Arlington Raceway lifts lid on 44th season

Hobby Stock, Modified, Northern SportMod, Results, Sport Compact, Sprint Car, Stock Car

Blake Luinenburg was the opening night IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock winner Saturday at Arlington Raceway. (Photo by Sarah Moriarty)

ARLINGTON, Minn. (May 11, 2024) – The 44th season opener at Arlington Raceway brought out many race teams and fans in the stands that enjoyed seeing some great racing action and many new firsts.

Blake Luinenburg took the lead from Ben Davis on the second lap and won the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock headliner. Cory Probst, chasing a third straight and ninth career track title, moved up five spots to take a close second with Brad Becker right behind him. 

Nick McConnell won the Best Appearing Car Contest and the wrapped helmet from Hess Technology.

Brandon Hartmann from Fairmont led the entire Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature. Starting up front and holding off both Neil Forsberg and Justin Dose, he seemed to glide around the smooth track.

Dale Gattton won the Best Appearing Car Contest and the wrapped helmet from Hess Technology.

Brandon Hartmann returned to Arlington Raceway and motored to the opening night Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature victory. (Photo by Sarah Moriarty)

Matt Looft was able to pick up the win in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature despite an injury earlier in the day. The 23m of Matt Speiss began the race leading from his pole position start but left the track on the sixth lap.

Looft capitalized on this and gained the lead, passing six cars to take over the race. Eric Bassett, after starting in 10th place, was contending with Looft but fell back a spot when Eric Larson got around him; he wasn’t able to pass Looft though and settled for second ahead of Bassett.

The Hess Technology Best Appearing Car award went to Matt Speiss.

Picking up his first-ever season-opening win, Brett Allen led from start to finish in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature.

Behind him there was a battle going on between the father son duo of Bill and Matt Johnson. Coming around for the white flag, Bill got around Matt and then tried to gain on Brett but he settled for taking second ahead of son Matt.

Allen also won the Hess Technology Best Appearing Car Contest in the class.

Twenty-six drivers signed in for the IMCA Sunoco Stock car show. The race put fans on the edge of their seats as the battle for the top five spots was phenomenal.

Dan Mackenthun started in the second row with Jeff Larson behind him and both were side-by-side for several laps. A yellow was thrown on the second lap. On the restart, Matt Looft, piloting the 99L car, dug down and traded spots with Shaun Bruns for the second spot but soon he and Larson were battling.

By lap 14, Larson was a solid second and was trying to work the outside of Mackenthun, but Mackenthun held on for the win. Larson took second and Jim Horejsi took third, making a last lap pass ahead of Looft.

Brent Uecker won the Hess Technology Best Appearing Car Contest in this class.

Brandon Beckendorf had his car set up in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature as he was able to gain the lead by the halfway point from Clint Hatlestad and led the remaining laps. Todd Stinehart took third behind Hatlestad.

Jason Schroeder won the Hess Technology Best Appearing Car Contest. 

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Results

Scott Porter celebrates birthday weekend with Arlington checkers

ARLINGTON, Minn. (June 22) – Celebrating his birthday weekend, Scott Porter won the Coors Light IMCA Sport Compact feature Saturday at Arlington Raceway. Porter took the lead from Tim Senne on the second lap and remained in front for the duration of the contest. First-time winner in the Unhinged Pizza IMCA Northern SportMods was Chris Plammann, who led the entire distance in a caution-free race. The Porter team had a great night as Chad Porter took the lead from Josh Larson on the eighth lap and led to the finish of the IMCA Modified main event. Matt Schauer pulled off his third B&B Racing Chassis IMCA Stock Car win a row by getting around A.J. Zimmerman. Michael Stien led flag to flag in the Alpha Media IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature. Cory Probst picked up his fifth Eckblad Trucking IMCA Hobby Stock win of 2019 at Arlington.

Hobby Stock

Stien sprints to RaceSaver win at Arlington

ARLINGTON, Minn. (June 1, 2024) – Mike Stien led the distance Saturday at Arlington Raceway in winning his first IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature of the season. Stien started in the front row alongside Bruce Allen. The race behind them was Brett Allen moving forward and passing five cars to challenge. He tried to get under Stien a couple times but ran out of room on the track and settled for second ahead of Matt Johnson. Matt Looft repeated his winning ways from the previous week, topping both IMCA Sunoco Stock Car and Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod features. Tony Stephensmeier led the Northern SportMod feature for the first seven laps before a caution was thrown for a spinning car. The field restarted and Reimers had misfortune again spinning off the track and that ended his night. On the restart, Looft was able to take over the lead spot and remain the leader to win with Eric Larson behind him and Jeff Lloyd taking third. The Stock Car feature saw three different leaders and four [Read More]

Feature

Fast start to season lands Looft career 200th IMCA Northern SportMod victory

ARLINGTON, Minn. (May 28, 2022) – Matt Looft joined another of IMCA’s most exclusive clubs Saturday night at Arlington Raceway.  Looft won for the 200th time in his Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod career, becoming just the 16th driver in the sanctioning body’s modern era began in 1979 to achieve that feat.  “This wasn’t something I ever expected to be able to do,” the Swea City, Iowa, driver said the next day during a break from making ice cream for son’s Brysen’s fourth birthday party. “It took me like three years to get my first win in a ‘B’ mod. We’ve worked hard at this and I’ve had a good support system, which really helps. I’ve got a good car (a 2022 Skyrocket) and good tech support.” Now a four-time national champion in the division, Looft raced to his first Northern SportMod victory in 2010. He’s been in double figure wins every season since 2012 and comes off a career-best 27 checkers and his latest national title in 2021. “Getting our 200th win was not something we were [Read More]

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