Boone Speedway finally got the first race of the season in the books on Saturday night, after fighting Mother Nature for weeks. And we finally got our FIRST race of 2018 in the books! It's been a long winter! Their first originally scheduled race was the Frostbuster back on April 7, but Mother Nature was playing havoc, and that got moved forward to April 14. The weather did not cooperate on that date as well, and it was canceled. This then moved opening night to April 21, and though the weather could have been better, the racing did not disappoint.
The pits were filled with 157 race cars in the divisions that began their points chase. Jimmy Gustin looked dominate in taking the win in the IMCA Modified class, Trent Murphy held off a late race threat to win the IMCA Stock Car feature, and Eric Stanton got back to his winning ways in the IMCA Hobby Stocks. Austin Luellen finished comfortably ahead of his nearest competitor in the IMCA SportMod main event, and it was Randy Bryan taking the win in the Mod Lite division. As an added bonus, the night was capped off with a King of the Hill in the IMCA Modified class with Nick Roberts taking home the prize.
The Mod Lites kicked off the night's feature racing. Randy Bryan led the 15-lap A main from start to finish, to start his season off on the right foot. He held off Travis Stensland in second place, Joel Huggins finished third, Bryan Zehm was fourth and Terry Brown completed the top five. This division got the award for having the first roll over of the season, as Charlie Brown took a tumble in corner four, just as the feature began. He was not hurt, but his night was done.
Austin Luellen took command of the 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature just after lap six was scored. From there on, he never looked back on his way to victory. He finished comfortably ahead of second place Ryan King, Taylor Musselman finished third, fourth was Dusty Masolini, and Jake McBirnie was fifth. The final few laps got the running order shuffled when three cars tangled with just four laps remaining. Second place runner, Hunter Longnecker got loose in corner four, and got collected by Brett Meyer and Sam Wieben. The yellow flew, and the three were relegated to the back, ending their hopes of a top five finish.
Jimmy Gustin kicked his season run off in fine fashion with a dominating win in the IMCA 20-lap Modified feature. Gustin, in his Rage chassis, started seventh, and worked his way to then leader Josh Gilman's tail by lap eight. On lap eleven, Gustin snatched up the top spot, and then pulled away to take the feature win easily. Gilman held on to claim second place, with Scott Hogan having a great run, a close third. Josh Truman and Ethan Dotson were fourth and fifth respectively.
Trent Murphy captured the checkers in the 18-lap IMCA Stock Car main event. He held off a hard charging Johnny Spaw from Cedar Rapids, to claim the win. Spaw is a veteran racer, having raced asphalt and dirt both. Third place went to Jay Schmidt who started 22nd in the starting line up and having to qualify through a B main, fourth was Reid Keller, and Josh Daniels was fifth. Early leader Cody Gustoff suffered a flat tire at lap eight, and had to call it a night after looking strong out of the gate.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks completed the nights feature racing and a familiar face went back to victory lane. Eric Stanton swapped the lead with Justin Wacha several times before claiming the lead for good on his way to another winner's circle interview. Following second place Wacha was Worthington, Minnesota driver, Malik Sampson who claimed third, fourth went to David Rieks, and Andrew Burg was fifth. Stanton, who has been the Hobby Stock track champion at Boone the past two years, looks to be strong again in 2018.
The evening ended with the Harris Auto Racing/IMCATV King of the Hill for the Modifieds. Sixteen competitors were narrowed down to three remaining drivers through eliminating rounds, and standing atop the Hill and $1,000 in his pocket was Nick Roberts. He bested Ethan Dotson and Josh Gilman in the finale that pitted the three drivers head to head. Other drivers participating in the contest were Andy Tiernan, Jason Hickingbottom, Al Wolfgram, Tony Hilgenberg, Eric Elliott, Randy Havlik, Devon Havlik, Mike VanGenderen, Tony Cox, Cory Sauerman, Shawn Ritter, Russ Dickerson, and Todd Shute.
Hot laps were scheduled for 5:45 last evening, with racing at 6:30. The HUGE line of drivers lined up at the pit shack at those times, changed all of that. Though the track was hoping that drivers would heed the plea to register on line early, thus making check in go faster, less than a dozen of the drivers accomplished that. Thus, racing action had the green flag drop at 7:25 p.m.
The track is implementing the My Race Pass app this year, which has many tracks signing up. It allows fans access to the line ups and results among other special features. It seems to be the new thing this year and it's worth a look at if you have not done so already. It can be found on your smart phone's app downloads.
Racing action kicks back into gear next Saturday night, April 28, at the Boone Speedway with hot laps scheduled for 5:45, and racing at 6:30. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint cars will begin their season as they join the Modifieds, Stock Cars, Northern SportMods, and Mod Lites. The following week, the track goes back to its regular start time of 7:30.
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