After our busy holiday weekend of racing, it is time for us to catch up on some rest, regenerate and get ready for the coming week and more racing. The following recap will cover Boone's regular night of racing this past Saturday night, a trip to the Stuart Speedway on Sunday for the shortened Ron Little Memorial race and back to the Boone Speedway for the Memorial Day Deery Brothers Late Model special.
Saturday night, May 29 at Boone Speedway saw a driver in the modified class finally get the win that had eluded him the past several weeks. Tim Stevens, Cedar Rapids, Iowa driver, finally visited Victory Lane. Jimmy Gustin had led much of the race and it was appearing I would once again be entering "Gustin" in the winner's list. However, on the white flag lap, Gustin developed some mechanical problems and began to slow, and his lead begin to melt. Meanwhile, Cale Sponsler had upped his position and was running third. It was another exciting three-car battle at the finish as Stevens nosed ahead at the line, Sponsler inched ahead of Gustin for second and Gustin was scored in third. Fourth went to Denny Pittman and fifth to Kelly Lyons.
In the Northern SportMod feature, a new winner found his way to victory as Darren Huntley took his first ever feature win in this division. Ty Luellen chased him across the finish line for second, Randy Roberts took third, Clint Luellen fourth and Geoff Olson in fifth. The race went flag to flag.
The IMCA stock cars had another new winner as Bryan Trogdon took the win. Second went to Jerry Gifford, third to Donavon Smith, fourth to Mike Munson and fifth to Mike VanGenderen. Smith came from starting eleventh, and VanGenderen from the tenth spot.
Pat Mather got the win in the only feature run this week in the hobby stock class. Veteran Larry Embrey was runner-up, Mark Hidlebaugh was third, fourth went to Jesse Hopkins, and rounding out the top five was Tyler Pickett. Mather started in twelveth place to advance all the way to the front.
The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature also went flag to flag. Leader at the checkers was the 64 car of Randy Bryan. Second place went to Josh May, third to Dusty Masolini, fourth to Travis Stensland and fifth to Mike Kennedy.
Sunday was a hot, sunny day our way. We opted to head west to the Stuart Speedway for the annual Ron Little Memorial race. The wind had been from the south but by the time we arrived at the track, it had shifted to the north and was very strong and blowing directly in the faces of those in the grandstand. We actually watched the big wind turbine shut off as we entered town, turn and restart for the change in wind direction! There was a large crowd on hand for the racing action and this race brought in some traveling drivers as well.
The IMCA hobby stock feature winner was the 4W of John Watson who had been chased by one of the crowd favorites, Brandon Pruitt. Pruitt had the misfortune to develop a flat with just a lap to go. Larry Embrey then inherited the runner up spot, and that would be where he finished. Third went to Nyle Godwin, fourth to Randy Anderson and fifth to Curt Ganoe. Ganoe came from starting back in 23rd spot.
We had been watching an approaching storm on radar, and noted the sky was becoming more ominous as the main event for the evening, the running of the Ron Little Memorial modified A, took to the track. Todd Shute jumped to the lead immediately on the start from his outside front row starting position and it was all his race from there on. This was Shute's second Ron Little Memorial Race win. Polesitter, Josh "Happy" Gilman pursued Shute the entire race, but was not able to run him down. Gilman took runner-up, Luke Wanninger was third, fourth went to Randy Havlik and fifth to Rex Parkison.
As mentioned earlier, we were not liking the colorful look of the radar, so Dick made the call to "beat the storm" and we left --and we never leave early --with the Sport Compacts, SportMods, and the Stock Cars yet to run their features. We saw lightning as we were just leaving the parking lot and learned from a text that the races were called shortly thereafter. Gee..we did something right! The storm followed us all the way home.
Next week, there will be double features for the SportModifieds and the Stock Car classes at the Stuart Speedway along with their full regular show. Check http://www.stuartspeedway.net/ for more information.
Memorial Day saw us head the vehicle back to the Boone Speedway for the annual Deery Brothers Late Model show. Forty-one of the big machines were on hand. Also on the program were the Hobby Stocks, Stock Cars, SportMods, and Dwarfs which were running for track points. Only the modifieds did not make an appearance as there was a Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA modifieds running a bit to the north in Mason City.
Heats for the Hobby Stocks, Dwarfs and Late Models were run and after that, it was decided that the track was in dire need of an early farming session. The early start time no doubt had a big factor in the condition of the track becoming "lost". The track was reworked in it's usual efficient manner, leaving a much better racing surface. A couple of more track prep sessions, kept the track in good racing condition the remainder of the night.
