Saturday was night two of the 25th Annual IMCA Spring Nationals at the Beatrice Speedway and 238 cars in five divisions made their way to the southeast corner of Nebraska on a day that turned out to be a bit warmer than originally expected and at the end of the night it was a hometown favorite standing in victory lane.
If you had to name the hottest driver in IMCA Modified racing right now you would have to be challenged if you didn't go with Hunter Marriott and the Brookfield, Missouri, driver drew the outside front row starting spot for tonight's 30-lap main event. Pole-sitter Jeff James held his own on the opening lap until Marriott nosed ahead at the flagstand and once out front Marriott's advantage grew quickly. The racing was solid behind him though and when the caution waved for a lap ten spin by Ryan Jenkins, Marriott was brought back to the field for the restart. Jared Hoefelman hit the pause button again on lap eleven when he stopped with a flat tire and on the next restart Jordan Grabouski went to work on the leader.
Racing on his hometown track the former IMCA Modified National Champion went to the top shelf and this became a battle of the two grooves as Marriott picked his way around the bottom. As the crossed flags indicating the mid-race point were shown Grabouski nosed ahead to take the lead as Marriott picked up the pace to stay close. Lap by lap Grabouski's lead would grow ever so slightly and after clearing three lapped cars racing for position in the final laps the winner Grabouski had ten car lengths on the runner-up Marriott at the checkers. Cayden Carter was closing late in third after he started tenth with Jeremy Payne driving the Jet Racing house car in for fourth. Kelly Shryock drove from sixteenth up to fifth followed by Josh Vogt and Jeff James. Ricky Thornton Jr. came from row eleven to take eighth after winning on Friday night as Benjie LaCrosse and Eddie Belec completed the top ten.
While he had to fight from behind all night in the Modified, Thornton had a much better night in his Tanner Racing Stock Car. Jay Schmidt would pace the opening laps of the 20-lap feature race until Dan Nelson took over on lap three. As usual in this division the battle was intense as Damon Murty snared the lead just before the caution waved for an Eric Bartels spin on lap six. On the restart Ricky Thornton Jr. pounced on Murty to take the lead and he would pace the field until four laps remained when Zack Ankrum spun in turn four.
The racing was wild on the restart as five cars had a chance for the lead coming off turn two and as Thornton once again established himself as the leader the others raced four-wide off turn four for second. Friday's winner Kyle Vanover had lined up fifth for that restart and as the white flag waved he was now second, but he could not run down Thornton who with the Stock Car victory would become the first driver to ever win in two different divisions on the same Spring Nationals weekend. Vanover was impressive coming from fifteenth to second, Derek Green started tenth and finished third, Elijah Zevenbergen came from sixteenth to fourth while Murty completed the top five.
The IMCA Sport Mods were the first of the five features on the night with front row starters Lee Horky and Cody Thompson putting on quite a show swapping the lead back and forth through the first five laps before the red flag waved when Dave Kennedy rolled over in turn one after tangling with Dakota Sproul. On the restart the fourth place car of Rick Rohr spun as he entered turn one sending the field scrambling, but when Rohr was not one of the two cars that stopped on the track he was given his spot back for the next try at a green flag.
Thompson would be the leader once back to racing and on lap seven as Rohr, Jonathan Logue and Lance Borgman raced three-wide out of turn four contact between the three would send Rohr into the front stretch wall while Logue spun toward the inside wall. On this restart Josh Appel would drive past Thompson for the lead and after missing the show by one spot on Friday night it was obvious that the Mason City, Iowa, driver was on a mission driving away from the pack. A caution on lap twelve for North Dakota's Kyle Krogh and another on lap sixteen for Curtis Dreasher slowed the field, but Appel was untouchable as he closed out the final four laps for the win. Colby Langenberg made a late charge to finish second ahead of Jake McBirnie and Brayton Carter while Jarrad Hackler edged out Horky for fifth.
