"Racer" wins at Boone

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!