The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature was won by Dusty Masolini in the #8 car. Tim Hennigar made a good attempt to run him down from starting back in 9th spot, but had to settle for second. Third went to Josh May, fourth to Mike Kennedy and fifth to last Saturday night's winner, Randy Bryan.
The IMCA Deery Brothers Late Model main event was up next. With 41 of the cars on hand, there were two B mains needed to qualify the final four cars in the 20 car field. There were three provisional starters added, the 16 of Tyler Bruening, the 92 of Josh Most, and the 54 of Kevin Blum, those being the drivers with the most series points that had not qualified through the heats or B mains. There was also a "hard-charger" added, that being Craig Roberts in the 23R car. This completed the full field of 24 cars. Forty laps awaited the fans with Kyle Wahlert and Terry Neal sitting on the front row. Neal was driving a #12N car instead of the #28C that we are most use to seeing him pilot. It was our understanding that he had wrecked that car the previous night, and was using his own car on this day. Neal led the pack early on with Ray Guss, Jr. taking over the lead at about lap 15 or 16. Neal and the 40 of Joel Callahan from Dubuque, a driver that certainly impressed us, though we were not familiar with at all, battled back and forth for second and third positions. Mark Burgtorf, a driver who has three Deery wins already this year, took over the fourth spot. When the double checkers flew, it was veteran Ray Guss, Jr. hanging on for the win, Neal in second, Callahan in third, fourth to Burgtorf, and rounding out the top five was the 41 of Matt Strassheim.
Hobby Stocks saw longtime racer, Larry Embrey add another win to his long list that goes back to the 1960's. It was not his first win of the new decade either, as he chalked up a win earlier at Boone and I believe he has won at the Iowa State Fair Speedway as well. He had little trouble in taking this win as he led most of the race without any serious challenges. Pat Mather did attempt to catch Embrey, but had to settle for the runner up spot. Third went to Aaron Rudolph, fourth to Jesse Hopkins, and fifth to another veteran driver, Donnie Gustoff.
The fast growing IMCA Northern SportMod class had 38 cars competing on this Memorial Day. They had to whittle the 24 car starting field down by running two B mains. Point leader at the track, Scott Davis chased leader Cody Warrick most of the race until Warrick suddenly exited the track with apparent mechanical problems. This handed the lead to Davis, who motored on home for the win. Second place went to Iowa State student, Geoff Olson, who came all the way from starting 13th, third was Tim Love, fourth went to Mike Pruitt, the reining Super National's Champion, and fifth to Randy Roberts.
The IMCA Stock Cars finished off the program with their 20-lap feature. Two unfortunate incidents on the start of the race, led to an immediate red flag situation. As the 556 of Terry Cornelison tumbled down the front stretch with a couple of other cars involved, there was another "mess" going on in turn one. While we did not see the accident in turn one as we were too busy watching Cornelison rolling out of turn four, we then observed the carnage left in turn one. This left second in points driver, Mike VanGenderen, towed off and out of competition before the race even began. I believe between the two happenings, six cars were eliminated before the race even began successfully. Track point leader, Donavon Smith led before halfway and Jay Schmidt in the 19J, who was making his first appearance on the year, made some hard racing pay off to get in the runner up spot. Laps winding down and with only three to go, Smith caught up to a lap car which then resulted in him bobbling enough for Schmidt to make the pass around him and into the lead. Jay Schmidt kept that lead and went on to the checkers flying first. Smith held on for second place with Damon Murty taking third, fourth went to Ryan Rose, and fifth to Jerry Gifford.
We enjoyed some conversations with columnist Larry Bontz, West Liberty, who made his first ever visit to the Boone Speedway. He made his way over along with Kevin Feller from Hillsdale, Illinois who was helping with scoring duties with the late models. It was nice to visit with both Larry and Kevin and learn of some of the racing action in their neck of the woods. Kevin will be back to the Boone Speedway come Super Nationals time for a little more scoring action.
Of special note is the announcement made by Johnny Tharp on the mic. This coming Saturday night, the IMCA modifieds are scheduled to be trying out "raceceivers" that allow officials to transmit information to the drivers, though they will not be able to respond. This should help speed up realignments, etc.
Check out http://www.raceboone.com/ for more information on the track and the upcoming schedule for the remainder of the year.
More complete results for both shows at the Boone Speedway are listed below. Happy racing!
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