Schmidt posts Stock Car win at Boone and John Logue back in form in the Modifieds

It was a windy, windy night at the Boone Speedway.  The wind from the east was brutal and when the sun went down, so did the temps.  That didn't stop the racing action from being hot and furious though.  There were no repeat winners in any of the five divisions.

Charlie Brown nabbed a win in the Mod Lite class.  Brown had trailed Andy Hennigar most of the race, but a slight bobble by Hennigar after taking the white flag, allowed Brown the opportunity to snatch away the win.  Following Hennigar's second place finish was Bryan Zehm in third, fourth went to last week's winner Dusty Masolini and Mike Morrill rounded out the top five.  Brown also won at Marshalltown on Friday night, again out distancing Hennigar.  

The Northern SportMod feature had more than it's share of caution flags, and I believe it was close to having a time limit imposed.  Randy Roberts got to the early lead and was pulling away when Johnathon Logue grenaded his car, strewing debris and oil all along the frontstretch.  Roberts was able to keep command at each of the many restarts and would finish a comfortable distance ahead of second place finisher, Doug Smith.  Tim Love took third place, Jerry Hinton came from tenth starting spot to finish fourth, and Lynn Brockett was fifth.

The IMCA Modifieds ran next for 20 laps.  After a not so great debut last week, John Logue looked like his former self and looked to be announcing, "I'm baaaack!".  Scott Davis and Logue started from the front row, and both were off like a shot, Logue getting the advantage.  Logue was putting some distance between himself and Davis until lap eleven when lap traffic allowed the gap to close.  A yellow at lap fourteen halted the action when Chris Webb crawled up onto Jon Snyder's rear.  This resulted in Bill Davis, Jr. dead in the water from making an evasive move; Snyder and Webb never stopping.  On the restart, Logue maintained his lead, Davis still tailing him all the way to the double checkers.  Russ Dickerson came from sixth to finish third, Snyder held on to fourth and Jimmy Gustin, who started eighth, ran out of time to garner more than a fifth place finish.  Logue has not raced for a number of years, but does not look to have lost his edge.  

The IMCA Stock Cars still remains one of our favorite classes----year in and year out, track after track.  They once again put on quite the show, and doing it without a caution the entire 18 laps. Mike Goldsberry took the lead at the drop of the green, and veteran racer Terry Pruitt who drove a modified for many years, tucked into second.  Bob Daniels soon scooted up to run third by lap two, but the guy really on the move was Jay Schmidt.  Schmidt, who started ninth, snatched the number two spot away from Pruitt the following lap.  Schmidt closed on leader Goldsberry and the two put on quite the show, running close, lap after lap.  Lap traffic was entering into the picture and this time it played into Schmidt's hand.  Schmidt made the pass for the lead going down the back chute and was leading at lap fifteen.  Goldsberry was now being dogged by Donavon Smith who briefly took over second, only to lose it again.  Schmidt took his first victory of the year at Boone, Goldsberry finishing second and Smith was third.  Wayne Gifford came from starting in row five to get a fourth place finish and Terry Pruitt held on to finish fifth.  If anyone left early, they missed a heck of a race.

The Hobby Stocks as usual, closed out the night's racing with their 12-lap main. This race had lots of action, cars going three, four and yes, FIVE wide at times.  Mike Leffler led the early laps, after passing pole sitter Dustin Lynch.  Austin Luellen, who has been strong in this early season, was up to challenge the leader quickly and took over the lead by lap four.  Meanwhile, the familiar #7B of Eric Stanton was on the move from starting back in ninth spot, taking over second at lap eight. Time ran out for Stanton though, as Luellen took the win by a comfortable margin. Mike Pruitt came from eleventh to finish third, Leffler held on to take a fourth place finish, and Cody Gustoff was scored in fifth.  

Last night was the end of the early start times for Boone Speedway.  Next week it will be back to hot laps at 6:45 and races at 7:30.

The forecast is not looking good for the remainder of the weekend and well into next week.  Be sure and check the calendar of events on the front page of Positively Racing and maybe a race can be found in the area that Mother Nature will avoid.  Thanks for reading, and Happy Racing!