It was another comfortable and beautiful night for racing at the Boone Speedway for another of their weekly racing series on Saturday night. There is only one more week of points racing to go with season championship night next week. Two drivers picked up their first season wins as Tyler Pickett took the checkers in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car class, and Dustin Filloon went to victory lane for the first time when he won the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature. Jake McBirnie won the IMCA Friesen Performance Modified main event, Brayton Carter took the honors in the IMCA Friesen Performance Northern SportMod class, and Bryan Zehm was the winner of the IMCA Stealth STARS Mod Lites.
Feature racing kicked off with the 15 lap Mod Lite feature, presented by Carquest Auto, Truck, & Farm.
William Nobles was holding down the lead when the race was red flagged at lap three when Joel Huggins, in just his second night out this year, rolled violently several times in corner one when he appeared to wheel hop a car trying to avoid another that was sitting still on the track. It was a relief to have Huggins emerge from the car unhurt, but his car was not as fortunate. We noted many dangling parts as it was taken off the track. Not a good way to end his first weekend of racing after having nabbed a successful second place finish the previous night at Marshalltown.
When the race returned to action, Noble kept hold of the lead for another lap until Joe Glick took command on lap five, and then it was tenth place starter Bryan Zehm taking over at lap six. Zehm never gave up that top spot as he continued to lead the pack the rest of the race and took the checkers. He finished well ahead of second place Joe Glick. Eleventh place starter Austin Gray was third, just holding off Josh May in fourth, and Bryan Compart rounded out the top five. This was Zehm's second feature win of the year. Joe Glick holds a 19 point edge for the track title over Josh May as they head into next week's season championship night.
The Northern SportMod feature was 18 laps, presented by Elmquist Towing.
Brayton Carter took immediate advantage of his pole starting spot, shot off into the lead, never to relinquish his run to the checkers. Randy Havlik, last week's winner, chased Carter the entire distance but had to be content with a second place finish this week. Third went to eighth place starter Tyler Inman in a borrowed ride, fourth was Hunter Longnecker, and Dusty Masolini completed the top five. This was Carter's first weekly win at the track, after taking the Frostbuster special win. Dusty Masolini leads the points race by 20 over Cory Pestotnik as the season concludes next Saturday night.
It was 20 laps of Modified feature racing next, presented by D & E Outside Services.
Joel Bushore started on the outside front row and got the jump on pole sitter Danny Fye as the race went green. Visiting driver Cory Wray, Trenton, Missouri came from fourth place to soon be pestering leader Bushore, and twelfth place starter Jake McBirnie had taken to the top of the track, and was gaining a lot of ground on the leaders at lap nine as lap traffic was coming into the picture. Bushore was suddenly off power and drove off the track, and at lap ten, it was McBirnie taking the lead. McBirnie was still easily leading when Wray went for a spin right near the flagstand, and came to a rest. Somehow, all cars avoided him in what could have been a real disaster. When the racing action picked back up, McBirnie went back to the top shelf, and was never seriously challenged on the final circuits to the checkers and the win. Tenth place starter Cory Sauerman came on strong in the latter portion of the race to finish in second place. Third went to eleventh place starter Zachary Madrid, Arizona native who is now calling Boone, Iowa home, fourth was Jacob Snyder, Dunkerton, Iowa, and Matthew Meinecke was fifth. McBirnie won for the sixth time this season, and look to have the track title all but wrapped up going into next week's season championship as he leads by Cory Sauerman by 43 points.
The IMCA Stock Cars went 20 laps for their feature, presented by Boone Moose Lodge.
Doug Smith jumped to the lead from his outside front row starting spot when the race started. He was still leading when the first of two yellows flew at lap eight, with "Hot Rod" Richards running in second place, and eleventh place starter Tyler Pickett had flown through the pack to run in third place. When the race returned to green, Pickett wasted no time in taking command and had the lead at lap nine. Another yellow with just four laps remaining still found Pickett in charge of the pack, and when racing picked back up, he had no issue in maintaining that top spot the rest of the way to the finish to secure his first win of the season. Austin Bouzek, the Trenton, Missouri racer who makes the trip up to Boone weekly, ripped the lip of the track and came from eighth place to finish as the runner up. Doug Smith took third place, fourth went to brother Devin Smith who came from sixteenth starting spot, and another brother, Dave Smith started fourteenth, and finished fifth. David Smith leads Tyler Pickett by 16 points as we head into Season Championship night next week.
The 15 lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature, presented by Pickett Salvage put a nightcap on the racing.
Dustin Filloon grabbed the lead from his outside front row starting spot and from there on, never looked back on his way to the checkers and his first ever win at the track. He held off some stiff competition from John Watson who chased the leader for much of the race until falling back at the conclusion, and then having to fend off Eric Knutson and last week's winner and twelfth place starter Mike Smith as the checkers flew. Filloon was no doubt a happy camper to secure his first time in Victory Lane at the track. Knutson finished in the runner up spot, Smith went third, Watson fell to fourth place in the final run to the finish, and Joe Wollenhaupt took fifth. It's a tight race for the track championship next week with Mike Smith holding a slim 3 point lead over Eric Knutson.
A few new drivers made their appearance at the track last night. Among the Modified class were two Wisconsin drivers, Dan Ratajczak, and Rob Charapata, and Ryan Gillmore, Springfield, Missouri, the driver who sat on the pole for the Super Nationals a couple of years ago, only to have to miss championship night due to his father's passing. Also, veteran racer Lloyd Henderson, Bouton, Iowa made his first appearance of the year as he always does right before Super Nationals.
Things are getting prepped at Boone as Super Nationals approaches quickly. The new infield slab that was poured last week was in use last night, with the scales in use and the first driver to use the slab for a feature win was Mod Lite racer Bryan Zehm. The entire area behind the grandstand had been newly sealcoated as well and looking fresh. Some new pit RV hook ups have been installed, and this past week, new dirt along with the well-known Boone wood chips had been added to the racing surface.
The season is oh so quickly winding down. Find a track to support, and help keep the sport we all love....dirt track racing....alive and well!
Next week, August 17, is Season Championship night when five track champions will be crowned. Pits open at 4:30, gates at 5:30, with hot laps at 6, and racing at 7.
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