It was season championship night at the Boone Speedway on Saturday. Five track champions were crowned, ending the regular season. But things were already beginning to sprout signs of the 32nd Speedway Motors IMCA Super Nationals that starts on Labor Day.
The top 20 in points were locked into the mains, with B mains run if needed, to fill in the starting field. Only drivers that had points previously were allowed to participate in the B's. The Stock Cars, SportMods and Hobby Stocks had the consolations, the Mod Lites and the Modifieds not needed. Extra laps were added to all of the A mains. All features were lined up according to points, brought to the frontstretch of the grandstand and drivers were introduced. This is always a nice way for the crowd getting to acknowledge the drivers for their year-long efforts.
The Mod Lites saw Bryan Zehm make it to corner one first, taking the lead from point leader James May. Behind them, a couple of brothers were duking it out---Charlie and Terry Brown. Zehm continued his ride at the front, looking pretty comfortable until smoke began to rise from a wheel with just a couple of laps remaining. The wheel then began to glow, and Zehm was shown the black flag for safety reasons, and he exited the race. This handed first place over to James May, who then went the distance to the checkers and the win. Charlie Brown and Terry Brown finished second and third in that order, Randy Bryan was fourth and Joel Keenan completed the top five. James May is also the 2014 track champion in the Mod Lite division.
The IMCA Northern SportMods ran a 20-lap feature. Ben Kates led the opening laps with Johnathon Logue in hot pursuit. Logue kept hounding Kates, peeking to the outside, and at lap five made it payoff with a pass into the lead. Logue continued his ride at the front the remaining way to the win. Kates held down the runner up spot, with Tara Longnecker a close third place. Tim Love and Doug Smith, who started eleventh on the field, rounded out the five top spots. Ben Kates is the 2014 track champion in the SportMod class.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks went 15-laps in their main event. Eric Stanton got the drop on John Watson as the race went green. From there on, Stanton never gave up that point position, and drove it home to the checkers. Watson held down second place, third went to Andrew Burg and Tyler Pickett was fourth. Finishing a distance behind in fifth place, was Ross Marshall. John Watson is the track champion for 2014. After he was awarded his trophy, he presented it to a young fan in the grandstand. A classy gesture.
The IMCA Modified 25-lap feature was the most exciting of the evening. Point leader Jimmy Gustin leaped to the lead as the race went green, Kyle Brown tagging in second. With just one lap in the books, Gustin experienced trouble with his machine, and exited into the pits. This handed the lead over to Kyle Brown in his new wrap, with Scott Davis hot on his heels. By lap six, Mike VanGenderen had pushed his new wrapped car from seventh, into the third spot, and wanting more. At about the halfway mark of the race, Brown appeared to jump the cushion as he entered turn one, thus allowing both Davis and VanGenderen to slip by him. The show was now between Davis and VanGenderen. The two ran closely, side-by-side, door handle to door handle for many laps while Brown lingered a distance in third. Davis and VanGenderen fought back and forth, with VanGenderen finally get an edge as lap 24 was scored. Just after that lap was scored, the yellow flew when Brown's machine came to a halt just out of turn four, the left side wheel protruding from a broken axle. The race was called over and yellow/checkered. VanGenderen took the win, Davis was second and Russ Dickerson finished third. Fourth went to Matthew Meinecke and Joel Bushore came from starting eleventh, to finish fifth. Even with his bad luck on the evening, Jimmy Gustin held on to the track championship.
Finishing the evening's racing was the 20-lap Stock Car main. Jerry Gifford led Donavon Smith to the first corner and the lead while Jay Schmidt and Wayne Gifford tagged into third and fourth. Gifford, Smith and Schmidt had quite the battle going for a while, until lap eleven when Smith made his run on the inside of the track work, taking the lead. From there on, Smith pulled away from the competition and won by half a straight away. Jerry Gifford held on to the runner up spot, Wayne Gifford got past Jay Schmidt in the closing laps as they went third and fourth respectively, and Mike Goldsberry rounded out the top five. Jerry Gifford is the Stock Car track champion.
Another season of racing at the Boone Speedway wound up. Amazingly, all 20 nights of racing were completed without a cancellation. Add to that, the Memorial Day Deery Brothers Late Model special. The only blip on the radar the entire year was the opening Frostbuster on April 12th when just one feature was completed. The remaining features were made up the following week on opening night.
Let the craziness begin! Now it's time for the IMCA Super Nationals at Boone. We plan to be there for all six days/nights of the amazing racing marathon that begins tomorrow, September 1. We look forward to meeting up with drivers, friends and fans who share this crazy love of dirt track racing. Hope to see you there!
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