It has been several years since the Wisconsin-based Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Association (IRA) Sprint Cars had visited 34 Raceway and Saturday night would be the season opener for the long running 410 winged Sprint Car series at the southeast Iowa oval near Burlington. Eighteen IRA regulars made the trip in and with another eleven drivers from both the MOWA series and Knoxville, as well as a pair of locals, it was a balanced field of twenty-nine cars and stars that filled the pits on the warm and breezy evening.
Austin McCarl in his first night out with the TKS Motorsports team set quick time on the night as MOWA regulars Paul Nienheiser and Jim Moughan won the first two heat races before the defending IRA champion Jeremy Schultz took the third heat. Ryan Bowers, the former UMSS 360 Sprint champion picked up the pace after a slow start to his evening by winning the B-Main from the third row and the 24-car field was set for the 30-lap main event.
Veteran driver Lynton Jeffrey drew the pole position and he would lead the opening two laps before the twenty-year-old Nienhesier muscled by him on the inside entering turn three. Just after that third lap was scored the red flag waved when Kris Spitz took a wild ride entering turn three, one that he would be able to walk away from uninjured.
On the restart Nienheiser quickly left the field in his wake only to have the caution wave again on lap five when Scott Neitzel spun off the top of turn two. Again Nienheiser would have ten car lengths on the field before entering turn one on the restart so the nice crowd on hand turned their focus to the many battles for position as Jeffrey tried to ward off both Schultz and Josh Schneiderman for second. Jake Blackhurst soon joined that battle as well and just as Blackhurst cleared Schultz for third on lap seventeen the defending champ would slow suddenly trapping Schneiderman behind him. Former IRA champ Bill Balog then looped his car in turn two to avoid the logjam and the caution waved as Schneiderman was somehow able to keep his car moving after disengaging from the rear bumper of Schultz.
Nienhesier now had Jeffrey, Blackhurst and Schneiderman lined up behind him for the restart, but perhaps his biggest threat would be Tim Kaeding who was now in sixth after pitting during the early red to resolve a brake line issue. Nienhesier was again fast off the line and would build a solid lead as Blackhurst shuffled Jeffrey out of second and Kaeding continued his charge now up to third. This one was all but over until the caution waved one last time with three laps to go when Matt Vandervere stopped at the exit of turn four with front end damage on his sprinter.
With Blackhurst and Kaeding now ready to pounce, Nienheiser immediately removed any doubt of who would win this one by again rocketing away from his contenders at the drop of the green and he would go unchallenged to take the win nearly four years to the day after he won his first Sprint Invaders feature here at 34 Raceway when he was just sixteen. Blackhurst was able to ward off Kaeding to make it a one-two sweep for the MOWA regulars. Josh Schneiderman gave his hometown fans plenty to cheer about as he passed Brad Loyet on the final lap to regain fourth as Loyet filled out the top five. Jeffrey held on to finish in sixth with Scotty Thiel the best of the IRA contingent in seventh. Austin McCarl was eighth, Bret Tripplett was ninth and Jordan Goldesberry who had to make a last lap pass in the B-Main to earn the final transfer spot was tenth.
It was a treat for this southeast Iowa fan to see eighteen drivers that I would not get to see without making a trip to Wisconsin and the great thing was that there was no clear cut favorite in the field. I was very impressed with Jeremy Schultz and had he not suffered mechanical issues the defending IRA champion looked to be headed for a podium finish The show drew a solid crowd and hopefully Steve Sinclair will agree to start the IRA season here again at 34 in 2018. If not, then I will be forced to make at least one trip into Wisconsin as I have a new announcer crush on Ray Underwood, the voice of the series who not only brings a passion to the mic, but a wealth of information and flair as well. Plus, his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was incredible!
It was also the opening night of points racing for three of 34 Raceway's weekly divisions and all three turned out with solid car counts and some good racing even though some fast guys started up front in the draw and redraw format.
Brandon Rothzen always puts on a show at 34, but tonight all he had to do was cruise after drawing the pole position for the twenty-lap Modified main event leaving the racing behind him. The battle for second was a good one between Mitch Morris and Late Model convert Colby Springsteen as the two would swap the position high to low and low to high several times over the final ten laps with Morris prevailing as the runner-up. Dennis LaVeine charged from the sixth row to muscle past Springsteen for third in the closing laps while Bobby Six came from tenth to finish fifth. Rothzen did not yet have his car wrapped so he had taped Go Cubs Go in white on his black Modified and told me as he checked in that if he won tonight I had to play the song. That was a request that I was happy to oblige much to the chagrin of the Cardinal fans in attendance.
For the past several seasons in the Stock Car division at 34 Raceway you could usually count on a battle between John Oliver Jr. and Tom Bowling Jr, for the win after both drivers had to race up from the fifth row due to the points inverted start. On opening night though Bowling had the immediate advantage drawing out the number one pill while Oliver drew the eight, but it did not take long for John to get to the front and once he did the familiar race was on! Oliver was able to get his nose under Bowling on a couple of occasions and the battle was spiced up even more with Dustin Griffiths right there waiting for a mistake, but as usual the two veterans raced hard and clean with Bowling holding on to take win over Oliver. Griffiths was very impressive in his first ever Stock Car appearance at 34 as a close third, Jake Wenig came from tenth to fourth and Jason Cook filled out the top five.
The Sport Mods were the first feature of the night and the only thing that would slow Brandon Lennox during the twenty-lap distance were the three cautions that were needed during the race. Lennox blew by lap one leader Levi Laymon on the first restart and would then go unchallenged to the convincing victory. The race for second was a fun one to watch as Kyle Hill came from his sixth starting spot to get to second and then fought off Brandon Dale in the final laps to keep the runner-up honors. Jake Morris powered his way to fourth after starting in the tenth row while Austin Howes finished in fifth.
Next up at 34 Raceway is the 9th Annual Slocum 50 that will pay a whopping $10,555 to the winner of the Super Late Model feature. Event organizers Brad Stevens and Jessi Mynatt told the fans to keep an eye on the Slocum 50 Facebook page and the 34 Raceway page this week for exciting announcements as to who some of the Late Model competitors might be, plus they reminded everybody that this is also a big event for the Stock Cars and the 305 Sprints. In fact, late in the evening it was announced that Dave Getchell and Getchell Farms will add $555 to the Sprint Car purse to make it $1,555-to-win, likely the best payout for a single day 305 Sprint show in the Midwest this year. We hope to see you there!
Tonight I close out a rare, for me at least, three-race weekend with a trip north to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton for the final night of the IMCA Frostbusters, Look for me on the Back Stretch.
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