One of the most unique races in the country took place on Saturday night at the Boone Speedway with the running of the Hawkeye Challenge. Six divisions of cars, staggered by laps per class, and with one over all winner. This was in addition to the five regular classes of cars running their regular weekly events. Cruisers were off this week and next, but there was a return of Sprint cars.
The Hawkeye Challenge pitted six divisions of cars, the Modifieds, Stock Cars, Northern SportMods, Hobby Stocks, Mod Lites, and Sprints. Point leader from each class was locked in and passing points from the heats determined who else would be eligible for the Hawkeye Challenge. Whoever completed their specified number of laps first, would be the over all winner...Sprint Cars 25 laps, Modifieds 23 laps, SportMods 22 laps, Mod Lites 22 laps, Stock Cars 21 laps, and Hobby Stocks 20 laps. This race returned at the Boone Speedway last year for the first time in many years.
It was an exciting race to watch, but hard to keep track of where anyone was on the track. Thank goodness for transponders, and multiple scorers last evening.
Winners of each divisions were as follows: Sprint Car, DJ Palmer, Modified, Tim Ward, Stock Car, Donavon Smith, SportMod, Johnathon Logue, Hobby Stock, Mike Smith, and Mod Lite, Mike Kennedy. When the final calculations were completed, the over all winner of the Hawkeye Challenge was Northern SportMod racer, Johnathon Logue, who pocketed the $1,000 prize. Each division winner also won $500.
A check of the official results show that DJ Palmer and Mike Houseman, two Sprints car drivers came in second and third. Hunter Longnecker in the SportMod division was fourth, and Mike "The Busman" Kennedy took a top five in the Mod Lite division.
The regular feature racing of the evening began with the Mod Lites and their 15 lap main event. Cory Sonner started tenth on the field of cars and made his way quickly forward to take command on lap four. He had no trouble in keeping that lead as he stretched it out and took the checkers well ahead of second place Joe Glick. Jeff Stensland took third, Mike Kennedy was fourth, and Jon Braathun was fifth.
Sonner is the grandson of the late Gil Sonner...a legend in the Sprint Car world. He was the owner of the #47 Sprint Car that many a successful driver took to victory lane over the years. Cory Sonner, who carries that #47 on his ride, captured only his second win ever after getting his career first win under his belt at the Marshalltown Speedway earlier this year.
Johnathon Logue made it a perfect night as he took the feature win in the IMCA Northern SportMod 18 lap event after capturing the earlier Hawkeye Challenge victory. Logue came from eleventh starting spot, methodically worked his way through the field to catch leader Hunter Longnecker. The two ran side by side for several laps until Logue was able to make the pass for the lead on lap eleven. He then kept that top spot the remainder of the way to the checkers and the win. Longnecker kept the runner up spot, Dustin Lynch was third, Doug Smith was a very close fourth, and Cam Reimers rounded out the top five. This was Logue's third feature win of the 2020 season. He went home with three trophies on the night to add to his growing collection. He got two trophies in the Hawkeye Challenge...one for the division winner and the over all title, plus taking the night's feature.
The 20 lap IMCA Modified feature was plagued with yellow flags, but when all was said and done, it was Tim Ward standing in victory lane. Ward started ninth, managed to avoid some of the chaos on the track, and grabbed the lead away from Andy Tiernan with just four laps remaining. Ward then kept a tight hold on that number one position to take the double checkers and secure his first win at the track this year. Paul Nagle took second, Russ Dickerson came home in third place after starting in fifteenth, early leader Andy Tiernan was fourth, and Jimmy Gustin (in an out of the ordinary yellow ride) was the hard charger, coming from twenty-fourth to finish fifth.
The Class too Tough to Tame, the IMCA Stock Cars put on another of their typical action packed races. Tony Hofbauer got out of the gate quickly from starting fourth and had the lead by lap three. By lap seven, he had Jay Schmidt to contend with. Schmidt started twelfth, and was up to challenge the leader. Schmidt constantly looked underneath Hofbauer and it finally paid off. Just past the half way mark of the 20 lap event, he nosed under Hofbauer, taking advantage of that moisture still at the bottom of the track, and was able to grab the lead. The final handful of laps saw Schmidt stretch his lead and take the easy win. Hofbauer finished second, Tyler Pickett started tenth and finished third, fourth went to fourteenth place starter, Troy Jerovetz, and veteran racer Robert Stofer started thirteenth and finished fifth. This was Schmidt's second win at the track this year.
The 15 lap IMCA Hobby Stocks put a night cap on the racing. Pole sitter Braden Richards led the opening laps with Mike Smith tucking in right behind to run second. A tight battle ensued between the two until Smith was able to wrestle away the lead on lap seven....never to relinquish it the rest of the way to the checkers. Miciah Hidlebaugh made a late race surge to get around Richards as they finished second and third respectively. Solomon Bennett took fourth and Dylan Nelson rounded out the top five. This was Smith's second win of the year. Smith is the young teenage son of Stock Car racer David Smith.
Next Saturday, August 1, is the annual Watermelon Classic with a $1,000 to the winner of the Modified and Stock Car features and another $1,000 to the P1P sponsored Modified Challenge winner. The SportMods and Hobby Stock will race for $500. All other regular classes will also be in competition, except the Cruisers. Plus, all heat winners get a watermelon from Lawty!
As of right now, the 38th running of the IMCA Super Nationals September 7-12 is a go. The Prelude to the Super Nationals is also still scheduled for Saturday, September 5. Time will tell if all will proceed as usual during these unprecedented times. Fingers crossed!
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