The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders traditionally fill the gap for area Sprint Car fans during the weekend following the Knoxville Nationals and this year it was a southeast Iowa doubleheader with racing on Friday night at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday night at 34 Raceway west of Burlington.
Fans had to be pleasantly surprised to see the strong field assembled at Lee County that included ASCS National series regular Wayne Johnson, former Winged Outlaw Warrior champion Randy Martin and four-time Knoxville Nationals champion Danny Lasoski who was on board the Mark Burch Motorsports #1M for the evening. This swelled the car count to 27 featuring three heats, the Budweiser King of Beers Shake Up Dash and a B-Main to set the twenty car feature field.
Unfortunately it was a short night for Martin though who pulled out of his heat race early with mechanical issues forcing him to scratch for the rest of the night. Jamie Ball also had his night shortened as after running an impressive second to Harold Pohren in the opening heat race his team found a mechanical issue that put a premature end to his night. This left six spots to be filled from the B-Main and while it was hampered by a few cautions the battle for the final transfer spot was enhanced by the fact that 15-year-old Bailey Goldesberry was trying to race her way into the main in her first ever appearance withe the Invaders. Bailey was able to get the job done and she then went on to finish 15th in the feature.
The Sprints were the third of six feature races on the card with storms quickly approaching from the south and west. A good clean flag-to-flag twenty-five lap event would likely allow the remaining three features to be completed as well, but on the opening lap the fifth starting Pohren spun up the track in turn one and came to rest against the guardrail. Everybody missed him until the 16th starting Damian Getchell clipped him with his right rear wheel tipping Pohren's car on its side and sending the young Getchell into a hard series of rolls. An issue with the boom on the wrecker then caused an agonizingly long delay where finally they just pushed Pohren's car to the pits and somehow lifted Getchell's damaged sprinter enough to get it into the infield.
The lightning flashes were getting closer now as the race went green and it was the veteran John Schulz fighting off the young point leader Chris Martin to take the win. Lasoski, who started tenth, was able to take third away from Wayne Johnson on the final lap restart to finish third while Dash winner Josh Schneiderman was fifth. The race story and complete results from my announcing partner Bill Wright can be found here.
All five of the track's weekly race divisions were also in action as Barry Taft held off Josh Barnes to win the Sport Compact main event. Taft got off to a late start this season, but is now becoming a regular in victory lane while Barnes started twelfth after having issues in his heat race. Ageless veteran Dean McGee was the class of the IMCA Modified field winning by a comfortable margin over Bill Roberts Jr., Dennis LaVeine and Jeff Waterman.
It started to sprinkle as I wrapped up a quick victory lane interview with Schulz and then Jeremy Pundt scored his second win of the season in the IMCA Stock Cars. Point leader Jeff Mueller started tenth and was up to second by mid-race, but he could never reel in Pundt to mount a challenge. John Oliver Jr., Andrew Hustead and Abe Huls were next in line.
The Lee County Crate Late Models were up next and after Tommy Elston fought off an early challenge from Tyler Cale he pulled away to a convincing win. Sam Halstead battled his way up to second so I believe that Elston will hold a one-point lead over Halstead heading into this Friday's Season Championship at Lee County. Todd Frank, Jeff Guengerich and Derek Liles completed the top five and it was good to see newcomers Blake Woodruff and Trent Grotz in attendance. The true test for this new class will be to see how much the car count expands over the winter in preparation for 2017.
The sprinkles got a bit heavier as the IMCA Sport Mods took to the track and by lap five it was raining too hard to continue This event will be completed as an added bonus to this Friday night's Season Championship event. During the driver's meeting early in the night Race Director Mike Van Genderen put to rest any rumors that must be circulating by stating very clearly that it has been a good year at the Speedway and that the track will once again be in action weekly next year.
It rained hard on the drive home to Mount Pleasant and into the night with over two inches coming down at my house and over four inches just south of town, but the first wave of storms passed just west of 34 Raceway leaving the track with less than an inch of rain. One more early afternoon shower made the crew have to work in the pits, but the show was on for Saturday night under sunny skies and much cooler temperatures. In fact it was the first time since May that I have had to bring out the jeans and a sweatshirt for a night of racing.
