood made a move under Stout in turn three, Stout ended up kissing the wall, and cars behind took evasive action, which in turn brought out the yellow flag. On the restart, Wood was relegated to the tail, evidently for what was deemed questionable driving, and Stout was returned to the leader position. Stout would then keep the lead to the finish line, taking his first win of the year at the track. Steve Jackson finished in second, Brian Mitrisin in third, Wood made it back up to finish in fourth, and Rick Todd was fifth.

As I spoke earlier about our usual Wednesday night trip to the Southern Iowa Speedway, we will be adjusting our schedule this coming week to Monday and Tuesday, July 11 and 12, for the 15th Annual Great American Stock Car Shootout, and there will be NO racing on Wednesday night. There will be two complete shows each night, with all four classes. We note that according to the flyers, on Tuesday night, the modified class will be running with "alternative" rules, similar to IMCA modified rules. It will be interesting to see if this "alternative" rule will draw more cars to come try their hand at the "Monster" 1/2-mile. For more information on the Stock Car Shootout, check out www.rlpromotions.com. Until next time, happy racing!

Osky - 7-6-11

2011-07-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Unofficial results - 50 cars

Modified - 8 cars

Heat - 4R Ron VerBeek

Feature

1. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
2. 4R Ron VerBeek
3. 94 Steve Blattler
4. 11D Ryan Dolan
DNF: R21 Ryan Schafter
DNS: 7S Wade Francis
15K Kyle Harwood
40 Scott Dickey

B Mods - 18 cars

Heat 1 - 8T Tony Johnson
Heat 2 - 3K John VandenBerg
Heat 3 - 02 Andrew Schroeder

Feature

1. 02 Andrew Schroeder
2. 49G LeRoy Groenendyk
3. 10 Cayden Carter
4. 38 Bill Gibson
5. 7 Carter VandenBerg
6. 3K John VandenBerg
7. K0 Ken Kositzky, Cedar Rapids, IA
8. 7+ Jared Timmerman
9. 72 Brett Lowry
10. 03 Mark Mundell
11. 8T Tony Johnson
12. 8 Tom Lathrop
DNF: 50X James Crear
17T Brandon Groenendyk
8J AJ Johnson
27 Bryon Wear
64 Casey Greubel
1 Curtis VanderWal

Hobby Stock - 11 cars

Heat 1 - 18 Kris Walker
Heat 2 - 3S Steve Allen

Feature

1. 10G Dustin Griffiths
2. 18 Kris Walker
3. 69X Calvin Dhondt
4. 69 Craig Brown
5. 3S Steve Allen
6. 22R Todd Reitzler
7. 33 Justin Hook
8. 4 Jared Sanders
9. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
DNF: 73 Aaron Martin
53D Ron Downing, Jr.

Stock Car - 13 cars

Heat 1 - 94 Cory Stout
Heat 2 - 15K Kyle Harwood

Feature

1. 94 Corey Stout
2. 2J Steve Jackson
3. 4M Brian Mitrisin
4. 52 Nathan Wood
5. 7 Rick Todd
6. 20Dub Shane Weller
7. 73c Carl Yaw
8. 98 Brock Welch
DNF: 19G Rick Gustin - blew up under yellow while leading
15K Kyle Harwood
14 Todd Staley
10 Leon McCombs
56T Justin Temeyer

Harris Clash winner is.......Eric Dailey!

2011-07-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

We shared an enjoyable evening at the Knoxville Raceway for the annual Harris Clash, with fellow racing friends and enthusiasts--which always makes it even more special.
By my count, 74 IMCA modifieds participated on the beautiful Tuesday night in Knoxville, with Mother Nature giving us her blessing for a change!

Six heat races qualified three drivers each, with the first two being eligible for the redraw positions. Michael Long, Mark Elliott, and John Allen showed their power and won their heats by a lengthy margin. Other winners were Randy Havlik, Jay Noteboom and JJ Wise. Four drivers also qualified from each of the three B-mains, for a 30-car starting field.

A change in the main event was an interesting feature this year when the cars were halted at the halfway mark, stopped on the front stretch, and were allowed five minutes to make any changes, add fuel, change tires, etc. The race had been dominated through the halfway mark by Keokuk, Iowa driver, Michael Long. He left the rest of the field in the dust, pulling away substantially. He would do so again when the race was restarted after the competition caution. The top ten when they restarted were Long, Randy Havlik, Kenny Schrader, Gordon Grabouski, JJ Wise, Jon Snyder, Mark Elliott, Eric Dailey, John Allen, and Mike VanGenderen. A few laps later, Wise was taken out of the equation, when he let loose with smoke and a lost motor. Several more cautions flew and one with eight laps remaining took several attempts to resume racing. At that point, the running order was Long, Schrader, Elliot, Dailey, Garoubski, Havlik, VanGenderen, Snyder, and Jake Durbin was in the ninth spot.

The last handful plus of laps were run caution free. Eric Dailey made the move around Ken Schrader to grab the runner up spot and Gordon Grabouski also passed Schrader for third. Long continued his "out in front and gone" charge to the checkered flag, making it appear he had won his first Harris Clash. Wait a minute on that conclusion! After several "re-weighs", Long came up too light each time---we heard anywhere from 20-60 pounds. After Long's disqualifcation, that put Eric Dailey on the podium and the 2011 Harris Clash winner. Dailey, from Armstrong, Iowa came from starting seventeenth to take the win. Jordan Grabouski was awarded the runner up postion, Schrader, who had started on the pole, was third, fourth went to Newton, Iowa's Mike VanGenderen who nosed out Todd Shute in fifth, at the finish line.

As a few side notes, we noticed very few pre-registered drivers not in attendance, several being those from the southeastern Iowa area. Those that made an appearance and not pre-registered were Tim Murty, JC Wyman, Riley Emmel, and Tom Charles.
The track produced some pretty rough ruts on the low side, sending cars bouncing at times, though the higher lines appeared much smoother. A couple of drivers we spoke to afterwards, said those ruts were pretty deep too. It was nice to see some drivers we seldom see anymore, Tom Charles from Bonner Springs, Kansas for one.

We enjoyed our night at Knoxville, watching one of the "must see" races on our calendar every year. Our great thanks to Bob Harris for the hospitality and for putting on this show. You can find more indepth takes on the night's race by checking fellow Positively Racing comrade's articles at "Back Stretch" and "Tapfan's Tours". Full results are also at www.imca.com, www.knoxvilleraceway.com and www.harrisclash.com. Check them out. Until next time, happy racing!

Week 14 at Boone sees new winners Luellen, Bryant and Stensland

2011-07-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Fans were thankful for less heat and humidity on Saturday night at the Boone Speedway. It was Boone's 14th night of racing for the regular season and throw in the Frostbuster that kicked of the 2011 season and the Deery Brothers for the annual Memorial Day race, that makes 16 shows straight, quite unbelievable for the rainy weather Iowa has had to put up with. Saturday night had an added contest to go along with the five weekly classes when a King of the Hill, pitting five Harris chassis drivers against each other, fought for the "King" title. The youngsters also enjoyed racing their "hot rod" bicycles right before features began.

The King of the Hill challenge had five Harris Chassis drivers---Jimmy Gustin, Mike VanGenderen, Jake Durbin, Craig Carlson and Joel Bushore. Jimmy Gustin eliminated Mike VanGenderen in the first round in the closest contest. Jake Durbin next eliminated Craig Carlson, and Joel Bushore who drew a bye, was out when Jimmy Gustin won again. The final two standing were Gustin and Durbin and it was Gustin taking the win and title for the night of "King of the Hill". We have heard talk that there will be an on going challenge with Victory Chassis cars coming up as well. Stay tuned.

The Mod-Lite feature saw a new winner visit victory lane. Jeff Stensland grabbed the lead by lap two and never looked back, fending off a last lap challenge by Mike Kennedy. Stensland took the win and Kennedy was second. Josh May started back in twelfth and managed a third place finish, padding his point's lead. Colby Oberembt finished in fourth and Bryan Zehm took fifth.

The IMCA Northern SportMods had to run a B main to whittle their starting field to the 24-car feature. First timer at the track, Eric Flander from Barnes City, won that consolation race. Ty Luellen grabbed the lead by lap eleven of the 18-lap affair and held off the challenges of Randy Roberts to take his first win at Boone this season. Following Luellen and Roberts to take third place was veteran Rick Rinngenberg, Jason Purvis took fourth and Cody Hennings rounded out the top five. Last week's winner Racer Hulin, finished in sixth.

There were eighteen IMCA modifieds on hand. Matthew Meineke was the pole sitter along side Mike VanGenderen. VanGenderen shot to the lead and pulled away. Yellow flags flew early, bunching the field, but VanGenderen retained his lead as Jake Durbin drew closer. But in the end, the "Flyin' Dutchman" took his third win of the year at the track by a comfortable distance, Durbin taking the runner up position. Josh "Happy" Gilman finished a distance behind Durbin to capture third, Cale Sponsler was fourth and fifth went to Joel Bushore.

Wow! The IMCA stock cars put on a show again! Once again they were racing in bunches up front, a thriller for the fans for sure. Eric Brown took charge early from his pole starting spot but it was a mad scramble amongst cars behind him for positions 2-5. Those cars caught Brown and the last couple of laps it was 3-wide across the finish line. On lap 19 of the 20-lapper, Andy Bryant was "boosted" to the front with a tap from behind, and found himself in the lead. That was deemed to be a very rewarding tap, as Bryant kept the lead to the checkers and took his first win at the Boone Speedway this season. It was a fight to the finish behind him, with Trent Murphy grabbing a second place finish, and leader of most of the race, Eric Brown, falling to third. Fourth went to Wayne Gifford and Robert Stofer was scored in fifth.

The IMCA hobby stocks was the finale for the evening. The winner, John Watson took his third regular season win of the year, in a borrowed car. Watson was also the winner of the Frostbuster, making it four times to see the checkers at the track in 2011. Watson came from starting back in row five to take the lead by lap three. Eric Stanton followed Watson by coming from row six, to second place by lap five. The checkers went to Watson and Stanton finished a distant second. Aaron Rudolph was also a distance behind to take third, fourth went to Jesse Hopkins and fifth was Curt Reed.

This ended our fifth straight night of racing, and we welcomed a less hot and humid night. It looks like Tuesday night, July 5th for the Harris Clash in Knoxville will be our next race on the calendar. This is always a "must see" for us and we always look forward to the show. Check out www.harrisclash.com for information on the upcoming event. For information on the Boone Speedway, check www.raceboone.com where you can check out the point standings, etc. Until next time, happy racing!

Full results are listed below

Boone - 7-2-11

2011-07-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

129 cars total

Modified - 18 cars

Heat 1 - 57V Mike VanGenderen
Heat 2 - 83G Josh Gilman

Feature

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 18 Jake Durbin
3. 83G Josh Gilman
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 87 Joel Bushore
6. 3Z Randy Havlik
7. 24 Robert Avery
8. 94 Fred Schimmels
9. 28R Russ Dickerson
10. 12C Kent Croskey
11. 58 Denny Pittman
12. 20X Chad Louk
13. 75 Denny Rosenberg
14. 02 Brian Law
15. 5M Matthew Meineke
16. 19 Jimmy Gustin
17. 54 Paul Snyder, Wellsville,KS
18. 77C Craig Carlson

SportMod - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 81D Scott Davis
Heat 2 - X4 Jason Purvis
Heat 3 - 91 Shawn Hunter

B Main - 3 advance

1. 12E Eric Flander
2. 66 Cody Hennings
3. 59 Tara Longnecker
4. 6 Darren Huntley
5. 28 James Reichart
6. 56 Joe Simbro
7. 3 Stacey Clark
DNS: 63 Daniel Tasler
39 Larry Embrey

Feature

1. 32L Ty Luellen
2. 3R Randy Roberts
3. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
4. X4 Jason Purvis
5. 66 Cody Hennings
6. 505 Racer Hulin
7. 2G Geoff Olson
8. 19 David Schlicht
9. 12E Eric Flander
10. 22J Jeff Blume
11. 57 Lynn Brockett
12. 21ZC Cody Cleghorn
13. 23JR Nick Roberts
14. 1TO Tyler Olson
15. 3S Adam Shelman
16. 27 Tim Love
17. 59 Tara Longnecker
18. 99W Danny Watson
19. 22B Brian Eppert
20. 91 Shawn Huntetr
21. 02 Brian Law
22. 81D Scott Davis
23. 9E Eric Elliott
DNS: 24 Brian Miller

Stock cars - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 22 Wayne Gifford
Heat 2 - 50 Robert Stofer
Heat 3 - 24 Eric Brown

Feature

1. 77 Andy Bryant
2. 25 Trent Murphy
3. 24 Eric Brown
4. 22 Wayne Gifford
5. 50 Robert Stofer
6. 19A Alan VanGorp
7. 3H Ty Hill
8. 35 Donavon Smith
9. 93 Michael Jaennette
10. 81B Dave Baugh
11. 27 Gary Bass
12. 22X Josh Brauckman
13. 19J Jay Schmidt
14. 54 Robbie Merkle
15. 25J Josh Daniels
16. 05 Seth Bowen
17. 556 Terry Cornelison
18. 23HR Rod Richards
19. 45 Larry Cornelison
20. 22s Toby Smith
21. 11J Jeff Johnson
22. 3s Bryan Snell
23. 31 Jason York
24. 18 Jeff Harkrider
25. 9 Jerry Gifford
DNS: 12+ Ryan Rose
5 Keith Miner

Hobby Stock - 26 cars

Heat 1 - 14 Matt Wahlert
Heat 2 - 26T Jeremy Tilley
Heat 3 - 7B Eric Stanton

Feature

1. 4W John Watson
2. 7B Eric Stanton
3. 38R Aaron Rudolph
4. 46J Jesse Hopkins
5. 4C Curt Reed
6. 14 Matt Wahlert
7. 25M Michael Murphy
8. 26T Jeremy Tilley
9. 911 Darin Rothfus
10. 74J Dean Hartwig
11. 78 Tim Hadley
12. 9 Andrew Arends
13. 79 George Hood
14. 85 Seth Janssen
15. 99 Jeff Knight
16. 12M Matt McDonald
17. 16B Jay Arends
18. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
19. 5A Tyler Pickett
20. 20T Richard Yaw II
21. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
22. 3 Matt Hudspeth
23. 26 Kyle Habrich - Boone, IA
DNS: 27R Clint Rothfus
63 Cory Tasler
7C Chad Legere

Mod-Lites - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 0B Colby Oberembt
Heat 2 - 99 Josh May
Heat 3 - 95 Mike Kennedy

B Main - 3 advance

1. 64 Randy Bryan
2. 6 Mike Morrill
3. 37 Mike Thomas
4. 4L Larry Sorenson
5. 11 Michael Stoker
DNS: 00 Phillip Reeves
08 Ben Larson
33 Gayle Worthington

Feature

1. 20 Jeff Stensland
2. 95 Mike Kennedy
3. 99 Josh May
4. 0B Colby Oberembt
5. 46Z Bryan Zehm
6. 88 James May
7. 89 Travis Stensland
8. X50 Joel Huggins
9. 6 Mike Morrill
10. 64 Randy Bryan
11. 01 David Schmalzried
12. 11R Jason Whitehead
13. 8 Dusty Masolini
14. 3C Duane Coffman
15. 5X Matthew Goodin
16. 09 Joel Keenan
17. 15 Andy Hennigar
18. 46 Kevin Grisham
19. 76 Terry Sorenson
20. 93 Tim Milner
21. 9 Rick Taylor
22. 8T Todd Thorson
23. 37 Mike Thomas
24. 41Z Ed Zehm

Lee County Speedway HDT goes to Michael Long

2011-07-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

We were off to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa for the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour headlining their running of the Liberty Cup. Also on the card for the night were the IMCA stock cars and sportmods. We counted 31 of the HDT modifieds, 26 stock cars and 30 sportmods on hand for a very hot night of racing. Temperatures were in the 90's and the humidity sky-high.

The stock cars ran a 20-lap feature with Chelsea, Iowa's "Chelsea Charger", Damon Murty getting the lucky draw for the pole position. He had a lot good competitors surrounding him, with Matt Greiner along side and Shane Weller and Justin Temeyer in the row behind. Weller, from Agency, Iowa found himself in the lead by lap two, but unable to shake Murty who was challenging him constantly. Murty nabbed the lead for a couple of laps late in the race, holding it with two laps remaining, but Weller powered ahead to lead on the white flag lap and the rest of the way to take the checkers and the win. Murty was the bridesmaid, Abe Huls came from about mid-pack to capture third, fourth went to Matt Greiner and Justin Temeyer was fifth.

The SportMods feature went to none other than young Cayden Carter out of Oskaloosa, Iowa. We have seen this young man win over and over again. He showed his skill once again by coming through the field after starting back in row six. He caught the 21L car of Brad Lautenbach out of Wisconsin, who has been back in the area running as of recent, passed him for the lead, and pulled away for another win--his fifth in a row in his recent outings. Lautenbach, who had won the previous night in Independence, Iowa, finished in second. We had also seen Lautenbach win back in March in Beatrice, Nebraska when he won their Spring Nationals event. Carter's cousin, Carter VanDenBerg, took third place, Lucas Lundry was fourth and Rodger Dresden was scored in fifth.

The night ended with the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour feature for IMCA modifieds.
Jesup, Iowa's Ronn Lauritzen took the lead early and led through lap ten. We noticed a hard-charging Michael Long, who started tenth, set sail on the topside of the track, and he quickly reeled in the front runners, putting his #18L to the point by lap twelve. After that, the race was pretty much for second on back, as Long took the win by a comfortable margin. Tyler Cale finished in second, Wyatt Lantz was third, and Josh Foster and Todd Hansen finished fourth and fifth. Early leader, Ronn Laurtizen, finished in sixth.

We enjoyed our night at the Lee County Speedway despite the very uncomfortable temperatures and humidity, and saw some great racing. It was nice to see more traveling racing friends make the trip "down south" too. And, it's always a pleasure to hear fellow Positively Racing comrade Jeff Broeg on the mic. You can always count on him getting the lineups announced for those of us who are fanatics for such, as well as giving informative tidbits throughout the night. Thanks Jeff!

After another late night for some senior citizens, it will be a closer to home trip to the Marshalltown Speedway tonight. That is welcomed for our fourth night in a row of racing. We always look forward to this time of the season though as specials abound around the state. Get out and support this great sport of racing that we all enjoy. Happy racing!

Aikey wins Deery at Independence

2011-07-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

We took in the IMCA Deery Brother and Great American Stock Car Series races at the Independence Motor Speedway this past Wednesday night. A nice crowd was on hand to watch the 50 late models, 35 stock cars and 18 sportmods race. The late model race was also the Red Dralle Memorial race in honor of the longtime driver who passed away last fall. There were also former racers in the grandstands that evening, to pay tribute to the driver they had competed against in the earlier days--Bill Zwanzinger, Bobby Hansen and Ed Sanger amongst those.

IMCA Northern SportMods started the feature action off with ther running of their 20-lap A main. Laurel, Iowa's Racer Hulin led from the start and was sailing free and clear until a yellow flag flew with eight laps remaining. That would put the young Wisconsin driver, Brad Lautenbach, starting right behind Hulin for the restart. Those two would duel closely for several laps, Hulin running high, Lautenbach low. Lautenbach made the pass with the laps winding down to capture the win. Hulin got the runner up spot, Tyler Droste was third, Danny Dvorak fourth, and another Wisconsinite, Tyler Hackett rounding out the top five.

The stock cars ran 30 laps for their main event. Damon Murty drew the pole position with area driver Justin Temeyer along side. By lap five, Sean Johnson, who had started behind Murty, was running first with Murty giving chase as they circled the high side of the track. While those two dueled it out, previous night's winner of the stock car series race in Marshalltown, Donavon Smith, had made his way into third place. Those three positions would remain the same to the checkers--Johnson in first, Murty second, and Smith in third. Fourth place went to Trent Murphy out of Jefferson, Iowa, who had a tremendous run to finish fourth after starting way back in 21st place. Devin Snellenberger, Pulaski, Wisconsin, finished in fifth. I would venture to guess that he is the son of veteran Wisconsin stock car driver Rod Snellenberger.

The 84-lap Deery Brothers late model feature capped off the night's events. Why 84 laps? This was in honor of the late Red Dralle's first car number. Another note of interest was the $4.00 added to the payoffs--the #4 being his last car number.

Joe Zrostlik drew the lucky #1 position to start on the pole and he and Nate Beuseling, who drew the #2 spot, led the pack in the early laps while the 1st car of Justin Reed took over command by lap 33. Reed was extending his lead until lap traffic slowed him a bit. This was what veteran driver Jeff Aikey was looking for as he had worked his way up into second. The crafty veteran was able to make the move around Reed to take the lead and went home to take the checkers. Reed finished in second as he held off Colby Springsteen and Stephan Krammerer who finished third and fourth and Nate Beuseling was fifth.

