Saturday brought a lot of rain around the state of Iowa and along with it, many tracks canceling their programs for the night. Thanks to great drainage, track prep and just the over all luck of Boone, the show went on as usual. It also brought two "firsts" as for the very first time, two SportMod mains were run and in the modified class, "raceivers" were used to help with realigning and relaying information to the drivers. According to announcer Johnny Tharp, next year ALL classes will be using the devices. A large crowd was on hand for Little League night with those wearing their team uniform, getting in free. There was also a batting contest held in the infield. A number of traveling drivers made their way to the Boone Speedway as well, packing the pits with 155 cars.
Twenty of the Dwarf/Mod Lites were signed in and all of them started their A Main. Ed Zehm took advantage of his pole starting position and jumped out to the lead, never to look back as he took the win. Colby Oberembt in his OB car, took a ride when he rolled in between turns three and four, with seven laps down. He was okay. When racing resumed, Zehm took off again, pulling away from the field. Following Zehm at the finish line for second was Josh May who had started back in ninth place, third went to Randy Bryan, fourth to David Schmalzried, and fifth to Joel Huggins.
With 40 of the IMCA Northern SportMods competing, the decision was made to skip a B Main and let all cars run in one of two A Mains. This was a first for the speedway. In the first feature, Cody Warrick put his #1C ride out front early and maintained a comfortable lead for most of the circuits until Oskaloosa hot shoe Cayden Carter closed in. Warrick continued hitting his mark each time though, and didn't allow Carter much of chance to overcome him. Warrick picked up the win with Carter in second. Third went to Austin Lucas who made his way there from starting tenth, fourth was Matthew Meinecke who had started along side Lucas, and fifth finisher was Bruce Egeland. Egeland is a regular competitor each week, making the trip down from Marshall, Minnesota.
The second A Main for the SportMod division found Stacey Clark leading the pack of hungry drivers through lap six. Jeremy Embrey would then take over the lead, Clark slipping back a position or two as Eric Elliott and Brian Miller advanced. Embrey and Elliott dueled a couple of laps until Elliott made the pass at the flagstand with thirteen laps down. Elliott put some distance between himself and Embrey as he drove on to the win. Following Embrey for third was Brian Miller, Stacey Clark took fourth and rounding out the top five was Nick Roberts.
It was now time for the IMCA modifieds to run their 20-lap feature with all 23 cars on hand starting the contest. From the outside pole, Richie Gustin shot to the lead, looking strong. Billy Davis, Jr., jumped to the topside of the track and began his quest to reel in the 19G, putting himself in the second position. Those two would finish in that order with Gustin taking the checkers first, and Davis in second. Third went to Tim Stevens and fourth went to Jimmy Gustin in a remarkable run from having to tag the field after changing a tire under yellow. As Richie Gustin pulled away in the closing laps, brother Jimmy was the car to be watching as he picked off cars rapidly. It would have been interesting to have the race go a few more laps as Jimmy was a rocket, but finishing fourth was still quite the accomplishment. Trailing Gustin to take fifth, was the 15X of Scott Baker.
The IMCA stock cars had a nice field of 27 cars with only one car unable to start the feature. Pole sitter, Jeff Wollam from Marshalltown led the field easily, putting some distance between himself and the rest of the pack until a caution bunched the field. On the restart it was second place car of Rod Richards on Wollam's bumper. Richards soon made the pass for the lead and with laps winding down, he would keep the lead to take his second win of the year at Boone. Wollam had to settle for second place, third went to Damon Murty who charged up through the field from starting twelfth, fourth was Cory Bushnell and fifth went to Bryan Trogdon, winner of the past two features. When the race was completed, there were several cars sitting in the tech area with what appeared to be some selective teching going on.
It was a night of double/double features with two mains being run in the hobby stock class as well as the SportMods. Every one of the 45 cars on hand would start a feature...an accomplishment in itself. Feature number one found the #10 of Travis Fenton grabbing the feature win even with lap traffic making for an interesting finish coming out of turn four. The car losing out was the 63 of Cory Tasler. Tasler had been running second until closing in on the lap car left him sitting in turn four as the checkers flew. Pat Mather was able to avoid the last second drama in turn four, to go from third to second at the flag. Third went to Mark Hidlebaugh, fourth to Donnie Gustoff and fifth to Michael Murphy.
Hobby feature number two completed the night's racing as veteran Randy Embrey came home in first place. He had run down the leader Brad Ratcliff who kept the runner-up spot at the finish. Third was Tyler Pickett, fourth was Scott Lograsso and fifth was Jesse Hopkins.
The track stayed good and racy all night long as the track "groomers" did their job expertly as they always do. Next Saturday will be mid-season championship night at the Boone Speedway. For more information be sure and check out http://www.raceboone.com/. More complete results are listed below. Happy racing!
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