Havlik grabs another win at Boone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!