A pit packed with 166 race cars provided the fans at the Boone Speedway an entertaining Saturday night of exciting racing action. The night however was marred with several rollover incidents, even one in the new 2-person cruiser action.
Four drivers captured their first win of the year. Tony Hofbauer made his way to Victory Lane in the IMCA Modified division, visiting Minnesota racer, Jared Boumeester took home the $750 prize in the IMCA Northern SportMod class, Aaron Rudolph snagged his first win of the year in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Tanner Gannon made it his first career win in the Mod Lite class. Devin Smith in the IMCA Stock Cars, and Mike Houseman in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprints made return visits to the winner's circle.
Tanner Gannon began the 15-lap Mod Lite feature in fifth starting position, and had the lead by lap one. He then motored off as the race went green to checkered and took the win by a comfortable margin. Bryan Zehm, last week's winner finished in the runner up spot, third went to Travis Stensland, Joe Glick was fourth and Jeff Stensland rounded out the top five. This was rookie Tanner Gannon's first career win. Gannon is the grandson of the late, great Dave Farren.
The IMCA Northern SportMods were the featured class last evening... running for $750 to win. Plus a $350 Dash for Cash was held after their heat races for the top twelve qualifiers. Jake McBirnie took that win.
The stout field of 38 cars had to be whittled down to a 24-car starting field through two B Main events.
Jared Boumeester from Waseca, Minnesota made his first ever trip to the Boone Speedway and went home with the win. Boumeester started fourth and took command at lap two, never to relinquish it on his run to the checkers. Finishing a distant runner up was Thomas Egenburger, Johnathon Logue was third, Ethan Braaksma had a good run through the field to finish fourth after starting seventeenth, and Austin Luellen was fifth.
The IMCA RaceSaver Sprints came next for their 20-lap feature. Mike Johnston and Mike Houseman led the parade through the halfway mark of the main event. Houseman had just gotten to the lead when a red flag situation occurred when Devin Wignall rolled his machine on the backstretch after contact with Frank Rodgers. He was okay.
The race just got restarted when a scary incident brought out another red flag before another lap was scored. Mike Moore went flying off of corner one, flipped and hit the bottom of the catwalk. Thankfully, he also was not injured. Moore had earlier gone over the edge of turn four and had to tag the field. With the adrenaline flowing, he no doubt was on a mission to get to the front....a plan that did not end well.
When the race did get back to green, Houseman continued to lead the troops the remaining way to the checkers, and secured the win. Tyler Thompson slipped by Mike Johnston in the final lap...finishing second and third respectively. Matt Richards and Bob Hildreth rounded out the top five. This marked Houseman's sixth trip to Victory Lane this season.
Next week, July 28, will be the RaceSaver Sprint season championship. Tyler Thompson is the point leader by 16 points over second place Mike Houseman, and with an average of 12 cars, looks to have the track championship wrapped up.
Cody Gustoff led the IMCA Stock Car 18-lap main event from the drop of the green. Gustoff started on the outside front row and looked to be on his way to his second win of the year. However in the end, it was Devin Smith making that second trip to the winner's circle. Smith started seventh, and took command at lap nine. He then stretched out his lead and took the easy win. Gustoff held on to second place, Josh Daniels came from nineteenth to third, fourth was veteran racer Robert Stofer, and Wilton, Iowa's David Brandies came from twelfth starting spot, to finish in fifth place.
Point leader Jay Schmidt was running third with just two laps remaining, but spun in corner four. He never stopped and continued on, dropping back to finish eleventh, but still holds the point lead, 3 points up on Donavon Smith.
Tony Hofbauer, who has been absent from the racing scene for several years, brought out his lucky #13 ride this season, and took the victory in the IMCA Modifieds. Hofbauer finished well ahead of Ricky Thornton in second, despite a late yellow that put hot shoe Thornton eager for the restart. Hofbauer left the field on that restart, taking the win by a good distance. Eric Elliott came from ninth spot to finish third. Tim Ward took fourth position after starting twelfth, and Bill Davis, Jr. led the race through lap fourteen, when Hofbauer took command, and finished in fifth. Hofbauer is owner of KMJ Performance that builds the Assault race cars.
Aaron Rudolph was leading comfortably in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature until a yellow flew with just two laps remaining. Rudolph, who started eighth and was leading by lap two, fought off the challenges of Andrew Burg on the restart, and captured the win. John Watson had his four wins in a row streak broken, and came home in third place. Fourth went to Eric Knutson, and Bob Daniels was fifth. This was Rudolph's first win at the speedway in 2018.
The night cap was the 2-person Cruiser feature and another lucky #13 went to victory lane. This time it was the #PG13 piloted by Brandon Alden and Brett Warrick. Early leaders Matt Harris and Jeremy Moore were the runner ups, third was the duo of Tyler McCumber and John Grey, fourth went to Donnie Mason and Carl Agan, and fifth to Brandon Williams and Seth Bowen.
Fifteen of the Cruisers participated last evening, and appear to be a popular addition to the program. A roll over in corner four with just one lap down, saw the 64XXX of Jarod Peterson and Jason Peterson take a ride, but they were okay. There are house cars available for rent, and new participants are popping up each week. You may also bring your own car. We understand the 2-person Cruisers will be on the regular program next year at Boone.
We expected extra cars in the IMCA Northern SportMod class last evening, due to the extra pay off for the headlined class, but all classes were up considerably. There were 38 SportMods, 36 Stock Cars, 35 Modifieds and 28 Hobby Stocks that swelled the car count.
At least 60 bikes were on display last night, enticing the youngsters to come out for next week's show and the big bike giveaway.
The season will be winding down soon for dirt track racing in our area, and the Super Nationals will be here before we know it. Get out to a track somewhere, and support the sport we all love...dirt track racing.
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