Though we had to squint through the flying dust and eat a bit of it, the track rubbered over nicely later. The cars did some bounching in the corners as some pesky holes reared their ugly heads. All in all, it was a good night of racing, though a bit late in finishing. A glance at our watches showed it to be right at 11:25 p.m. when over, so it was another late bedtime for us. We saw many racing friends who had also made the trip to Independence, some even farther from home than us, and they had work the next morning, so we shouldn't complain. Besides, we were out doing what we love to do, watch those cars go around in circles!

Donavon Smith takes Great American Stock Car Series win at Marshalltown

2011-06-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Marshalltown Speedway was the scene on Tuesday night for the IMCA Great American Stock Car Series. What was suppose to be the second of a three night series, was actually the first night since wet grounds cancelled the previous night's opener at the Buena Vista Speedway in Alta, Iowa. Forty-eight of the "Class too Tough to Tame" came to try their hand at the $1,000 top prize and to try and conquer the high-banks of Marshalltown Speedway. There were also fifty-five IMCA Northern SportMods running for $1,000 to win, along with twenty-three IMCA hobby stocks and a class not normally seen at the track, the IMCA Sport Compacts. The Compact class brought a dozen competitors.

The Sport Compacts ran their feature before the b-mains for the stock cars and sportmods. The 00W car of Bill Whalen, Jr. took a rough ride off of turn two just as action got underway. The car rolled, but he was okay. The ironic thing is we started our season off at the Beatrice Speedway back in early March, and watched him do the same thing. It's a class we seldom see, so he probably doesn't want us sitting in the stands anymore when he runs!

The feature action would then continue and it was pretty much a Chandler/Whalen show with several family members of each family, running. Nathan Chandler was the winner of the A main followed by Merv Chandler...a veteran of racing, as we recall him in one of the early IMCA modifieds. Third through fifth was Tyler Whalen, John Whalen and Dallas Chandler. I believe there is a family connection with the Chandlers and the Whalens, so it was a family finish for sure.

The hobby stocks ran next with a 20-lap affair. Kevin Fee took off to the lead from his pole starting position and was pulling away from second place runner Eric Stanton, who in turn was putting distance between himself and third place, Brandon Pruitt. We were watching the 62B of Andy Boeckman, always a hard charger, taking flight on the topside of the track and reeling in the leaders. Boeckman had started around the 14th spot and appeared to going to be a challenger. A flat tire would end that run however. Several caution flags followed, bunching the front of the field, with Fee still in command of first place. As laps wound down, Fee got shuffled backwards when contact was made during the battle for positions. That would be when Dexter, Iowa driver, Brandon Pruitt seized the moment and took the lead. Pruitt would then pull away to take the victory. Michael Murphy finished a distant second. Randy Embrey finished in third and Eric Stanton and Dustin Elliott were fourth and fifth.

Twenty-laps for the IMCA SportMods came next, with Scott Davis and Cayden Carter sitting on the front row. It took a while for the action to finally get underway, as caution flags plagued the early going. A scary incident on the front chute left the #19 ride of David Schlicht a real mess. Doug Smith appeared to be having problems keeping his car running, and coming out of turn four, dove to the apron, right in front of Schlicht. Schlicht hit Smith hard, resulting in his car being left in a pile of rubble on the track. Schlicht was not hurt, but can't say the same for his car.

The entire race was centered on the front row starters, with Carter in command except for one brief moment when Davis nosed ahead. Carter took the win over Davis, his 12th of the season over all. Third place went to Randy Robert, fourth to Austin Kaplan and fifth to Kyle Brown, who came through the pack from starting in 20th spot.

The 30-lap featured stock car event, capped off the night. There was action all over the track with three and four-wide racing. Mike VanGenderen took advantage of his redraw #1, as he held Damon Murty and Sean Johnson at bay in the early laps. Murty suffered a flat about lap seven, brought out a yellow, and had to join the field at the tail.

I don't think anyone could have missed the 19J of Jay Schmidt who was taking flight on the cushion and clicking off positions rapidly. Schmidt had started 16th, put his car topside, and by lap nine or ten, took the lead. Schmidt was flying, but a pesky yellow flew, bunching the field behind him. Upon the restart, he had Trent Murphy and Donavon Smith to contend with. Before the final yellow flew, making for a green-white-checkered finish, it was Smith who had made the pass underneath Schmidt on the backstretch to gain the lead. Smith took the checkered/yellow finish when two cars piled it up in corners one, leaving Schmidt the bridesmaid for the night. Trent Murphy took third, Sean Johnson fourth, and Damon Murty was credited with a fifth place position, after tagging the field early.

Our plans are to head to the Independence Speedway tonight for the Deery Brothers Late Model $5,004 to win special in honor of the late Red Dralle, veteran racer who passed away last fall. A check of the IMCA website showed us the answer for the odd amount of $4.00 on the end....it is in tribute to the last car number that Dralle raced. The Great American Stock Car Series is also on the agenda. We look forward to some great racing again. Thursday we hope to head southeast for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA modifieds scheduled for the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. There are a lot of specials around this time of the year, so be sure and check the calendar of events on www.positivelyracing.com. We enjoy taking in these specials at the different tracks in the area and we encourage all of you to make a trip to one of them. Happy racing!

"Racer" wins at Boone

2011-06-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

It was cloudy, rainy and chilly when we left for our weekly trip to the Boone Speedway on Saturday. A check of the radar however, showed it clear to the west and a text from the track said things were on as scheduled. We expected to run into blue sky as we continued west, but that didn't happen! The track was prepped and ready, and looked to be in great shape for a fast night of action. Then...those low hanging, grey clouds decided to cut loose with a mist. They must be the kind that does not show on radar! The call was made to start the show about 25 minutes early and the first heat race was quickly brought to the track. The mist did continue for a while, but caused no problem with the racing. Those low clouds remained however, so after the one b-main was completed, another decision was made to continue immediately with the features, scrapping the usual farming of the track.

The Mod Lite feature kicked off the main events. Joel Huggins led the early laps with Randy Bryan dogging him. Bryan slipped by to take the lead on lap thirteen of the 15-lapper, and took his first win of the season at Boone by a comfortable margin.
Andy Hennigar got by Huggins to finish in second. Huggins took the third place with Jeff Stensland and Mike Kennedy finishing fourth and fifth.

The 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature ran next and by the end of the race, a "Racer" had found victory. Stacey Clark led the early laps with Racer (yes, real first name) Hulin and Cody Hennings giving chase. By lap twelve, Hulin had overtaken Clark for the lead and Hennings and point leader Scott Davis had advanced around Clark as well. A restart occurred with just two laps left in the event, but this didn't deter Hulins as he completed those last couple of laps firmly in the lead and took his first win at the track. A check of the IMCA points shows Hulin leads the rookie point standing for the Northern SportMod division by a sizable lead. Cody Hennings took the runner up spot and track point leader (by a huge margin) Scott Davis, took third. Fourth went to Geoff Olson ad Eric Elliott rounded out the top five. Stacey Clark who had been running with the leaders, fell out of the race with a lap to go.

The IMCA modifieds came to the track next for the running of their 20-lap feature. Scott Simatovich took off from his pole starting position to lead the early laps which were marred by several yellow flags flying. On lap seven, Randy Havlik, former IMCA Super Nationals Champion, made the tight pass near the wall on the front stretch, to take over the lead. From there on, Havlik had pretty smooth sailing on his way to victory, his second at the track this year. Joel Bushore got to second at about the halfway mark and he then motored on to take the runner up spot over Simatovich who was third. Fourth went to Cale Sponsler and Jake Durbin rounded out the top five.

In the IMCA stock car class, it was nice to see a veteran racer take the checkers. Jeff Johnson, Indianola driver, led all 18 circuits to win his first at Boone this year. We know Jeff from back in his successful stock cars days. He then tried his hand at a dirt truck as well as a stint in a sprint car. Guess he's come full circle and is now back in the stock car. Wayne Gifford finished a distance behind Johnson to capture the runner up spot. Larry Crocheck finished in third, Donavon Smith in fourth, and Newton, Iowa's Michael Jaennette was fifth.

The twelve lap hobby stock feature ended with a different outcome than most of the race indicated. It was a race between Bill Atcheson and Brandon Brinton, making it appear it would be one of those two standing in victory lane. Atcheson led Brinton at the white flag, but on the backstretch, it appeared Atcheson slowed considerably with perhaps a tire going down, and with Brinton on his tail, Brinton also reacted and slowed. That is when none other than third place runner, Michael Murphy seized the opportunity and passed both cars and take his seventh feature win this year.
Brandon Brinton was second and Atcheson held on to finish third. Fourth went to Tony Cox and fifth to Eric Stanton.

Racing was completed by 9:37 p.m., making for an earlier than normal arrival home. The call for starting early, the elimination of farming and no break may not have been needed, but we still feel it was a good call. You just can't tell what this fickle weather is going to produce now days!

You can check www.raceboone.com for points, results and information pertaining to the Boone Speedway. The full results are also listed below this blog. Happy racing!

Boone results - 6-25-11

2011-06-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Boone - 6-25-11 - 131 cars

Modified

Heat 1 - 83G Josh Gilman
Heat 2 - 87 Joel Bushore
Heat 3 - 57V Mike VanGenderen

Feature

1. 3Z Randy Havlik
2. 87 Joel Bushore
3. 43S Scott Simatovich
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 18 Jake Durbin
6. 28R Russ Dickerson
7. 1K Pat Graham
8. 75 Denny Rosenberg
9. 94 Fred Schimmels
10. 49T Tim Stevens
11. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
12. 77C Craig Carlson
13. 83G Josh Gilman
14. 51 Tyler Vandekamp
15. 19 Jimmy Gustin
16. 58 Denny Pittma
17. 27 Kelly Lyons
18. 24 Robert Avery
19. 12C Kent Croskey
20. 57V Mike VanGenderen
21.131s Ed Seibert
DNS: 20X Chad Louk - rolled off turn 4 in heat.

SportMod - 30 cars

Heat 1 - 66 Cody Hennings
Heat 2 - 22J Jeff Blume
Heat 3 - 3 Stacey Clark

Feature

1. 505 Racer Hulin - 1st win at Boone
2. 66 Cody Hennings
3. 81D Scott Davis
4. 2G Geoff Olson
5. 9E Eric Elliott
6. 27 Tim Love
7. 64 Casey Grubel
8. 86 Cory Rose
9. 2 Bill Wears
10. 3R Randy Roberts
11. 57 Lynn Brockett
12. 59 Tara Longnecker
13. 3s Adam Shelman
14. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
15. 56 Joe Simbro
16. 63 Daniel Tasler
17. 6 Darren Huntley
18. 22J Jeff Blume
19. 3 Stacey Clark
20. 3L Clint Luellen
21. 34J Jerry Hinton
22. 32L Ty Luellen
23. 30X Josh Modde
24. 17 Jamie Ganoe
25. 99W Danny Watson
26. 39 Larry Embrey
DNS: 35 Bruce Egeland
23JR - dq'd - did not obey black flag in HEAT

Stock Car - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 23HR Rod Richards
Heat 2 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Heat 3 - 11J Jeff Johnson

Feature

1. 11J Jeff Johnson, Indianola, IA
2. 22 Wayne Gifford
3. 45 Larry Crocheck
4. 35 Donavon Smith
5. 93 Michael Jaennette
6. 19J Jay Schmidt
7. 9 Jerry Gifford
8. 24 Eric Brown
9. 19A Alan VanGorp
10. 25J Josh Daniels
11. 12+ Ryan Rose
12. 3H Ty Hill
13. 22S Toby Smith
14. 556 Terry Cornelison
15. 5 Keith Miner
16. 11 Scott Seaman
17. 2L Jon Lang
18. 25 Trent Murphy
19. 55 Cory Bushnell
20. 81X Randy Killen
21. 18 Jeff Harkrider
22. 103 Jerrold Howell, Jr., - May Bank, TX
23. 23HR Rod Richards
24. 50 Robert Stofer

Hobby Stock - 30 cars

Heat 1 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 2 - 63 Cory Tasler
Heat 3 - 25M Michael Murphy
Heat 4 - 32 Bill Atcheson

B-Main - 4 advance

1. 85 - Seth Janssen
2. 16B - Jay Arends
3. 9 Andrew Arends
4. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
5. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
6. T71 Marcus Kyle
7. 35Z Gina Grubel
8. 99 Jeff Knight
DNS: 7C Chad Legere
79 George Hood

Feature

1. 25M Michael Murphy - last lap pass
2. 25B Brandon Brinton
3. 32 Bill Atcheson
4. 1BC Tony Cox
5. 7B Eric Stanton
6. 4C Curt Reed
7. 3 Matt Hudspeth
8. 5A Tyler Pickett
9. 38R Aaron Rudolph
10. 74J Dean Hartwig
11. 3A Austin Luellen
12. 20T Richard Yaw II
13. 9 Andrew Arends
14. 911 Darin Rothfus
15. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
16. 14 Matt Wahlert
17. 16B Jay Arends
18. 47W Shaun Wirtz
19. 26T Jeremy Tilley
20. 85 Seth Janssen
21. 63 Cory Tasler
22. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
23. 27C Cory Adams
24. 4W John Watson

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 15 Andy Hennigar
Heat 2 - 20 Jeff Stensland
Heat 3 - 64 Randy Bryan

Feature

1. 64 Randy Bryan
2. 15 Andy Hennigar
3. X50 Joel Huggins
4. 20 Jeff Stensland
5. 95 Mike Kennedy
6. 01 David Schmalzried, Jr.
7. 46Z Bryan Zehm
8. 82 Charlie Brown
9. 8 Dusty Masolini
10. 89 Travis Stensland
11. 99 Josh May
12. 88 James May
13. 3C Duane Coffman
14. 11R Jason Whitehead
15. 09 Joel Keenan
16. 37 Mike Thomas
17. 93 Michael Jaennette
18. 8T Todd Thorson
19. 76 Terry Sorenson
20. 9 Rick Taylor
21. 08 Ben Larson
22. 0B Colby Oberemnt
23. 4+1 Troy Hudson
24. 1 John Gardner
DNS: 00 Phillip Reeves

Gustin and Schmidt take close wins!

2011-06-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Beautiful weather greeted racers and fans for a great night of racing at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night. It was also Clement Heating and Cooling night at the races, and with those magic words at the ticket booth, admission was only $5! The crowd on hand reflected that bargain.

Thirteen Dwarf/Mod Lites started the feature event action. It didn't take Tim Hennigar long to get to the lead in the 15-lap affair. It was pretty smooth sailing from there on as Hennigar captured his second win at the track this season. Randy Bryan finished in second place, Colby Oberembt in third, fourth went to Josh May and fifth to Joel Huggins. The race went flag-to-flag.

The hobby stock 12-lap feature also went caution free. Brandon Brinton pushed past Jennifer Hulin for the lead and then pulled away. Brinton took the win, his second of the season at Marshalltown, over Eric Elliott. Jennifer Hulin had a third place finish over Michael Murphy in fourth and Jake Nelson in fifth. Great job on the hobby stocks keeping the race going green the entire 12 laps!

The IMCA Northern SportMods had only one early race caution for a pileup in corner one, halt their racing action. Point leader, Cayden Carter started twelfth on the field, caught leader Jenae Gustin, made the pass for the lead, and then pulled away. Carter grabbed his third win on the season. Scott Davis followed Carter through the pack to finish in second and Dylan Book finished strong to capture third. Fourth went to Jenae Gustin and Dane Larson rounded out the top five spots.

The stock cars put on a heck of a show for the fans. Jay Schmidt got to the lead before many circuits of the 18-lap feature had clicked off. Michael Jaennette got to second and gave chase while a pack of cars were battling closely for positions behind him. One of those cars was the 99D of Damon Murty who made his way to the third spot and soon passed Jaennette and took over second. The first yellow flag would then fly late in the race, making for a green-white-checkered shootout to the finish line between the two. Schmidt kept his composure and no bobbles, which no doubt Murty was hoping for, and got to the checkers first, sealing his win. Murty took the runner up spot followed by Jaennette in third, Donavon Smith in fourth and Kevin Rose took fifth.

The final feature, the IMCA modified 20-lapper, brought the crowd to its feet in a thrilling finish. Todd Shute flew to the lead from his second row starting spot, and looked to be headed for a win. However, Jammin' Jimmy Gustin had other ideas as he was reeling in the 5 car. All eyes were on the leaders as they ran the topside in turns three and four, and dove low in corners one and two. The two swapped leads and contact was made on the frontstretch leaving Shute in the top spot. On the final lap, Gustin got his nose under Shute in corner one to take the lead and power home to the win as the crowd cheered wildly. It is hard to believe that this is Gustin's first win at Marshalltown this year as he is a four-time track champion. Adam Larson finished third, Joel Bushore was fourth and Jon Snyder had a top five finish.

Tuesday night, June 28th will be the annual stock car shoot out at the Marshalltown Speedway. Racing will start one half hour early at 7 p.m., for this special event. Then it will be back to a regular night of racing next Friday night at the track. Check www.marshalltownspeedway for complete results and information. Happy racing!

The "Flying Dutchman" takes Boone modified win

2011-06-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

It was back to the Boone Speedway on Saturday night for their mid-season championships. They were dumping lots and lots of water on the track when we arrived. We heard through the grapevine that Ogden, just nine miles to the west, had an inch of rain earlier in the day, however Boone escaped again.

The Mod-Lites saw a new face for the year in victory lane. Dusty Masolini went to the front early and stayed there. Jeff Stensland chased the elusive Masolini to no avail. Masolini took his first win at the track for 2011 with Stensland having to be content with a second place finish. Third went to Bryan Zehm, fourth was Randy Bryan and fifth was Joel Keenan. Point leader Josh May was caught up in an incident on the track that left him with a broken left front tie rod, but he was able to wrangle the car to complete the race and still retain a sizable point lead.

The SportMod 18-lap feature was an exciting, flag-to-flag, 3-wide affair as cars swapped positions back and forth. Ty Luellen had established the point position by the halfway mark but he was being reeled in by Brian Miller. Miller has had a win slip away from him this year, but tonight he was able to pass Luellen with a few laps remaining, and then pulled away. Miller took his first win at Boone this year. Second place went to Stacey Clark who was able to pass Luellen, who finished third,fourth was Doug Smith and Randy Roberts took fifth.

The 20-lap modified feature had only one yellow fly, that due to debris at lap five.
The debris came from an on-track skirmish that left Mike Molle's ride minus much sheetmetal. Mike VanGenderen, the "Flying Dutchman" put his 57V into the lead at lap six, riding the topside, with Jake Durbin closely in tow. That would be the way they would finish, as VanGenderen nabbed his second win of the season at Boone, and last week's winner, Durbin getting second. Jimmy Gustin made his usual great charge through the field to take the third spot, advancing from his twelfth starting spot. Fourth went to veteran Grimes, Iowa driver, Denny Rosenberg and Randy Havlik took fifth.

The stock cars were in their usual fine form giving fans a thrilling action-packed feature race. Rod Richards appeared on his way to a win as he lead a pack of five to six cars fighting it out behind him for position. But it was Alan VanGorp taking the low route around the track to overtake Richards with just a few laps remaining. VanGorp grabbed his second win of the season at the track and Jay Schmidt made the top side work and took the runner up spot as he powered around Richards at the flag.
Following Richards for fourth place was veteran Robert Stofer, and fifth went to Cory Bushnell.

The IMCA hobby stocks concluded the evening's features with their 12-lap A main.
John Watson pushed his car to the front early from starting back in row six. He would go home to the checkers first, taking his second regular season feature win. Watson had also won the Frostbuster back on April 2nd. Aaron Rudolph trailed Watson by a distance most of the race to take second. Third place went to Eric Stanton with a fine run after having to qualify through the b main. Stanton nearly trashed his car in a wild roll at the end of last week's hobby feature, so it was good to see him bounce back. Brandon Brinton, Nevada, Iowa, finished in fourth and Tim Hadley rounded out the top five.

There are lots of specials coming up in the coming weeks. Check out the calendar on www.positivelyracing.com and you just might find a race or two to attend. Get out and support our great sport of dirt track racing. Until next time, happy racing!

Full results are listed below.

