The final night of regular points racing concluded on Saturday at the Boone Speedway, with Season Championship features. Five champions were crowned for 2016...one repeating the feat from 2015.
The top 20 in points were locked into the features and if necessary, B mains would have been run to fill in the feature line up. None were needed. All classes also had extra laps added for the season ending finale.
Bryan Zehm started on the pole of the Mod Lite feature and led all 18-laps on his way to victory. Josh May, who started twelfth, finished in the runner up spot. A battle for third place between Joe Glick and Cory Sauerman ended when contact was made and resulted in Glick tumbling down the front stretch and bringing out a red flag. Glick was okay, but his night was done. Sauerman took over as the third place runner, and finished the race in third. Fourth went to Randy Bryan, and Joel Keenan rounded out the top five. Bryan Zehm is the 2016 track champion in the Mod Lites. He had six wins on the season and is certainly following in the footsteps of his father Ed Zehm's racing talent.
The Hobby Stocks ran a 15-lap feature, which went caution free. Quite ironic since they were the class that got scolded during the season for having lots of issues. Eric Stanton took the lead from Dustin Graham at lap eight and never looked back from there. Graham held second place. Aaron Rudolph made a last moment surge to just get by Solomon Bennett at the finish line as they went third and fourth in that order. Dustin Lynch completed the top five. Eric Stanton is the IMCA Hobby Stock track champion for 2016, defending his 2015 title. Stanton started the year off with a win, and finished it with only his second victory of the year.
A happy Jonathan Logue took a victory lap after winning the 20-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature, as well as sealing the track championship. Logue led the entire 20-laps chased by Randy Roberts who finished second. Chad Ryerson finished a distant third, fourth went to Cory Pestotnik, and Daniel Tasler was fifth. As a note, Jake McBirnie was scheduled to start third in the feature, but due to motor issues in hot laps, he was not able to start. Logue had six feature wins in 2016. Logue was sporting a new look with a throw-back to his father John's look from 2003. It's hard to miss on the track with day-glow orange trim.
The IMCA Stock Car feature win went to third place starter, Tyler Pickett. Pickett chased down front row starters Donavon Smith and Jay Schmidt, and made a nifty move to take the lead at lap eight. Pickett finished a comfortable distance in front of second place Schmidt. Last week's winner, Kevin Opheim made some noise as he raced from twenty-first starting spot, to finish third. Smith finished fourth and Josh Daniels was fifth. Donavon Smith, who had five wins this season, is the 2016 IMCA Stock Car track champion.
The final feature was the 25-lap main event for the IMCA Modifieds. Much of the show was at the front of the field with the two front row starters, Mike VanGenderen and Russ Dickerson battling it out. Dickerson flew to the early lead only to have the race go red at lap three when Bob Daniels tumbled off of turn three. He was okay. When the race resumed, Dickerson was still at the front of the pack, but VanGenderen was continuing his relentless pursuit. VanGenderen found his chance just after lap seventeen was scored. He was able to make the high side pass out of turn two, and was scored the leader at lap eighteen. He held that lead the remaining distance to the checkers and the win, Dickerson finishing a close second. Third place went to Chris Webb, veteran Denny Pittman was fourth and Dustin Smith raced his way from starting sixteenth, to a fifth place finish. Mike VanGenderen, took his seventh win of the season, and is the 2016 IMCA Modified track champion.
Next Saturday night will be the "Prelude to the Super Nationals" with a draw/redraw format. Anyone pre-entered for the Super Nationals will be eligible to race. Hot laps are scheduled for 6 with racing to follow. Then on Monday, September 5, the madness begins with the week-long running of the 34th Annual Speedway Motors IMCA Super Nationals. The entrance to the Speedway has some changes, with the haulers only entering off of Highway 30 at the east entrance. A new, longer drive has been configured to eliminate the sometimes, big backup on the highway. The fans, on the other hand, must enter only on the west entrance.
Lets all hope for some nicer and DRYER weather to end the Iowa racing season, Get out and find a race and support the sport we all love.
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