Gharst’s Misfortune Leads To Sprint Invader Victory For John Schulz At 34

After losing the first five events on the 2019 Sprint Invaders schedule to weather, including two at 34 Raceway, the 3/8-mile speedplant west of Burlington made up one of those on Saturday night with a nice field of twenty-five drivers signed in. The roster included Kaley Gharst, the all-time wins leader with the Invaders who tonight would be the guest driver in the Midland Performance #50 and it looked like he would add another win to his total until misfortune struck late in the main event.

John Schulz and Matt Krieger, who is subbing for the injured Ryan Jamison, would start from the front row in the twenty-five lap headliner and it would be the cagey veteran Schulz taking the early advantage. Gharst was on the move from his sixth starting spot and on lap six he would drive under Schulz in turns three and four to take the lead.

The first caution of the event would wave on lap nine for Blaine Jamison’s spin in turn one and on the restart both Gharst and Schulz would drive away from the field. The yellow was needed again on lap fourteen when Dustin Selvage spun off the top side of turn two and on this restart Schulz tried to slide Gharst into turn one. Kaley shrugged it off though and again opened up a lead until lap nineteen when his drive line let loose causing him to spin the car into the infield just before getting into turn three.

That would put Schulz back on the point for the restart, but when his car loaded up a bit taking the green Carson McCarl had a run to the outside while the third driver in line, Brayden Gaylord threw a slider at both of them heading into turn one. Schulz was able to get his Jimmy Davies Racing, Automotive Machine sponsored #99 to spring back to life in time to duck back under Gaylord coming off turn two and Schulz would lead the tight pack down the back stretch.

McCarl would do his best to keep pace in hopes of mounting a late challenge, but there was no staying with Schulz who scored the win worth $2,000 tonight with the extra $500 coming from Shottenkirk.com. McCarl held off Gaylord to take the runner-up spot, Josh Schnedierman advanced from tenth to fourth and Colton Fisher impressed with a top-five finish. The youngster from Mediapolis, Fisher charged from sixteenth to sixth in the first nine laps and even made his way up to 0third late in the event. Jon Agan had a wild night coming back from two trips over the top of the banking in turns one and two to finish in the sixth position. The B-Main winner Tanner Gebhardt was seventh after starting fifteenth, Daniel Bergquist was eighth, Selvage came back to take ninth and Harold Pohren filled out the top ten.

The night got off to a scary start when Josh Higday went for a high flying nose to tail and then again and again and again flip off the top of turn one at the start of the first heat race. Despite the wild ride, Higday was quickly out of the Kevin Hetrick owned #35 uninjured.

Next up for the Sprint Invaders will be a pair of county fair dates in July. On Thursday the 11^th the Lee County Fair and the Pepsi Lee County Speedway will feature the Invaders and then on 

Wednesday the 24^th the Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair in Dubuque.

Results

A-Main – 1. John Schulz, West Burlington; 2. Carson McCarl, Altoona; 3. Brayden Gaylord, Wever; 4. Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington; 5. Colton Fisher, Mediapolis; 6. Jon Agan, Knoxville; 7. Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington; 8. Daniel Bergquist, Burlington; 9. Dustin Selvage, Indianola; 10. Harold Pohren, Lowell; 11. Justin Bucholz, Davenport; 12. Dave Getchell, Sperry; 13. Cody Wehrle, Burlington; 14. Jonathan Hughes, Knoxville; 15. Kaley Gharst, Decatur IL; 16. Matt Krieger, Burlington; 17. Mason Campbell, New Berlin IL; 18. Richard Nelson, Cascade; 19. Justin Parrish, Oquawka IL; 20. Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis

Randall’s Performance 1^st Heat – 1. Gaylord; 2. Schulz; 3. Gharst; 4. Agan; 5. Bergquist; 6. Wehrle; 7. Fisher; 8. Nelson; 9. Josh Higday, Des Moines

Cen-Pe-Co Lubricants 2^nd Heat – 1. McCarl; 2. Krieger; 3. Selvage; 4. Schneiderman; 5. Hughes; 6. Campbell; 7. Nelson; 8. Travis Pence, Stronghurst IL

Midland Performance 3rd Heat – 1. Pohren; 2. Kurt Mueller, Reynolds IL 3. Parrish; 4. Jamison; 5. Bucholz; 6. Noah Samuel, Burlington; 7. Damian Getchell, Sperry; 8. Gebhardt

Budweiser Shake-Up Dash – 1. McCarl; 2. Schulz; 3. Krieger; 4. Pohren; 5. Gaylord; 6. Mueller

B-Main – 1. Gebhardt; 2. Fisher; 3. Wehrle; 4. Campbell; 5. Dave Getchell; 6. Nelson; 7. Pence; 8. Samuel; 9. Damian Getchell; DNS – Higday

In other action at 34 Raceway on Saturday veteran driver Dennis LaVeine started from the pole and fought off the early challenges from fellow front row starter John Oliver Jr. to win the IMCA Modified main event. Chris Zogg rallied from fifth to finish second with Bruce Hanford moving from eight to third at the checkers. Illinois drivers Dean McGee and Brandon Rothzen wrapped up the top five.

Austen Becerra started sixth but it didn’t take him long to get to the front of the Sport Mod finale and he would cruise to victory. Sean Wyett finished second and Chris Burke was impressive in his first trip to 34 Raceway as the Altoona driver moved from ninth to third. Tom Bowling Jr. and Kevin Goben were next in line.

Matt Ryan had his way with the thirteen-car field of IMCA Late Models as he started from the pole and would drive away from the field at the start and on each restart to take a dominating win. Tommy Elston advanced from sixth to second as Jay Johnson rallied late to finish third after lining up from the ninth spot. Sam Halstead finished fourth while Tom Darbyshire had a solid return to racing finishing in fifth.

Brian Tipps spun early, but came charging from the back to win the Mini Hauler feature over John Helenthal, Billy Stanford, Jacob Ruble and Drake Fenton.

There will be two nights of action at 34 Raceway in the week ahead starting with The Patriot Dirt Duel on Thursday July 4^th that will have twin features in both the Late Models and the weekly Sprint Car divisions. Weekly Saturday night action will resume on the 6^th with the Sprint Cars, Modifieds, Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Sport Compacts in action.

The next action for the Back Stretch will be on Tuesday night July 2nd when we make the trip up to the Stuart Speedway for the 20th and final Ron Little Memorial. Hope to see you there!