Boone - 6-18-11

2011-06-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

137 total cars

Modified - 21 cars

Heat 1 - 18 Jake Durbin
Heat 2 - 94 Fred Schimmels
Heat 3 - 87 Joel Bushore

Feature

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 18 Jake Durbin
3. 19 Jimmy Gustin
4. 75 Denny Rosenberg
5. 3Z Randy Havlik
6. 94 Fred Schimmels
7. 93 Cale Sponsler
8. 83G Josh Gilman
9. 28R Russ Dickerson
10. 33M Mike Molle
11. 87 Joel Bushore
12. 58 Denny Pittman
13. 5M Matthew Meineke
14. 24 Robert Avery
15. 23 Scott Sturm - Templeton
16. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
17. 49T Tim Stevens
18. 26Z Zach Hensley - Green River, WY
19. 12C Kent Croskey
20. 77C Craig Carlson
DNS: 12 Stacey Warren

SportMod - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 59 Tara Longnecker
Heat 2 - 12 Doug Smith
Heat 3 - 30x Josh Modde
Heat 4 - 32L Ty Luellen

B Main - 4 advance to A

1. 57 Lynn Brockett
2. 81D Scott Davis
3. 02 Mike Goldsberry - Runnells, IA
4. x4 Jason Purvis
5. 2Z Zack Rawlins
6. 91 Shawn Hunter
7. 28 James Reichart
8. 63 Daniel Tasler
9. 56 Joe Simbro
10. 1T Bobby Davis III
11. B00K - Dylan Book
DNS: 14Z Kevin Millard

Feature

1. 24 Brian Miller
2. 3 Stacey Clark
3. 32L Ty Luellen
4. 12 Doug Smith
5. 3R Randy Roberts
6. 86 Cory Rose
7. 11 Beau Kaplan
8. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
9. 81D Scott Davis
10. 505 Racer Hulin
11. 83 Dane Larson
12. 57 Lynn Brockett
13. 27 Tim Love
14. 30X Josh Modde
15. 17 Jamie Ganoe
16. 9E Eric Elliott
17. 5B Tom Burke
18. X4 Jason Purvis
19. 02 Mike Goldsberry
20. 22J Jeff Blume
21. 6 Darren Huntley
22. 59 Tara Longnecker
23. 2G Geoff Olson
24. 23JR Nick Roberts

Stock Car - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 81X Randy Killen
Heat 2 - 55 Cory Bushnell
Heat 3 - 23HR Rod Richards

Feature

1. 19A Alan VanGorp
2. 19J Jay Schmidt
3. 23HR Rod Richards
4. 50 Robert Stofer
5. 55 Cory Bushnell
6. 22 Wayne Gifford
7. 8 David Smith
8. 35 Donavon Smith
9. 93 Michael Jaennette
10. 45 Larry Crocheck
11. 77 Andy Bryant
12. 12+ Ryan Rose
13. 27 Gary Bass
14. 81X Randy Killen
15. 25J Josh Daniels
16. 54 Robbie Merkle
17. 5 Keith Miner
18. 05 Seth Bowen
19. 31 Jason York
20. 9 Jerry Gifford
21. 11J Jeff Johnson
DNS: 06 Kyle Schmauss - Eagle Grove, IA
3H Ty Hill
556 Terry Cornelison
24 Eric Brown

Hobby Stock - 34 cars

Heat 1 - 5A Tyler Pickett
Heat 2 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 3 - 9 Andrew Arends
Heat 4 - 3A Austin Luellen

B Main - 4 advance

1. 1BC Tony Cox
2. 7B Eric Stanton
3. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
4. 3 Matt Hudspeth
5. 20T Richard Yaw II
6. 85 Seth Janssen
7. 99 Jeff Knight
8. 16B Jay Arends
9. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
10. 36S Mike Smith
11. 14 Matt Wahlert
12. 27C Cory Adams
13. 911 Darin Rothfus
DNS: T71 Marcus Kyle

Feature

1. 4W John Watson
2. 38R Aaron Rudolph
3. 7B Eric Stanton
4. 24B Brandon Brinton
5. 78 Tim Hadley
6. 63 Cory Tasler
7. 25M Michael Murphy
8. 74J Dean Hartwig
9. 4C Curt Reed
10. 3A Austin Luellen
11. 26T Jeremy Tilley
12. 46J Jesse Hopkins
13. 1BC Tony Cox
14. 9 Andrew Arends
15. 69 Calvin Dhondt
16. 29 Jake Nelson
17. 3 Matt Hudspeth
18. 32 Bill Atcheson - Waukee, IA
19. 27R Clint Rothfus
20. 47W Shaun Wirtz
21. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
22. 5A Tyler Pickett
23. 77C Andy Coffman
24. 33J Jesse McCollaugh

Mod-Lite - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 82 Charlie Brown
Heat 2 - 89 Travis Stensland
Heat 3 - 99 Josh May

Feature

1. 8 Dusty Masolini
2. 20 Jeff Stensland
3. 46Z Bryan Zehm
4. 64 Randy Bryan
5. 09 Joel Keenan
6. 5X Matthew Goodin
7. 95 Mike Kennedy
8. 88 James May
9. X50 Joel Huggins
10. 89 Travis Stensland
11. 01 David Schmalzried
12. 3C Andy Coffman
13. 8W Joe Wood
14. 46 Kevin Grisham
15. 8T Todd Thorson
16. 99 Josh May
17. 93 Tim Milner
18. 76 Terry Sorenson
19. 37 Mike Thomas
20. 4L Larry Sorenson
21. 08 Ben Larson
22. 1 John Gardner
23. 82 Charlie Brown
24. 11R Jason Whitehead
25. 9 Rick Taylor

Murphy brother's night at Marshalltown Speedway

2011-06-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Finally, a Friday night without rain and a great night of racing at the Marshalltown Speedway. There was a lot of good side-by-side and multi-wide racing through most of the night, giving the fans their money's worth. A visiting driver from "out West" was also on hand and more on that young man later.

The Mod-Lites kicked off the night's main event portion of the program. Twelve cars started the 15-lap event. Josh May punched it to the front early and would keep that lead while Tim Hennigar ran second, trying to catch him. Josh May took his fourth regular season win (he also won the Frostbuster) while Tim Hennigar kept the runner up spot. Third went to Mike Morrill with James May a very close fourth. Joel Huggins rounded out the top five positions.

The 12-lap hobby stock feature was run next. Michael Murphy wasted no time in bringing his #25M ride to the front with Gary Pfantz, point leader Kevin Fee and Eric Knutson bunched tightly behind. Murphy survived the onslaught to take the win, his first of the season at Marshalltown and Fee held off the challenges to take second. Third went to Gary Pfantz, fourth to Eric Knutson, and Josh Saunders was fifth with a great run.

It was now SportMod time on the track as they prepared for their 15-lap race.
Scott Davis pushed his car to the lead as Cayden Carter followed suit to grab the second spot. Davis pulled away as the final laps wound down, and he took his first win at Marshalltown this year. Carter kept the runner up place, followed by his cousin, Carter VandenBerg in third. Fourth went to Fred Leytham and Jake Strayer finished in fifth.

Now it was IMCA stock car time. Jay Schmidt took the highroad around the track and put his ride to the point and Trent Murphy quickly followed to grab second. There was very close racing behind the leaders with a pack of five or six cars all battling for position. Murphy would snatch the lead from Schmidt in the waning laps and some of the bunched cars behind got things sorted out. Trent Murphy took the 18-lap feature win, with Schmidt taking second. Damon Murty, "The Chelsea Charger" was on hand for some racing fun, and took the third spot. Curt Hook was fourth and Jeff Wollam, in his new ride for the year, took fifth. Trent Murphy's brother Michael had earlier won the hobby stock feature.

The evening concluded with the running of the 20-lap IMCA modified feature. Todd Shute jumped to the lead and was looking to pull away, but a few others had different ideas. Adam Larson and Jon Snyder were on the move as they closed in on the leader. Snyder would grab the lead from Shute and when Snyder went a bit high in turns one and two and a tire slipped off the berm, it was a case of Shute checking up to avoid contact with Snyder, and then he found himself sitting in the corning facing traffic! He would then have to tag the tail of the field on the restart. Snyder went home to the checkers first, taking his third win at the track, and Adam Larson took second. Third went to Ronn Lauritzen with a great run, fourth was Jimmy Gustin and Josh Truman rounded out the top five.

I mentioned before about a visiting driver in the modified ranks. Zach Hensley from Green River, Wyoming came to have some fun back here in Iowa. We had the pleasure of meeting this 21 year old in the pits afterwards and what an inspiring story he is. This young man has no legs, was given a short life span of six years when he was born, beat the odds, and is now living his dream. He uses what we understand are motorcycle hand controls for accelerating and braking while steering with the other hand. He has some Iowa connections as we noted he was driving a Victory Chassis through JR Motorsports. It was our understanding that he plans to come back once a month through the summer and again for the IMCA Super Nationals. He plans to be in Boone tonight and Stuart on Sunday. If you happen to see the 26Z in the pits, take a moment to meet this inspiring young man.

Until next time, happy racing!

Jake Durbin wins Boone on "school's out" night

2011-06-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Boone Speedway held their annual Little League Night at the races on Saturday night. There was a batting contest in the infield before racing even started for the evening. Not only that, but because kids are out of school for the summer, all students under nineteen were admitted free. The batting contest did delay the start of the races, but when the heats started, all fifteen heats plus one b-main, were run through with only one yellow flag! New faces and repeat winners found victory lane on a beautiful Saturday night at the races.

The Mod Lite's ran their 15-lap feature flag-to-flag. Joel Huggins and Travis Stensland battled for the lead in the early going. At lap eight, Stensland took command of the helm with Huggins trying to regain the top spot and the leader's father, Jeff Stensland, running in third. On the final lap, Huggins would suddenly pull into the infield, off the pace. Travis Stensland went on to the win, and dad, Jeff, inherited the runner up spot. Point leader Josh May finished in third, fourth went to Charlie Brown, and James May was fifth.

Twenty-five of the twenty-seven Northern SportMods started their 18-lap feature event. Brian Miller snatched the lead from Stacey Clark a bit after the halfway mark and was looking to be taking the checkers first. A caution flag would fly with just two laps remaining, which bunched the field and put point leader Scott Davis on Miller's bumper at the restart. Coming to the checkers, Davis would power his way
past Miller by inches, and take his first win of the season at Boone. Consistant finishes have paid off for Davis, and the win padded his point lead even more. Miller finished a no doubt, disappointing second, third was Nick Roberts, fourth went to Stacey Clark, and Tara Longnecker rounded out the top five.

The IMCA modified 20-lap feature was dominated by Jake Durbin, who took his first win of the 2011 season at the track. Even with a restart situation bunching the field with just three laps to go, Durbin sped off to win in comfortable fashion. Josh Gilman took second after slipping by Craig Carlson who finished third. Fourth went to Cale Sponsler and Randy Havlik finished in fifth.

The stock cars at Boone this year have had some amazingly close racing. They lived up to that again last night. They passed the flagstand in such close packs of four and five cars, it was virtually unable to see who was running in which position. Eric Brown led the early laps in comfortable form until a rollover on the backstretch stopped the action at lap nine. Terry Cornelison, in the 556 car, rolled his car and ended up with the bottom side against the back cement wall. Thankfully, he was not injured. On the restart, with cars bunched, the chase was on to catch Brown and the remaining laps were a blur of cars passing the flagstand. When those final few laps were completed, it was last week's winner, Jerry Gifford, taking the win for the second consecutive week. Rod Richards took the runner up position and Eric Brown fell back to take third. Fourth went to point leader, Donavon Smith and Trent Murphy rounded out the top five.

The hobby stock feature closed out the evenings racing. Brandon Brinton led early until point leader Michael Murphy came calling and made the pass on Brinton and into the lead at lap eight. A spectacular incident concluded the race after the white flag had flown, when Eric Stanton rolled in corner one. He was not injured, but the car was observed hanging between two wreckers. The race ended under yellow/checkered, and sealed the deal on yet another win for Murphy, his sixth of the year at Boone. Brandon Brinton took second, third went to John Watson, fourth to Austin Luellen, and fifth to Danny Watson. A little action took place after the race in the infield and we learned that the 26T car of Jeremy Tilley, claimed the carburetor of Murphy.

Next week will be mid-season championships for all classes. Check out www.raceboone.com for information on the track as well as results and point standings. Until next time, happy racing!

Full results are listed below

Boone - 6-11-11

2011-06-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

130 cars

Modified - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 3Z Randy Havlik
Heat 2 - 57V Mike VanGenderen
Heat 3 - 77c Craig Carlson

Feature

1. 18 Jake Durbin
2. 83G Josh Gilman
3. 77c Craig Carlson
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 3Z Randy Havlik
6. 87 Joel Bushore
7. 1K Pat Graham
8. 28R Russ Dickerson
9. 94 Fred Schimmels
10. 58 Denny Pittman
11. 43S Scott Simatovich
12. 24 Robert Avery
13. 82K Dave Kuykendall
14. 5M Matthew Meineke
15. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
16. 12C Kent Croskey
17. 131s Ed Seibert
18. 17R Derek Reimer
19. 49T Tim Stevens
20. 19 Jimmy Gustin
21. 75 Denny Rosbenberg
22. 20X Chad Louk
23. 57V Mike VanGenderen

SportMod - 27 cars

Heat 1 - T17 Tom Rawlins
Heat 2 - 59 Tara Longnecker
Heat 3 - 24 Brian Miller

Feature

1. 81D Scott Davis
2. 24 Brian Miller
3. 23JR Nick Roberts
4. 3 Stacey Clark
5. 59 Tara Longnecker
6. 30X Josh Modde
7. 86 Cory Rose
8. 3R Randy Roberts
9. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
10. 27 Tim Love
11. 2G Geoff Olson
12. 59 Tara Longnecker
13. 17 Jamie Ganoe
14. 22J Jeff Blume
15. 3L Clint Luellen
16. 6 Darren Huntley
17. x4 Jason Purvis
18. 22B Brian Eppert
19. 63 Daniel Tasler
20. 56 Joe Simbro
21. 66 Cody Hennings
22. 9E Eric Elliott
23. T17 Tom Rawlins
24. 14Z Kevin Millard
25. 505 Racer Hulin
DNS: 3s Adam Shelman
5B Tom Burke

Stock Car - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 81X Randy Killen
Heat 2 - 23HR Rod Richards
Heat 3 - 24 Eric Brown

Feature

1. 9 Jerry Gifford - two weeks in a row
2. 23HR Rod Richards
3. 24 Eric Brown
4. 35 Donavon Smith
5. 25 Trent Murphy
6. 81X Randy Killen
7. 19J Jay Schmidt
8. 55 Cory Bushnell
9. 45 Larry Crocheck
10. 25J Josh Daniels
11. 93 Michael Jaennette
12. 12+ Ryan Rose
13. 22 Wayne Gifford
14. 20L Lauren Vis
15. 19A Alan VanGorp
16. 18 Jeff Harkrider
17. 3H Ty Hill
18. 26K Butch Bass
19. 3H Ty Hill
20. 5 Keith Miner
21. 05 Seth Bowen
22. 556 Terry Cornelison
23. 27M Mike Munson
DNS: 77T Trent Jeanes

Hobby Stock - 27 cars

Heat 1- 25M Michael Murphy
Heat 2 - 4W John Watson
Heat 3 - 7B Eric Stanton

Feature

1. 25M Michael Murphy - 6th win this year - carb claimed by 26T Jeremy Tilley
2. 24B Brandon Brinton
3. 4W John Watson
4. 3A Austin Luellen
5. 99W Danny Watson
6. 9 Andrew Arends
7. 74J Dean Hartwig
8. 23G Dustin Tapp
9. 20T Richard Yaw II
10. 99 Jeff Knight
11. 27C Cory Adams
12. 46J Jesse Hopkins
13. 85 Seth Janssen
14, 63 Cory Tasler
15. 27R Clint Rothfus
16. 4C Curt Reed
17. 26T Jeremy Tilley
18. 16B Jay Arends
19. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
20. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
21. 7B Eric Stanton - rolled final lap
22. 911 Darin Rothfus
23. 38R Aaron Rudolph
24. 12M Matt McDonald
25. 5A Tyler Pickett
26. 47W Shaun Wirtz
27. 36S Mike Smith

Mod Lite - 29 cars

Heat 1 - X50 Joel Huggins
Heat 2 - 64 Randy Bryan
Heat 3 - 99 Josh May

B-Main - 3 cars advance

1. 57 Tim Hennigar - dq'd, too light
2. 76 Terry Sorenson
3. 93 Tim Milner
4. 4L Larry Sorenson - qualified due to dq of winner
5. 08 Ben Larson
6. 23 Michael Parcel
DNS: 15 Andy Hennigar
09 Joel Keenan

Feature - Flag-to-flag

1. 89 Travis Stensland
2. 20 Jeff Stensland
3. 99 Josh May
4. 82 Charlie Brown
5. 88 James May
6. 46Z Bryan Zehm
7. 01 David Schmalzried
8. 0B Colby Oberembt
9. 11R Jason Whitehad
10. 64 Randy Bryan
11. 95 Mike Kennedy
12. 8 Dusty Masolini
13. 3C Duane Coffman
14. 1 John Gardner
15. 5X Matthew Goodin
16. 46 Kevin Grisham
17. 9 Rick Taylor
18. 93 Tim Milner
19. 76 Terry Sorenson
20. 37 Mike Thomas
21. 8T Todd Thorson
22. 4L Larry Sorenson
23. X50 Joel Huggins
24. 33 Gayle Worthington

Blog above

Dane Larson wins at Marshalltown and Bushore wins first of season at Boone

2011-06-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

It was certainly the exception for racing on Friday night at Marshalltown with temps in the low 90's, instead of the chilly and damp weather we've endured in 2011. The winds were strong making for relief from the heat, but not helping the track conditions.

The Dwarf feature started the main events. Tim Hennigar would win his first feature of the year at Marshalltown, though no stranger from years past. Hennigar and Colby Oberembt battled for the lead during much of the race but Oberembt would be off the power with just a couple of laps to go, and exit the race. The familiar #6 of Mike Morrill would then be in the chase to catch Hennigar, but would have to settle for the runner up spot. Josh May made it up to third, Randy Bryan finished in fourth and Joel Huggins rounded out the top five.

It was enjoyable to see a new "old" face in victory lane in the SportMods. Dane Larson, son of Wayne and older brother to Adam, took the win in his #83 ride. Dane raced about a decade ago in the modifieds, and our most vivid memory of those days of racing was when he put his race car over and out of the old Eldora, Iowa's Greenbelt Speedway, in turn one. It was one spectacular incident!

Larson led nearly the entire feature event, fending off any challenges even after cautions and subsequent restarts. Larson took the win followed by Nick Roberts in the runner up spot, Kyle Brown in third, fourth went to Cayden Carter, and fifth to Tyler Droste. Wayne Larson joined his son in victory lane afterwards, and seemed pleased that his son had not only won the race, but had done so as Wayne had done so many times---hugging that bottom lane.

The IMCA stock car feature went to Donavon Smith for his first win of the year at Marshalltown. Smith started back in eleventh place and had made his way into third by lap three! It wasn't long thereafter, and Smith was in the lead, stretching it out, and taking the win. Steve Meyer, took the second place, Trent Murphy was third, followed by Curt Hook in fourth and Kevin Rose in fifth. It appeared that Jay Schmidt crossed for the fourth place,even after taking it over and out of the speedway between turns three and four earlier, and joining the tail of the field. Apparently, the lap he exited the track was scored...and not him, as he was missing...making him a lap down, and unless another yellow flew, could not make up that lap. This is our speculation only.

The 20-lap modified feature went flag-to-flag. Todd "Toddzilla" Shute led the entire contest putting his #5 ride out in front and gone! Adam Larson made his way into second from starting eighth on the field. Third went to Scott Simatovich, fourth to Jimmy Gustin and last week's winner, Jon Snyder finished in fifth.

The IMCA hobby stockers finished the show off with their 12-lap feature. Sully, Iowa driver, Donovan Nunnikhoven sailed to the finish for an easy win. Trailing a distance for second, was Gary Pfantz, Eric Knutson was third, fourth went to Gene Nicklas, and Brandon Pruitt took fifth.

Racing continues next week at the Marshalltown Speedway. Check www.marshalltownspeedway.com for information, schedule and full results.

Boone Speedway - 6-4-11

It was soccer night at the Boone Speedway and the kids enjoyed kicking around a huge soccer ball behind the grandstands during intermission. The fans enjoyed a great night of racing as well, as 121 cars checked through the gates. Tonight, no b-mains were required.

The Dwarf feature went to Josh May, who has been on a real hot streak this season. This was his fourth win at Boone in 2011. He has a least as many at the Marshalltown track this year. May passed Travis Stensland with about a handful of laps remaining and pulled away for the win. Stensland took the runner up spot in a nice run, Randy Bryant took third, followed by Charlie Brown in fourth and Matthew Goodin in fifth.

All 27 cars on hand started the feature for the IMCA Northern SportMods. You would have thought it was a full moon night with so many yellows flying in this race! So many so, that it would end under the allotted time limit at lap eleven. Randy Roberts was the recipient of the win as he led when that final fateful yellow under the time limit flew. Point leader Scott Davis was scored in second, third went to Tim Love, fourth to Daniel Tasler, and Racer Hulin was fifth.

