Mother Nature did not win this one from Boone Speedway on Saturday night, though the prospect of a night of racing did not look good at times. The torrential rain we drove through to get there had flooded fields, but fortunately had not been as heavy at the Speedway, though still substantial. However, racing went on as usual with but a 45 minute delay to prep the track.
Travis Stensland won the Mod Lite feature, Keith Burg took his first ever win in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, Mike Houseman won his second IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature, and Johnathon Logue was victorious in the IMCA Northern SportMod class. The IMCA Stock Car main event went to Jeff Mueller in his second win of the season, and the man on fire, Ricky Thornton, Jr., made it four in a row in the IMCA Modifieds.
Travis Stensland chased down Bryan Zehm in the Mod Lite 15-lap event, taking command on lap twelve and staving off any threats thereafter. He took the double checkers, leaving Zehm to relish only second place. Third went to Joe Glick, Tanner Gannon, who I believe is a grandson of the late, great, Dave Farren, was fourth, and Chelsea May had her best run of the year and rounded out the top five. Stensland started eighth, and won for the second time this season. He had just won his feature the night before at the Marshalltown Speedway as well.
The 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod A main was plagued with yellow flags, but in the end it was Johnathon Logue surviving all those cautions to take the win. Logue came from eleventh starting spot, ran down the front runners, and took charge at lap eight. The drivers were warned that the race was under the time limit rule at lap ten, but then continued on the remainder of the distance without another caution. Strange how that often happens. Early leader Ethan Braaskma was a distant runner up, third went to Tyler Inman, fourth was Austin Luellen who started twenty-third, and Hunter Longnecker was fifth. This was Logue's first win at Boone this year after having also won at Marshalltown on Friday night. Logue commented in his post-race interview with Coty Mallicoat, that that was his first ever time going back to back on consecutive nights.
Mike Houseman won for the second time in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint class. Houseman snapped up the lead on lap four, and never looked back. Seventh place starter Tyler Thompson, fell short in his attempt to run down the leader, and had to settle for second place. Third was C. J. Houseman, Mike Johnston was fourth and Ben Woods rounded out the top five. Fourteen of the sprint cars made an appearance last night, their largest count of the year.
Veteran racer Scott Davis, who has been absent from the racing scene for at least a handful of years, when he last raced in the IMCA Northern SportMod division, is back piloting a familiar appearing orange #81D IMCA Stock Car this season. He took the lead at lap five, and looked to be on his way to the winner's circle as he led the pack. He soon had the challenges of Donavon Smith and Jeff Mueller to contend with however, and the battle was intense. With just a lap to go, Davis and Smith made contact which resulted in a flat tire for Davis, and allowing Mueller to scoot by Smith to take the lead. Mueller then kept that lead the remainder of the way to the checkers and the win. Smith held on to second, Trent Murphy started eleventh and finished in third, Wayne Gifford came from fifteenth to finish in fourth, and Ty Hill was fifth. Mueller started sixteenth, and won for the second time at Boone this year. We did note that although Davis did cross the finish line in the fourth position, he was scored at the back of the running order due to running on a flat tire....a no, no at the Boone Speedway.
Joel Bushore led the field to green in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. Bushore was soon trying to hold back eighth place starter Mike VanGenderen who was sniffing at his heels. At lap seven, VanGenderen made a nifty move to take the number one spot away, only to have Ricky Thornton snatch it away the following lap. From there on, it was all Thornton as he pulled away from the field to take a comfortable win. Tim Ward started fourteenth, and finished second...his third time this season chasing Thornton across the line. VanGenderen, who is the past two year's track champion, was third, fourth went to Eric Elliott, and Al "Pep" Wolfgram completed the top five positions. Thornton has been on a roll at the track this year, winning for the fourth consecutive week. There is now talk that a bounty may soon be hanging over his head.
The nightcap for the evening was twelve laps of IMCA Hobby Stock racing. This race also had its share of caution flags, and was close to being placed under the time limit rule with just a lap or two in the books. All those cautions however didn't hinder Keith Burg on his way to capturing his first career feature win. Burg was challenged by Justin Wacha in the latter part of the race, but in the final laps, he pulled away to take the comfortable win. Wacha was the runner up, followed by Shawn Wirtz in third, tenth place starter Ryan Wells was fourth, and Todd Bass started dead last in twenty-second place and finished fifth. Burg is the son of veteran racer Andrew Burg.
We were thankful to get racing in last evening, though as I stated earlier, it was looking a bit bleak on our travels to the track. It rained so hard that fields were flooding, cars were pulled off to the side of the road, and the windshield wipers could hardly keep up! The closer we got to Boone, the rain began to let off, and though it had rained there earlier, it had stopped when we arrived. The track had been sealed over, and they were allowing it to drain off....which it does so well. Soon the tractors were out on the surface, and the track prep began. The track, which was much heavier than the previous weeks, was fine, and the first green flag dropped at 7:11 p.m., instead of the May start time of 6:30. Racing was completed at 10:14....six classes and 118 cars.
The track will have its regular night of racing next Saturday night, May 26, and then on Memorial Day, Monday May 28, the IMCA Deery Brothers Late Models will make their annual appearance. Joining them on Memorial Day will be the IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Northern SportMods, and IMCA Hobby Stocks. Hot laps are 4 p.m. and racing at 5 p.m. for the Memorial Day show.
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