In the first 20-lap event Miranda Arnold and Joey Moughan lined up side-by-side on the front row with Moughan putting the Wilson Brothers Racing #15 to the point at the drop of the green. The car was formerly driven by Donny Schatz and still carries the Armor All #15 paint job and Moughan's domination was reminiscent of the seven-time Nationals champion as he drove away from the field. The race to watch was now for second where Arnold, making her first ever appearance at 34 Raceway, was trying to hold off current Invaders point leader Russ Hall. With just a handful of laps remaining Arnold tried the low line while working traffic, and that allowed Hall to skip around her on the outside to pick up the position that he would then hold to the finish. Paul Nienheiser and Josh Schneiderman would round out the top five.
For Moughan this made for an interesting streak in his last three appearances here at 34 Raceway. Last September he was called upon on race day to drive the car of Mike Hess in the Sprint Invaders season championship, a race that he would go on to win to wrap up the 2012 season. Then on March 30th of this year, Moughan served as the crew chief for 16-year-old Paul Nienheiser who was running his first ever 360 Sprint race and the combination delivered a victory in 2013 opener for the Sprint Invaders. So with the win in tonight's opener Moughan had been involved in three straight victories here at 34 Raceway, a track that he spoke very highly of. "This is such a nice facility, I love this place. I wish that I could run here thirty nights a year," said Moughan. "Jeff and Amy (Laue) do a spectacular job here."
All cars that were on the lead lap at the conclusion of the first feature were inverted for the second twenty-lapper and despite Moughan's dominance, the parity of the field showed as eighteen cars were inverted. Ryan Jamison would race out to a big early lead in this one as drivers who finished near the top of the first main event, for the most part, struggled to make much progress. That is except for Russ Hall who had moved from 17th to seventh when the caution waved on lap eleven for a flat tire on Matt Krieger's car. On the restart the first six cars all went to the bottom in turns one and two allowing Hall to zip around the topside to get all the way up to third as he raced down the back stretch, but with Miranda Arnold failing to come up to speed the caution waved again to wipe out that effort.
After seeing Hall blow by them I would have figured that at least one of those four cars would have went to the cushion on the ensuing restart, but again they all went to the bottom and Hall flew past again to get into the top three. The next lap Hall was in second and on lap fifteen he blew past Jamison for the lead. It was then heartbreak for Jamison a lap later when it appeared that his motor let go and he drove the car to the pit area as the race stayed green. There was no catching Hall as he cruised on to an impressive victory and with Jamison's bad luck it would appear that Hall has the series title all but locked up with one event remaining. That will be the Season Championship for the Sprint Invaders here at 34 Raceway on Saturday, September 21st. Jimmy Davies driving a car borrowed from the Deuce Motorsports Team after damaging his car the night before in Bloomfield drove a solid race to finish in second, Jarrod Schneiderman was third, Justin Newberry posted a strong fourth place run while Dustin Selvage came from the seventh row to take fifth.
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| Is there anything better in life than a beautiful sunset over a race track??? |
The UMP Late Models were also on the card tonight and while the count was light the quality was definitely there as all seven drivers were capable of winning the main event. Mark Burgtorf raced out to a big early lead and usually that would mean the race was over here, but Chris Simpson had other plans as he reeled in the leader and then executed the perfect slide job in turns three and four with just a few laps to go to make the pass for the win. Burgtorf would have to be content with second tonight, Dustin Griffin would take third ahead of Denny Woodworth, Ray Guss Jr., Jason Perry and Ron Elbe.
Shon Sanders started on the pole and walked away for the win in the Mod Lites. There was a great battle for second that saw Daniel Keltner make a nifty move late to slip by Evan Epperson and as the two took the checkers Keltner slowed immediately and Epperson had to take evasive action to keep from plowing into the back of Keltner's ride. Not sure if there was contact or not, but Keltner then caught up with Epperson and drilled him in the back bumper as the cars were headed for tech a move that resulted in a disqualification for the night. That moved Epperson to second at the pay window, Justin Bucholz to third, fourth went to Devon Rouse and Gary Snyder was credited with fifth.
As usual there was a nice field of Four Cylinders at 34 Raceway with nineteen cars checking in for the night and it looked as though Rachel Reger was headed to her first ever feature win. Ron Kibbe was challenging and Kimberly Abbott was close behind in third as the white flag waved and when Reger bobbled just a bit in turn two on the final lap that was all that Kibee needed to make the pass and take the win. The cagey veteran Wayne Noble gained two spots on that final lap to finish in second, Reger slipped to third just ahead of Abbott while Austen Becerra completed the top five.
It was an absolutely spectacular night for racing weather-wise and the full program was completed just a few minutes before ten o'clock. Next Saturday will be Season Championship night at 34 Raceway then on Friday night August 30th the USAC Sprint Cars come to town.
Next up for us will be the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa this Wednesday night, August 21st, as the IMCA Late Models will join the weekly program for the evening. Hope to see you there!
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