The 20-lap A modified feature sent young, local driver, Joel Bushore to victory lane for his first win of the season. Jimmy Gustin came from row six to grab the runner up spot. Jake Durbin looked strong in taking the third place, fourth went to Randy Havlik and fifth to veteran driver from Grimes, Denny Rosenberg.

Enter the IMCA stock cars for their feature. The cars were running fast, furious, and multi-lanes wide, as often is the case in this popular class. Jerry Gifford was a determined man having had that first win elude him previously this year. Gifford led all but the first lap of the 18-lap race, to take his first win of 2011. Donavon Smith made it a close second place finish but time ran out for any more of a challenge. Third went to Robert Stofer, Jay Schmidt came from row six for finish fourth, and fifth went to Michael Jaennette.

The IMCA hobby stocks polished off the night's events with the running of their 12-lap feature. Eric Stanton took the easy win, pulling away from the pack. John Watson came home in the distant runner up spot, third went to Richard Yaw, fourth was Cory Adams and Michael Murphy was fifth.

As a note, raindrops did fall during and after the very first heat race of hobby stocks. Once again, the black sky went north and east and Boone Speedway had but a 10 minute delay at the most and we were back to racing. Full results are listed below this blog. Happy racing!

Boone - 6-4-11

2011-06-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Boone 6-4-11 - 121 cars - No B-mains

Modified

Heat 1 - 87 Joel Bushore
Heat 2 - 23 JJ Scott
Heat 3 - 83G Josh Gilman

Feature

1. 87 Joel Bushore
2. 19 Jimmy Gustin
3. 18 Jake Durbin
4. 3Z Randy Havlik
5. 75 Denny Rosenberg
6. 28R Russ Dickerson
7. 24 Robert Avery
8. 93 Cale Sponsler
9. 57V Mike VanGenderen
10. 58 Denny Pittman
11. 94 Fred Schimmels
12. 12C Kent Croskey
13. 49T Tim Stevens
14. 131s Ed Seibert
15. 23 JJ Scott
16. 83G Josh Gilman
17. 4 Tony Hilgenbergf
18. 43s Scott Simatovich
19. 77C Craig Carlson
20. 02 Brian Law
21. 55H Larry Hall - Rochester, MN
22. 75H Garry Hall - Rochester, MN
23. 5M Matthew Meineke
DNS: 27 Kelly Lyons
1+ Billy Davis, Jr.

SportMod - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 59 Tara Longnecker
Heat 2 - 3R Randy Roberts
Heat 3 - 24 Brian Miller

Feature

1. 3R Randy Roberts
2. 81D Scott Davis
3. 27 Tim Love
4. 63 Daniel Tasler
5. 505 Racer Hulin
6. 30X Josh Modde
7. 32L Ty Luellen
8. 5B Tom Burke
9. 6 Darren Huntley
10. 17 Jamie Ganoe
11. 3s Adam Shelman
12. 9E Eric Elliot
13. 2 Bill Wears
14. 29B Ben Wilson
15. 91 Shawn Hunter
16. 35 Bruce Egeland
17. 56 Joe Simbro
18. 57 Lynn Brockett
19. 22B Brian Eppert
20. 3 Stacey Clark
21. 59 Tara Longnecker
22. 24 Brian Miller
23. 34J Jerry Hinton
24. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
25. 66 Cody Hennings
26. 23JR Nick Roberts
27. 2G Geoff Olson

Stock Car - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 55 Cory Bushnell
Heat 2 - 12+ Ryan Rose
Heat 3 - 9 Jerry Gifford

Feature

1. 9 Jerry Gifford
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 50 Robert Stofer
4. 19J Jay Schmidt
5. 93 Michael Jaennette
6. 12+ Ryan Rose
7. 77 Andy Bryant
8. 22 Wayne Gifford
9. 55 Cory Bushnell
10. 11J Jeff Johnson - Indianola, IA
11. 18 Jeff Harkrider
12. 45 Larry Crocheck
13. 3H Ty Hill
14. 25J Josh Daniels
15. 5X Ross Marshall
16. 81X Randy Killen
17. 25 Trent Murphy
18. 556 Terry Cornelison
19. 24 Eric Brown
20. 23HR Rod Richards
DNS: 19A Alan VanGorp
22R Todd Reitzler
2L Jon Lang

Hobby Stock - 26 cars

Heat 1- 9 Andrew Arends
Heat 2- 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 3 - 24B Brandon Brinton

Feature

1. 7B Eric Stanton
2. 4W John Watson
3. 20T Richard Yaw II
4. 27C Cory Adams
5. 25M Michael Murphy
6. 1BC Tony Cox
7. 74J Dean Hartwig
8. 4C Curt Reed
9. 911 Darin Rothfus
10. 63 Cory Tasler
11. 27N Clint Nelson
12. 38R Aaron Rudolph
13. 5A Tyler Pickett
14. 27R Clint Rothfus
15. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
16. 26T Jeremy Tilley
17. 78 Tim Hadley
18. 16B Jay Arends
19. 9 Andrew Arends
20. 99 Jeff Knight
21. 77C Andy Hoffman
22. 8B Robert Smith
23. 24B Brandon Brinton
24. 99W Danny Watson
25. 29 Jake Nelson
DNS: 14 Matt Wahlert

Dwarf - 20 cars

Heat 1 - 99 Josh May
Heat 2 - OB Colby Oberembt

Feature

1. 99 Josh May
2. 89 Travis Stensland
3. 64 Randy Bryan
4. 82 Charlie Brown
5. 5X Matthew Goodin
6. 11R Jason Whitehead
7. 95 Mike Kennedy
8. 46Z Bryan Zehm
9. 20 Jeff Stensland
10. 01 David Schmalzried
11. 8 Dusty Masolini
12. 9 Rick Taylor
13. 93 Tim Milner
14. 8T Todd Thorson
15. 46 Kevin Grisham
16. 37 Mike Thomas
17. Terry Sorenson
18. 88 James May
19. 15 Andy Hennigar
20. OB Colby Oberembt

Eckrich in flawless run takes Deery win and Smith brothers triple up

2011-05-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

We took our annual Memorial Day trip over to the Boone Speedway for the running of the Deery Brothers Summer Series race. It was a full evening of racing as we not only saw 40 late models in competition, but joining them for play, were the IMCA stock cars, sportmods, hobby stocks and MADCRA Mod Lites. All in all, a total of 170 race cars. The late model winner ran an almost flawless race and three of the other classes saw a Smith brother out of Lake City, Iowa, take the checkered flag first.

It was a warm, but very windy day and with racing to start at 5 p.m., you can almost bet we would be seeing some dust rising during the heat races. That was the case, but when the sun went down and another great farming session took place after the heat races, the track was nicely groomed and remained dust free there after.

We stopped by at the Karsyn's Krusaders booth that was set up behind the grandstands. This is a great cause born out of the fight of a couple's young daughter, Karsyn, who fought leukemia. With support of family, friends and community, they have continued to raise money through the sale of t shirts and other items, as well as holding fund raising events. They "pay it forward" by giving scholarships as well as donating to such organizations as Make A Wish foundation. We were happy to learn that Karsyn has been cancer free for nine months! If you see Karsyn's Krusaders at a track you visit, please stop by and support this great organization and help Kick Cancer's Butt!

After all of the heat races were run and the B for the late models and the hobby stocks, a little change up occurred in the regularly scheduled order of events. Why? A look to the west and south told us why. Yet another approaching cloud mass with potential for rain was creeping closer and closer. It was decided to bring the main event to the track, the IMCA Deery Brothers late models, for their 40-lap feature.

After the top twelve qualifiers from the heat races drew for their starting positions in front of the grandstand, it was Darrel DeFrance, veteran and local favorite, who drew the number one starting spot. Andy Eckrich, winner of the Deery race at the Marshalltown Speedway earlier this month, picked number two. Twenty drivers qualified through heats and two b mains, and to fill the 24-car starting field, four drivers tagged the tail as provisionals. Those were Mike Garland (hard charger), Matt Strassheim, Nate Beuseling and Sam Halstead.

At the drop of the green flag, the 56 car of Andy Eckrich flew to the lead. Darrel DeFrance trailed a distance behind through lap twelve when on a restart, both Tom Darbyshire and Ray Guss, Jr. made the pass into second and third. Eckrich continued to pull away from those behind him, almost making it look easy, as he wound his way through lap traffic. Guss made the pass around Darybshire with less than a handful of laps remaining and slowly gained ground on Eckrich, but not enough. Eckrich took his second Deery win in a row after earlier capturing an equally impressive win at the Marshalltown Speedway. He has certainly been "Mr. Smooth" in those two races. Guss grabbed the runner up spot, with Darbyshire hanging on for a third place over Jeff Aikey in fourth and Terry Neal came from winning a b-main, to take the fifth spot.

Mother Nature seemed to smile on the Boone Speedway once again. Not a drop of rain fell, and after the late model feature was completed, the final b mains were completed and the Dwarf/Mod Lites came to the track for their main event.

The Dwarfs ran an 18-lap feature. Charlie Brown led the first handful of laps but young Josh May took over the command by lap eight. From there on, it was smooth sailing for May as he picked up the victory. Colby Oberembt took second place over Charlie Brown who finished third. Tim Hennigar was right on Brown's tail at the finish for fourth place and James May, the winner's father, finished in fifth.

The 15-lap hobby stock feature was dominated by one of the Smith brothers out of Lake City--Devin Smith. Smith took over the lead from Danny Watson by lap two, never to look back. Smith stretched his lead while Michael Murphy, Eric Stanton and Watson battled three-wide behind him for second place. Smith took the easy win with Murphy gaining control for second. Third went to Danny Watson, Eric Stanton was fourth and fifth went to the 27 car out of Missouri Valley, Iowa, Jason Kohl.

Thirty-nine Northern SportMods checked through the gates, and after four heats and two b mains, the 24-car starting field was set. Cody Warrick and Brian Miller battled for the lead through lap twelve of the 20-lap feature. Not surprisingly, Doug Smith had now sneaked up to third spot, and was wanting more. That was soon a done deal, as he took his #12 ride into the top spot at lap 14, and would win going away. Chalk up another win for a Smith brother out of Lake City, Iowa. Brian Miller grabbed second place and Andy Tiernan and Scott Davis finished a close third and fourth, in that order. Former IMCA Super Nationals winner, Mike Pruitt from Redfield, rounded out the top five.

The IMCA stock cars brought an exciting conclusion to the program with the running of their 20-lap affair. The excitement started early with cars going four-wide down the front chute and then five-wide in the corner! Andy Bryant relinquished his lead to Wayne Gifford and second place runner Donavon Smith...yes another Smith brother from Lake City...by lap six. From there on, it was an intense duel between Gifford and Smith, as they swapped the lead. Gifford was leading at the white flag, but Smith out powered him to get to the checkers flying first, making it a three for three night for the Smith brothers. Following Gifford for a third place finish was Alan VanGorp, fourth went to David Smith---yup, another Smith brother--and Jay Schmidt came from nineteenth with an impressive run, to nab fifth.

Boone Speedway will be running their regularly scheduled show for points in all divisions again come Saturday night June 4. Check www.raceboone.com for complete schedule and information concerning the track. Also be sure and check www.imca.com to see more about the evening's program. Full results are listed below this blog.

Happy racing!

Boone results - 5-30-11

2011-05-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

Deery Brother show - 170 total cars

Deery Brothers late model - 40 cars

Heat 1 - 42 Tom Darbyshire
Heat 2 - 99D Darrel DeFrance
Heat 3 - 1st Justin Reed

B#1 - 3 advance

1. 12J TJ Criss
2. 14M Mike Murphy, Jr.
3. 22 Charlie McKenna
4. 21H Brian Miller
5. 15K Justin Kay
6. 07 Matt Ryan
7. 46 Nate Beuseling
8. 42s Matt Strassheim
9. 26 Bryan Klein
10. 93 Jay Johnson
11. 87 Jon Merfeld
12. 42T Todd Alexander
13. 4D Chad Simpson
14. 95 Eric Sanders

B#2 - 3 advance

1. 28C Terry Neal
2. 3 Kevin Sather
3. 14W Kyle Wahlert
4. 44 Luke Goedert
5. G1 Mike Garland
6. 84 Sam Halstead
7. 76 Jason Hahne
8. 90X Billy Tuckewell
9. 145 Dale Hackwell
10. 21G Joe Zrostlik
11. 31 Chad Cooney
12. 21 Ben Nading
13. 77N Evan Nemitz
14. 8 Al Johnson

Feature

1. 56 Andy Eckrich
2. 58 Ray Guss, Jr.
3. 42 Tom Darbyshire
4. 77 Jeff Aikey
5. 28C Terry Neal
6. 14M Mike Murphy, Jr.
7. 99D Darrel DeFrance
8. 30 Todd Cooney
9. 16 Tyler Bruening
10. 1st Justin Reed
11. 12J TJ Criss
12. 38 Colby Stringsteen
13. 9 Ryan Giles
14. 42S Matt Strassheim - provisional starter
15. 3 Kevin Sather
16. 84 Dale Hackwell - provisional starter
17. 22 Charlie McKenna
18. 46 Nate Beuseling - provisional starter
19. 44 Luke Goedert
20. 92 Josh Most
21. 14W Kyle Wahlert
22. 21H Brian Harris
23. G1 Mike Garland - provisional starter
24. 14 Boone McLaughlin

Stock cars - 31 cars

Heat 1 - 3H Ty Hill
Heat 2 - 50 Robert Stofer
Heat 3 - 81X Randy Killen
Heat 4 - 25J Josh Daniels

B main - 4 advance

1. 9 Jerry Gifford
2. 18 Jeff Harkrider
3. 02 Adam Klocke - Carroll, IA
4. 556 Terry Cornelison
5. 26 Bill Reetz - Carroll, IA
6. 11 Scott Seaman
7. 68P Adam Parmer
8. 27 Gary Bass
9. 20 Gene Stigall - Winston, MO
DNS: 22X Josh Brauckman
77T Trent Jeanes - Chariton, IA

Feature

1. 35 Donavon Smith
2. 22 Wayne Gifford
3. 19A Alan VanGorp
4. 68 David Smith
5. 19J Jay Schmidt
6. 50 Robert Stofer
7. 93 Michael Jaennette
8. 77 Andy Bryant
9. 81X Randy Killen
10. 45 Larry Crocheck
11. 55 Cory Bushnell
12. 287 John Emerson - Waterloo, IA
13. 3H Ty Hill
14. 18 Jeff Harkrider
15. 31 Jason York
16. 9 Jerry Gifford
17. 25X Bob Daniels
18. 556 Terry Cornelison
19. 25 Trent Murphy
20. 24 Eric Brown
21. 25J Josh Daniels
22. 27M Mike Munson
23. 23HR Rod Richards
24. 02 Adam Klocke

SportMod - 39 cars

Heat 1 - 92P Mike Pruitt
Heat 2 - 81D Scott Davis
Heat 3 - 12 Doug Smith
Heat 4 - 21 Kyle Brown

B #1 - 2 advance

1. 46N Matt Northrop - Stanhope, IA
2. 8s Brett Shields - Mt. Ayr, IA
3. 3L Clint Luellen
4. 3 Stacey Clark
5. 13T Taylor Mussellman - Norwalk, IA
6. 42 Matt Hays
7. 23JR Nick Roberts
8. 63 Daniel Tasler
9. 1T Bobby Davis III
DNS: 59 Tara Longnecker

B#2 - 2 advance

1. 3R Randy Roberts
2. 2G Geoff Olson
3. 5B Tom Burke
4. 34J Jerry Hinton
5. 17 Jamie Ganoe
6. 64 Casey Grubel
7. 22 Clinton Brooks
DNS: T17 Tom Rawlins
30x Josh Modde

Feature

1. 12 Doug Smith
2. 24 Brian Miller
3. 321 Andy Tiernan
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 92P Mike Pruitt
6. 9X Austin Lucas
7. 21 Kyle Brown
8. 66 Cody Hennings
9. 27 Tim Love
10. 3s Adam Shelman
11. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
12. 2G Geoff Olson
13. 46N Matt Northrop
14. 57 Lynn Brockett
15. 505 Racer Hulin
16. 7R Ryan Ashton
17. 3R Randy Roberts
18. 6 Darren Huntley
19. 8s Brett Shields
20. 22B Brian Eppert
21, 32P Jeremy Pittsenbarger - Cameron, MO
22. 1C Cody Warrick
23. 9E Eric Elliott
24. 32L Ty Luellen

Hobby Stock - 36 cars

Heat 1 - 27C Cory Adams
Heat 2 - 99W Danny Watson
Heat 3 - 27 Jason Kohl - Missouri Valley, IA
Heat 4 - 24B Brandon Brinton

B main - 4 advance

1. 81 Devin Smith
2. 25M Michael Murphy
3. 99W Danny Watson
4. 7B Eric Stanton
5. 27 Jason Kohl
6. 38R Aaron Rudloph
7. 27c Cory Adams
8. 23c Carl Knight
9. 00H Adam Hagen
10. 4C Curt Reed
11. 3A Austin Luellen
12. 23 Cody Gustoff
13. 77C Andy Hoffman
14. 4W Danny Watson
15. 83 Chris Hupp
16. 14 Matt Wahlert
17. 63 Cory Tasler
18. 23G Dustin Tepp
19. 24B Brandon Brinton
20. 1BC Tony Cox
21. 3 Matt Hudspeth
22. 35Z Gina Grubel - Lacona, IA
23. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
DNS: 911 Darin Rothfus

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 82 Charlie Brown
Heat 2 - 8 Dusty Masloini
Heat 3 - 99 Josh May

Feature

1. 99 Josh May
2. 0B Colby Oberembt
3. 82 Charlie Brown
4. 57 Tim Hennigar
5. 88 James May
6. X50 Joel Huggins
7. 95 Mike Kennedy
8. 64 Randy Bryan
9. 8 Dusty Masolini
10. 89 Travis Stensland
11. 11R Jason Whitehead
12. 46Z Bryan Zehm
13. 9 Rick Taylor
14. 93 Tim Milner
15. 3C Duane Coffman
16. 8T Todd Thorson
17. 76 Terry Sorenson
18. 4L Larry Sorenson
19. 08 Ben Larson
20. 33 Gayle Worthingon
21. 5X Matthew Goodin
DNS: 20 Jeff Stensland
09 Jeol Keenan
1H Kenny Hake

Ten features, ten winners at Boone Speedway

2011-05-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

The fans sure got their money's worth this past Saturday night at Boone. The night started a bit early at 6:45 p.m. when the four make-up features from last week's rain out were run. They farmed the track after those were completed, and then the regular night's show began with the running of heats and b-mains. A final farming session groomed the track, and it was time for the final six features.

The first of two make-ups for the hobby stocks started off the early-start action. Eric Stanton started back in row six and pushed his 7B ride to the point early on...never to look back. He took his first win of the year at Boone in relatively easy fashion, finishing comfortably ahead of second place finisher, Nyle Godwin. Matt McDonald came to the checkers in third place, fourth went to Curt Reed and fifth to Andrew Arends.

The second make-up feature for the hobbies followed. Michael Murphy made it back to victory lane for the fifth time this year by snatching the win away from John Watson with a final lap pass. Watson had to settle for that runner-up spot, third went to Tyler Pickett, fourth was Shaun Wirtz and Matt Hudspeth finished in fifth.

The modified make-up feature from May 21st found a new face in the winner's circle as "The Flying Dutchman", Mike VanGenderen put his 57V ride past the checkers first.
VanGenderen fought off the challenges of Randy Havlik who finished in second place. Third went to Perry, Iowa's Jake Durbin, Mike Molle finished fourth and Cale Sponsler captured fifth place. VanGenderen took his first win of 2011 after jumping back into a modified this year.

The stock car make-up feature completed last week's rain-shortened program. Eric Brown seemed to be on a mission to seek that so far, elusive win this year. Brown was successful and took the win as a pack of cars behind him jockeyed for positions. Trent Murphy got to the runner-up spot ahead of third place finisher Wayne Gifford. Fourth went to Josh Daniels and Donavon Smith was fifth.

A lot of racing action was still ahead with the running of heat races and a couple of b-mains. The kids even got to enjoy a ride on the school bus while the track was farmed before the regular night's A mains were run.

The MADCRA Mod-Lites ran their 15-lap feature with Colby Oberembt taking the win for the second time this year. He held off a hard-charging Josh May who was just not able to over take Oberembt, try as he "May", and had to be content with a second place finish. Third went to Tim Hennigar, Randy Bryan came home in fourth and fifth was James May.

The IMCA Northern SportMods didn't run their usual required b-main tonight and 25 of the 27 cars on hand, started the A main. The #2 of Bill Wears led the pack at the point through lap twelve of the 18-lap affair. That's when point leader, Scott Davis came calling and took over the lead. The race was not over by any means though as tenth-place starter Geoff Olson put his car into the second spot and the chase was on! Olson made an impressive pass on Davis on the white-flag lap and took his first win at Boone this year. Davis finished second with Bill Wears holding on for third, fourth went to Rick Ringgenberg and fifth to Ty Luellen. Winner, Geoff Olson, just recently graduated from Iowa State University in Ames.

