It's always nice to see someone get their first win, and Saturday night at the Boone Speedway, we did just that when a rookie to the IMCA modified ranks put it in the record books. There was a good field of 159 cars on hand with new drivers in several classes. There was also a little added entertainment on the night as well when several drivers stuffed themselves into cardboard racers, and ran a foot race to the checkered flag. Hobby stock driver, Tony Cox took the win in that contest. The local Walmart also donated around 15 bikes that were given away to lucky youngsters.
The Dwarf/Mod Lite feature found Colby Oberembt taking his third win of the season. Oberembt, sporting a new body on his ride, led all but the first of the 15-lap race.
Matthew Goodin took the second position, while third went to the 4+1 of Troy Hudson. Hudson started thirteenth on the field and chased the leaders down. Fourth went to Joel Huggins and fifth to Tim Hennigar.
The IMCA Northern SportMod feature found an early battle between Brian Eppert, Nick Roberts and Brian Miller. Roberts grabbed the lead about lap twelve and was then able to pull away from the competition--taking his first win at the track in 2011. Brian Miller got around Eppert as they finished second and third respectively. Geoff Olson came from starting in row five, to take fourth place, and Scott Davis, the point leader, rounded out the top five.
The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature was next on the schedule. You couldn't miss the bright neon colored #5M of Matthew Meinecke who shot to the lead from his pole starting spot...and led the entire race to the checkers. Meinecke, who fended off the challenges of Joel Bushore, is a rookie to the modified ranks, having previously raced in the SportMod division. Congratulations to him on this achievement in just his first year in the class. Bushore retained the second spot and third went to Jake Durbin who fought around Cale Sponsler late in the race as they finished third and fourth in that order. Jimmy Gustin completed the top five.
The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars, always gives the crowd some thrills. This was one of those instances when it's never over until it's over held true. Just when you thought you knew who was going to win, a mishap would throw that out the window. Several leaders, Dave Baugh, Jerry Gifford and Jay Schmidt amongst them, all saw their hopes dashed. One of the most spectacular occurrences was when Josh Brauckman got sideways low in corner one, rolled and Dave Baugh launched up and over the rolling car...very high in the air...and came down on all four tires. Both drivers were okay thankfully, with only major repairs to look forward to. A second incident happened when Jay Schmidt, leading, and challenger Trent Murphy got together, ending both their nights as well. The green remained out during that skirmish, and the lucky driver to avoid it all was Donavon Smith, who took over the lead and motored home to the win. Jerry Gifford took the runner up spot ahead of Steve Meyer in third, Ryan Rose in fourth, and Ryan Leeman was fifth.
It's been a while since two A features were required for the IMCA Hobby Stock class...back in late May. With 38 cars on hand (I believe that is perhaps the "magic number" for TWO features) the cars were split into the two A main events and no B mains were run.
Hobby main #1 went to Michael Murphy, a driver who has visited victory lane NINE times this season. If I was a betting person, I might just put my money on him taking a Super Nationals championship this year...he knows the track well! Even starting back in row five, he worked his way methodically through traffic, passed then leader Brandon Brinton on lap seven of the 12-lapper, and pulled away for another convincing win. Second place went to one of several visiting drivers on the night, the #49 of Cody Knecht out of Whittemore, Iowa. Brandon Brinton took third place, fourth went to veteran Dean Hartwig, and fifth was Curt Reed.
Hobby feature #2 went to Aaron Rudolph who captured his first win of the year. Rudolph led all but the first lap of the race. He fended off John Watson who challenged for the lead with Tony Cox nipping at his heels. The race ended with Rudolph crossing the finish line in first, a little shuffling behind changed the expected finish a bit, as Cox took second ahead of Eric Stanton in third, and somehow, Watson ended up being pushed across the line to finish fourth. Veteran driver making his first appearance on the track this year, Chris Jensen, finished in fifth.
There are still three more weeks of regular season racing remaining at the Boone Speedway before the Super Nationals scheduled for September 5-10. Many more races remain on the calendar around our area as well. Check out the calendar on www.positivelyracing.com for a race you may want to take in. Happy racing!
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