The Boone Speedway was back to it's regular racing hours on Saturday night, hoping that the chilly, early Spring weather was behind. However, with a stiff southerly wind blowing, by the evening's end, the fans were happy for their coats and blankets.
With just the third week of regular season racing, there were new faces in victory lane in four of the five classes, the exception being in the SportMod class.
The Mod Lite's were ready to kick off the feature racing until the 88 car of Justin Rankin dumped oil on the parade lap all around the track...and a LOT of it. The cars were halted while the tractors and equipment came out to redo the track. When that was completed, the race began and it was Bryan Zehm flying to the lead from starting in the second row. Zehm never relinquished that coveted spot the remaining distance and took the win, his first of the season. David Schmalzried chased the leader most of the feature but had to be satisfied with the runner up finish. The father-son duo of James and Josh May duked it out for third and fourth, James coming out with the third place finish ahead of Josh in fourth and Travis Stensland rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Northern SportMod feature saw last week's winner Sam Wieben take the checkers again. Wieben, who started fifteenth, flew through the pack and took command with just a handful of laps in the books, pulled away from the pack and took the comfortable win. Jerry Hinton got around Dustin Dalton in the last couple of laps as they went second and third respectively. Ben Wilson was fourth and opening night winner, Doug Smith was fifth.
The feature racing order has been changed up a bit this year, as the Hobby Stocks who have always been the closing act at Boone, were up next for their 12-lapper. Matt Hudspeth led the early laps but fell out at lap six and Des Moines racer Chad Legere took over the top spot. From there on, Legere had only one thing on his mind and that was seeing the checkers first. He succeeded in that quest, taking his first ever win at the Boone Speedway. He had strong contenders behind him in John Watson....the driver who a couple of years ago was unstoppable at the speedway, and Eric Stanton, another driver who has seen his share of wins. However, they could not catch the leader and Watson and Stanton had to be content with second and third place finishes. Fourth went to Aaron Rudolph, winner of the Frostbuster, and Ryan Wells rounded out the top five.
Another shake up in the running order next brought the IMCA Modifieds to the track for their 20-lap main event. This one could have almost been stamped in the books from the get go as Richie Gustin, the Gilman, Iowa hot shoe, leaped to the lead from starting outside front row. He dominated from there on and snagged his first win at Boone this season. There was a lot of scrambling for position going on a distance behind him however! During the last couple of laps, a lot of swapping of running order was going on. Russ Dickerson swung to his comfortable top side line, and swept past Eric Elliott with just two laps remaining. The rest of the contenders weren't done either, as each pass by the flagstand saw different orders. While Dickerson kept that second spot, Jimmy Gustin took his ride from starting eleventh and into a third place finish. The Flyin' Dutchman, Mike VanGenderen made a good recovery from having his car die early on. He got tapped by Gustin as he tried to avoid contact, was then able to get it refired and fly through the field to garner a fourth place finish. Eric Elliott hung around the top runners all night, and finished in fifth.
The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars have now been running their feature last. Their 18-lap A main saw Jerry Gifford lead all of those laps and took a win for the first time this year. Jay Schmidt started sixth, right behind Gifford and was in chase mode the whole time. Schmidt reeled the leader in at times, but was never able to really threaten him, and on this night, had to be satisfied with the bridesmaid spot. Third went to veteran racer Terry Pruitt from Dexter, fourth was Donavon Smith who shot through the field from his eleventh starting spot, and Trent Murphy took fifth place.
Next Saturday's night, you just might see some of your favorite drivers don a pair of pink high heels, and race down the front stretch in the 3rd Annual Diva Dash. It's always a crowd pleaser during the mid-point farming session. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:45 and racing at 7:30.
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