With more than 2,400 drivers earning points across nine
divisions one might think that there would be plenty of turnover at the top of
the All Iowa Point standings from year to year. That was definitely not the
case in 2015 though as seven of the nine champions have been before with two of
the winners posting repeats and, with all due consideration to Pat Riley the
man who coined the phrase, two more drivers are three-peat champions in 2015.
Justin Kay continued to dominate the Late Model division in
the state of Iowa this season as the driver from Wheatland captured his third
straight AIP title by a large margin of 69 points over runner-up Matt Ryan. Keep
in mind that the points work on a 5-point scale so Ryan would have needed to
win 14 more features to erase the difference. Kay picked up 26 feature wins
this season as part of 46 top five finishes and over the past three seasons
Justin has won an amazing 76 Late Model feature races. Following up four
straight titles for Ray Guss Jr. only two drivers have been the AIP Late Model
champion over the past seven years. Matt Ryan had his best season to date
placing second in the final standings with 11 feature wins and 34 top-fives
while the 2003 champion Jeff Aikey climbed into a tie for third with Todd
Cooney in the final standings. Aikey won 12 features on the season while Cooney
had a bit of an off year by his standards winning nine feature races. Andy Nezworski
who actually lead the standings early in the season filled out the top five.
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| 2015 Late Model Champion Justin Kay - Barry Johnson photo |
He had several challengers at the mid-season mark, but there
would be nobody who could stay with Damon Murty over the second half of the
season as “The Chelsea Charger” earned his third straight All Iowa Points Stock
Car championship. It was a 67-point bulge for Murty at the end bolstered by an
amazing 13-point day when he finished second in the day race and second in the
night race at Marshalltown before loading up and making the 130-mile drive to
Farley where he then won the Stock Car feature at the Yankee Dirt Classic. That
win was one of 24 on the season for Murty as he finished in the top-five 53
times. There was a log jam second through fifth as those four drivers were separated
by just five points. David Smith and his 11 feature wins edged out three time
champion Brian Blessington (8 wins) by just one point for second, Mike Nichols
(26 wins) was just two-points behind Blessington in fourth and just two points
further back was the 2012 Stock Car champion and two time Hobby Stock champ
Donavon Smith in fifth.
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| 2015 Stock Car Champion Damon Murty - Barry Johnson photo |
The 2015 IMCA Modified National Champion is also this year’s
All Iowa Points king as Chris Abelson of Sioux City earned his second straight
state title. Abelson’s AIP title was never in doubt as he held a 98-point
advantage over the runner-up and his 249 point total was the most in any
division in 2015. Thirty-six feature wins and 57 top-fives will do that for
you! Kelly Shryock stayed closer to home this season and had a great season
with fifteen feature wins and his second career runner-up finish in the All
Iowa Points. Kyle Brown made a big surge in the October specials to move into
the third position in the final standings while J.D. Auringer and Jesse Dennis
tied for fourth.
The fourth repeat champion of 2015 is Mike Benson of
Papillion, Nebraska, as he captured the 305 Sprint Car title for the second
year in a row courtesy of his strong Friday night finishes at Des Moines and
his Saturday night showings at Eagle. Benson’s 17 top-five finishes were four
more than any other driver and the southeast Nebraska based driver scored four
feature wins on the season. Matt Moro had five feature wins and finished in the
second spot while Trevor Grossenbacher made a late season charge into third in
the final standings after winning five feature races as well. Two up and coming
second generation drivers, Tyler Thompson and Robby Wolfgang, rounded out the
top five.
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| 305 Sprint Champion Mike Benson - Barry Johnson photo |
The other two Sprint Car divisions saw champions from long
ago return to the top of the AIP standings as Danny Lasoski won the 410 title
and Justin Henderson took the 360 laurels. Lasoski had an incredible season
winning both the Knoxville track title and the National Sprint League
championship on the strength of nine feature wins and 31 top-five finishes.
This is the sixth All Iowa Points Championship for “the Dude from Dover” but
his first since 1993 and with his first championship coming in 1986 Lasoski
sets a new record for the longest span between his first and most recent AIP
title in the same division at 29 years. Merv Chandler also has AIP titles that
are 29 years apart, but his accomplishment came in two different divisions with
the 1984 Modified title and the 2013 Four Cylinder championship. Twelve time
champion Terry McCarl had to settle for the runner-up position, Dusty Zomer and
Tim Kaeding tied for third while last year’s runner-up Ian Madsen was fifth.
With several changes on the landscape for the 410’s in 2016 it will be
interesting to see how that effects the All Iowa Points chase next season.
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| 410 Sprint Car Champion Danny Lasoski - Barry Johnson photo |
Justin Henderson did double duty racing both a 410 and a 360
at the Knoxville Raceway and only hitting the road a couple of nights. He was
still able to finish sixth in the final 410 AIP standings and his 53-point
total was enough to edge out defending champion Gregg Bakker by just three
points to win the 2015 All Iowa Points 360 Sprint Car Championship. Five
feature wins and fourteen top-five finishes propelled the South Dakota native
to his second AIP honor as Henderson was also the champion back in 1997. Skylar Prochaska finished in the third
position while three-time champion Jack Dover was fourth and Ian Madsen also
carded a fifth in the 360 division.
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| 360 Sprint Car Champion Justin Henderson - Barry Johnson photo |
Shannon Anderson was another driver who returned to the top
of the All Iowa Points standings in his division as he recorded his fourth AIP
title over the last eight seasons. Anderson racked up 28 feature wins as part
of 53 top-five finishes in 2015 and easily outdistanced runner-up Nathan
Ballard. A winner on both the dirt and pavement, Ballard had his best season to
date winning 24 features while Cody Nielsen of Spencer edged out early season
leader Austin Luellen by one point for third. Eric Stanton ranked fifth in the
final standings.
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| Hobby Stock Champion Shannon Anderson - Barry Johnson photo |
The closest battle of the 2015 season was in the Limited
Modified division where four drivers entered the Fall Specials season with a
good shot at winning the title and it took until the third weekend in October
before Tony Olson secured his first All Iowa Points championship. With 48 top-five
finishes Olson actually had the same, or one fewer than the other three
contenders, but his 27 feature wins carried him to the title. Clint Luellen had
another great season winning 19 feature races, but he would come up just short
of winning his second straight AIP championship while Doug Smith and Nick Meyer
finished third and fourth. Quincy’s Joey Gower, who sat atop the standings
early in the summer before his home track suffered through a full month of
rainouts, held on for the fifth spot.
There is also a new champion in the Four Cylinder division
as Jay DeVries of Spencer earned points in an amazing 64 races this season
winning six features where there were ten or more cars in the field. Kimberly
Abbott became the first female track champion at three different tracks in 2015
and finished second in the All Iowa Points while Sioux City’s Cody Thompson was
third. Brandon Setser and Kaytee DeVries tied for the fourth spot while
two-time champion Nate Coopman was sixth.
For
a full rundown of the standings for each of the nine divisions and to see how
your favorite driver ranked in 2015 visit the Points page at
www.PositivelyRacing.com
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