Sunday, May 16, 2010

Larry Embrey Puts a Win in Yet Another Decade

It was a very pleasant night for fans to watch the great racing that took place at the Boone Speedway this past Saturday night. The track was fast and cars were running in tight bunches, giving the spectators some real thrills...and no doubt, the drivers too! There were 131 cars on hand including a couple of cars who traveled from out of state to get their racing fix. One, a modified driver would barely make it in time to tag the tail of the feature. He made the tow from Missouri after we suspect his regular track was rained out.

In the Dwarf/Mod Lite feature, two father/son duos finished in the top six. Travis Stensland paced the field early with Randy Bryan overtaking him at about lap four. Young Josh May soon made his way to the front of the field and would dog Bryan for the rest of the race. As the white flag flew, Bryan still had the advantage but the last corner coming to the checkers proved to be his nemesis as he went a little high, and Josh May slipped under him to take the win. Randy Bryan was the runner up, Mike Kennedy came home in third, Travis Stensland ran a good race to take home the fourth spot, fifth went to father of the winner, Jimmy May and sixth went to father of Travis Stensland (if we have heard correctly) Jeff Stensland.

The IMCA Northern SportMod feature had to be one of the best of that class that we have ever seen! As stated earlier, cars were running in packs, tight and fast. Making it even better, the race went flag to flag. Pole sitter, Lonnie Hodges led the first handful of laps, until Darren Huntley, the other front row sitter, took over. From there on out, there were five cars battling for positions 1-5. Huntley ran a good, consistant race and kept the top spot to the white flag as Cody Hennings, Lynn Brockett, Geoff Olson and Jeremy Embrey ran so closely behind him, it was hard to tell who had what position! That last lap saw Jeremy Embrey go from fourth spot, to make the pass to the front and take the exciting win. Scored in second was Cody Hennings, third would go to Darren Huntley, fourth to Lynn Brockett and fifth to Geoff Olson. Great racing guys!

The IMCA modifieds had 21 cars compete. Though only 20 cars ran the heats, a latecomer made it just in time to tag the tail of the feature. That driver was Jason Estes from Winston, Missouri. Only two laps were down in the main event, when a yellow flag flew when Russ Dickerson made contact with the frontstretch wall just out of turn four. That would be the only yellow to fly that we can recall. Tim Stevens, Cedar Rapids, appeared to have a win under his belt as he led comfortably over Bill Davis, Jr. through the halfway mark. Bad luck smacked Stevens about lap fourteen as he had to exit with a flat tire. That put Bill Davis, Jr. in the lead, with rookie to the division, Daniel Hilsabeck, chasing him. They would finish in that order at the checkers. Third went to Jimmy Gustin who, as usual, made his way through traffic from starting in 10th spot, fourth went to Jake Durbin who followed Gustin through the pack from back in 11th starting spot, and rounding out the top five, was Randy Havlik.

Fast and furious was the action in the IMCA stock car feature as well. The 22 of Wayne Gifford led early as Donavon Smith and Mike VanGenderen chased him. Gifford had to retire from the race later with a flat tire soon after Smith made it past him to take the top spot. It was an exciting race behind with VanGenderen, Trent Murphy, Jerry Gifford and Alan VanGorp dueling it out for position. It was a race that was so intense, you find yourself almost holding your breath to the end! Great show for the fans, gentlemen! Donavon Smith was able to hold on for the win though Mike VanGenderen gave it his all to get by him. VanGenderen had to be content in the runner up spot, Murphy took third, Jerry Gifford was fourth, and Alan VanGorp was fifth. VanGorp, who has jumped into the stock car class this year from running a hobby stock, is piloting the familiar looking car of John Hunnell, former successful driver from the area. VanGorp has transitioned very well into the stock car class in our observations.

Forty hobby stocks were broken into two A mains. The first feature found veteran driver Donnie Gustoff put his #20 car to the lead quickly. Michael Murphy would make the pass on Gustoff before many more circuits were completed, maintained it and came home to the checkered flags flying. Gustoff kept second place, third went to Chris Hupp, fourth to Aaron Rudolph, who looks to be now hanging on to a mere one point lead over Murphy, and fifth went to Austin Luellen.

Finishing up the night's action was the second A main for the hobby stocks. Larry Embrey led the twelve lap event from flag to flag to take another win in his long career. Add another decade to your winning list, Larry! Tyler Pickett chased Embrey the entire race to take second, third went to Ames, Iowa's Mark Hidlebaugh, fourth was Scott Lograsso, and fifth was Norfolk, Nebraska visiting driver, Jeremy Hoskinson.

We enjoyed visiting announcer for the evening, Bucky Doren from Cedar Falls, Iowa. Bucky is the tour director for the inaugural season of the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA modifieds. The first race was a casualty to the weather this past Tuesday but has been rescheduled for this coming Wednesday at the Independence Motor Speedway. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:45 p.m. with racing to follow. We look forward to attending. Check out http://www.dirttour.com/ for more information and the schedule. Bucky also does a great job with live web casts which we often catch if we cannot attend the race. We know many, many people are thankful to catch his broadcasts of the Super Nationals, so be sure and check out http://www.racerpm.com/ as well. Thanks Bucky for your dedication to this great sport of dirt track racing we all enjoy!

Next Saturday night at the Boone Speedway will again be a regular points race for modifieds, sportmods, stock cars, hobby stocks and dwarf/mod lites. Check out http://www.raceboone.com/ for more information about the track. Happy racing!

Full unofficial results are listed below.

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