Sunday, May 17, 2015

Schmidt takes back to back wins at rain threatened Boone

Saturday again found Mother Nature playing games with the area race tracks and the uncertainty if racing would happen.  However, knowing the track record of the Boone Speedway being able to get their program in despite threatening weather, off we headed.  The show went on and with a whopping 156 cars filling the pits, fans got more than their share of racing action.  Three drivers got wins for the first time in 2015 at the track, while Stock Cars saw a driver win for the second week in a row.

Nineteen of the Mod Lites kicked off the feature racing.  Terry Brown was the victor of the night in this division.  Brown led the entire 15 laps on his way to the checkers for the first time in 2015.  He finished well ahead of second place Josh May.  Third went to Randy Bryan followed by Travis Stensland and Justin Rankin in fourth and fifth places.  The race went caution free.

It took two B mains to whittle the 39 IMCA Northern SportMod class down to 24 cars for the feature.  Those wins went to Dusty Masolini and Rick Ringgenberg.  Rookie Jeramy McNace had earlier won his heat race, and started the 18-lap main event on the pole.  McNace would lead the opening laps, but a push up in corner four at lap seven allowed his close contenders Andy Tiernan and Darin Rothfus to slip by him.  Tiernan never gave up the lead, weathering a couple of caution situations, on his route to the win, his first at Boone this year.  Randy Roberts was second and third went to Denison, Iowa's Jake Sachau.  Fourth place finisher Sam Wieben saw his three in a row streak end after starting back in fifteenth spot, and Darin Rothus rounded out the top five.

Things were changed up a bit in running order last night with the checking of the radar showing "stuff" just to the west, so the IMCA Modifieds hit the track next.  There were 34 Modifieds checked into the track last night, and they had to run a B main.  Visiting racer from Red Oak, Iowa, Josh "the guy who will race anything" Most, was that consolation winner.  

The 20-lap Modified feature avoided disaster as the green flag flew when Robert Avery, who had started on the outside front row, was off power.  Everyone was somehow able to avoid his slowly rolling car up near the front stretch wall as he exited the track.  Devin Havlik, son of former racer Jeff Havlik, established command of the race with Kyle Krampe in tow.  Havlik held tight to that top spot, with John Logue chasing him and eleventh place starter Mike VanGendern up to third.  Just as the contest between Logue and VanGenderen was heating up, VanGenderen pulled to the infield, his night done. Then at lap thirteen, leader Havlik pulled to the infield with mechanical woes.  Veteran John Logue had been challenging Havlik, and was now in charge of the pack.  A yellow at lap thirteen also found Krampe sitting at the top of turn four and out of the race.  As things returned to racing, Logue and second place runner Josh Truman made contact in corner two, and then it was a mess on the backstretch as Logue, Truman and Jon Snyder.....who got the worst of the deal, brought out a yellow.  Jimmy Gustin had been lurking in third spot and when Logue and Krampe were battling, he had already slipped under them to take the lead....claiming it for the restart.  Gustin easily kept the lead the remaining distance to the checkers and the win.  Eric Elliott finished second ahead of Tony Cox in third, fourth went to eighteenth place starter Kyle Brown, and hometown driver Scott Davis was fifth.  This was Gustin's second win of the regular season, in addition he also won the Frostbuster special.

The IMCA Stock Cars came next after their 30 car field had to run a B main to complete the 24 car starting field. It was won by visiting racer from Humboldt, Aaron Benz. In the main event, last week's winner Jay Schmidt was able to thread his way through the pack from starting tenth, and into the lead by lap six.  Schmidt wasn't about to give that coveted spot up, as he stretched his lead in the second half of the race, taking the easy win...his second in a row and third of the season.  Madrid's "Hot" Rod Richards took the runner up spot, while veteran Robert Stofer finished in third.  Fourth place went to Chris Pruitt, who had started twelfth, and early leader Tyler Brauckman from Carroll, was fifth.  

The ending feature was the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature.  With 34 cars competing for the night, there was originally two B mains scheduled.  When only four cars appeared for the first B main, and discovering that not all were going to make it for the second one, the lineup was rearranged, and only one B main was run.  It went to Ames, Iowa's Mark Hidlebaugh.  The feature was led start to finish by Tyson Overton from Carlisle.  He had a clear field in front of him the entire flag to flag race, taking the win by a comfortable margin.  Second was Daniel Haggen, who barely beat out last week's winner Andrew Burg in third.  Close behind in fourth was Eric Stanton and Aaron Rudolph took fifth place. 

The show was completed by 10:11 p.m. and with 156 cars, ( most area tracks were canceled bringing in drivers hungry to race) five B mains, and five features, there was no farming session last night.  There had been a shower earlier, about 5:50 p.m. but it was short lived.  The tractors and equipment must have been waiting in the wings, as just as soon as the shower was done, they were immediately on the track and farming it.  Radar showed the approaching rain moving ever closer to Boone during the night, but only a flash of lightning appeared to the west during feature time.  The drivers were told to load up and head out of the pits quickly as heavy "stuff" was coming.  Now this morning, we see that a possible tornado or straight line winds caused damage just to the west of Boone in the early morning hours in nearby Bouton and Ogden.  Hopefully, the track did not suffer any damage.  

It's racing as usual next Saturday night where it will be Little League night at the track.  The grandstands open at 6, hot laps at 6:45 and racing at 7:30.  Then on Monday, May 25, the annual Memorial Day Deery Brothers Late Model show will be on tap.  The "Boys of Summer" as the Deery Late Models are known as, will be the showcase class of the program on that day but will also be joined by the IMCA Stock cars, Northern SportMods and Hobby Stocks.  Grandstand opens at 3 p.m., hot laps at 4, and racing at 5.  Mark this event on your calendars!  


No comments:

Post a Comment