The racing at Boone Speedway on Saturday night produced some great side-by-side racing as well as three and four-wide racing at times. New faces went to victory lane in the Modified and Mod Lite divisions, one driver returned only after his early preseason Frostbuster victory, and one driver who has taken the checkers many times, did it again. Prior to the racing, military veterans that were in the crowd were brought to the front of the grandstands, receiving a well earned round of applause. It was Armed Forces night, and those veterans were able to watch the night's action, free of charge.
The Mod Lite feature kicked things off, but the race didn't stay green for long. Just after lap one was scored, Terry Brown barrel rolled in corner two, ending his night. He was not injured thankfully. As the race picked back up, it was still Travis Stensland in charge as he had been from the get go. The race would then continue the remainder of the way, caution free---Stensland leading all laps and taking the checkers. Andy Hennigar worked his way from seventh starting spot, to take the runner up position ahead of Josh May. Bryan Zehm and Travis Brandt completed the top five. Stensland wove his way through heavy lap traffic, never bobbling, to take his first win at Boone this year.
Eighteen laps of SportMod racing came next. Just one lap got scored in this one too, before racing action was halted for a skirmish in turn four. After the restart, it was Tim Love at the helm of the ship, and from then on, he never relinquished the lead, and took the checkers. Cory Rose tailed Love most of the race, and finished second. Young Jake McBirnie took third after getting around Ben Kates, who was fourth, late in the race. Jerry Hinton came from starting tenth, to take a top five finish. This was Love's first win at the track for the 2014 season. Kate's still holds on to his track point's lead.
There was a little shuffle in the usual schedule of events, as the Hobby Stocks took to the tracks next. Norwalk, Iowa driver Mike Powell had his machine out front in the early portion of the race. A yellow at lap four however, was just what familiar #78 of Shannon Anderson was wanting. Anderson had started eleventh, and was already in second when that caution flew. By lap five, Anderson had taken command. The race continued caution free the rest of the way to the checkers, Anderson in charge the entire way, taking the win. John Watson made the pass into second around Powell with two laps remaining, as they were scored second and third. Danny Watson, (the driver who had a bad experience last year when his disabled car caught fire in turn one, was rendered unconscious momentarily, before being pulled from his car by another driver), took fourth place. Dustin Graham completed the top five. This was Anderson's second win of the year, adding to a long list of wins in previous years.
The IMCA Modified 20-lap feature ran next....anticipating a racier track with the schedule of events being changed up a bit. Josh Truman, driver out of Indianola, took advantage of his pole starting position, leaping to the lead immediately and happy to have the battling going on behind him. Veteran racer John Logue came from starting sixth to take over the number two spot by lap four. Logue swung up to the topside in hopes of reeling in Truman. Meanwhile, here comes Jimmy Gustin! Gustin, the point leader at the track, had started twelfth, and made it into third by lap seven. Gustin wasn't done yet, and pulled off the pass on Logue, taking over the runner up spot at lap twelve. The frantic race to the checkers continued, Gustin trying everything to catch Truman, but on this night, it wasn't to be. Truman won for the first time in at least a handful of years at the track, Gustin having to settle for the runner up spot. Logue held third place over Denny Pittman who raced from tenth to take fourth, and rookie to the class, Eric Elliott, was fifth. The race went the entire 20-laps without a caution.
The Stock Cars ran last and they were running three-wide down the backstretch immediately. One lap was in the books when a mess occurred in turn four, hooking several cars and stopping the action. When it was sorted out and the track cleared, Veteran Robert Stofer was in command, but Donavon Smith was snapping at his heels. Smith dug low and made the pass by lap three, taking over the top spot. Enter Jay Schmidt and his Black Betty car! Schmidt was flying from starting tenth, and was soon in the number two spot. Schmidt sought high and then went low, but nothing was deterring Smith on this night. Smith took the comfortable win, his first since the preseason Frostbuster, Schmidt having to be content with second and keeping his point lead. Josh Daniels started seventh and took third over Jerry Gifford and Stofer in fourth and fifth.
We are hoping the weather is going to straighten up now and have more comfortable and dry racing conditions. As the season continues, there will be more and more specials on the docket in the area too, so take a moment and look at the calendar at Positively Racing. Seek out a race to attend, be it a regular weekly show, or a special. We all need to keep supporting the great sport we love so much. Thanks for reading, and happy racing!
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