Sunday, July 15, 2018

Four in a row for McBirnie and Watson

It was a beautiful Saturday night for racing at the Boone Speedway with all weekly classes in competition. All regular weekly divisions found drivers taking return visits to victory lane and two drivers making it four in a row for their night's work.

Bryan Zehm took home the win in the 15-lap Mod Lite A main event.  He ran down leader Charlie Brown and the two battled  intensely for the lead in the closing laps.  Brown was leading as the checkers were being unfurled, but then spun in corner four as the field came to the finish line. Zehm then scurried across first for the win and Brown ended up in the infield and out of the picture.  Mike Kennedy came from eighth starting spot to finish as the runner up, third went to Joe Glick, and Travis Stensland and Jeff Stensland, the son and father duo, completed the top five. This was Zehm's fourth feature win at Boone this year. Zehm and Travis Stensland are now tied for the points battle as the season begins to wind down.

In the 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature, it was once again the #82 of Jake McBirnie rising to the top of the field and taking the win.  McBirnie made a great run through the field from his sixteenth starting position, caught then leader Austin Luellen at a dozen laps in and then the two went to battle. They ran side by side until McBirnie was able to make the pass for the lead with a lap remaining.  He then held that top spot to the flying checkers and the win.  Luellen, who had started eleventh, had to be content with the runner up spot, third went to Johnathon Logue, Hunter Longnecker scored a fourth place finish after starting fifteenth, and thirteenth place starter Cory Rose, was fifth.  McBirnie now has four wins in a row, and five total for the season.  Luellen maintains his point lead, twenty-one points up on second place Johnathon Logue.

Mike Houseman took the win in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint 20-lap feature.  He started sixth, and had the lead at lap three, never to look back on his way to victory.  Tyler Thompson tried reeling in the leader, but had to be content with the runner up spot.  Ben Woods got around Devin Wignall in the closing moments, as they finished third and fourth respectively, and it was Matt Richards taking fifth after starting in twelfth position.  The race began with a red flag situation when DJ Palmer tipped his ride on its side over the brim midway between turns three and four.  He was okay.  Tyler Thompson holds down the point lead in the RaceSaver Sprint division, seven points up on Mike Moore.

The IMCA Stock Cars always produce great racing week in and week out, and last night was no different.  Bryan Snell took advantage of his pole starting spot in the 18-lap feature, jumping to the immediate lead. He was in a rent a ride hot rod last night which appeared to be the #43 of Calvin Lange.  Madrid racer Jon Byriel kept close on Snell's heels through the first portion of the race, until fifth row starters Jay Schmidt and Johnny Spaw suddenly drew into the picture.  Schmidt and Spaw first got around Byriel and then a few laps later, took over the two top positions as they also got by Snell.  The two battled back and forth for the top spot, Schmidt taking claim to the lead first, and then Spaw taking over, and keeping it then to the finish line and the win.  Schmidt finished a close second, Snell trailed a distant third, Jon Byriel was fourth and last week's winner Scott Davis rounded out the top five.  This was Spaw's second win of the year.  Jay Schmidt is the Stock Car point leader with Donavon Smith six points out of first, and Spaw sits thirteen points back.

The IMCA Modifieds had to weather several yellow flag situations, but in the end it was Tim Ward standing in the winner's circle.  Joel Bushore led much of the race but Ward, who had started twelfth, methodically made his way through the stacked field of cars.  At lap thirteen, Ward got to second place and began pressuring Bushore.  That pressure paid off with four laps remaining of the 20-lap affair, as he made the pass for the lead.  In the closing laps, Ward pulled away, taking the comfortable win, his third of the season.  Bushore trailed in second, third went to eleventh place starter Randy Havlik, Brandon Leeman got the hard charger award, starting twenty-first, and finishing fourth, and new driver Terry Hurt from Omaha, Nebraska came from twentieth, to finish fifth.  Havlik is the Modified point leader over second place Eric Elliott, down by 36 points as the season winds down.

Three drivers put on a whale of a battle in the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature.  Keith Burg started fourth, had the lead by lap one, and led through the halfway mark of the race. He had John Watson and Andrew Burg barking at his heels just shortly after the half way point. The three ran nose to tail, and at lap nine, Watson managed the pass for the lead and then held on to take the win.  Andrew Burg took the second spot after starting deep in the field in twenty-second and beating out his son Keith Burg in third.  Fourth place went to Aaron Rudolph and Jack Phillips took fifth.  Watson started ninth and now has his fourth win in a row, and his fifth over all.  Andrew Burg is the point leader, thirty-two points up on second place Solomon Bennett.

Two-person cruisers closed out the night's racing action.  The #8 duo of Donnie Mason and Carl Agan took the win easily.  Following in second it was Ty Matuera and Troy Borsch, third was Brett Warrick and Brandon Allen, fourth place finishers were the team of Jeremy Moore and Joel Farleyh and fifth place was Brandon Williams and Seth Bowen. A total of thirteen Cruisers were in competition last night and ran both a heat race and a feature.

This is a busy upcoming week for racing in our area.  Our plans are for Tuesday at the Southern Iowa Speedway for their season championship, then back again on Wednesday when the USMTS comes to town. Both nights are during the Southern Iowa Fair. Thursday we head to Knoxville and look forward to the Dynamic Drivelines Modified and SportMod show.  Then we will be at our regular Friday night at Marshalltown Speedway and Boone Speedway on Saturday night.  We hope Mother Nature cooperates and we can get our five-in-a-row marathon in.  Hope to see some of you at these shows.



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