Brown for the win at Boone

It was a night of first wins, as well as repeats at the Boone Speedway on a beautiful Saturday night for racing.  Kyle Brown found his way to victory lane for the first time this season in the Modified class, Brandon Williams in the SportMod division and Donavon Smith in the IMCA Stock Cars both scored their second wins of the year.  Solomon Bennett snagged win number three in the Hobby Stocks, and Cory Sauerman in the Mod Lites, won his first ever feature at the Speedway.

Kyle Brown put his 21K machine to the front at the drop of the green, and led all 20-laps on the way to the win in the IMCA Modified class.  Brown couldn't shake Joel Bushore as he hung close the entire race, showing his nose to Brown.  Brown however, had the momentum up top, and would rocket off the corners, allowing Bushore only the runner up spot in the end. Last week's winner and track point leader Mike VanGenderen started tenth, and got around Scott Davis in the closing laps as they finished third and fourth respectively.  Eric Elliott completed the top five. This was Brown's first win at Boone this year, after last winning the Prelude to the 2015 Super Nationals back on September 5.

The IMCA Stock Cars put on their usual exciting 18-lap feature.  Matt West, from Kellerton, Iowa, and Michael Murphy, Jefferson, battled for the lead for much of the race, with Donavon Smith throwing his hat into the ring late in the race.  Smith, who had started eleventh on the field, was able to make the pass into the lead on the final lap, and get to the checkers first for the win.  Michael Murphy took the runner up spot, followed by Matt West in third.  Trent Murphy moved from tenth starting spot, to take fourth, and Rod Richards was fifth.  This was Smith's second win of the year.

Brandon Williams also returned to victory lane for the second time in the IMCA Northern SportMod class.  Williams started seventh and battled with leader Chad Ryerson from just past the halfway mark of the 18-lap event, and finally made it into the lead with two laps remaining.  He would hold that lead the rest of the way to the flying checkers.  Randy Roberts got by Ryerson in the final laps as they finished second and third.  Fourth place finisher was Jonathan Logue, and Daniel Tasler rounded out the top five.

Earlier in the SportMod class, the top three finishers from the two heats ran a dash, sponsored by Tri-Lube, Harris Auto Racing, Bob Harris Enterprises among others that I wasn't able to catch.  They drew for their starting positions in the 8-lap event.  Daniel Tasler and Randy Roberts drew the front row starting spots, and Randy Roberts would be the lucky winner going home $600 richer for the win. 

Solomon Bennett found victory lane again in the IMCA Hobby Stock division.  Bennett made his way around Seth Janssen at lap five of the the 12-lap race, and pulled away for a comfortable win.  Janssen held on to the runner up spot, ahead of Dave Rieks in third.  Aaron Rudolph held back Chad Legere as they went fourth and fifth.  This was Bennett's third win of the regular season at Boone.

The Mod Lite 15-lap main event found a new driver visiting victory lane.  Cory Sauerman grabbed the lead away from Joel Keenan at lap twelve and was able to hold it to the finish to score his first ever feature at the Boone track.  Josh May took second place, and Joel Keenan was third.  Fourth went to Randy Bryan and last week's winner, Bryan Zehm, was fifth.

The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday, which just adds to the enjoyment of watching the races.  There was a nice crowd on hand last night to watch the 106 cars checked into the pits.  The Modifieds fielded 26 cars, while the Stock Cars had 22, SportMods 20, Hobby Stocks 24, and Mod Lites, 14.  All classes had some exciting moments in their feature runs, making the fans rise to their feet.

Racing continues next Saturday night, May 28 with racing in all five divisions.  Hot laps are 6:45 and the green flag drops at 7:30.