And since I did have the honor of sharing the microphone with Jerry Mackey for the evening, I did not take my usual notes that I would for a standard entry here on the Back Stretch.
Mike Van Genderen made his first ever trip to Dubuque count by winning the Modified main event. MVG prevailed in an entertaining battle with Ryan DeShaw who was working the high line and actually took the lead from Van Genderen for a couple of laps mid-race.
The Late Model feature turned into another shootout between Dan Shelliam and Justin Kay with this time Kay prevailing as the 16-car late model field used multiple grooves around the perfectly prepared racing surface.
With only thirteen Sprint Cars making the trip I have to hand it to Bart Schneiderman and the Sprint Invaders for quickly coming up with a race format that would give the fans plenty of Sprint Car action while not over working those thirteen drivers. And they delivered in grand fashion! Trust me, I have been to several shows with twice as many cars that only delivered half as much action as we experienced Thursday night in Dubuque!
My "official" story and results for the Sprint Invaders follows:
Jamie Ball Notches Second Win Of
2015 As Sprints Invade Dubuque
(Jeff
B.) Dubuque, Iowa (7/30/15) – The car count may have been lower than expected,
but with an enhanced format the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders entertained a
large crowd at the Dubuque County Fair on Thursday evening. Drivers used four
different lines of racing throughout the evening on the perfectly prepared
high-banked 3/8-mile oval and at the end of the night it was Jamie Ball
celebrating in victory lane.
Ball and
Harold Pohren started the 30-lap main event on the front row and it would be
Pohren riding the cushion to the early lead. A caution for Mike Dapra’s spin in
turn two created a lap two restart where Ball would take the lead momentarily
only to have Pohren fly the high line back to the front on lap four. Another
caution for Dapra on lap six only delayed the fun as Ball kept digging on the
bottom on the restart and the two leaders would cross the stripe in a near dead
heat the next two laps. On lap eight Ball slid up in front of Pohren in turn
four to seal off his line and take the lead and that exchange allowed John
Schulz to join the battle and he soon grabbed the second spot.
With
Ball still running the high line Schulz made a bid for the lead down low, but
Ball caught sight of him and returned to his preferred line around the bottom
to secure his lead. Schulz would stay within five car lengths of Ball, but
could get no closer as the laps clicked away and Ball would score his second
Shottenkirk.com of the season. Schulz would take the runner-up spot, Ryan
Jamison used the bottom to move from ninth to third, current point leader Tony
Shilling would finish fourth and Pohren would hold down fifth.
“I am
from Knoxville, but I’m a short tracker this year it seems and I love this
place!”, said Ball as he was greeted in victory lane by friends and family. He
then thanked the large crowd for coming out on a Thursday and said, “I hope
that you will have us back next year.”
Two sets
of heat races were run with the second set inverted and the fourth heat of the
night gave the fans a thrill as four drivers sliced and diced the entire six
laps for the lead.
Next up
for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will be a three day weekend of racing
August 21st, 22nd and 23rd running Friday
night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Saturday night at 34 Raceway in
Burlington and Sunday night at the Quincy Raceways in Quincy.
Results
Shottenkirk.com A-Main – 1. Jamie Ball, Knoxville 2. John
Schulz, West Burlington 3. Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis 4. Tony Shilling, Knoxville
5. Harold Pohren, Lowell 6. Chris Martin, Ankeny 7. Josh Schneiderman, West
Burlington 8. Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington 9. Jon Agan, Knoxville 10.
Tim Moore, Rock Island IL 11. Nate Van Haaften, Otley 12. Dave Getchell, Sperry
13. Mike Dapra, Gillette WY
Lap
Leaders: Pohren 1-2, 4-7; Ball 3, 8-30
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat 1 – 1. Shilling 2. Van Haaften 3.
Josh Schneiderman 4. Agan 5. Getchell 6. Dapra
Budweiser/Golden Eagle
Distributing Heat 2 – 1.
Jarrod Schneiderman 2. Schulz 3. Pohren 4. Ball 5. Jamison 6. Martin 7. Moore
Heat 3 – 1. Pohren 2. Jarrod Schneiderman
3. Shilling 4. Josh Schneiderman 5. Jamison 6. Getchell
Heat 4 – 1. Agan 2. Ball 3. Schulz 4. Van
Haaften 5. Martin 6. Moore 7. Dapra
Randall’s Performance Shake-Up
Dash – 1. Shilling
2. Jarrod Schneiderman 3. Schulz 4. Agan 5. Ball 6. Pohren
No racing for me this weekend as I want to make sure that my wife has a good opinion of me before the next two weeks arrives. On Tuesday night I cannot wait to make the trip to West Liberty for the $10,000-to-win MLRA Late Model show along with a $1,000-to-win IMCA Late Model "support" class. The Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals then runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday followed by the Capitani Classic for the 410's on Sunday night.
On Monday August 10th Terry McCarl's Front Row Challenge celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a $20,000-to-win blowout for the National Sprint League and then on Tuesday night August 11th I will squeeze in a night of stock car action between my Sprint adventures by returning to the Cedar County Raceway in Tipton for the Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Models and the Hawkeye Dirt Tour Modifieds.
Then from Wednesday through Saturday it will be the granddaddy of them all, the FVP Knoxville Sprint Car Nationals! So you can see why I need to have a good weekend with my favorite lady this weekend?
I do encourage those of you in the area though to get on out to 34 Raceway this Saturday night for the Chad Gall Memorial, a great event for a great person who absolutely loved this sport! Take a look at the ad at the top on the right of this blog for details.
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