The Boone Speedway, "Iowa's Action Track", saw plenty of action on Saturday night with 157 cars packing the pits, and putting on a tremendous show for the fans. The Modified and SportMod classes found new faces in victory lane, while all other regular classes saw returning winners. The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks were also on the night's ticket.
The final run to the checkers in the Mod Lite feature found Bryan Zehm just eking out the win over Travis Stensland as they crossed the finish line. Stensland had led all but the opening lap of the 15 lap event, Zehm chasing him most of the way. A late caution and subsequent restart, was Stensland's ill fate, as Zehm managed to get that extra momentum just as they crossed under the checkers. Stensland had to be content with the runner up spot, Charlie Brown was third, fourth was Mike Kennedy, and Josh May completed the top five. This was Zehm's fifth win of the year and continues to hold his healthy point lead.
Bill Wears looked to be on his way to winning for the first time ever at Boone as he led most of the IMCA Northern SportMod feature. However, a slight bobble with just two laps left proved to be his undoing. Chad Ryerson shot around him, and into the lead. He kept that top spot to the checkers and the win. Wears held on to second place, Curtis Veber was third, and John Watson and Ryan King were fourth and fifth respectively. This was Ryerson's first feature win at Boone this year.
Johnathon Logue's nice point lead going into the night melted away when he ended up in the wall out of corner two and had to be towed off. With Ryerson's win last evening, he is now within one point of Logue in the point's battle.
Two brothers started side-by-side on the front row of the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature...Richie Gustin and Jimmy Gustin. Jimmy, driving Racer Hulin's car, led lap one, only to have Richie snatch it away at lap two. By lap three, Jimmy was exiting into the pits, and out of the race. This put Todd Inman in second and trying to run down Richie Gustin. A few laps later, Todd Shute took command of second place, and gave chase in an attempt to catch leader Gustin. It wasn't to be on this night however, as Gustin distanced himself from the field and took the comfortable win. Following second place finisher Shute for third, was Eric Elliott who had started fourteenth. Fourth place went to Joel Bushore, and Jesse Hoeft started twelfth and finished fifth. This was Gustin's first win at Boone in 2017. The race, which paid $1,000 was also a Fast Shafts All-Star Qualifier for 2018, as well as a qualifier for the "Dash at the Clash" in this coming Tuesday night's Harris Clash up the road in Webster City.
Mike VanGenderen hangs on to his track point lead despite having some issues in the feature. Russ Dickerson closed the gap to within twelve points as we go into the final count down of points. The Modifieds only, ran a draw/redraw program, which shook things up a bit for the regular weekly drivers.
Donavon Smith took the win in the IMCA Stock Car A main. He outdistanced Wayne Gifford who finished in second place. Don Vis, who had led earlier, claimed the third spot. Jay Schmidt came from tenth starting place, to finish fourth, and Craig Carlson rounded out the top five. Smith won for the fourth time this year. Smith, who has been sporting a new car recently, took over the point's lead with his win, and is now one point up on Jay Schmidt.
The Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks were an added attraction to the night's program. Twelve of the trucks came to play last evening. Bret Moyer came away with the win. He held off second place Bill Davis, Jr., in the green-white-checkered finish. Eric Lundstrom took third, fourth was Josh Reynolds, and Luke Richardson was fifth. This was the Dirt Truck's second appearance at Boone this year, when Bill Davis, Jr. was the winner back on June 10th.
The 12 lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature found Aaron Rudolph holding on for the win. Rudolph got around then leader Tyson Overton at lap ten of the scheduled twelve lap event, only to have yet another of the numerous yellows fly at lap eleven, and the race declared complete as the time limit expired. Rudolph was awarded the win, and Overton was second. Eric Stanton started tenth and finished in third spot, fourth went to eleventh place starter Eric Knutsen, and Seth Janssen was fifth after starting twentieth on the grid. This was Rudolph's third win of the season at Boone. Dustin Graham is the Hobby Stock point leader with Ryan Wells and Dustin Lynch tied for second, each seven points behind. Winner Rudolph is nine points back.
The Hobby Stocks just could not get into a rhythm last evening. Half of the time allotted...one minute per lap...or in this case, six minutes... was already gone, and zero laps in the books. Yellows continued to fly and when lap three brought out another caution...the yellow laps began to be counted down. The drivers were told they would race to the next yellow or the checkers, whichever came first, and the race would be finished. They did manage a few final laps under green, but when the final yellow flew at lap eleven, the race was declared complete.
The special TiLUBE challenge race for the IMCA Modifieds ended the night's racing. Twelve drivers earned the right to race, qualifying through fast time under the transponder, and points acquired from their heat races. They ran for 15 laps in a "last man standing" race, and for the $1,200 prize. When all was said and done, it was Richie Gustin grabbing a victory for the second time in the same night. He certainly held up to his moniker, "G Money" once again! He pocketed $2,200 for the evening with his earlier win in the regular feature.
There was a great car count last evening. Thirty-two Modifieds, 30 Stock Cars, 29 Northern SportMods, 29 Hobby Stocks, 25 Mod Lites, and 12 Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks. It made for a late night of racing, but an enjoyable one.
One of our most anticipated races of the year is coming up this week. Tuesday night, August 8, is the Harris Clash at the Hamilton County Speedway. We look for another big car count for the 26th Annual prestigious show. Maybe we'll see you there!
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