It was a hot and sultry night at the Boone Speedway on Saturday, and the racing action was hot as well. Russ Dickerson went home with his first win of the season in the Modified division, and Randy Bryan also won his first feature of the year in the Mod Lites. Donavon Smith was victorious for the third time in the IMCA Stock Car class, Jonathan Logue won his second feature in the SportMods, and Ross Marshall stepped into victory lane for the first time ever at Boone in the IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Feature racing kicked off with the 15-lap Mod Lite A main. Joe Glick led the troops through the first seven laps, holding off a fast charging Randy Bryan. Bryan, who had started eighth, made the pass on the outside of Glick to take the lead at lap eight. Bryan would keep that lead to the checkers for the win. Bryan Zehm came from tenth starting spot, to finish as the runner up. Third went to Travis Stensland, Joe Glick was fourth and Justin Rankin completed the top five. Bryan won for the first time in 2016.
Earlier, sixth place starter, Cory Sauerman, had already made it into fourth, when he blew up----leaving a big streak of oil from turn four, to the flagstand. The "Boone dirt wagon", (three men with shovels/buckets, being pulled slowly via tractor) made quick work of getting it covered, and we were back to racing quickly.
Curtis Veber was the early leader in the IMCA Northern SportMod 18-lap event. Jake McBirnie came from ninth starting spot, to take command at lap six. McBirnie was looking strong, but was soon being challenged by tenth place starter, Jonathan Logue. Logue continued to pressure McBirnie, looking to his outside for a way around, when suddenly at lap fifteen, McBirnie slowed, and pulled into the infield. This handed the lead over to Logue, who motored the rest of the way home untouched, for the win. Randy Roberts came from twelfth starting spot to finish as the runner up, third went to Andy Tiernan, who just beat fourth place Thor Anderson at the finish line, and Adam Shelman took fifth place. The race went flag to flag. This was Logue's second win of the season.
Shawn Wirtz led the opening laps of the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock A main. He was quickly challenged by Ross Marshall. Marshall was able to slip under Wirtz to take the lead on lap five. From there on, Marshall pulled away for a convincing win----his first ever at Boone. Wirtz finished in second ahead of Jordan Peters in third, twelfth place starter Eric Stanton, was fourth and Todd Bass rounded out the top five. Though I am not positive, I believe this could have been Marshall's first career win. Always nice to see that happen.
The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature was up next. Russ Dickerson got by early leader Kent Croskey, and took charge by lap five, after starting eighth. He was then content to let the others duke it out behind him, and took an easy win. Three drivers were fighting it out for second place as Dickerson rode comfortably ahead. Putting on a fine show for the fans were veteran Denny Pittman, point leader Mike VanGenderen, and Jimmy Gustin, last year's track champion. Pittman held back VanGenderen until the final lap, when VanGenderen surged past to finish second, Pittman taking third. A close fourth went to Jimmy Gustin, and Matthew Meinecke was fifth. The race went caution free after an initial "no start". Dickerson posted his first win of the season at the speedway.
Those that left early missed an exciting finish to the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car finale. Rookie to the class, Cody Gustoff took advantage of his pole starting position, jumping to the immediate lead. Craig Carlson, who had started right behind Gustoff, began pestering him and took over as leader at lap six. Carlson kept command of his lead, but in the closing moments had Donavon Smith, Jay Schmidt, and Tyler Pickett in a cluster behind him. Smith dogged Carlson until the final lap, when he was able to get under him on the backstretch, beating him to the checkers for the win. Carlson held on to second, Jay Schmidt, who started in row eleven after having heat race woes, finished in third, Tyler Pickett finished fourth from his eighth starting spot, and Brad Te Grotenhuis, the driver out of Orange City who races Boone weekly, (a 172 mile trip) took fifth. This was Smith's third win of the year.
The car count was a bit shorter than usual last evening, speculating that the heat and humidity had something to do with that. However, those racers and the fans who did brave the heat, saw some good, close action as usual. The show was completed right at 10 p.m.
Several specials are coming up this week, some on top of each other. This is always a hard decision to make as to where to go. Check the calendar at Positively Racing, and choose your race. Mother Nature may dictate in some cases, and make the decision for you.
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