The weather was just about perfect for racing at the Boone Speedway on Saturday night. A lot of folks must have thought the same thing as there was a large crowd on hand. The drivers came out in full force too, as 145 cars filled the pits. Two new names were stamped in the books as winners this year, while three others were repeat winners.
The MADCRA Mod Lite feature went all 15 laps caution free. Travis Stensland led all but the opening lap in taking the win, his second of the year. Stensland finished a comfortable distance ahead of second place Joel Keenan. Angelo Montgomery took third, Randy Bryan was fourth and point leader Jimmy May was fifth. Just as the race was completed, the track went red when Cory Dennis tumbled over turn two. He was okay.
There was a brand new winner in the IMCA Northern SportMod feature. Anthony Onstot, Norwalk, Iowa, led the whole 18-lap distance to the checkers. It wasn't easy though, as he had to win a hard fought battle with Randy Roberts. Onstot and Roberts fought tooth and nail, lap after lap, for many laps before Onstot was able to secure the top spot at the checkers. Tara Longnecker ran at the front of the pack all race long, and finished third. Fourth was Jake McBirnie and Tim Love was fifth. Going into the night, Ben Kates was the point leader, but his night did not end well, having to retire to the pits and scored in 23rd place. The new point leader is Johnathon Logue, Jr. with a five point lead. Onstot is the eleventh different winner in the SportMod division this year at Boone.
Another new name went in the books in the Hobby Stock feature. Newton, Iowa's Jake Nelson led all twelve laps on his way to stamping his name in the list of winners. David Rieks, last week's winner, finished as the runner up----getting around third place Dustin Lynch late in the race, Tim Barber hung at the front of the pack all race long and was scored in fourth, and Aaron Rudolph rounded out the top five. Nelson is now the tenth different winner in the Hobby Stock division at Boone this year.
The IMCA Modified feature was a hard fought battle between two cars for most of the 20-laps. Joel Bushore jumped to the lead from his outside front row starting spot, to take the lead on lap one. By lap two, Mike VanGenderen was pressuring Devon Havlik for second, taking it over by lap three. Then the chase was on. VanGenderen caught leader Bushore, pestering him on the lower line, Bushore staying upstairs. A caution at lap twelve set up a restart situation. When thing restarted, Bushore slipped up going into corner two, allowing VanGenderen to scoot into the lead underneath him. Another restart at lap fourteen didn't hinder VanGenderen, keeping his lead the remaining six laps to the checkers and the win. It was a fight for second place however. Russ Dickerson had started tenth, and was challenging Bushore, and Josh Truman was joining in the fun too. At the checkers, Dickerson was scored as the runner up, just ahead of Bushore in third, and Truman in fourth. Point leader Jimmy Gustin, who started twelfth, rounded out the top five. This was VanGenderen's second win at Boone this year.
The Stock Cars were going three, four, and five wide from the start of the 18-lap feature. Michael Jaennette took over the top spot from Don Vis by lap four and by lap six, was having to fend off the challenges of Jerry Gifford and Lake City's Donavon Smith. The three cars pulled away from the rest of the field, and all eyes were focused on them as they challenged each other. Smith, who started eleventh, was working his magic on the bottom, taking over second place from Gifford. Smith was relentless in his pursuit and kept digging on the low side. He finally made it pay off, scooting under Jaennette in the waning moments, and beating him to the checkers by half a car length. Following second place Jaennette, Gifford had to be content with third, fourth was Ben Walding, and Mike Goldsberry was fifth. Smith scored his third win of the regular season, plus having pegged the Frostbuster pre-season win also.
It was deemed "Pre-Nationals" night at the Speedway. There was a live band playing in the pits as we left the track, plus free sweet corn and free beer. Earlier, the youngsters enjoyed a candy/coin toss. We noticed quite a few new drivers competing last night, probably getting in a little practice run around the track in anticipation of the upcoming Super Nationals. However, there are still four nights of regular season racing left before then. Last night was the 16th straight night of weekly racing at Boone, plus the Deery Brothers Memorial Day race. The only "blip" on the season so far, has been a shortened Frostbuster back on April 12, when just one feature race was completed before being weathered out. It was completed the following week along with the regular opening night program. Fingers crossed for the next four shows being completed.
Thanks for reading and happy racing!
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