With four of the five features being captured in flag-to-flag fashion, if you are one of those race fans that only focuses on the lead you might have been disappointed with the racing at the Boone Speedway Saturday night. However, if you would have glanced back in the field you would have been amazed at the three, four and even five-wide action going on just behind the leader, action that on more than a few occasions had me saying "wow" under my breath and I told Joyce Eisele that it is easy to see how somebody can become addicted to this place.
With the weather the way it was I had no plans to go racing Saturday night, but when some potential plans fell through for the evening around three o'clock I decided to check to see if anybody was still racing and of course Boone was. The place seems to have a umbrella over it as in the past several seasons there have been many nights where it would stand to reason that every track in the state would be rained out only to have Boone still up and running and on this night I was going to take advantage of it. The two hour and forty-five minute drive allowed me to purchase that last wristband for VIP access to the booth in order to stay out of the chilly breeze just as the first heat race of the night was on the track at 6:30. As expected the show ran off in the most efficient manner possible and with the track conditions staying racy throughout, no "farming" was needed and the final checkered flag waved at 9:07. So if not for a quick stop at Casey's to fuel up I would have been home just before midnight! Amazing......
The Mod Lite feature was the first of five to hit the speedway with veteran driver Jimmy May joining Bryan Zehm on the front row. May grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and despite the race being interrupted by a pair of Ace Montgomery spins on lap five and lap eight, May would go unchallenged to win the fifteen-lap event. The winner's son, Josh May, was the big mover of the night working his up from a fifth row start to pass Cory Dennis exiting turn four on the final lap to finish second. Dennis was followed in by Zehm while Joel Keenan held down fifth.
Eighteen laps of IMCA Sport Mod action was up next with Brian Eppert going from the pole to lead the opening lap. Sixth starting Brandon Williams got shuffled over the top of turn three to draw a caution on that first lap and on the restart Eppert pulled away a bit before a three-car tangle in turn four that was triggered when Jake Sachau got sideways on lap six. Andy Tiernan and Sam Wieben were now in position to challenge Eppert following the restart and on lap nine Wieben nosed under Eppert coming off of turn four to take the lead. Having started tenth Wieben was definitely one of the fastest cars on the track and as he pulled away from Eppert and Tiernan their battle continued on for second. With five laps remaining though contact between the two would leave Eppert facing the wrong direction in turn one and while he was sent to the back of the pack for the restart, Tiernan was directed to the pit area.
One last caution waved with two laps remaining when Jake McBirnie got pinched out of a four-wide battle for position, but that did not keep Sam Wieben from easing on to victory. Jonathan Logue started off a pretty good night for his family by taking the runner-up position, defending All Iowa Points Champion Clint Luellen came from eleventh to finish third, Randy Roberts was fourth and Ben Wilson took fifth. Brandon Williams who restarted at the rear of the twenty-four car field following his first lap incident charged all the way back up to sixth at the checkers.
IMCA Hobby Stocks were on track next for twelve laps that was slowed only once for debris on the front stretch on lap two. That debris was a bumper and with all of the fender rubbing, door banging action in this one it was amazing that there was just one caution. Solomon Bennett started on the outside of row one and stayed ahead of the action building just enough of a lead that when Andrew Burg finally made his way into second with two laps remaining he did not have enough time to close the gap. Bennett would be a very happy first-time winner while Burg, who started the race in the sixth row, would have to be happy with second. Pole-sitter Daniel Hagen finished in the third spot ahead of Aaron Rudolph and Cody Gustoff.
A pair of early cautions slowed the IMCA Modified feature where there would be no stopping John Logue from going flag-to-flag for the victory. The veteran driver started on the pole and when his fellow front row starter Devon Havlik went too high into turn one that was all that Logue needed to secure a lead that he would never relinquish. Kyle Brown would hold off challenges from a couple different drivers during the race to finish in second while Russ Dickerson found the high line to his liking late in the race to get back up to the third spot, the same position from where he started the race. Jimmy Gustin would take the fourth-place paycheck while Scott Davis wound up fifth.
And to close out the evening with an action packed eighteen-lap event that went non-stop, it was the IMCA Stock Cars. Jay Schmidt pulled out to a sizable lead as drivers went four-wide behind him and once Trent Murphy emerged from that pack he began to reel in the leader. Murphy would put a nose under Schmidt coming off of turn four to the white flag and on the final lap Murphy drove his #25 deep into turns three and four in an effort to intimidate Schmidt, but Jay calmly went just a little bit higher in turn four, maintained his momentum and held on to win by a couple of car lengths at the checkers. Tyler Pickett was impressive in third ahead of Wayne Gifford, who came from twelfth and Hot Rod Richards.
It was a perfect finish to a perfect night of racing, especially to those brave fans who were bundled up in the stands and happy to head for the warmth of their cars and an early drive home. Robert Lawton and the Boone Speedway staff were the originators of the "one and done" rule and they still set the standard for running off the most efficient race program possible. This program with around 138 cars in five classes only took two hours and thirty-seven minutes to complete, less than what it took for me to make the one way trip up here from Mt.Pleasant!
One other thing that I noted tonight that I hope also catches on at other tracks is how they qualified the thirty-car field in both the Stock Cars and the Hobby Stock divisions, Three heats with the top seven moving on to the feature and then ONE B-MAIN with the top three to complete the twenty-four car field. I firmly believe that there should never be more than one B-Main as more often than not when you split the non-qualifiers into two B-Mains you will have inequity either in the quality of the field or the number due to scratches. There are tracks and at least one traveling series that I know of that would have taken the same thirty cars, ran four heats with only the top three moving on and then would have run two B-Mains with nine cars scheduled for each and had the top five or six move on. The problem is that, as I have seen it happen before, one of those B-Mains would have all nine cars start while the other one would have three scratches and all six starters would advance without even having to "earn" their way in.
When it comes to race procedures it is always wise to follow the lead of the Boone Speedway: ONE B-MAIN ONLY! If you have more than 40 cars, then run a C-Main, plain and simple.
It was great to say hi to Lawty who wondered what the heck I was doing up in his neck of the woods and as always it was great to visit with my Positively Racing colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele. For another take on the night's action make sure to visit the 4dFan Report.
Tonight I actually have a plan to go racing with the destination being the Quincy Raceways. It is bright and sunny and the temperature is on the rise, here's hoping that you get out to a track of your choice tonight as well.
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