Now it was time for the IMCA modified feature with 24 of the 25 cars on hand making the starting call. Mike VanGenderen was leading and looking strong, and looked to be making it a two-for-one night after taking the make-up feature earlier. Someone else had other ideas. A caution flag flew with five laps to go in the 20-lap race, and at the drop of the green on the restart, Josh "Happy" Gilman saw his chance and went for it. He was able to make the pass on VanGenderen on the restart of the race, and would take his second win of the 2011 season at the track. VanGenderen, though having a good night of racing with his earlier win, and then finishing second to Gilman, was still no doubt disappointed to finish a runner-up. Third went to Craig Carlson, fourth to Russ Dickerson and Cale Sponsler rounded out the top five.

The "class too tough to tame", the IMCA stock cars were up next. The race was pretty much a done deal from the start as veteran driver, Larry Crocheck led the entire 18-lap contest. The start of the race saw a scary incident on the frontstretch with cars going every which way. Thankfully, what could have been a really bad incident, only ended a couple of driver's night with car damage only. Crocheck would then lead the pack for the rest of the laps with Cory Bushnell chasing him to take second. Trent Murphy and Jay Schmidt were dueling behind the top two finishers, running the highside of the track, hoping to reel in the leader. It was futile, as Murphy and Schmidt had to settle for third and fourth in that order. Ryan Rose came home in fifth.

The first hobby stock feature saw another veteran driver, Dean Hartwig, take his first win of the season. Hartwig was leading by lap five of the 12-lap feature and Randy Embrey "rubber-banded" through the field to pick up second place. Third went to John Watson from starting eleventh, fourth place finisher was Eric Stanton and fifth was Dustin Tepp.

The final hobby stock feature concluded the action-packed night of racing at the Boone Speedway. This 12-lap race went to Danny Watson who led nearly the entire contest. Late in the race, he was challenged hard by Michael Murphy, but Murphy couldn't over take Watson. Murphy had to settle for second, third went to Richard Yaw II, Scott Lograsso finished fourth and Nyle Godwin was fifth.

Monday, May 30th will find us back at the Boone Speedway for the annual running of the Deery Brothers Summer Series for the IMCA late models. The SportMods, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and Dwarfs are also on the docket. Make note of the early start time as hot laps begin at 4 p.m. and races at 5. Next Saturday night, June 4, will be another regular night of racing at the track. Until next time, happy racing!

Full results for Saturday's races may be found below this blog.

Boone results - 5-28-11

2011-05-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Boone - 5-28-11 - 151 cars

Modified make-up feature from 5-21-11

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 3Z Randy Havlik
3. 18 Jake Durbin
4. 33M Mike Molle
5. 93 Cale Sponsler
6. 83G Josh "Happy" Gilman
7. 19 Jimmy Gustin
8. 12C Kent Croskey
9. 58 Denny Pittman
10. 28R Russ Dickerson
11. 43S Scott Simatovich
12. 17R Derek Reimer
13. 5M Matthew Meineke
14. 24 Robert Avery
15. 1 Al Wolfgram
16. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
17. 02 Brian Law
18. 77c Craig Carlson
DNS: 87 Joel Bushore
20X Chad Louk
27 Kelly Lyons
1K Pat Graham
82K Dave Kuykendall

Stock Car make-up feature from 5-21-11

1. 24 Eric Brown
2. 25 Trent Murphy
3. 22 Wayne Gifford
4. 25J Josh Daniels
5. 35 Donavon Smith
6. 22X Josh Brauckman
7. 19A Alan VanGorp
8. 55 Cory Bushnell
9. 18 Jeff Harkrider
10. 556 Terry Cornelison
11. 9 Jerry Gifford
12. 50 Robert Stofer
13. 93 Michael Jaennette
14. 12 Bryan Trogdon
15. 3H Ty Hill
16. 12+ Ryan Rose
17. 45 Larry Crocheck
18. 5 Keith Miner
19. 05 Seth Bowen
20. 2L Jon Lang
21. 23HR "Hot" Rod Richards
22. 81X Randy Killen
23. 27M Mike Munson
24. 22S Toby Smith
DNS: 68C Chad Stripe
77 Andy Bryant

Hobby Stock make-up feature #1 from 5-21-11

1. 7B Eric Stanton
2. 11G Nyle Godwin
3. 12M Matt McDonald
4. 4C Curt Reed
5. 9 Andrew Arends
6. 46J Jesse Hopkins
7. 29 Jake Nelson
8. 20T Richard Yaw II
9. 20TA Bobby Davis III
10. 26T Jeremy Tilley
11. 99 Jeff Knight
12. 77C Andy Hoffman
13. 36S Mike Smith
14. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
15. 14 Matt Wahlert
16. 79 George Hood
17. 38R Aaron Rudolph
18. 77G Ryan Grochala
19. 99W Danny Watson
20. 23G Dustin Tepp
DNS: 23 Cody Gustoff

Hobby Stock make-up feature #2 from 5-21-11

1. 25M Michael Murphy
2. 4W John Watson
3. 5A Tyler Pickett
4. 47W Shaun Wirtz
5. 3 Matt Hudspeth
6. 8B Robert Smith
7. 83S Scott Lograsso
8. 00 Kyle Dirks
9. 52 Josh Saunders
10. 85 Seth JJanssen
11. 40 Randy Embrey
12. 911 Darin Rothfus
13. 16B Jay Arends
14. T71 Marcus Kyle
15. 27C Cory Adams
16. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
17. 74J Dean Hartwig
18. 63 Cory Tasler
DNS: 3A Austin Luellen
82 Joel Tigges
1BC Tony Cox

Regular night's program:

Modified - 25 cars

Heat 1 - 3Z Randy Havlik
Heat 2 - 57V Mike VanGenderen
Heat 3 - 87 Joel Bushore

Feature

1. 83G Josh "Happy" Gilman
2. 57V Mike VanGenderen
3. 77C Craig Carlson
4. 28R Russ Dickerson
5. 58 Denny Pittman
6. 93 Cale Sponsler
7. 19 Jimmy Gustin
8. 5M Matthew Meineke
9. 75 Denny Rosenberg
10. 24 Robert Avery
11. 51 Tyler Vandeamp - Knoxville, IA
12. 12C Kent Croskey
13. 46 Toby Vandekamp - Wentzville, MO
14. 33M Mike Molle
15. 17R Derek Reimer
16. 1+ Bill Davis, Jr.
17. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
18. 49T Tim Stevens
19. 23 JJ Scott
20. 18 Jake Durbin
21. 87 Joel Bushore
22. 1 Al "Pep" Wolfgram
23. 43S Scott Simatovich
24. 3Z Randy Havlik
DNS: 02 Brian Law

SportMod - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 32L Ty Luellen
Heat 2 - 24 Brian Miller
Heat 3 - 9E Eric Elliott

Feature

1. 2G Geoff Olson
2. 81D Scott Davis
3. 2 Bill Wears
4. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
5. 32L Ty Luellen
6. 9E Eric Elliott
7. 35 Bruce Egeland
8. 27 Tim Love
9. 6 Darren Huntley
10. 3 Stacey Clark
11. 63 Daniel Tasler
12. 17 Jamie Ganoe
13. 46 Trevor Oberholtz
14. 56 Joe Simbro
15. 3L Clint Luellen
16. 39 Larry Embrey
17. 24 Brian Miller
18. 99K Kody Havens
19. 23JR Nick Roberts
20. 505 Racer Hulin
21. 22B Brian Eppert
22. 66 Cody Hennings
23. 57 Lynn Brockett
24. 34J Jerry Hinton
25. 59 Tara Longnecker
DNS: 3R Randy Roberts
86 Cory Rose

Stock Car - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 25 Trent Murphy
Heat 2 - 22 Wayne Gifford
Heat 3 - 19J Jay Schmidt

B Main - 3 cars advance

1. 19A Alan VanGorp
2. 25J Josh Daniels
3. 81X Randy Killen
4. 11 Scott Seaman
5. 27M Mike Munson
6. 05 Seth Bowen
DNS: 77T Trent Jeanes
22S Toby Smith

Feature

1. 45 Larry Crocheck
2. 55 Cory Bushnell
3. 25 Trent Murphy
4. 19J Jay Schmidt
5. 12+ Ryan Rose
6. 50 Robert Stofer
7. 22X Josh Brauckman
8. 22 Wayne Gifford
9. 35 Donavon Smith
10. 93 Michael Jaennette
11. 12 Bryan Trogdon
12. 9 Jerry Gifford
13. 81X Randy Killen
14. 19A Alan VanGorp
15. 23HR "Hot" Rod Richards
16. 25J Josh Daniels
17. 18 Jeff Harkrider
18. 556 Terry Cornelison
19. 3H Ty Hill
20. 2L Jon Lang
21. 54 Robbie Merkle
22. 5X Ross Marshall
23. 1F Marcus Fagan
DNS: 24 Eric Brown

Hobby Stocks - 42 cars

Heat 1 - 20T Richard Yaw II
Heat 2 - 74J Dean Hartwig
Heat 3 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 4 - 63 Cory Tasler

Feature #1

1. 74J Dean Hartwig
2. 40 Randy Embrey
3. 4W John Watson
4. 7B Eric Stanton
5. 23G Dustin Tepp
6. 8B Robert Smith
7. 29 Jake Nelson
8. 99 Jeff Knight
9. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
10. 00 Kyle Dirks
11. 27C Cory Adams
12. 27R Clint Rothfus
13. 77C Andy Hoffman
14. 14 Matt Wahlert
15. 36S Mike Smith
16. 20TA Bobby Davis III
17. 79 George Hood
18. 63 Cory Tasler
19. T71 Marcus Kyle
DNS: 12M Matt McDonald
46J Jesse Hopkins

Hobby Stock #2

1. 99W Danny Watson
2. 25M Michael Murphy
3. 20T Richard Yaw II
4. 83S Scott Lograsso
5. 11G Nyle Godwin
6. 3 Matt Hudspeth
7. 52 Josh Saunders
8. 911 Darin Rothfus
9. 3x Scott Durlin
10. 77G Ryan Grochala
11. 47W Shaun Wirtz
12. 85 Seth Janssen
13. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
14. 16B Jay Arends
15. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
16. 5A Tyler Pickett
17. 26T Jeremy Tilley
18. 38R Aaron Rudolph
19. 4C Curt Reed
20. 9 Andrew Arends
21. 24B Brandon Brinton

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 28 cars

Heat 1 - 11R Jason Whitehead
Heat 2 - 88 James May
Heat 3 - 0B Colby Oberembt

B Main - 3 advance

1. 20 Jeff Stensland
2. 4L Larry Sorenson
3. 37 Mike Thomas
4. 1H Kenny Hake
DNS: 33 Gayle Worthington
08 Ben Larson
76 Terry Sorenson

Feature

1. OB Colby Oberembt
2. 99 Josh May
3. 57 Tim Hennigar
4. 64 Randy Bryan
5. 88 James May
6. 82 Charlie Brown
7. 95 Mike Kennedy
8. 89 Travis Stensland
9. 46Z Bryan Zehm
10. 01 David Schmalzried
11. 11R Jason Whitehead
12. 20 Jeff Stensland
13. 15 Andy Hennigar
14. 93 Tim Milner
15. 8 Dusty Masolini
16. 8T Todd Thorson
17. 8W Joe Wood
18. 3C Duane Coffman
19. 9 Rick Taylor
20. 37 Mike Thomas
21. 4L Larry Sorenson
22. 1 John Gardner
23. X50 Joel Huggins
DNS: 09 Joel Keenan

Boone cut short but Iowa Speedway Nationwide wins out

2011-05-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

What is it with weekend weather? The rain seems to always threaten and this past Saturday night, the forecast had that darn "R" word back in it. When we arrived at the Boone Speedway Saturday night, the track was already prepared and looking good to go. We had noticed a lot of standing water on our drive over and learned that the area had had up to 2 inches of rain within the last 24 hours. Thanks to good drainage and track prep, it wasn't appearing to be a concern for racing that night. However, the forecast was still calling for "stuff" to be firing up from the southwest, so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

The show started a bit early with the running of the make-up hobby stock feature from last week. Michael Murphy took his ride from starting 10th, to capture the win---his fourth of the season---and it sent him into the points lead. Cory Adams took the runner-up spot and Shaun Wirtz crossed in the third position. Post race tech would null Wirtz's finish as he was disqualified for an illegal carburetor. That would then put Curt Reed into the third finishing position, fourth would go to Tyler Pickett and fifth to Aaron Rudolph.

The heat races for the regular show were quickly run and the usual farming session was eliminated with the Dwarf/Mod Lites lined up immediately for their feature. Colby Oberembt, last week's feature winner, led the first few go-arounds, only to have point leader Josh May come calling, and take over the lead. Tim Hennigar would put a bit of pressure on May, but May held him off and took his second win of the season. Tim Hennigar finished the close second, third went to Dusty Masolini, Oberembt held on for a fourth place position, and Charlie Brown rounded out the top five.

The IMCA Northern SportMods started all 27 cars on hand in their feature event. The first lap saw 4-wide racing going into corner one---not always a good situation---and was not so on this night. A "mess" ensured in corner one which took some time to sort out. Randy Roberts took the lead by the half-way mark of the 18-lap contest and would take the win comfortably ahead of the cars dueling it out for position behind him at the checkers. It was a scramble amongst those cars, but Racer Hulin put his #505 in the runner-up spot, followed by Geoff Olson in third, (from starting 22nd) Beau Kaplan took fourth and Eric Elliott came home in fifth.

Near the end of the SportMod feature, sprinkles started falling. We had been checking the radar throughout the evening--watching a "blob" to the southwest, blossoming into a bigger and redder mass. With the modifieds awaiting in the staging area, rain became harder and boy, did the wind blow! It didn't take long for the program to be called, so next week, we will again be seeing some make-up features along with an entire new show. The modifieds, stock cars and hobby stock features will start the show next Saturday night. Results for the night's show are listed below this blog.

Iowa Speedway NASCAR Nationwide Race

Sunday morning, we headed to the Iowa Speedway for the first of two NASCAR Nationwide series races on the schedule this year at the track. Once again, we were hearing an "iffy" forecast for the day. With a short 20-mile trip, we opted not to even get to the track until around 10 a.m. We had no trouble parking but did find the lots pretty spongy and saturated from the recent rains. We met up with a couple of other parties who, though coming from the Des Moines area, arrived shortly after we did, and parked not far from us. It was overcast and pretty breezy, but the temperature was great. We grabbed a bite to eat inside the grandstand area, and then headed to our seats. By this time, the sun was shining and the skies were blue, and we were hoping against hope that predicted storms to be firing up later, would not happen.

The John Deere Dealer's 250 began shortly after the 1 p.m. scheduled start time. The race was being broadcast live on ABC television...a great thing for the nation to get a glimpse of the standing-room only crowd of the near 40,000 fans on hand. It showcased the beautiful Iowa Speedway facility born from a cornfield just a few years back. From what we hear from the interviews of the drivers that have raced at the track, they love the place too! Another case for Iowa held true for the saying, "if you build it, they will come".

The first few laps saw a handful of cars leaving the track and making that hard left hand turn into the garage area as pole sitter Drew Herring in the #20 car was cruising along in the lead. At lap 50, the caution flag flew, and although we could not hear the PA announcer say it was a "competition yellow" we suspected so, and found out later, that was the case. The main reason being because the teams had had very little track time due to the weather-related cancellation of the practice on Friday as well as the qualifying on Saturday. It allowed teams to see "how things were going" so to speak, and gauge their plan for the rest of the race. Tire wear did not seem to be an issue.

When the race got started again, the #32 of Reed Sorenson was pacing the field with Michael McDowell giving chase in the #18 car. Sorenson would hold the lead through halfway of the 250-lap event. Caution flags and pit stops would shake up the field a bit with the lead being swapped amongst the #22 of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski, the #6 of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Sprint Cup driver and area favorite, Carl Edwards. Edwards had already had a remarkable weekend of racing as the previous night he had won the Sprint Cup All-Star race in North Carolina, and pocketed a cool $1.2 million dollars!

About this time, the cell phone kept getting my attention as I was getting weather warnings about nasty stuff possibly in the area. We were still sitting in sunshine, but the sky was split with clouds to the north of us and huge, towering thunderheads to our south. We kept an eye on those especially to the south, as those weather warnings were calling for storms with large hail and then later, a tornado warning was thrown in! Thankfully, the storm stayed to the south and east of us and we did not receive any of the hail that was golf and baseball sized in the not too distant Brooklyn, Iowa area.

As the laps wound down, it was becoming a battle between Stenhouse and Edwards as they swapped the lead several times. Most of our area in the stands were pulling hard for Edwards, a Mid-Westerner from Missouri with dirt track roots. Keselowski was trailing the pair as he rode along in third with Sorenson in fourth. Edwards was not able to catch Stenhouse, who took the checkered flag in his 51st Nationwide start and Edwards getting the runner-up spot. Keselowski kept the third position, and Sorenson the fourth. The fifth place went to Elliott Sadler, making, I believe, his first appearance at the track. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. became the first Nationwide-only driver to win a Nationwide Series race since early in the 2010 season.

Racing was completed right at 3:20 p.m. and a great day of racing it was. We are usually in no rush to leave and let the crowd thin a bit. It was a bit of a trek to our vehicle, but by the time we got to it, we were out of the lot and headed east on I-80 in ten minutes.

The full results of the Nationwide race can be found at the following link:
http://nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/races/2011/results-official/12
Also check out www.iowaspeedway.com for information on the track and upcoming events. If you have not been to the Iowa Speedway, we encourage anyone to make the trip to the "born in the corn" facility. Pretty impressive in our book.

Happy racing!

Boone - 5-21-11

2011-05-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Modified - 23 cars

Heat 1 - 33Z Mike Molle
Heat 2 - 57V Mike VanGenderen
Heat 3 - 77c Craig Carlson

Feature rained out. Will be made up next week

SportMod - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 24 Brian Miller
Heat 2 - 72 Rick Ringgenberg
Heat 3 - 63 Daniel Tasler

Feature

1. 3R Randy Roberts
2. 505 Racer Hulin
3. 2G Geoff Olson
4. 11 Beau Kaplan
5. 9E Eric Elliott
6. 91 Shawn Hunter
7. 81D Scott Davis
8. 1C Cody Warrick
9. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
10. 27 Tim Love
11. 3L Clint Luellen
12. 57 Lynn Brockett
13. 17 Jamie Ganoe
14. 6 Darren Huntley
15. 32L Ty Luellen
16. 39 Larry Embrey
17. 28 James Reichart
18. 3 Stacey Clark
19. 34J Jerry Hinton
20. 19G Gatlin Leytham
21. 24 Brian Miller
22. 23jr Nick Roberts
23. 66 Cody Hennings
24. 63 Daniel Tasler
25. 40S Shawn Simatovich
26. 22B Brian Eppert
27. 14E Chase Ellingson

Stock Car - 27 cars

Heat 1 - 22s Toby Smith
Heat 2 - 81X Randy Killen
Heat 3 - 24 Eric Brown

Feature was rained out. Will be made up next Saturday

Hobby stock - 42 cars

Heat 1 - 23G Dustin Tepp
Heat 2 - 27C Cory Adams
Heat 3 - 25M Michael Murphy
Heat 4 - 3A Austin Luellen

Regular feature was rained out. Will be made up next week

Make-up Hobby Stock Feature

1. 25m Michael Murphy
2. 27c Cory Adams
47W Shawn Wirtz crossed in 3rd but was dq'd for an illegal carb.
3. 4C Curt Reed
4. 5A Tyler Pickett
5. 38R Aaron Rudolph
6. 7B Eric Stanton
7. 4W John Watson
8. 12M Matt McDonald
9. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
10. 911 Darin Rothfus
11. 99W Danny Watson
12. 8B Robert Smith
13. 40 Randy Embrey
14. 20T Richard Yaw
15. 85 Seth Janssen
16. 77C Andy Hoffman
17. 63 Cory Tasler
18. 1BC Tony Cox
19. 3A Austin Luellen
20. 82 Joel Tigges
DNS: 69 Calvin Dhondt
44 Bruce Fair
11H Austin Hauswirth

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 26 cars

Heat 1 - 46Z Bryan Zehm
Heat 2 - 89 Travis Stensland
Heat 3 - 99 Josh May

Feature

1. 99 Josh May
2. 15 Andy Hennigar
3. 8 Dusty Masolini
4. 0B Colby Oberembt
5. 82 Charlie Brown
6. 89 Travis Stensland
7. X50 Joel Huggins
8. 57 Tim Hennigar
9. 88 James May
10. 1 John Gardner
11. 16 Angelo Montgomery
12. 95 Mike Kennedy
13. 93 Tim Milner
14. 20 Jeff Stensland
15. 9 Rick Taylor
16. 46Z Bryan Zehm
17. 3C Duane Coffman
18. 8T Todd Thorson
19. 76 Terry Sorenson
20. 09 Joel Keenan
21. 4L Larry Sorenson
22. 11R Jason Whitehead
23. 33 Gayle Worthington
DNS: 23 Michael Parcel
1H Kenny Hake
37 Mike Thomas

Southern Iowa Speedway season opener in the books

2011-05-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

We took the trip south to Oskaloosa, Iowa for the season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday night. The big "monster" half-mile track has been our Wednesday night racing home for many, many years. The weather cooperated and the grandstand crowd sat in comfort watching the USRA modifieds, USRA B mods, USRA stock cars, and the USRA hobby stocks. We noticed several drivers making a substantial haul to indulge in their mid-week racing fix coming from all directions in the state...and beyond.

