The hot and muggy July weather continued on Saturday at the Boone Speedway. This was the first time this season, that there were no new winners in any of the five classes. John Logue matched his win in the IMCA Modified division from last week, and the Stock Car class once again, left the crowd on the edge of their seats.
The Mod Lites found Travis Stensland stepping back into the winner's circle. Stensland got to the lead by lap two of the 15-lap feature, and would never give it up. He won well ahead of second place Bryan Zehm. Third went to Justin Rankin, who had been the pole sitter, fourth was Randy Bryan and Charlie Brown completed the top five. This was Stensland second win at the track this year. It was also his second win in as many nights, as he had won the previous night in Marshalltown.
The IMCA Northern SportMod 18-lap feature came next. Brian Miller led this one past the halfway mark. He had Chad Ryerson bothering him for many of those laps. Ryerson's persistence paid off on lap twelve, taking the lead just as they raced passed the flagstand. Miller fought back, regained the lead momentarily, only to fall back to second. Ryerson kept the lead to the checkers and the win, Miller held on to second place. It was a real dogfight for third through fifth spots. Jake McBirnie came from starting tenth to finish third, Curtis Veber was fourth and Rick Ringgenberg was fifth. This was Ryerson's second win at Boone.
Brandon Pitts led the charge in the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. He immediately had Dustin Lynch looking for a way around him. A yellow flew at lap four, and when things picked back up, Lynch made the move to the point position. He held that lead the rest of the distance to the finish and the waving checkers. Finishing a distant runner up was eighth place starter Dustin Graham, twelfth place starter Matt McDonald was third, Shawn Wirtz crossed the finish line in fourth, and Brandon Potts in fifth. A post race inspection deemed Wirtz with an illegal carburetor, and disqualified. This would move Potts up to fourth place and Aaron Rudolph to fifth. This was Lynch's second win of the year.
There was a lot of action going on in the 20-lap IMCA Modified A main. Devin Havlik held down the top spot, fending off Cole Ferguson through lap six. Ironically, we heard that these two young competitors will be roommates for college this fall. By that time, veteran John Logue had taken third running spot, and appeared to be on a mission. He moved to the runner up spot the following lap. On lap eight, the yellow flew, putting Logue tightly behind the leader for the restart. The veteran made the move to lead at lap nine and from there, pulled away to a comfortable lead, taking the easy win. Tony Cox kept his machine at the front of the pack all race long, and finished in second. Third place went to Mike VanGenderen who had started eleventh, Cole Ferguson was fourth and Jon Snyder was fifth. Early leader Havlik dropped out with mechanic issues on lap eleven while running second. Logue made it two in a row at Boone, and marked his third win of the season.
Last week was a thrilling contest in the IMCA Stock Car class. This week matched it, and again, if anyone left, they missed a great race. This class puts on one of the best, if not THE best show, week in and week out.....showing just why they are called "The Class too Tough to Tame".
The 18-lap feature had tight racing throughout the entire race. Craig Carlson led the opening laps but Tyler Pickett was quickly on his tail, and eighth place starter Wayne Gifford followed to take third running position. A yellow flew at lap four, bunching the field for the restart. When racing resumed, Pickett wasted no time in taking over first place, and Gifford muscled his way to second around Carlson. There was a lot of jockeying for spots going on just a bit further back as Rod Richards, Jay Schmidt and Donavon Smith were duking it out. Leader Pickett would have his night end on lap six when his car came to a stop at the top of the track with right front woes. More on that later. When a yellow flew on lap seven, Gifford was running at the front of the pack....inheriting the lead when Pickett went out. Richards was second, Schmidt had now made it to third, Carlson was fourth and Smith lurked in fifth. The remaining way to the checkers was a near blur of cars as they passed in front of the grandstand.....Gifford leading at moments, Richards at others. There was a little "rubbing is racing" moments during those final laps. Richards was able to take the lead with three laps remaining, and kept it as he crossed the finish line for the win. It's a good thing the cars have transponders....as I am sure many watching had differing opinions on who finished where behind the leader. Donavon Smith was scored second, making it all the way from starting sixteenth, third went to tenth place starter Jay Schmidt, Wayne Gifford finished fourth and early leader Carlson, rounded out the top five. "Hot" Rod Richards won for the second time this year at Boone.
I mentioned earlier the issues that Tyler Pickett had with his car. The previous night in Marshalltown, he suffered significant damage. We saw that the thrashing to get repairs completed were already starting in the Marshalltown pits. We heard that they worked most of the night and the next day, in order to have it ready to race last night---the crew going on only a couple of hours of sleep. Pickett, in his first year in the Stock Car class, moving up from the Hobby Stocks, is leading national IMCA rookie points, racing a car we have heard, previously piloted by Corey Stout from Oskaloosa, who is not racing this year. When Pickett had his issues tonight while leading, the front right either gave out before he made contact with the wall, or broke when he hit it. Either way, what a disappointing night for the rookie having such a great year.
Regular racing continues next Saturday at Boone where it will be "Carnival" night....lots of fun activities for the youngsters in addition to a full night of racing. Hot laps are 6:45 and racing at 7:30.
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