|
-Story by Debbie Sweeney, The Stuart Speedway dodged another bullet from Mother Nature and stayed dry on Sunday, July 27 as storms dumped heavy rain and strong winds in areas surrounding the Speedway. The IMCA Sport Mods opened the show with two heat races, an Austrain Pursuit, and a 15-lap main. Kent Croskey of Polk City and Kevin Sather of Ankeny took home heat race wins. The top six in points then competed in a 6-lap, inverted start Hawkeye Auto Salvage Australian Pursuit, with Sather claiming the top prize. Croskey picked up where he left off in the heat and took advantage of his front-show starting position to open up a straight-away lead on the field for the first 10 laps of the 15-lap main event. A yellow on lap 11 for a spin by Shay Woods of Humeston erased Croskey’s lead and put Sather on his tail for the restart. The remaining four laps saw Croskey holding the high line and Sather working the bottom for some clean, side-by-side racing. At the checkers it was Croskey picking up his second feature win of the season, Sather second and Jack Myer of Ankeny third. Austin Kaplan of Ankeny made a nice run from the tail to finish fourth. Sather’s second place finish was enough to assume the point lead, with Joel Bushore of Boone and Josh May of DeSoto tied for second, only two points behind. Threatening weather kept a few of the IMCA Modifieds away, but even though the field was small they still provided some great racing action for the fans. Randy Havlik of Waukee and Josh Gilman picked up heat race wins. The top three from each heat then competed in the 6-lap, inverted start Casey’s General Stores Trophy Dash, with Havlik taking home the hardware. Chris Pruitt of Stuart took the lead early in the main, with Rex Parkison of Earlham and Todd Shute of Des Moines in pursuit. Gilman and Shute passed Pruitt on lap 6, with Shute continuing his march to the front as he passed Gilman on the next lap and never looked back. At the finish, it was Todd Shute of Des Moines first, Gilman second, Havlik third, and Parkison fourth. Shute’s win catapulted him into the points lead, a mere two points ahead of Havlik. A nice field of IMCA Hobby Stocks treated the fans to three heat races, and a 15-lap main. Mike Hanson of Brayton, and Jamie Schirm of Dexter claimed heat race wins. Rusty Gyles of Norwalk lead early in the main, with Chad Waddell of Dexter assuming the lead on lap 5. Waddell had a strong run before falling victim to a flat tire on lap 9. That opened the door for Shannon Anderson of Atlantic and Schirm to duel it out for the remaining laps. At the line, it was a door-to-door finish, with Anderson edging out Schirm for the win. Nyle Godwin of Redfield and Steve Anderson of Winterset completed the top four. Anderson holds a comfortable point lead over Mike Hansen going into next week’s action. Bryan Snell of Bayard and Jamie Morey of Earlham captured heat race wins in the IMCA Stock Car division. Jeremy Gettler of Adair and Tim Bengard of Exira were the two to beat in the main as they swapped the lead. Bengard was able to overcome Gettler on lap 7 as Brian Blessington of Breda was making his way through the field. Bengard stretched his lead over the remainder of the field for another trip to victory lane, with Blessington, Morey and Josh Daniels of Des Moines finishing second through fourth respectively. Mike Nichols of Harlan continues to be the point leader despite retiring early in the main due to a flat tire. Josh Daniels is in second, just 3 points behind Nichols. Complete Results: Hobby Stock : Heat 1.
3 Mike Hanson Heat 1. 3s
Bryan Snell Australian
Pursuit--3 Kevin
Sather Trophy
Dash: 3z Randy Havlik
|