The Carter Manufacturing USRA B mods ran their feature first. Young Carter VanDenBerg jumped to the lead from his outside front row starting spot and was looking to be headed to victory lane as he pulled away from the rest of the pack. Restarts would bunch the field behind him, putting Mike Shelton and Bill Gibson within their reach for that top spot. Gibson passed Shelton for the second spot and was closing in on leader VanDenBerg making it a nail-bitter on the last lap. VanDenBerg still held the lead at the white flag, but Gibson made the pass in turns three and four, and snatched the win away. Gibson took the win with VanDenBerg settling for the runner-up spot. Andrew Schroeder had a great run from starting near the end of the field, to grab a third place finish ahead of fourth place Mike Shelton. Mike Wanders rounded out the top five positions. As mentioned earlier concerning drivers making a haul to come and race, the #23K B mod of Ben Kates made an appearance. He is from the Kansas City, Missouri area and was there in "the big red hauler" with his dad Joey Kates. We understood announcer Tony Paris to say the Kates Motorsports team was there taking a look at the track in anticipation of father Joey racing the USMTS race scheduled for next Wednesday night in Oskaloosa.

We have always loved watching the stock cars run at Osky and they put on some close racing again tonight. Derek Kirkland, last year's hobby stock track champion was scheduled to start on the pole of the feature, but elected to start at the rear of the 13-car starting field. Only one driver did not make the call for the feature, as veteran stock car pilot, Steve Jackson had mechanical issues and was not able to even run his heat. He was seen leaving the track early.

Shane Weller was once again in fine form as he led most of the race but had a hard battle with several other drivers in Nathan Wood, Randy Killen and Tom Killen, and traveler from Churdan, Iowa, Jason Minnehan. It appeared to us that Nathan Wood held the lead on the last couple of passes at the flagstand before the finish, over Weller, but that black 20DUB car of Weller wasn't to be denied as he took the checkers first. It was a tight finish among the first three, but Weller took the win over Nathan Wood, Randy Killen and Jason Minnehan as they finished second, third and fourth respectively. Tom Killen in the 1K car came home in fifth and rookie in the stock car ranks, Derek Kirkland finished sixth.

USRA hobby stocks started all fourteen cars for their feature. Local favorite and veteran driver from several classes, Jim Hughes took the lead from the pole spot only to have the visiting driver from Decorah, Danny Sacquitine take the helm convincingly with a few laps to go. Sacquitne, in his flashy bright green ride, took the checkers with Hughes retaining the second place. Third went to Craig Brown, fourth to Steve Allen, and fifth to Donovan Nunnikhoven. We are not familiar with winner Sacquitne, but he runs regularly at the Upper Iowa Speedway in his hometown of Decorah according to his interview in victory lane.

The USRA modifieds finished off the night's racing with thirteen of the fourteen cars on hand starting the A main. Only Dan Demay was unable to start, nor did he even make his heat event. Too bad for the driver hauling all the way from Denison, Iowa.

Nate Caruth in his 7II car, shot to the lead and was pulling away from the pack easily, only to have a caution bunch the field with only a handful of laps down in the 20-lapper. That's when Colt Mather took advantage of the restart, took the lead from Caruth and then he pulled away from the field, leaving Caruth trailing a distance behind in second. The 20-lap race ended with Mather taking the win, Caruth in second, Scott Dickey in third, fourth going to Steven Blattler, and fifth to Zack VanderBeek.

A couple of drivers in the modified ranks made a stop over at the track on their way to the following night's USMTS race at the Outlaw Motor Speedway in Oktaha, Oklahoma...near Muskogee. Kelly Shryock was one of those drivers, as no doubt, was Caruth. The USMTS will be making their only scheduled appearance at the Southern Iowa Speedway next Wednesday night. Make plans to attend as this is always a great program. For more information on USMTS racing as well as the Southern Iowa Speedway, check www.usmts.com and www.rlpromotions.com.

Full results are listed below this blog. Get out and support our great sport of racing at a race near you. Until next time, happy racing!

Oskaloosa results 5-18-11

2011-05-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the Southern Iowa Speedway season opener. Below are unofficial results

Modified - 14 cars

Heat 1 - 11 Ryan Peckham - Corning, IA
Heat 2 - 33Z Zack VanderBeek

Feature

1. 8 Colt Mather
2. 7II Nate Caruth
3. 40 Scott Dickey
4. 94 Steven Blattler
5. 33Z Zack VanderBeek
6. 3 Kelly Shryock
7. 62 Greg Cox
DNF: 70 Jesse Dennis
89 Brad Dubil
11 Ryan Peckham
4R Ron VerBeek
R21 Ryan Schafter, Corning, IA
22 Brad Banks
DNS: 15M Dan DeMey

B Mod - 22 cars

Heat 1 - 10 Cayden Carter
Heat 2 - 38 Bill Gibson
Heat 3 - 85 Jason McDaniel

Feature

1. 38 Bill Gibson - final corner pass for the win
2. 7 Carter VanDenBerg
3. 02 Andrew Schroeder
4. 16 Mike Shelton
5. 0 Mike Wanders
6. 85 Jason McDaniel
7. D1 Drew Lawson
8. 43 Jeremiah Jones
9. 03 Mark Mundell
10. 17 Brandon Groenendyk
11. 25 Scott Van Buskirk
DNF: 10 Cayden Carter
1 Curtis Vanderwal
8T Tony Johnson
8J AJ Johnson
7+ Jared Timmerman
27 Brian Weyer
8X Tom Lathrop
23K Ben Kates, Kansas City, MO
72 Brett Lowry
64 Casey Grubel
DNS: 3K John VanDenBerg

Stock Cars - 14 cars

Heat 1 - 7 Jason Minnehan - Churdan, IA
Heat 2 - 52 Nathan Wood

Feature

1. 20dub Shane Weller
2. 52 Nathan Wood
3. 81x Randy Killen
4. 7 Jason Minnehan
5. 1K Tom Killen
6. 2K Derek Kirkland - last year's hobby stock track champion
7. 73C Carl Yaw
DNF: 15K Kyle Harwood
94 Corey Stout
29 Matt Greiner
22S Toby Smith
98 Brock Welch
57 Dennis Plain
DNS: 2J Steve Jackson

Hobby Stock - 14 cars

Heat 1 - 69 Craig Brown
Heat 2 - 6 Danny Sacquitne, Decorah, IA

Feature

1. 6 Danny Sacquitne
2. 558 Jim Hughes
3. 69 Craig Brown
4. 3s Steve Allen
5. 2N Donovan Nunnikhoven
6. 69X Calvin Dhondt, Kellogg, IA
7. 33T Trevor Tanner
8. 33 Justin Hook
DNF: 29 Wes Almond
84 Danny Thrasher
53D Ron Downing
21 Nick Ulin
31 Dale Porter
18 Kris Walker

Andy Eckrich takes a flawless win at Marshalltown Deery Brothers show

2011-05-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

It was nice to see sunshine and a cloudless sky on Tuesday night, especially since that has not been the case this year for racing at Marshalltown. The "Boys of Summer" came back to the highbanks of Marshalltown and brought 40 late model competitors. A nice crowd was on hand for the 50-lap starring event and they also saw the IMCA SportMods, Dirt Trucks, and Mod Lites duking it out on the quarter-mile.

The Dwarf/Mod Lites ran their feature first. Charlie Brown shot to the lead from his pole starting position, only to have his night end when he suddenly pulled to the infield before the second circuit. Josh May and Mike Morrill would then compete for the top spot until May put some distance between the two and took command. Josh May would finish well ahead of second place Mike Morrill and Andy Hennigar trailed him to take third. Fourth went to Dusty Masolini, and the winner's dad, James May, came home in fifth.

The Dirt Trucks saw eleven competitors vying for their 15-lap feature event. Creston, Iowa driver Steve Churchill took home the hardware as he won easily in the caution-free contest. We have often seen Churchill compete at the Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa in the Pro-Street division as well as hopping in one of Jim "Cowboy" Tull's hobby stocks to compete in specials. Bret Moyer finished a distant second, Ed Nelson came home in third, fourth went to Russ Byriel, a driver we have seen compete in other divisions as well, and fifth was Brad Moyer.

A very competitive field of 45 IMCA SportMods came to try and grab the $500 prize.
Two b-mains were required to whittle the starting field for their feature to 24 cars. Scott Davis and Tyler Droste fought up front during the 20-lap race until Lake City's Doug Smith...yes, one of those Smith boys...got the best of both of them. Smith would go on to take the win with Scott Davis having to settle for the runner up spot and third went to Tyler Droste. Fourth, fifth, and sixth was a close one at the finish line with VanDenBerg taking fourth over Clint Luellen in fifth, and Kyle Brown finished in sixth.

Now for that main event that everyone had come to see--the 50-lap Deery Brothers Late Model feature. They too had needed two b mains to complete their starting feature with Tommy Elston and Mike Murphy, Jr. taking those races. The top twelve qualifiers from the heat races made an appearance on the frontstretch to draw for their starting positions. What would be the chances of that #1 starting spot to be left for the last driver, but that is exactly what happened...much to the delight of Andy Eckrich, who reaped that position.

Eckrich had easy sailing for the 50-lap event as he led the entire race. Only three yellows would halt the action when two caution flags flew back-to-back at lap two, and then again on lap 22 when Jeff Aikey came to a halt at the top of turn two with a flat tire. Eckrich pulled away with out any real challenges, and took the win with a flawless run. Tom Darbyshire took the second place, while third went to Tyler Bruening, fourth to Ray Guss, Jr., and Matt Strasshiem rounded out the top five.

For full results, be sure and check www.imca.com. Hopefully, we will be back at the Marshalltown Speedway this coming Friday (please Mother Nature!) for regular points racing. You can find information about the track, their schedule and points at www.marshalltownspeedway.com. You can also check the calendar for other races in the area at www.positivelyracing.com. Get out and support our great sport of racing. Happy racing!

Rainy Night at the Boone Speedway, But Racing Goes On!

2011-05-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

What is it with this spring weather? Mother Nature is just being relentless around the country and Iowa is no exception. Rain had put the kibosh on our racing at the Marshalltown Speedway on Friday night and Saturday morning had more rain around the state. The big swirl of precipitation was moving very slowly from our area and moving to the west. To the west? Yes, to the west, which is very unusual. By afternoon, most every track within the state had canceled, with the exception of Boone Speedway and the Shelby County Speedway located in Harlan in the far western part of the state---a racer friend always said, just go to Omaha, and come back a little ways,that's Harlan. It appeared via radar, that Harlan would be able to get their show in, but that swirl of precip continued to plant itself firmly just about the Ames area, and didn't budge. Would Boone be able to run after all? Should we have had a doubt? We drove through rain the entire time on our travel west, only to find the pavement dry before reaching Boone. There was a mist falling, but the track was groomed and ready to go.

With the light mist falling, and the radar still not looking good, it was decided to begin the show a bit after 7 p.m. instead of the regular 7:30 start time. About that time, the mist got heavier, the tractors were put back on the track for packing, and by 7:20 p.m., the first heat of hobby stocks took to the track.

The first feature of the night, the Mod Lites, pulled onto the track right at 9 p.m. There had been a 10-15 minute delay prior to the running of one of three b-mains, but the track crew made quick work of getting the track back in shape.

Colby Oberembt took command of the 15-lap feature from the get go, leading all the laps, and taking the checkers. Second place finisher, Jason Whitehead, chased him the entire race. Third went to Josh May, the point leader at the track, fourth was Tim Hennigar, and local Boone driver, Mike Kennedy came home in fifth. The Mod Lites ran their race flag to flag for at least the second week in a row. Good job!

The SportMod's quickly took to the track for their 18-lap event. Jeremy Embrey took the lead on the backstretch of lap twelve and kept command to the checkers and the win. He finished well ahead of second place finisher, Eric Elliott. Third place went to point leader, Scott Davis, fourth to Clint Luellen and Nick Roberts came from winning the b qualifier, to finish in fifth.

The track was very fast and the modifieds showed their muscle on the oval during their 20-lap feature. Only one yellow occured when, on the first lap, Joel Bushore appeared to have mechanical problems, came to a stop, and Mike VanGenderen had no place to go. The resulting contact between the two, ended both of their nights. As racing resumed, Havlik took a demanding lead, continuing to the finish and the win.
Todd Shute finished in second place and Josh "Happy" Gilman was scored in third. Fourth went to Cale Sponsler,fifth to Russ Dickerson and point leader, Jimmy Gustin retained his lead as he finished in sixth.

The IMCA stock cars ended their 18-lap feature as the mist once again started to appear a bit heavier. It was looking to be Eric Brown's night to visit victory lane as he led the troops. He had lost the lead briefly when he drifted high in turn four, but regained it again, passing Jerry Gifford. It was Killen and Jerry Gifford dueling behind him then. With victory within his grasp, it was only to go awry when Killen made the pass on the final lap to take the win. Brown finished in second with Jerry Gifford taking third. Fourth went to Jay Schmidt and Michael Jaennette finished fifth. Cory Bushnell the #55 car, smacked the new barrier wall pretty hard in turn four during the race, but was okay, the car perhaps not.

Just as the only hobby stock feature of the night appeared on the track, that mist turned to droplets, the track quickly became shiny and slippery, and it was decided to pull the plug on the program. The hobby stocks will run their make-up feature next week. Make-ups are usually run before any heats, so they should be first on the agenda next week.

We observed a few changes at the track as work had progressed on improvements at the speedway. A new cement barrier wall was in place all along the frontstretch...55 individual barriers all set firmly in place. We noted turn four is now a bit flared and wider as well. A redone flagstand with cement under foot, and new switches was installed and waiting it's initiation. We've always been a bit concerned about how close to the track the flagstand is at Boone and on occasion, have seen the flagmen escape with close calls to disaster. When we asked flagman, Nick Brueklander about the new set up, his remark was, "I like it". He said he actually prefers to be close to the track as it gives him better communication with the drivers. Transponder cables were also in place, having been buried beneath the track in the area just to the west of the flagstand. We understand that this is in anticipation of possibly using transponders in the cars during Super Nationals. Time will tell if that happens in 2011.

Be sure and check www.raceboone.com for complete information about the track plus pictures, results and point standings. Until next time, happy racing!

Boone 5-14-11

2011-05-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

5-14-11 - 142 total cars

Modified - 21 cars

Heat 1 - 3Z Randy Havlik
Heat 2 - 33M Mike Molle
Heat 3 - 19 Jimmy Gustin

Feature

1. 3Z Randy Havlik
2. 5 Todd Shute
3. 83G Happy Gilman
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 28R Russ Dickerson
6. 19 Jimmy Gustin
7. 18 Jake Durbin
8. 77C Craig Carlson
9. 43S Scott Simatovich
10. 24 Robert Avery
11. 12C Kent Croskey
12. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
13. 1 Pep Wolfgram
14. 02 Brian Law
15. 58 Denny Pittman
16. 49T Tim Stevens
17. 87 Joel Bushore
18. 57V Mike VanGenderen
DNS: 33M Mike Molle
20X Chad Louk
10K Ronn Lauritzen
40RC Rod Clement

SportMod - 31 cars

Heat 1 - 2G Geoff Olson
Heat 2 - 59 Tara Longnecker
Heat 3 - 3R Randy Roberts

B Main - 3 advance

1. 23jr Nick Roberts
2. 64 Casey Grubel
3. 17 Jamie Ganoe
4. 32L Ty Luellen
5. 32P Jeremy Pittsenbarger - Cameron,MO
6. 2 Bill Wears
7. 22B Brian Eppert
8. 76 Ronnie Miller - Trenton, MO
DNS: 24 Brian Miller
86 Cory Rose

Feature

1. 41 Jeremy Embrey
2. 9E Eric Elliott
3. 81D Scott Davis
4. 3L Clint Luellen
5. 23jr Nick Roberts
6. 63 Daniel Tasler
7. 5B Tom Burke
8. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
9. 26J Joel Rust
10. 2G Geoff Olson
11. 35 Bruce Egeland
12. 3R Randy Roberts
13. 59 Tara Longnecker
14. 57 Lynn Brockett
15. 8X Brad Iverson
16. 66 Cody Hennings
17. 99K Kody Havens - Wiota, IA
18. 64 Casey Grubel - Lacona, IA
19. 3 Stacey Clark
20. 11 Beau Kaplan
21. 17 Jamie Ganoe
22. 27 Tim Love
23. 34J Jerry Hinton
24. 6 Darren Huntley

Stock Cars - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 81X Randy Killen
Heat 2 - 18 Jeff Harkrider
Heat 3 - 9 Jerry Gifford

B Main - 3 advance

1. 22X Josh Brauckman
2. 22R Todd Reitzler
3. 55 Cory Bushnell
4. 45 Larry Crocheck
5. 5X Ross Marshall
6. 22S Toby Smith
7. 76 Norm Belew
DNS: 25J Josh Daniels - rolled on frontstretch in heat. He was ok.

Feature

1. 81X Randy Killen
2. 24 Eric Brown
3. 9 Jerry Gifford
4. 19A Alan VanGorp
5. 35 Donavon Smith
6. 18 Jeff Harkrider
7. 19J Jay Schmidt
8. 93 Michael Jaennette
9. 31 Jason York
10. 3H Ty Hill
11. 27M Mike Munson
12. 22X Josh Brauckman
13. 556 Terry Cornelison
14. 22 Wayne Gifford
15. 68P Aaron Parmer - Humeston, IA
16. 25 Trent Murphy
17. 20L Lauren Vis
18. 22R Todd Reitzler
19. 05 Seth Bowen
20. 27 Gary Bass
21. 55 Cory Bushnell
22. 11 Scott Seaman
23. 2L Jon Lang
24. 50 Robert Stofer

Hobby Stocks - 36 cars

Heat 1 - 27C Cory Adams
Heat 2 - 38R Aaron Rudolph
Heat 3 - 63 Cory Tasler
Heat 4 - Joel Tigges - Carroll, IA

B main - 4 advance

1. 7B Eric Stanton
2. 12M Matt McDonald
3. 77C Andy Hoffman
4. 99W Danny Watson

Feature was rained out. Make-up will be next week

Mod Lite - 24 cars

Heat 1 - 99 Josh May
Heat 2 - 11R Jason Whitehead
Heat 3 - 0B Colby Oberembt

Feature

1. 0B Colby Oberembt
2. 11R Jason Whitehead
3. 99 Josh May
4. 15 Tim Hennigar
5. 95 Mike Kennedy
6. 82 Charlie Brown
7. 09 Joel Keenan
8. 46Z Bryan Zehm
9. 88 James May
10. 01 David Schmalzried
11. 20 Jeff Stensland
12. 89 Travis Stensland
13. 8 Dusty Masolini
14. 3C Duane Coffman
15. 1 John Gardner
16. 9 Rick Taylor
17. 76 Terry Sorenson
18. 4L Larry Sorenson
19. 33 Gayle Worthington
20. 08 Ben Larson
21. 93 Tim Milner
22. 64 Randy Bryan
DNS: 1H Kenny Hake
37 Mike Thomas

Blog to follow

The first Hawkeye Dirt Tour for 2011 goes to Vern Jackson

2011-05-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Benton County Speedway was the scene on the evening of May 10th for the 2011 season opener for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour series. It was quite the change to be sitting in the stands in 90 plus degree temps and clear skies given the racing weather so far this spring. Thankfully, the high humidity that had been predicted didn't seem to appear and we sat in comfort for the first time this year.

Two support classes, the IMCA Northern SportMods and the IMCA Sport Compacts were also on the docket for the night. The Sport Compacts ran their 12-lap feature first which was run quickly as it went flag-to-flag. The winner, Brad Chandler was a happy camper in the post race interview as he not only had taken the victory but had done so in a borrowed car! Bill Whalen, Jr. finished a close second, and third went to Nathan Chandler, brother of the winner.