Local driver Jeff Watts would pace the Hobby Stock feature for the first nine laps before Kent Husted slowed in turn two. On the restart Taylor Huss went to work on the leader and with Watts guarding the bottom Huss had to get a little rough as he squeezed under Watts for the lead on lap twelve. There would be no catching Huss from there as after finishing second to Chanse Hollatz on Friday night the Beatrice Speedway regular from nearby Reynolds would cruise to the win. Minnesota visitor Austin Jahnz would finish second, Brady Bencken was third, Roy Armstrong took fourth and Jeff Ware rallied from fifteenth to fifth.
A field of forty-two Sport Compacts made their only appearance of the weekend and in the fifteen lap feature it was the battle of the Bohlmeyers early on. Zach Bohlmeyer would lead the first three laps with Drake Bohlmeyer in hot pursuit. Dustin Thompson was chasing them in third when contact from a hard charging Ramsey Meyer sent him for a spin causing a caution. On the restart Drake would take the point, but neither Bohlmeyer could fight off Meyer who would take the lead on lap seven and the drive away for the win. The Bohlmeyers would swap the runner up spot over the final laps with Drake prevailing to finish in second..
Spring Nationals Notes......This race night was proof that you should not make a decision based upon a 48-hour weather forecast as on Thursday the outlook included a 60% chance of rain here for Saturday. By Friday night the rain had essentially been removed from the forecast and with temperatures in the mid-50's it was very seasonal. A stiff wind put a chill through all those who weren't strategically sitting in front of the press box in the grandstand and when the checkers waved at 11:24 p.m. the temperature was at 42 degrees and there were sprinkles on my windshield as I drove out of the parking lot. Much better than the sub freezing temps that I sat through here last year!......Yes, it was a six hour show, but there is nothing that can be done about that when you have so many cars in the pits. The crew did a fantastic job of having the next race rolling to the track as the one before it pulled off and the intermission that was supposed to be ten minutes long was just that, ten minutes.......Three nasty accidents added to the length of the show, the first coming on the opening lap of the sixth Hobby Stock heat when Chris Bates missed the turn at the end of the straightaway and when his car jumped the universal barrier it completely destroyed the stop and go lights entering turn one. Amazingly though Bates never even stopped as he continued to drive down the road that leads to the outside pits where he went straight to his trailer......In the second Modified heat Justin Zeitner climbed the barriers at the end of the back stretch and when his car came to a stop the crowd could only see the back bumper of his Modified sitting atop the wall in turn three.......The worst crash of the night though came at the start of the first Sport Mod B-Main when Nate Whitehurst was turned into the front stretch wall and when he bounced off of it he clipped Cole Bents who then went into a series of four or five barrel rolls right in front of the grandstand. Thankfully Bents climbed out of his mangled car unhurt and I am assuming that it was his father who rushed onto the track to give him a big hug.......The announcers for the Pay-Per-View internet broadcast were also being piped over the P.A. system so that meant that whenever there was down time the ticket buying crowd was "treated" to numerous shout outs to those who were watching online. Two of those were actually residents of Beatrice who chose to save the $40 at the ticket gate and instead pay the lower cost of the viewing pass to watch it online. So the next time that somebody tries to tell me that only people who would not have come to the race anyway are the ones watching PPV I can confidently say "Bull____!"......Well actually I have always been confident when I say that, but now I have proof.......The Beatrice Spring Nationals has become a favorite event of mine that I will continue to make a point to attend. Other than the Super Nationals you will not find a field that is so diverse as there were drivers here tonight from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Alaska and Saskatchewan. Toby Kruse and his crew prepare a great racing surface and present an efficient show making for a great way to kick off your racing season......For more Positively Racing coverage of the Spring Nationals make sure to visit Ed Reichert's One Fan's Travels after the reigning Super Fan returns to his Wisconsin home.
Next up for me will be the Friday night opener of the Memphis Spring Nationals on one of the widest short tracks that you will find anywhere. Hope to see you there!
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