It was Christmas in July Saturday night at the Boone Speedway, and the drivers getting the wins were as happy as the youngsters were getting to see Santa. Modified racer Albert "Pep" Wolfgram and SportMod driver Jake McBirnie made it back-to-back wins, and driver Bryan Zehm repeated earlier wins. Andrew Burg made a return visit to the Speedway pay off by capturing his first Hobby Stock win, and Kyle Vanover, Stock Car racer from Nebraska, made his first visit to the track pay off, taking home the hardware.
Bryan Zehm just barely held off a hard charging Josh May at the finish line, to score the win in the 15-lap Mod Lite main event. Zehm grabbed the lead at lap seven and had May right on his tail a few laps later. The two, who started side by side in row five, battled each other in the closing laps, right to the finish line, with the transponders telling the tale in a photo finish... Zehm won by 3/1000 of a second. Following second place May was Randy Bryan in third, fourth went to Cory Sauerman and Joel Keenan started dead last in 20th spot, and finished fifth. This was Zehm's fifth win at Boone Speedway this season and is the point leader.
It was 18-laps of IMCA Northern SportMod racing up next which provided the fans with some exciting, close racing up front. Cory Pestotnik led the first three circuits, but Andy Tiernan took over the top spot at lap four. When a yellow flew at lap thirteen, McBirnie had taken command with Tiernan, Jonathon Logue and Pestotnik in hot pursuit. When the race went green, McBirnie held the lead and in the final few laps, he pulled away to score the comfortable win,...his second in as many weeks. Logue finished as the runner up, Tiernan was third, Randy Roberts was fourth and Pestotnik rounded out the top five. This was McBirnie's fifth win of the season, plus also scoring the preseason Frostbuster special. Jonathon Logue is the point leader in the SportMod division going into the final month of point racing.
Last week, Al "Pep" Wolfgram won his first career race in the IMCA Modifieds. Saturday night, Wolfgram found himself right back in the winner's circle at Boone. In fact, he made it look easy, leading all but the first lap on his march to the win in the 20-lap feature. Wolfgram stretched his lead, happy to let a distant pack of four cars sort it out for positions two through five. Russ Dickerson made a last second pass out of turn four to take the runner up spot, just getting around third place finisher, Tony Cox. Point leader, Mike VanGenderen started tenth and placed fourth, and Jimmy Gustin started ninth, and finished fifth. The race went flag-to-flag.
The 18-lap IMCA Stock Car A main saw Bryan Snell motor off to the lead from his pole starting spot, holding Don Vis at bay. Meanwhile, moving quickly to the front was first time visiting Beatrice, Nebraska racer, Kyle Vanover, and Lake City, Iowa's Donavon Smith. Vanover gained the upper hand at lap ten and just two laps later, with a fierce battle ensuing between Snell, Smith, and Vis, Snell found himself with no where to go as the three went three-wide, slipping off and rolling over the top of corners three and four....bringing out the red flag. Snell was okay, but his night was ended. When things resumed, Vanover maintained his lead, the rest of the way to the checkers. Finishing a close second, was point leader, Donavon Smith, third went to Robert Stofer, Trent Murphy came from tenth starting spot, to finish fourth and Wayne Gifford, last week's winner, started ninth, and finished in fifth. Vanover, who races weekly at Beatrice Speedway in Beatrice, Nebraska has been to at least the last three Super Nationals, making the feature all three times, with a best finish of fourth place in the big dance in 2013. He is no stranger to the speed plant.
Another new face visited Boone Speedway's victory lane in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Andrew Burg started on the pole, and held that top spot the entire 12 laps to take the checkers. Solomon Bennett took second, over Shaun Wirtz in third, fourth was Matt McDonald, and point leader, Eric Stanton, rounded out the top five.
The running order of the features has been changed up the last couple of weeks, with the Hobby Stocks running their feature last....until they could "get their act back together", is what we've heard, as there have been many cautions as of late.
Last night was the last regular flagging night for flagman Nick Brueklander. Brueklander, who honed his flagging skills by standing atop Bill Davis, Sr's. trailer back in the early '90's, is moving to Minnesota due to a job promotion. We use to watch him atop Davis's trailer, down in turn four at Eldora, Iowa on Sunday nights. Word is, he will be back for the Super Nationals.
It's hard to believe how quickly the racing season is winding down. The month of August will be a busy one with specials all around. Several tracks have or soon will be, done with their weekly racing programs, but specials abound. Get out to a track and enjoy the sport we all love.
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