The SportMod's ran a 15-lap feature. Danny Dvorak leaped to the lead quickly with Oskaloosa driver, Carter VanDenBerg giving chase. Dvorak found the low side to his liking and VanDenBerg chose the topside. Those two drivers had started on the front row and it was looking to be a fight to the finish between the duo. Meanwhile, Austin Kaplan, a regular at the track, was making his way through the pack as the laps started winding down. Kaplan made the pass on VanDenBerg and into the second spot, would briefly take the lead with just one lap remaining, only to loose the win at the finish line. It was an exciting conclusion to the race with Dvorak getting the win and Kaplan taking the runner up spot just a bit short. VanDenBerg was scored in the third spot, Joel Rust took fourth, and Newton, Iowa driver, Jake Strayer came home in fifth.

There was a nice field of forty-four IMCA modified drivers competing and with just two drivers qualifying through each of the five heats, it called for three B main events to complete the feature field. Four drivers advanced from each of the three B mains and two provisionals were chosen---one from the HDT registered drivers and one from the track. Scott Hogan was the track provisional and Mark Schulte was awarded the HDT provisional. Unfortunately, Mark Schulte was not able to make the starting call and though last year's tour champion, Mike Jergens came to the track, he also exited even before the four-wide parade lap, leaving the starting field to twenty-two cars.

Long Grove, Iowa driver, Mitch Morris, took advantage of his front row starting spot and charged to the lead. Vern Jackson also made his move from starting in the third row, up into second place. The rest of the 30-lap race saw those two drivers up front while the remainder of the field fought for positions behind them. When Jackson finally made the move around Morris for the lead, the crowd cheered, as it did when the popular area driver kept that lead to the checkers, and the win. Mitch Morris took the second spot, third went to Ryan Dolan, fourth to the #83 of Kellen Chadwick, and fifth to Mark Elliott. Chadwick is from California but rumor has it that he will be living, working, and racing in Iowa this season. Chadwick was severely injured a couple of years ago in a racing accident in Arizona. He had several broken vertebrae along with other injuries and has made a remarkable recovery.

Since there were at least four of the Positively Racing team members in attendance last night, you can check out "Back Stretch", "Tapfan's Tours" and "In Staging" for a more in depth take of the night's happenings. Thanks to announcer Ryan Clark for the shout out to Positively Racing as well.

The next race for the Hawkeye Racing Tour will be on Memorial Day at the I-35 Speedway in Mason City. Be sure and check www.dirttour.com for the complete schedule and other information about the series.

Happy racing!

New winners at Boone Speedway

2011-05-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

We made our weekly trip west to the Boone Speedway Saturday night and this time, the weather was actually comfortable! Finally a nice night to watch racing without having to wear winter coats! The regular five classes were in competition and four of the five found new faces in Victory Lane. The night saw close and sometimes four-wide racing in most classes, giving the fans a great show.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature saw Charlie Brown take his second win of the season. He jumped to the lead and would win going away from the second place finisher, James May. Andy Hennigar came from starting tenth, to finish in third, fourth went to Joel Keenan who has been much improved this year from our observations, and fifth was Mike Kennedy. The race went flag to flag.

The IMCA Northern SportMods started all 26 cars that checked into the pits. As the green flag flew and they raced into the first corner, cars were going four-wide. That type of action soon brought out a yellow as cars made contact and debris was scattered in the corner of turn two as well as sheetmetal dragging from cars. Brian Miller was looking to nab his first win of the season as he led the main event through lap 13 of the 18-lap affair, but upon a restart, he would spin, ending his chance for a victory. Geoff Olson would then be the leader, but it would be short-lived as Des Moines driver, Josh Modde quickly made the pass into first. Modde would then go home to the checkers and take the win, with Olson having to settle for the runner-up spot. Scoring a third place finish was Shawn Hunter, fourth would go to point leader Scott Davis, and fifth was Daniel Tasler.

The IMCA stock cars ran a B main to whittle their starting grid to 24 cars. Strong contender, Donavon Smith had to run that event and won it to qualify for the A feature. Eric Brown would take the lead heading into the first corner, but his car would take a spin in turn one, spoiling his night. Andy Bryant, Trent Murphy, and brothers Jerry and Wayne Gifford dueled for the top positions until Murphy took over in convincing fashion. He would pull away from the pack as he won for the first time this year. Wayne Gifford bested brother Jerry as they took second and third places, with Andy Bryant trailing them for fourth and Michael Jaennette in fifth.
Murphy had put his car upside down at Marshalltown the night before, so it was no doubt, a good feeling to know his car was back in good running condition.

The IMCA modifieds had a shorter car count this week with seventeen cars on hand. With Webster City running the same night and paying a larger purse this year after the fairboard took over the track, has undoubtedly made for part of that reason. Time will tell if that will continue. There was still great competitive cars on hand and on this night, Mike Molle would show his strength as he took the checkers and the win for the first time in 2011. Molle led the entire 20-lap race with Joel Bushore and Russ Dickerson taking second and third behind him. Fourth would go to Robert Avery, and fifth to points leader, Jimmy Gustin.

The IMCA hobby stocks also ran a B main event qualifying the final four positions to tag the feature. The 911 of Darin Rothfus took that win. It was tight racing up front between John Watson, Cory Adams and Tyler Pickett early on but a spin took Pickett out of the picture. Watson would then pull away from Adams the remaining laps and take the win. This was Watson's first win of the regular season at Boone after having taken the Frostbuster special back on April 2nd. Adams took the second place, Randy Embrey was a distant third, fourth went to Matt McDonald and Eric Stanton rounded out the top five.

Regular points racing will continue next week at Boone. For more information, schedules, and point standings, check www.raceboone.com. Full results are listed below. Happy racing!

Boone 5-7-11

2011-05-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

Boone Speedway 5-7-11 - 131 total cars

Modified - 17 cars

Heat 1 - 33M Mike Molle
Heat 2 - 27 Kelly Lyons

Feature

1. 33M Mike Molle
2. 87 Joel Bushore
3. 28R Russ Dickerson
4. 24 Robert Avery
5. 19 Jimmy Gustin
6. 1K Pat Graham
7. 83G Josh Gilman
8. 27 Kelly Lyons
9. 58 Denny Pittman
10. 93 Cale Sponsler
11. 18 Jake Durbin
12. 57V Mike VanGenderen
13. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
14. 02 Brian Law
15. 49T Tim Stevens
16. 3Z Randy Havlik
17. 12 Stacy Warren

SportMod - 26 cars

Heat 1 - 2G Geoff Olson
Heat 2 - 91 Shawn Hunter
Heat 3 - 63 Daniel Tasler

Feature

1. 30X Josh Modde
2. 2G Geoff Olson
3. 91 Shawn Hunter
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 63 Daniel Tasler
6. 34J Jerry Hinton
7. 3L Clint Luellen
8. 23JR Nick Roberts
9. 24 Brian Miller
10. 86 Cory Rose
11. 5B Tom Burke
12. 57 Lynn Brockett
13. 3s Adam Shelman
14. 17 Jamie Ganoe
15. 35 Bruce Egeland
16. 505 Racer Hulin
17. 6 Darren Huntley
18. 27 Tim Love
19. 28 James Reichart
20. 32L Ty Luellen
21. 9E Eric Elliott
22. 66 Cody Hennings
23. 22 Clinton Brooks
24. 3 Stacey Clark
25. 3R Randy Roberts
26. 72 Rick Ringgenberg

Stock Car - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 9 Jerry Gifford
Heat 2 - 55 Cory Bushnell
Heat 3 - 24 Eric Brown

B Main - 3 advance

1. 35 Donavon Smith
2. 3H Ty Hill
3. 20L Lauren Vis
4. 11 Scott Seaman
5. 05 Seth Bowen
6. 34 Jake Taggart
7. 5 Keith Miner
DNS: 2L Jon Lang (in a blue #96 car)

Feature

1. 25 Trent Murphy (after rolling at Marshalltown the previous night)
2. 22 Wayne Gifford
3. 9 Jerry Gifford
4. 77 Andy Bryant
5. 93 Michael Jaennette
6. 55 Cory Bushnell
7. 12+ Ryan Rose
8. 19A Alan VanGorp
9. 23HR Rod Richards
10. 81X Randy Killen
11. 50 Robert Stofer
12. 19J Jay Schmidt
13. 25J Josh Daniels
14. 35 Donavon Smith
15. 3H Ty Hill
16. 12 Bryan Trogdon
17. 22X Josh Brauckman
18. 24 Eric Brown
19. 18 Jeff Harkrider
20. 45 Larry Crocheck
21. 20L Lauren Vis
22. 556 Terry Cornelison
23. 76 Norm Belew
24. 31 Jason York

Hobby Stock - 35 cars

Heat 1 - 12M Matt McDonald
Heat 2 - 8B Robert Smith
Heat 3 - 5A Tyler Pickett
Heat 4 - 25M Michael Murphy

B Main - 4 advance

1. 911 Darin Rothfus
2. 9 Andrew Arends
3. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
4. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
5. 36S Mike Smith
6. 26T Jeremy Tilley
7. 47W Shaun Wirtz
8. 85 Seth Janssen (former Chris Hupp car)
9. 74J Dean Hartwig
10. 33J Jesse McCollaugh
11. 99 Jeff Knight
12. 3A Austin Luellen
13. 99W Danny Watson
14. 16B Jay Arends
15. T71 Marcus Kyle

Feature

1. 4W John Watson
2. 27C Cory Adams
3. 40 Randy Embrey
4. 12M Matt McDonald
5. 7B Eric Stanton
6. 1BC Tony Cox
7. 25M Michael Murphy
8. 23C Carl Knight
9. 38R Aaron Rudolph
10. 46J Jesse Hopkins
11. 24B Brandon Brinton
12. 20 Donnie Gustoff
13. 911 Darin Rothfus
14. 9 Andrew Arends
15. 8B Robert Smith
16. 5A Tyler Pickett
17. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
18. 00 Kyle Dirks
19. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
20. 63 Cory Tasler
21. 23 Cody Gustoff
22. 4C Curt Reed
23. 20T Richard Yaw II
24. 14 Matt Wahlert

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 24 cars

Heat 1 - X50 Joel Huggins
Heat 2 - 82 Charlie Brown
Heat 3 - 8 Dusty Masolini

Feature

1. 82 Charlie Brown
2. 88 James May
3. 15 Andy Hennigar
4. 09 Joel Keenan
5. 95 Mike Kennedy
6. 46Z Bryan Zehm
7. 11R Jason Whitehead
8. 99 Josh May
9. 8 Dusty Masolini
10. 89 Travis Stensland
11. 16 Angelo Montgomery
12. 20 Jeff Stensland
13. 01 David Schmalzried
14. 93 Tim Milner
15. 8W Joe Wood
16. 76 Terry Sorenson
17. 8T Todd Thorson
18. 3C Duane Coffman
19. 9 Rick Taylor
20. 4L Larry Sorenson
21. 08 Ben Larson
22. X50 Joel Huggins
23. 37 Mike Thomas
DNS: 64 Randy Bryan

Blog to follow.

Three repeat winners at Marshalltown

2011-05-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

It was looking to be a much more pleasant night for racing at Marshalltown on Friday evening with temperatures hovering at the 70 degree mark. Mother Nature just had to throw a bit of a curve in the evening's festivities though as raindrops halted the racing action for a short period of time.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature found the first of three repeat winners from last week back in victory lane. Josh May and Mike Morrill put on an exciting race for the fans with May running the top and Morrill trying to get the advantage on the bottom. At the finish line, May took the repeat win with Morrill a very close second. Third went to Andy Hennigar, Joel Huggins was fourth and Dusty Masolini took the fifth spot.

The IMCA Northern SportMods had 30 cars in attendance, requiring a B Main. Justin Severance took that win. Nick Roberts was leading the race when raindrops began to fall hard enough to halt the racing. Thankfully, the delay was short and racing resumed without having to pull the cars from the racing surface.

When action resumed, it didn't take long for young Caden Carter to put his #10 machine to the point with Beau Kaplan following him into second place. Carter was pulling away when another caution flag flew and upon the restart, his car went up in smoke. This put Kaplan at the helm with Kyle Brown on his tail. It was a thrilling finish when Brown made the pass on the final lap to take the checkers. Brown came from 13th starting spot to get the win, Kaplan had to settle for second, third went to another young driver, Tyler Droste, fourth to Racer Hulin, and fifth to Scott Davis.

A driver making his first appearance for 2011 at the Marshalltown Speedway, put his car in the winner's circle in the IMCA stock car class. Oelwein, Iowa's Brian Irvine brought his plain black ride to the track and won going away at the checkers. The early battle was between Jay Schmidt leading, and Michael Jaennette as Schmidt ran the topside and Jaennette opted for the bottom. The race was red flagged when Trent Murphy, running in third, rolled his car off of turn three. He was okay. Irvine took the checkers with Schmidt in second, third went to Donavon Smith who also made his first trip to Marshalltown, fourth to Michael Jaennette, and fifth to Kevin Rose.

Sixteen IMCA modifieds started their A feature with only young Canadian driver, Riley Emmel not making the call. This race was looking to be a runaway early as Todd Shute rocketed to the lead. Shute would then suddenly exit the track between turns three and four with what appeared to be a mechanical issue. Jon Snyder was the man at the helm as racing resumed with last week's winner, Adam Larson hotly in pursuit.
Larson made his move around Snyder for the lead and Jimmy Gustin also nabbed a postion as he maneuvered around Snyder for the runner up spot. When the checkers flew, it was Adam Larson getting back-to-back wins with Gustin in second, Snyder in third, David Brown garnered a fourth place finish, and rounding out the top five was Joel Bushore.

The night ended with the running of the IMCA hobby stock feature. This would find the third driver getting a back-to-back win as Eric Knutson grabbed the checkered flag for the second week in a row. Knutson pulled away after he got into the lead but it was four-wide battling behind him at times. When things got shook down, it was Scott Durlin making it to second, third went to Trent Murphy, fourth to Donovan Nunnikhoven and fifth to Kevin Fee.

Racing action will continue at the Marshalltown Speedway again next Friday night with racing scheduled to start at 7:30. It will be the annual Cliff Chamber's Memorial night in honor of a former promoter of the track. For more information and results, check www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Happy racing!

Jammin' Jimmy Gustin wins modified feature at Boone

2011-05-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday brought warmer than expected temperatures with an anticipation of more comfortable viewing from the stands at the Boone Speedway. However, the wind just seems relentless and was blowing like a gale out of the west. When the sun went down, the temperature dropped and the fans began their bundling up. The racing was excellent with close racing in all classes. All five divisions brought new faces to the winner's circle for the 2011 season.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature clicked right off as they ran their feature flag-to-flag.
After James May got around leader Dusty Masolini, there was little doubt who the winner would be. James May took the win, pulling away from second place finisher Colby Oberembt. The winner's son, Josh May, finished in third, fourth went to Dusty Masolini and Joel Huggins placed fifth.

Thirty-four IMCA Northern SportMods brought it to the speedway and with that many, once again a B main was on tap. Tim Love won that consolation event. Daniel Tasler started outside the front row, found it to his liking, and took the lead at the drop of the green. Cody Hennings challenged Tasler on occasion, but for the most part, Tasler was comfortably in command. At the checkers, Tasler took the win--which to my recollection, may have been his first at Boone--Cody Hennings took the second spot, third went to Lynn Brockett, fourth to Scott Davis, who came from starting twelfth, and Eric Elliott rounded out the top five.

Nineteen IMCA modifieds came to Boone; all hoping for a win. The main would end under a yellow/checkered situation when a lapped car spun, bringing out the yellow after the white flag had flown. By that time however, Jammin Jimmy Gustin had things well in hand, as he skillfully ran the topside of the track after powering around Randy Havlik with four laps remaining. Gustin, no stranger to seeing the checkers first at Boone, having won numerous times in previous years, took his first win at the track in 2011. Randy Havlik took second place, followed by Jake Durbin in third, Happy Gilman in fourth, and Russ Dickerson in fifth.

The class deemed "too tough to tame", the IMCA stock cars, checked 29 cars through the gates. This too would call for a B main to qualify the final three cars to fill in the 24-car starting field for their feature. Jeff Harkrider from Carroll, won the B main. The first few circuits of the feature saw a mad scramble as cars ran three and four wide as they fought for positions behind leader Josh Brauckman. Brauckman kept his lead for the 18-laps as Micheal Jaennette's last ditch effort coming to the flag failed, leaving him with a second place finish. Third place went to veteran driver out of Jefferson, Robert Stofer, Larry Crocheck finished in fourth and fifth went to Trent Murphy.

Only one A main was run for the IMCA hobby stocks. Their B main event to fill in the final four cars for their feature, was won by Darin Rothfus. Cory Adams led the parade through lap eight, but would suffer with an unfortunate spin only to bring out the yellow and rendering him to the tail of the pack for the restart. This would then put Austin Luellen to the point position where he would remain to the checkers, as he pulled away from second place finisher Aaron Rudolph. Cory Tasler finished in the third position, fourth was Randy Embrey and fifth went to Eric Stanton.

The program was run right off as per usual at Boone, with a much earlier conclusion than previous weeks when the car counts were extremely large. I think most fans, as are we, are happy to be heading home before the bewitching hour!

Racing will continue at the Boone Speedway next Saturday night, May 7, with hot laps scheduled for 6:45 p.m. and racing at 7:30 p.m. For more information pertaining o the track, check out www.raceboone.com. The full results of tonight's racing are posted below. Until next time, happy racing!

Boone results - 4-30-11

2011-05-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

4-30-11 results - 140 cars total

Modified - 19 cars

Heat 1 - 18 Jake Durbin
Heat 2 - 83G Josh "Happy" Gilman

Feature

1. 19 "Jammin" Jimmy Gustin
2. 3Z Randy Havlik
3. 18 Jake Durbin
4. 83G Josh "Happy" Gilman
5. 28R Russ Dickerson
6. 27 Kelly Lyons
7. 93 Cale Sponsler
8. 21K Dan Klatt - Wheatland, IA
9. 58 Denny Pittman
10. 49T Tim Stevens
11. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
12. 02 Brian Law
13. 77C Craig Carlson
14. 87 Joel Bushore
15. 75 Denny Rosenberg
16. 12 Stacy Warren
17. 23 JJ Scott
18. 24 Robert Avery
DNS: 57V Mike VanGenderen

SportMod - 34 cars

Heat 1 - 66 Cody Hennings
Heat 2 - 63 Daniel Tasler
Heat 3 - 32L Ty Luellen
Heat 4 - 2G Geoff Olson

B Main - 4 advance

1. 27 Tim Love
2. 24 Brian Miller
3. 5B Tom Burke
4. 39 Larry Embrey...this is not a typo!
5. 17 Jamie Ganoe
6. 22B Brian Eppert
7. 22J Jeff Blume
8. 59 Tara Longnecker
9. 18 Justin Seggerman
10. 33R DJ Robinson
11. 6W Whitney Huntley - took a hard shot on front chute. Walked to ambulance
12. 56 Joe Simbro
13. 29B Ben Wilson
14. 3L Clint Luellen

Feature

1. 63 Daniel Tasler
2. 66 Cody Hennings
3. 57 Lynn Brockett
4. 81D Scott Davis
5. 9E Eric Elliott
6. 2G Geoff Olson
7. 23JR Nick Roberts
8. 3R Randy Roberts
9. 27 Tim Love
10. 86 Cory Rose
11. 505 Racer Hulin
12. 1T Bobby Davis III
13. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
14. 24 Brian Miller
15. 3S Adam Shelman
16. 34J Jerry Hinton
17. 6 Darren Huntley
18. 5B Tom Burke
19. 30X Josh Modde
20. 39 Larry Embrey
21. 35 Bruce Egeland
22. 32L Ty Luellen
23. X4 Jason Purvis
24. 3 Stacey Clark

Stock cars - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 19A Alan VanGorp
Heat 2 - 50 Robert Stofer
Heat 3 - 23HR Rod Richards

B Main - 3 cars advance

1. 18 Jeff Harkrider
2. 19J Jay Schmidt
3. 34 Jake Taggart
4. 5 Keith Miner
5. 68P Aaron Palmer - Humeston, IA
6. 3H Ty Hill
7. 556 Terry Cornelison
DNS: 2L Jon Lang

Feature

1. 22X Josh Brauckman
2. 93 Michael Jaennette
3. 50 Robert Stofer
4. 45 Larry Crocheck
5. 25 Trent Murphy
6. 23HR "Hot" Rod Richards
7. 22 Wayne Gifford
8. 19A Alan VanGorp
9. 55 Cory Bushnell
10. 9 Jerry Gifford
11. 81X Randy Killen
12. 12 Bryan Trogdon
13. 19J Jay Schmidt
14. 12+ Ryan Rose
15. 35 Donavon Smith
16. 18 Jeff Harkrider
17. 11 Scott Seaman
18. 22R Todd Reitzler
19. 31 Jason York
20. 34 Jake Taggart
21. 25J Josh Daniels
22. 05 Seth Bowen
23. 77 Andy Bryant
24. 24 Eric Elliott

Hobby Stock - 32 cars

Heat 1 - 40 Randy Embrey
Heat 2 - 27C Cory Adams
Heat 3 - 24B Brandon Brinton
Heat 4 - 23 Cody Gustoff

B Main - 4 advance

1. 911 Darin Rothfus
2. 1BC Tony Cox
3. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
4. 5A Tyler Pickett
5. 9 Andrew Arends
6. 14 Matt Wahlert
7. 26T Jeremy Tilley
8. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
9. 36S Mike Smith
10. 4C Curt Reed
11. 23C Carl Knight
12. 33J Jesse McCollaugh

Feature

1. 3A Austin Luellen
2. 38R Aaron Rudolph
3. 63 Cory Tasler
4. 40 Randy Embrey
5. 7B Eric Stanton
6. 20T Richard Yaw II
7. 83 Chris Hupp
8. 4W John Watson
9. 99W Danny Watson
10. 46J Jesse Holpkins
11. 24B Brandon Brinton
12. 1BC Tony Cox
13. 25M Michael Murphy
14. 5A Tyler Pickett
15. 00 Kyle Dirks
16. 20 Donnie Gustoff
17. 23 Cody Gustoff
18. 27C Cory Adams
19. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
20. 16B Jay Arends
21. 8B Robert Smith
22. 12M Matt McDonald
23. 911 Darin Rothfus
24. 99 Jeff Knight

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 26 cars - all to the A

Heat 1 - 88 James May
Heat 2 - Colby Oberembt
Heat 3- 82 Charlie Brown

Feature

1. 88 James May
2. OB Colby Oberembt
3. 99 Josh May
4. 8 Dusty Masolini
5. X50 Joel Huggins
6. 57 Tim Hennigar
7. 64 Randy Bryan
8. 15 Andy Bryant
9. 20 Jeff Stensland
10. 41Z Bryan Zehm
11. 95 Mike Kennedy
12. 01 David Schmalzried
13. 16 Angelo Montgomery
14. 09 Joel Keenan
15. 89 Travis Stensland
16. 11R Jason Whitehead
17. 9 Rick Taylor
18. 1 John Gardner
19. 8 Joe Wood
20. 4L Larry Sorenson
21. 93 Tim Milner
22. 76 Terry Sorenson
23. 8T Todd Thorson
24. 3C Duane Coffman
25. 00 Phillip Reeves
26. 82 Charlie Brown

Blog to follow

Larson wins in modifieds at Marshalltown

2011-04-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

It was a WINDY night at the Marshalltown Speedway but it was DRY and for the first time since April 8th, the show went on.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite's were the first on the docket to run their A main event. Fifteen laps later, it was the familiar #99 of Josh May taking the checkers. May took the Frostbuster back on April 1st, and was back in Victory Lane tonight. Mike Morrill chased May most of the race and though he was trying to reel him in, it just wasn't in the cards for this night and Morrill had to settle for second. Third went to Joel Huggins, fourth to Andy Hennigar and rounding out the top five was Randy Bryan.

