Smith, Veber, Burg get first Boone wins of season

Hobby Stock, Mod Lite, Modified, Northern SportMod, Results, Stock Car

Keith Burg raced to his first Boone Speedway IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature win Saturday night. (Photo by Icon Images)

By Joyce Eisele

BOONE, Iowa (July 13, 2024) – Devin Smith, Curtis Veber and Keith Burg all won first features of the season at Boone Speedway Saturday evening.

It was another top notch night of racing Saturday night, on a typical hot and humid July night in Iowa. Jimmy Gustin got the crown in the King of the Hill for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, while Jake McBirnie returned to victory lane for another feature win in the division and Travis Stensland kept racking up wins in the Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lites.

Smith took the high road in capturing the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature, Veber won in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods and Burg took the checkers in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks.

Feature racing kicked off with the 15-lap main event for the Mod Lites.

Stensland wasted no time in getting to the front. He started sixth, had the lead at lap one and never looked back in a race that went caution-free. He had no issues with lapped traffic as he pulled away from his nearest competitor and took the easy win.

Following a distant second place was tenth place starter Josh May and Bryan Zehm was third.

Northern SportMods ran an 18-lap feature.

Jason Carney took the lead as the race went green. As the race wore on, he had big time company battling it out for position behind him as Veber, Nate Albrant, Hunter Longnecker and Matt Avila went at it.

Veber was able to get around Carney and take the top spot on lap 12 and at lap 13, the only caution of the race flew. It was no issue for Veber, however, as he kept hold of the lead when the race resumed, but now it was Hunter Longnecker running in second and hot on his tail through the final laps.

Veber fended off the advances and was able to take the checkers first and secure his first win since August of 2023. Longnecker made it close at the line but had to settle for second place. Avila finished third.

The Modified 20-lap feature was decided in a dash to the finish line.

Kaylin Lopez led the troops through much of the race, still holding the lead with a handful of laps to go.  He had several hard-charging competitors behind him as the race wore down and with four laps to go, McBirnie took over.

Lopez fell back and soon exited the race, and Jeremy Mills, who started 11th, was giving chase to McBirnie. Cory Saureman had also been in the hunt and was chasing the leaders, too, but McBirnie wasn’t about to relinquish that lead though it was a thrilling dash to the finish line.

McBirnie took the checkers with Mills just beating Sauerman as they went second and third, respectively.

The Stock Car 20-lap feature had more than its share of yellow flags waving, seven in all, and six within the first seven laps.  

Rod Richards started on the pole and took the lead, weathered the first five cautions and maintained the lead. When the race restarted, however, eighth place starter Smith made his run at the top of the track work and snatched the lead, with early leader Richards out of the race with mechanical issues.

Another yellow flew at lap seven and on the restart, Smith kept his lead, running the top side in turns three and four, diving low in turns one and two. The final yellow flew on lap 14 with Smith holding on to the number one spot the rest of the way to the checkers and his first Boone win of 2024.

Cody Gustoff and Tyler Pickett ran at the front of the pack the entire race, finishing second and third, respectively.

Things wrapped up with the final feature of the night, the Hobby Stock 15-lap event.

Burg started on the outside front row and grabbed the lead immediately. It would be a lead he would never give up, as he went home to the flying checkers and grabbed his first-ever feature win at the track.  He had three no. 22’s battling it out behind him most of the race, with 14th place starter Mike Smith taking the runner-up position in the closing lap and finishing ahead of Wayne Gifford in third.

Saturday night, July 20 will be another weekly series of racing along with the King of the Katwalks for the Stock Cars. The Stock Cars run for $5,000 to win and $250 to start at the third annual event. Pits open at 4:30 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m., with hot laps at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m.

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