Thanks to the support from several local sponsors the Sprint Invaders returned to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Friday night for the first time since 2006 and it was only fitting that a Missouri driver would race his way into victory lane. In a race where his father had some misfortune late, Evan Martin fought off a pair of drivers on the ensuing restart to add his name to the list of feature winners with the Sprint Invaders. Four other drivers raced their way into victory lane as well on a hot and sultry night in northeast Missouri.
The father and son duo of Randy and Evan Martin captured the two Sprint Car heat races and they along with the Dash winner Jon Agan had to be considered the favorites when the 25-lap main event pushed off. Evan would start from the pole position alongside Kyle Bellm who was the wheel man of the night for Scott Bonar's Midland Performance #50. The two would swap the lead on the opening lap with Martin officially scored the leader and he would build a nice advantage as the laps clicked off.
There was plenty of action behind him though as Agan raced his way up to third after starting fifth and current point leader Cody Wehrle was on the move as well looking to get around Randy Martin for fourth. Those two would swap a pair of close slidejobs, but on lap seventeen things got a little too close exiting turn two when Wehrle went up and over the right rear of Randy Martin's ride. Thankfully both cars stayed upright, but with the contact both were eliminated and the fans would now be treated to an eight lap sprint to the finish with three drivers contending for the win.
Bellm would slide up in front of Evan Martin in turn two only to have Martin duck back under him down the back stretch and Agan was right there looking for racing room. As Bellm and Agan battled for second, Martin put about ten car lengths on both of them and when Agan completed the pass for second with five to go he started to cut into that lead. The three-time and defending series champion was able to cut the margin in half as the white flag waved, but Martin was smooth to the checkers to take the win. Agan would settle for second ahead of Bellm and Brayden Gaylord nipped John Schulz by inches at the stripe for fourth.
Sixteen drivers signed in on the hot evening with a few having issues early in the night. Daniel Bergquist showed smoke in hot laps, missed his heat race and then only made a lap in the feature. Dave Keperling broke the front end of his car after making contact with Harold Pohren as the field prepared for their heat race. Then Pohren bent a valve in his 360 ending his night in a cloud of smoke. Finally, Jarrod Schneiderman slipped off the top side of turn three and went for a hard tumble in his heat race that he thankfully walked away from uninjured.
The Sprint Invaders now prepare for their county fair circuit starting at the Cedar County Fair in Tipton on Thursday July 12th, the Davis County Fair in Bloomfield on Thursday July 19th and the Dubuque County Fair in Dubuque on Tuesday July 24th.
A stout field of twenty-four Sport Mods gave the crowd an entertaining twenty-lap main event with Adam Birck pacing the field early. Austen Becerra would spin out of the fourth position on lap four sending him to the back and when Brandon Dale tried to squeeze under Daniel Fellows for third on lap seven he would spin as well. A third caution waved on lap nine when Austin Howes and Jeffrey DeLonjay tangled while racing for fifth exiting turn four.
With the stop and go first half of the race Brandon Lennox was making his way to the front after starting twelfth and on lap eleven he would drive around the outside of Birck in turn four to take the lead. At first it looked like Lennox would then pull away, but Birck fought back and was soon looking to take back what he had just lost. It was a classic battle of racing grooves between two talented drivers as Lennox worked the top side while Birck dug around the bottom and with a couple of lapped cars thrown in for good measure in the final laps this was a thriller with Lennox taking the win by just over a car length. Birck would come over to victory lane to congratulate the winner as he was a proud runner-up, Fellows was not far back in third, Charlie Weber finished fourth and Jim Gillenwater drove Fellows' backup car in for a fifth place finish.
The Stock Cars had one third the cars as the Sport Mods, but their 15-lap feature was every bit as entertaining with three drivers holding the lead at one time or another. Derrick Agee would lead until lap six when current All Iowa Points leader John Oliver Jr. went by him. That switch would be short lived though as Agee fought back to lead lap seven only to see Abe Huls race past both of them digging around the bottom on lap eight. Once again both grooves were being tested by the contenders with Huls on the bottom and Oliver up top and it would be close all the way to the checkers as Huls would take the win over Oliver and Agee. Beau Taylor was fourth and Tom Bowling Jr. filled out the top five.
Josh Barnes gave up the lead to Brandon Housley on lap two of the Sport Compact feature only to fight back and regain the lead on lap five. Barnes would then keep Housley a couple of cars lengths back over the final five laps to notch the win. Housley's winning streak was snapped, but it did come by finishing second to the former Super Nationals champion. Barry Taft was third with Brandon Reu and Kimberly Abbott next in line. Two drivers made the pull from La Crosse, Wisconsin, but both of them Seth Scholl and Justin Anderson suffered flat tires during the feature event after Scholl won one of the two heat races.
Four of the five Hobby Stocks that signed in started the feature with Aaron Martin holding back a persistent challenge from Derek Kirkland to take the win. Rick VanDusseldorp was third and Catlin Auberlin was fourth.
The Scotland County Speedway returns to action on Friday July 13th for racing during the annual Scotland County Fair.
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