The IMCA Northern SportMods were the only class requiring a consy race to fill in their starting 24-car feature. That B main was won by Kyle Brown. By the halfway mark of the 15-lap feature, Newton driver, Jake Strayer was in command with Racer Hulin trailing him. Joel Rust would slip by Hulin before the checkers, with Strayer taking the win, Rust in second, Hulin in third, Oskaloosa driver Cayden Carter in fourth, and fifth was Austin Lucas. Kyle Brown came from qualifying through the B, to take the sixth spot.

The dust pretty well settled by the end of the SportMod feature, leaving the stock cars with a clearer view around the track. Jay Schmidt rocketed to the lead from the front row starting spot and was looking to dominate. However, a slip off the topside later when he was doing battle with Steve Meyer and Trent Murphy, ended that quest. He did recover and re-entered the track but lost many positions. The race was then between Murphy and Meyer with Murphy running the low-line and Meyer trying the outside. The race would conclude with a green-white-checkered finish due to a spinning car and Murphy came home with the win, pulling away a bit from the #94 of Meyer. Following Meyer who took second, was Tracy Gienger for third, Damon Murty in fourth and fifth went to "The Pink Panther" (the character is on his car...as well as pink on the car) Michael Jaennette. Jaennette has been campaigning for donations to help out a Garwin family who recently lost their home in a fire and who are race fans. We had seen a clip on television station KCCI. It's always nice to hear some good publicity about the racing community and our hats are off to Jaennette for this good deed.

The IMCA modified feature saw an impressive run by the 2L of Adam Larson. Larson started 14th on the field and as he exclaimed in Victory Lane, "when you can pass the likes of Jimmy and Richie Gustin, it's a good night and the car is running right". Larson chose the low-line of the track and Gustin was liking the high-line but Larson prevailed to take the win. Jimmy Gustin had to be content for second, and Richie Gustin, third. Fourth was Todd Conrad who had done battle with all three, and Jon Snyder took fifth.

The night drew to a conclusion with the running of the IMCA hobby stock 12-lap feature. The battle was between Michael Vibbard, Eric Knutson and Michael Murphy for most of the race. In the end, it would be Eric Knutson winning the hard-fought contest and taking the win over Michael Murphy in second. Vibbard followed Murphy to take the third spot, fourth went to Kevin Fee who had been the winner in the Frostbuster and the opening regular season night, and fifth went to the #3 of Matt Hudspeth. It was a wild conclusion at the finish line with cars going every which way, so after fifth place, it was a free-for-all.

Racing concluded a bit before 10 p.m. Fans were more comfortable this week with temperatures warmer, though not WARM by any means. We were buffeted a lot by the strong winds, but luckily for us, they were coming from behind the grandstands. For the full results, check www.marshalltownspeedway.com. Racing resumes next week at the high banked 1/4-mile track, with racing scheduled to commence at 7:30. Happy racing!

Quality and quantity at Boone

2011-04-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday night saw the Boone Speedway with a packed pit area of 223 cars. Wet and cold weather during the past week made for many cancellations around the state, but with the great "farming" prep and the drainage at Boone, the track was ready to go. Many tracks have not been able to get even their season opener in. With that being said, drivers appeared to flock to Boone to get in some racing. We noticed many cars from the Sioux City area in attendance as well as several drivers that are regulars at the Beatrice Speedway in Beatrice, Nebraska.

The Dwarf/Mod Lite saw 29 cars check through the pit gate. Twenty-seven of those cars started their A main event. Charlie Brown took command of the race from the start, and took his first win of the season at Boone. Behind Brown, it was Joel Huggins and Andy Hennigar fighting for position but Josh May would get in the mix from his sixth row starting spot to make it past both drivers and take the runner up spot. Following May to grab third was Joel Huggins, Andy Hennigar was fourth, and fifth went to Cory Dennis. For those of you who are a bit "clown-shy", you may want to avoid looking at the clowns that winner Charlie Brown has on the side of his ride.....rather spooky to some!

The IMCA Northern SportMods had an unbelievable 62 cars in the pits. This has been the fastest growing class the last couple of years, and it appears it is not slowing down. Three B mains were called for with David Schlicht, Brandon Leeman and Scott Davis taking those wins.

The SportMod feature found Adam Shelman at the helm through lap eleven of the 18-lap race. Meanwhile, it was the #21 of Kyle Brown, who had started back in 16th position, making a lot of headway. By lap fourteen, it was Cedar Rapids, Iowa driver Austin Lucas to the point and Brown was hot on his tail. Brown was able to make the pass with two laps remaining, and then a yellow flag halted the field. Brown took command at the restart and went home to the checkers for his first win at the Boone track. Lucas took the runner up spot, third went to Nick Roberts, fourth to Joel Rust, fifth to Jesse Sobbing and Shelman fell back to finish in sixth.

Up next was the IMCA modified feature. Thirty-nine cars were on hand, requiring two B mains to whittle their starting field to twenty-four cars for the feature. Those wins were taken by Dustin Smith and Mike VanGenderen. We had heard Smith was going to be making the leap from the stock car class into the modifieds, but this was the first time we had seen him in his modified in 2011.

The early fight for the top spots was among Jake Durbin, Randy Havlik, Todd Shute and Josh Most. Durbin's night would end when he dropped fluid on the track with an apparent blown motor. Josh Most and Todd Shute would then battle for the lead spot after racing resumed, with Most running the low line and Shute taking the top side.
With one lap to go, Most gave it a shot for the lead, only to spin, ending any chance for the win. Shute would then take his first win in a while at the Boone Speedway and Jacob Murray would finish a distant second. Russ Dickerson took the third spot, fourth went to Cale Sponsler and fifth went to visitor Jeremy Mills from Garner, Iowa.

A whopping 45 stock cars were on hand Saturday night. This brought about two consolation races and those were won by Ned Kalis out of Wells, Minnesota and Tama, Iowa's Jay Schmidt. A three-wide battle ensued with Eric Brown, Josh Brauckman and Michael Jaennette. Jaennette won that battle, and took over the lead while the other cars fell back. It was then Robert Stofer and Donavon Smith giving chase but they were not able to catch Jaennette who took the win. Smith finished in second, Stofer in third, Jay Schmidt came out of a B qualifier to capture fourth, and fifth went to David Smith from Lake City, brother of Donavon. We usually see David Smith in a #8 car, but on this night he was piloting the #68 which looked to be the car formerly driven by Josh Hohensee out of Pocohontas, Iowa during the 2010 campaign.

Forty-eight hobby stocks came to run. Those were split into two A mains and ALL of those cars made the call for each of their feature event. The first main found Michael Murphy back in Victory Lane for a third straight week. Murphy was followed past the checkers by a limping #59 of Hans Houfek, Emmerson, Nebraska driver, who suffered with a tire going down on the last lap, third was John Watson, fourth was Curt Reed and fifth went to Kyle Dirks in the #00 car.

Completing the night's racing was the second A main for the IMCA hobby stocks. It was pretty much a done deal from the get-go as Devin Smith took the win after leading from the start and pulling away. Boone driver, Tony Cox would follow Smith to take second, third went to Ray Stock, Jr. out of Ankeny, fourth to Eric Stanton and rounding out the top five was veteran driver, Donnie Gustoff.

It was a late night with so many cars, but what a field as there was both quality and quantity making for great racing for the fans. Many top notch drivers in their class, did not even qualify for their A main. Hopefully, the weather will soon be turning warmer and drier for more comfortable spectating for fans.

The full results are listed below this blog and for more information pertaining to the Boone Speedway, be sure and check out www.raceboone.com. Happy racing!

Boone - 4-23-11

2011-04-24T07:55:00.001-07:00

Results for 4-23-11 at the Boone Speedway. 223 cars total

Modified - 39 cars

Heat 1 - 18 Jake Durbin
Heat 2 -3Z Randy Havlik
Heat 3 - 93 Cale Sponsler
Heat 4 - 5 Todd Shute

B Main #1 - 2 advance

1. 85 Dustin Smith
2. 19 Jimmy Gustin
3. 83G Josh Gilman
4. 72 Tyler Limoges
5. 01 Ed Thomas
6. 20X Chad Louk
7. K1 Randy Krampe
8. 49T Tim Stevens
DNS: 1J Jonah Chinn
02 Brian Law

B Main #2 - 2 advance

1. 57V Mike VanGenderen
2. 51 Tyler Vandekamp
3. 33M Mike Molle
4. 3W Chris Webb
5. 77C Craig Carlson
6. 4 Tony Hilgenberg
7. 17R Derek Reimer
8. 12 Stacy Warren
DNS: 02X Andy Gage

Feature

1. 5 Todd Shute
2. 48J Jacob Murray
3. 28R Russ Dickerson
4. 93 Cale Sponsler
5. 10M Jeremy Mills
6. 19 Jimmy Gustin
7. 87 Joel Bushore
8. 3Z Randy Havlik
9. 92 Josh Most
10. 15X Scott Baker
11. 23T Jim Thies
12. 57V Mike VanGenderen
13. 85 Dustin Smith - from stock car to modified this year
14. 32 Rick Speck
15. 51 Tyler Vandekamp
16. 7D Dustin Wilwert, Cuba City, WI
17. 12C Kent Croskey
18. 75 Denny Rosenberg
19. 19J Jeff Jones
20. 10K Ronn Lauritzen
21. 43S Scott Simatovich
22. 58 Denny Pittman
23. 68 JJ Wise
24. 18 Jake Durbin - blew up

SportMods - 62 cars

Heat 1 - 86 Cory Rose
Heat 2 - 3R Randy Roberts
Heat 3 - 9E Eric Elliott
Heat 4 - 27 Tim Love
Heat 5 - 3s Adam Shelman
Heat 6 - 12 Doug Smith

B Main #1 - 2 advance

1. 19 David Schlicht
2. 32L Ty Luellen
3. 27X Brian Weyer
4. 91 Shawn Hunter
5. 13 Casey Jones - Sioux City, IA
6. 6W Whitney Huntley
7. 4 Cory Tharp
8. 22J Jeff Blume
9. 1T Bobby Davis III
10. 18 Justin Seggerman LeMars, IA
11. 23X Dustin Poldberg - Kimballton, IA
12. 49 Nate Whitehurt - Mason City, IA
13. 36 Matt Pittman
DNS: 30X Josh Modde
2Z Zach Rawlins

B Main #2 - 2 advance

1. 64X Brandon Leeman
2. 34J Jerry Hinton
3. 11 Beau Kaplan
4. 24X Josh Banzhaf - Marshalltown, IA
5. 66 Cody Hennings
6. 321 Andy Tiernan
7. 59 Tara Longnecker
8. 19G Gatlin Leytham
9. 46 Trevor Oberholtz
10. 5B Tom Burke
11. 505 Racer Hulin
12. 33R DJ Robinson
13. 22B Brian Eppert
14. 7 Carter VanDenberg
15. 72L Brett Lowry

B Main #3 - 2 advance

1. 81D Scott Davis
2. 32Z Alex Zwanzinger - Nashua, IA
3. 24 Brian Miller
4. 63 Daniel Tasler
5. 99K Cody Havens - Wiota, IA
6. 72 Rick Ringgenberg
7. 83 Dane Larson
8. 25 Scott VanBusKirk
9. 1I Scott Cook = Algona, IA
10. 6 Darren Huntley
11. 56 Joe Simbro
12. 17 Jamie Ganoe
13. 22 Clinton Brooks - Indianola, IA
14. 35 Bruce Egeland

Feature

1. 21 Kyle Brown
2. 9x Austin Lucas
3. 23JR Nick Roberts
4. 26J Joel Rust
5. 99 Jesse Sobbing
6. 3s Adam Shelman
7. 3L Clint Luellen
8. 86 Cory Rose
9. 81D Scott Davis
10. 10 Cayden Carter
11. 2G Geoff Olson
12. 57 Lynn Brockett
13. x4 Jason Purvis
14. 32Z Alex Zwanzinger
15. 64X Brandon Leeman
16. 19 David Schlicht
17. 27 Tim Love
18. 32L Ty Luellen
19. 3R Randy Roberts
20. 41 Jeremy Embrey
21. 34J Jerry Hinton
22. 12 Doug Smith
23. T17 Tom Rawlins
24. 9E Eric Elliott

Stock Car - 45 cars

Heat 1 - 50 Robert Stofer
Heat 2 - 22X Josh Brauckman
Heat 3 - 93 Michael Jaennette
Heat 4 - 35 Donavon Smith
Heat 5 - 87 Travis Shipman - Mason City, IA
Heat 6 - 23HR Rod Richards

B Main #1 - 3 advance

1. 14Z Ned Kalis - Wells, MN
2. 27M Mike Munson
3. 26K Butch Bass
4. 81X Randy Killen
5. 04 Don Vis
6. 31 Jason York
7. 5X Ross Marshall - Grander, IA
8. 556 Terry Cornelison
9. 68C Chad Stripe
10. 02 Adam Klocke - Carroll, IA
11. 11 Scott Seaman
12. 43 Aaron Cain - Sioux City, IA
DNS: m2 Matt Fox
18 Jeff Harkrider

B Main #2 - 3 advance

1. 19J Jay Schmidt
2. 41 Jason Ward - Sioux City, IA
3. 7M Mitch Dowhower - Sioux City, IA
4. 3s Bryan Snell
5. R31 Ryan Leeman
6. 27 Gary Bass
7. 06 Kyle Schmauss - Eagle Grove, IA
8. 05 Seth Bowen
9. 2L Jon Lang
10. 25R Chuck Rose
11. 2 Les (Bo) Lundquist - Sioux City, IA
12. 34 Jake Taggart - Scranton, IA
DNS: 9 Jerry Gifford

Feature

1. 93 Michael Jaennette
2. 35 Donavon Smith
3. 50 Robert Stofer
4. 19J Jay Schmidt
5. 68 David Smith - Lake City, IA
6. 23HR Rod Richards
7. 22 Wayne Gifford
8. 3H Ty Hill
9. 55 Cory Bushnell
10. 87 Travis Shipman
11. 41 Jason Ward
12. 24 Eric Brown
13. 7M Mitch Dowhower
14. 77 Andy Bryant
15. 45 Larry Crocheck
16. 20L Lauren Vis
17. 19A Alan VanGorp
18. 12+ Ryan Rose
19. 25J Josh Daniels
20. 22X Josh Brauckman
21. 26K Butch Bass
22. 25 Trent Murphy
23. 14Z Ned Kalis
24. 27M Mike Munson

Hobby Stock - 48 cars

Heat 1 - 7B Eric Stanton
Heat 2 - 3A Austin Luellen
Heat 3 - 1BC Tony Cox
Heat 4 - 4W John Watson
Heat 5 - 27C Cory Adams
Heat 6 - 20 Donnie Gustoff

Feature #1

1. 25M Michael Murphy - 3rd straight win at Boone
2. 59 Hans Houfek - Emmerson, NE
3. 4W John Watson
4. 4C Curt Reed
5. 00 Kyle Dirks
6. 74J Dean Hartwig
7. 9 Andrew Arends
8. 1 Blake Miller
9. 79 George Hood
10. 83 Chris Hupp
11. 45B Craig Brotherton - Wall Lake, IA
12. 99 Jeff Knight
13. 23C Carl Knight
14. 51 Matt Webb
15. 46J Jesse Hopkins
16. 23 Cody Gustoff
17. 77D Keith Dragoo - Lincoln, NE
18. 66 Andy Mahlstedt
19. 51D Dustin Filloon
20. 36S Mike Smith
21. 3A Austin Luellen
22. 20B Ben Bruck
23. 40 Randy Embrey
24. 27C Cory Adams

Feature #2

1. 81 Devin Smith
2. 1BC Tony Cox
3. 10S Ray Stock, Jr.
4. 7B Eric Stanton
5. 20 Donnie Gustoff
6. 38R Randy Rudolph
7. 20T Richard Yaw II
8.911 Darin Rothfus
9. 1R Randall Macku - Lincoln, NE
10. 24B Brandon Brinton
11. 18Z Zach Smith - Mason City, IA
12. 77G Ryan Grochala - Des Moines, IA
13. 99W Danny Watson
14. 67 Ed Mahlstedt
15. 5A Tyler Pickett
16. 26T Jeremy Tilley
17. 14 Matt Wahlert
18. 16B Jay Arends
19. 63 Cory Tasler
20. 69 Calvin Dhondt
21. 2L Leonard Loftus
22. 8B Bobby Smith
23. T71 Marcus Kyle
24. 35 Phillip Castellano - Norwalk, IA

Dwarf/Mod Lite - 29 cars

Heat 1 - 15 Andy Hennigar
Heat 2 - 99 Josh May
Heat 3 - 82 Charlie Brown

B Main - All that started qualified and green/checkered thrown

1. 8T Todd Thorson
2. 93 Tim Milner
3. 16 Angelo Montgomery
4. 23 Michael Parcel - Des Moines, IA
5. 08 Ben Larson
6. 89 Travis Stensland
DNS: 1H Kenny Hake
8W Joe Wood

Feature

1. 82 Charlie Brown
2. 99 Josh May
3. x50 Joel Huggins
4. 15 Andy Hennigar
5. 3 Cory Dennis
6. 20 Jeff Stensland
7. 64 Randy Bryan
8. 95 Mike Kennedy
9. 88 James May
10. 03 Rick Dennis
11. 8 Dusty Masolini
12. 09 Joel Keenan
13. 46Z Bryan Zehm
14. 11R Jason Whitehead
15. 16 Angelo Montgomery
16. 89 Travis Stensland
17. 9 Rick Taylor
18. 01 David Schmalzried
19. 8T Todd Thorson
20. 93 Tim Milner -Corydon, IA
21. 76 Terry Sorenson
22. 4L Larry Sorenson
23. 23 Michael Parcel
24. 08 Ben Larson
25. GT1 Brian Efkamp
26. 6 Mike Morrill
27. 14E Chase Ellingson - Iowa Falls, IA
DNS: 1H Kenny Hake
8W Joe Wood

A blog will follow