There were three new winners at the Boone Speedway on Saturday night, while two classes saw returning winners. Russ Dickerson joined the ranks of first time winners when he scored the IMCA Modified victory. Devin Smith beat out his brother Donavon to score his first IMCA Stock car win. Cory Rose also visited victory lane for the first time this year by winning the IMCA Northern Sport Mod main event. Shaun Wirtz saw the winner's circle for the third time when he won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature, and Bryan Zehm made it his sixth victory of 2017 in the Mod Lite division.
Bryan Zehm started ninth, grabbed the lead from Joel Huggins at lap six, and never looked back on his way to victory in the 15 lap Mod Lite A main. Josh May came from eighth starting spot, tried to reel in Zehm, but fell short and had to settle for the runner up spot. Travis Stensland was third, beating out his father Jeff Stensland in fourth, and Randy Bryan completed the top five. The night's victory marked Zehm's sixth win of the current season. He holds a large lead for the track championship over Josh May.
Cory Rose, in just his second appearance at the speedway, grabbed the lead immediately from his pole starting position in the 18 lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature, and held it the entire 18 laps to the flying checkers. Chad Ryerson came from ninth starting spot, to score a runner up finish, Frank Packer, who will soon be returning to Australia after his annual summer of racing in Iowa, had a good run to finish third, fourth was John Watson, and Johnathon Logue started 21st, and finished fifth. It looks to be a shoot out to the finish for the track championship as we go into the final two weekly races. Chad Ryerson took over the point lead last night, and now sits two points up on Johnathon Logue.
The IMCA Modified 20 lap feature was led by Chad Louk from the drop of the green until lap eight. That's when the race was red flagged when several cars got together, and Kent Croskey ended up upside down on the front stretch. Thankfully, he was okay. When the race restarted, Chris Webb overtook Louk for the top spot, with Russ Dickerson moving up from eleventh starting position, to run third. Just a few laps later, Dickerson had charged to the lead. The final laps, Dickerson distanced himself from the field, and took the win by a comfortable margin over second place Webb. Louk held on to finish third, Mike VanGenderen started twelfth, and finished fourth, and Joe McBirnie rounded out the top five. This was Dickerson's first win of the regular season. VanGenderen maintains his point lead, nine points up on Dickerson, as he looks to repeat his track title from last year.
Croskey wasn't the only Modified driver to end up on his lid last night. In a heat race, rookie Cory Sauerman took a scary ride when his car dug into the track going into turn one, and he flipped violently. Thankfully, he too was okay, but unable to start the feature.
Devin Smith started tenth in the starting field of the IMCA Stock Car 18 lap main event, quickly moved to the front, and had the lead at lap seven. Brother Donavon Smith also made headway from his twelfth starting spot, taking over the runner up position at lap twelve. Donavon's attempts to catch the leader were all in vain, as he could do no more than chase brother Devin across the finish line at the checkers. Craig Carlson ran up front much of the race, and finished third. Fourth went to Robert Stofer and Rod Richards was fifth. Devin Smith scored his first win at the track this year. Jay Schmidt's hopes of a second track title all but vanished when he experienced all sorts of bad luck last evening, leaving him a distant second to last year's champion Donavon Smith in the point's chase.
The night cap was the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Shaun Wirtz took command of the race at lap five, withstood several yellow flag restarts, and motored home to his third win of the year. He held back Aaron Rudolph who was second, third place went to Gregg Anderson, Dustin Graham was fourth, and Dustin Lynch was fifth. This was Wirtz's third win of 2017, after getting his first career victory just a few weeks prior. The points race will get interesting going into the final two weeks of weekly racing at Boone. Dustin Graham now holds a seven point lead over Aaron Rudolph and Dustin Lynch is eight points behind the leader.
It is hard to imagine that there are just two more weekly races at Boone. Season Championship night is August 26. The season has flown by and the 35th annual IMCA Super Nationals is just around the corner, starting on Labor Day, September 4 and running through Saturday September 9. Prior to the start of America's Racing Vacation however, will be the Prelude to the Super Nationals on Saturday, September 2. The IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods, and Hobby Stocks will be on the docket that evening as well as the track's 50th anniversary of racing celebration.
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