It's Thornton again at Boone Speedway

Saturday night, the Boone Speedway held its season opener for weekly points racing. Unlike the beautiful previous week for the Frostbuster when it was in the low 70's at race time, this opener should have been deemed Frostbuster opener!  It was once again, a windy and very chilly night with fans bundling up.

The IMCA Modified feature was dominated for the second week in a row by hot shoe Ricky Thornton. Devin Smith took the honors in the IMCA Stock Car class,  and Cody Thompson paid a visit to Iowa's Action Track and took home a feature win in the IMCA Northern SportMods. In the IMCA Hobby Stock division, Aaron Rudolph made his way to victory lane, and Bryan Zehm made a last lap pass to get himself in the winner's circle in the Mod Lites.

Mod Lites kicked off feature racing in a 15-lap A main.  Randy Bryan quickly got himself into the lead, taking command at lap five after starting sixth.  Bryan Zehm tucked into second running position and had his hands full holding back Mike Kennedy in third spot.  The three ran in that order until the final lap when Bryan Zehm made his persistent peeks under the leader pay off.  He surged under Bryan on the final corner and made it to the finish line first to take the win.   Randy Bryan had to be content with second place, Kennedy held on to third, fourth went to Charlie Brown, and Joel Huggins completed the top five.

Cody Thompson made the trip over from Sioux City, Iowa to compete in the IMCA Northern SportMod class, and made it pay off.  Thompson drew the lucky pole starting spot, flew to the lead, and never looked back on his march to victory lane.  Kyle Olson chased the leader much of the distance, but had to be satisfied with the runner up spot. Gage Neal from Ely, Iowa started fourth and finished third, fourth place finisher was Doug Smith who had started eleventh, and lady competitor Tara Longnecker was fifth.

Ricky Thornton stayed right on track after his Frostbuster win last Saturday night in the IMCA Modified class. Thornton, who has often visited the winner's circle not only at Boone, but at numerous tracks in Iowa and across the country, kept up his winning ways.  He drew the lucky #1 pill to start the 20-lap feature, and stayed in front of the field the entire race. Thornton was never threatened, winning easily over second place Tim Ward.  Jimmy Gustin took third, fourth went to Joel Rust, and Tony Hofbauer rounded out the top five. Thornton is also a previous IMCA Super Nationals winner as well as a Race of Champions winner.

The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars were up next.  Devin Smith lead from start to finish from his pole starting position, fending off the attempts of Jeff Mueller, and sailed home to the flying checkers.  Mueller, who started tenth pestered the leader, but could only chase him across the finish line in second. Donavon Smith took third place, Jay Schmidt, defending track champion and last week's Frostbuster winner, came from eleventh starting spot, to finish fourth,and David Smith, yet another Smith brother, was fifth.  Only one yellow slowed the action, that coming with just one lap in, the remainder of the race going non-stop.

The night cap was the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature.  There was a great three-car battle going on in this one between John Watson, Solomon Bennett, and Eric Stanton.  That all ended when an incident, that we did not see, occurred in turn four, resulting in both Watson and Stanton limping out of the race.  This handed the lead over to Solomon Bennett with Aaron Rudolph hot on his heels.  Just two laps later on lap nine, Rudolph saw his opportunity, taking over the lead on the backstretch.  From there on, he kept command and took the checkers for the win.  Adam Ayers, Adair, Iowa, took second followed by Matt McDonald in third, fourth was Shaun Wirtz, and Dylan Nelson completed the top five. Early leader Solomon Bennett fell back to finish in sixth spot.

I think everyone is hoping for warmer and less windy weather for racing, as well as the many other outdoor activities.  Fingers crossed for more pleasant sitting outside weather for race fans!

Weekly points racing continues next Saturday night, April 20.  April and May racing will have early start times with pits opening at 4:30, grandstands at 5, hot laps at 5:45, and racing at 6:30. Cruisers are on the schedule for next Saturday's racing as well.