With the ASCS National Series running in Farmington, Missouri, we knew that we wouldn't have Wayne Johnson with us again, but since Lasoski's team spent the night in Burlington the thought was that he would be at 34, a track that he has had a great deal of success at over the years. When he was a no show though the assumption that he too had headed for Farmington, but a check of the results there this morning shows that he must have decided to take the night off instead in preparation for the $15,000-to-win High Roller Classic at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia on Sunday.
We still had another solid field of 21 Sprint Cars signed in and that late burst of rain played some havoc with the track as the cushion was quite treacherous in spots on both ends. Cody Wehrle bicycled and took a tumble in turn four on the opening lap of his heat race and Friday night's winner John Schulz went to the cushion to challenge for the lead on the opening lap of the feature only to have his car do everything but get upside down in turn four. It was a tough break for Schulz who was putting together a late run at perhaps the Series points title following back-to-back wins, but tonight he would be scored in 21st.
Ryan Jamison has been a fixture in open wheel racing here at 34 for thirty years now and while he has won recently in a 305 and in a limited midget, it has been four years since he has visited victory lane with the Sprint Invaders and that was up at the Cedar County Fair in Tipton. On this night though he was not to be denied a return to victory lane as he fought off a late charge from Chris Martin to score a very popular win for all of the "Flyin' Ryan" fans in attendance. The 18-year-old Martin now has a solid hold on the points lead with just two events left after taking runner-up honors for the second night in a row. Jake Blackhurst was impressive with his career best Invaders finish in third, Harold Pohren rebounded nicely in fourth and Jamie Ball came from tenth to fifth. The full story and race results from Bill W are right here.
It was definitely a popular win for Jamison, but it did not equal the celebration that followed the Modified main event where Dugan Thye captured his first career feature win. The son of one of my all-time favorites Darin Thye, Dugan has been close on several occasions this year including four second-place finishes and tonight he took the lead early and appeared to be walking away from the field. Another second generation driver, Derrick Stewart was on hand after a rainout at his home track West Liberty and after an early spin Stewart had restarted from the back of the thirteen car field. With five laps to go Stewart had raced his way back up to second, but still had a full straightaway to make up on Thye.
That lead was erased though when Seth Bundy spun with three laps remaining and the race would be on following the restart to see who would take tonight's checkers. With a win already on his resume' earlier this year at West Liberty, Stewart raced with confidence and after being thwarted by Thye on the first two laps he threw a big time slider at the leader entering turn three on the final lap. Stewart looked like a crafty veteran as he cleared the leader and then slid up the track to shut the door on the cushion in turn four. But, in an equally impressive move, Dugan stabbed the brakes turned the car to the left and drove back under Stewart to re-take the lead and win by a car length at the checkers.
Most of the fans in attendance raised their fists in celebration and many went down to the fence to get a closer look at the victory lane celebration. Even from atop the grandstands I could see the big smile on Dugan's face and his father Darin soon arrived to give him a big bear hug. It was truly a "family" win for the young driver and it was great to see Stewart walk out to offer his congratulations as well.
Ron Kibbe also has a strong family contingent cheering him on each race night and they celebrated as well this evening as he held back the challenges from defending track champion Kimberly Abbott to win the Four Cylinder feature. Jake Wenig was strong all night as he put his Family Motors sponsored Stock Car #4 in victory lane and Joey Gower was the Sport Mod feature winner despite the fact that the hood pin had come out of the left front impairing his vision for most of the race.
Yes, it was an extra special night to be at 34 Raceway, especially for someone like me who has been there over the years to see Ryan Jamison get his start and to see the kids of former winners Darin Thye and Dan Wenig bring tears to their father's eyes by winning feature races at this track that is in its 51st season of racing. And don't forget that next Saturday night will be a five dollar Fan Appreciation night for Season Championships at 34 Raceway.
I hate to say it, but due to some work and other commitments I am going to have to let the memories of this weekend hold me over now for two weeks before my next event when the Sprint Invaders return to the Quincy Raceways on Sunday September 4th. Hopefully you can get out and take in some shows during my break and then fill me in on the action when I see you again on the Back Stretch!
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