Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Bruening, Murty and VanDenBerg Headline All Iowa Points Leaders at Mid-Season

After battling through the wettest Spring on record we have reached the mid-point of the 2013 racing season around Iowa and while a couple of drivers appear headed for yet another All Iowa Points title, three or four divisions may see first time champions. That is, of course, if the trends of the first half of the season hold true to the end.

Ray Guss Jr. was the early leader in the Late Model division as the Hall of Famer is looking for his fifth straight and eighth overall All Iowa Points title, but has now dropped to the fourth position at mid-season. Young Tyler Bruening sits atop the current rankings while perennial contender Todd Cooney moved from fifth to second this past week. Veteran driver Darrel DeFrance is now third as all of the top three are looking for their first AIP championship. Current Deery Series point leader Brian Harris ranks fifth.

Jesse Sobbing has been the All Iowa Points Limited Modified champion the past three years and early in the season he looked like a solid top ten contender during his rookie year in the Modified division. That soon changed though when the wins started to add up and on the strength of eight victories so far Sobbing has vaulted to the top of the standings ahead of early leader Richie Gustin. Bad early season weather in northwest Iowa hampered Sioux City’s Chris Abelson, but he has come on strong as of late to move into the third position ahead of Jimmy Gustin and J.D. Auringer.  And the driver to watch in the second half just might be Ronn Lauritzen who jumped all the way up to sixth from 17th last week.

The Limited Modified division is guaranteed a new champion as none of the past winners (Sobbing, Kevin Sather, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Gustin, Wyatt Lantz, Mike Kleinhesselink, Ed Green and Larry Cook) are competing regularly in the division this season.  The young man to beat at mid-season is Carter VanDenBerg of Oskaloosa who has opened up a 22-point advantage in the point system that rewards five points for a win and one point for a fifth-place finish. Three straight rainouts at their home track of Quincy has hindered Tony Dunker and Bobby Anders as Doug Smith has settled between the two of them in third while Benton County Speedway regulars Danny Dvorak and Joel Rust are tied for fifth.

Damon Murty has been one of the top Stock Car drivers in Iowa for many years, but an All Iowa Points title has eluded him in the past as he often misses several nights of the season while taking care of his farm, something that is obviously much more important! Murty came out of the gate faster than ever in 2013 and has already scored twelve feature wins, but can a big lead early withstand a late run from his competition? John Emerson has burst onto the scene and is currently in second on the strength of nine wins and seven runner-up finishes while Jason Cook has returned to running three nights a week in style as he ranks third. School is out for the summer and high school administrator Nathan Wood is making his move joining the top five this week in fourth while Norman Chesmore is almost quietly having a great year in fifth.

The Hobby Stock points race has been back and forth lately between two drivers and after winning two features on one night at Boone this past Saturday two-time champion Shannon Anderson is back out front leading Chris Luloff. Three-time defending champion Devin Smith lurks in third as the top three are starting to distance themselves from the rest of the pack. Dustin Griffiths and Benji Irvine make up the top five at mid-season.

Most four cylinder drivers won’t even start thirty-two races this season. Current All Iowa Points leader Merv Chandler has already posted that many top-five finishes though as he appears headed to his second straight championship in the division to go along with his two AIP Modified titles in 1984 and 1985. As he usually does on the track as well Bill Whalen Jr. is chasing Chandler in second while Megan Lappegard is again having a fine season in third. With four feature wins in the past week that boosted his total up to eleven on the season, Adam Gates moved from ninth to fourth at mid-season while Quad Cities racer Aaron Hitt is in fifth.

Familiar faces are on top of the standings in all three Sprint Car divisions at mid-season. Terry McCarl has more AIP titles than any other driver in any division and this would be his twelfth championship if he is able to hold off the rest of the winged warriors including Mark Dobmeier who is now in second. It would be the sixth championship for Dobmeier if he should win it as one of these two drivers have ranked at the top every year but one since 1998. Wayne Johnson was the only driver to break that domination winning the 410 title in 2005. It has been eleven years since his first AIP 360 Sprint championship, but Clint Garner is again the man to beat each Saturday night in this division at Knoxville.  Jon Agan and Russ Hall who also run the Sprint Invader shows may be able to score enough points to catch him though in the second half. Two former AIP champs are tied at the top of the 305 standings midway through 2013 as 2008 305 Sprint Champion Donnie Steward and 2009 360 champion Mike Boston each have 19 points. This is a race that is definitely too close to call as the top seven drivers are all within five points, or one feature win from the top of the sheet.

Josh May and Andy Hennigar have set themselves apart from the rest of the Mod Lite drivers in the first year of All Iowa Points tracking for this division while the next three in line, Chase Flatt, Mike Morrill and Evan Epperson are separated by one point each.


The All Iowa Points have crowned mythical state champions in three or more divisions since 1967 and are exclusively found on the Points page at www.PositivelyRacing.com where an explanation of the points system as well as the tracks included can also be found. The full rundown for each division is updated weekly during the season and the June 24th Mid-Season update will be posted soon if it has not been already.  The 2013 All Iowa Points season is currently scheduled to end on Saturday October 26th with the annual running of “Shiverfest” at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson.

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