Back To Form, Sutton Scores Sprint Invaders Win at Jacksonville

Former series champion Matt Sutton has been in a slump and was starting to doubt his abilities, but that self doubt was erased on Friday night as Sutton went flag-to-flag for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders win at the Jacksonville Speedway.

In preliminary action it looked as though the night would belong to the current Sprint Invaders point leader Russ Hall as after making the long tow down from the Des Moines area, Hall dominated both his heat and the Budweiser “King of Beers” Shake Up dash. And after rolling a two to put himself on the front row for the twenty-five lap main event, Hall seemed poised to make it a clean sweep.

Matt Sutton had other ideas though as following a no-start that saw series regular Andy Huston get upside down in turn one, Sutton used his pole position start to take the lead at the drop of the green. Only one lap would be scored though before Tim Moore and Brian Armitage tangled in turn one and the caution waved again on lap six when a broken right front sent Patrick Moore for a spin in turn four.

On the restart Jerrod Hull worked past Hall to take the second spot and he did his best to keep pace with Sutton as the leaders navigated lapped traffic. The caution waved one last time on lap seventeen when Armitage spun in turn one and it was during this caution period that misfortune struck the top two drivers in the point standings. Having run over something on the track, Hall suffered tire issues and drove to the pit area while Ryan Jamison was now fighting steering issues. Jamison was able to stay on the track, but was no longer at speed after running just outside the top five throughout.

Once back to green Hull made one strong run at Sutton diving to the bottom in turns one and two, but the leader shook off that challenge and then maintained at least a five car-length advantage over the final laps to score the $1,200 victory. “I just haven’t been very good lately so the crew said we’ll handle the setup and you handle the driving,” said an elated Sutton in victory lane after executing a perfect 360 in celebration. Jerrod Hull would settle for the runner-up money, Korey Weyant finished third and after fighting mechanical issues in his heat race Jimmy Hurley drove from nineteenth up to fourth. Dustin Selvage who came into the night ranked third in the Invaders point standings closed the gap on the leaders by finishing fifth.

Ryan Blakeman started fifteenth and finished sixth, Paul Nienheiser came in seventh, eighth went to Jimmy Davies, Dave Getchell was ninth and hometown driver Caelb Wankel completed the top ten.

The Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders return to action for a double-header weekend on Friday August 16^th at the Bloomfield Speedway before moving to 34 Raceway near Burlington on Saturday August 17^th for the “Night of the Twins”.

A Main (started), 25 laps: 1. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb IL (1) 2. 12, Jerrod Hull, Sikeston MO (3) 3. 99w, Korey Weyant, Springfield IL (5) 4. 35, Jimmy Hurley, Springfield IL (19) 5. 73, Dustin Selvage, Indianola IA (4) 6. 10K, Ryan Blakeman, Jacksonville IL (15) 7. 9, Paul Nienheiser, Chapin IL (6) 8. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka IL (13) 9. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry IA (10) 10. 5, Caleb Wankel, Jacksonville IL (11) 11. 10T, Tim Moore, Rock Island IL (14) 12. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis IA (8) 13. 45c, Russ Hall, Pleasant Hill IA (2) 14. 9D, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington IA (16) 15. 84, Brian Armitage, Athens IL (17) 16. 20, Steven Russell, Springfield IL (18) 17. 2x, Patrick Moore, Moline IL (12) 18. 15M, Joey Moughan, Springfield IL (9) 19. 40, Andy Huston, Roseville IL (7) Lap Leader: Sutton 1-25. KSE Hard Charger: Davies

Advanced Plumbing & Mechanical Heat One (started, top two to Dash, 8 laps): 1. Jerrod Hull (1) 2. Korey Weyant (3) 3. Andy Huston (2) 4. Dave Getchell (4) 5. Jimmy Davies (5) 6. Daniel Bergquist (6) 7. Steven Russell (7)

Huston Land Improvement Heat Two (started, top two to Dash, 8 laps): 1. Russ Hall (1) 2. Paul Nienheiser (4) 3. Ryan Jamison (5) 4. Caleb Wankel (2) 5. Tim Moore (6) 6. Jimmy Hurley (3)

CenPeCo Heat Three (started, top two to Dash, 8 laps): 1. Matt Sutton (2) 2. Dustin Selvage (4) 3. Joey Moughan (1) 4. Patrick Moore (3) 5. Ryan Blakeman (5) 6. Brian Armitage (6)

Budweiser “King of Beers” Shake-Up Dash (started, 6 laps): 1. Russ Hall (1) 2. Jerrod Hull (4) 3. Paul Nienheiser (2) 4. Dustin Selvage (3) 5. Korey Weyant (5) 6. Matt Sutton (6)

Contingencies

Weld Racing – Tim Moore

Saldana Racing Products – Daniel Bergquist

SBI – Dave Getchell