Boone track titles to McBirnie, Smith, Smith, Masolini, Glick

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

Izac Mallicoat topped the season championship night main event for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds at Boone Speedway. (Photo by Bruce Badgley, Motorsports Photography)

By Joyce Eisele

BOONE, Iowa (Aug. 19, 2024) – It was the Season Championship Saturday night at Boone Speedway, ending the 2024 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season at Iowa’s Action Track.

Feature racing saw the top six in points locked in for the night and inverted for their start. The rest of the main event lineups were determined through heat races. Each division was brought to the frontstretch prior to their feature event, with out of car introductions. Each division had five laps added to their features.

The Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lite 20-lap feature was up first.

Ben George grabbed the lead when the race went green and it was to his liking. He led all 20 laps on his way in the caution-free event, for his fourth checkers of the year. Cory Sonner followed him most of the distance to take second place. Josh May finished a distant third. Joe Glick finished in seventh and sealed his track crown.

The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods ran a 23-lap feature.  

Most of the race was a two-car battle up front between Dusty Lynch and Hunter Longnecker.  The two raced side by side, lap after lap. Three yellows and subsequent restarts did not change up the two that kept battling each other as the race neared its conclusion.

However, a fourth and final yellow at lap 20, did change things up as on the restart, Matt Avila who had been running third, made his way into second place behind Lynch and then Longnecker made a slide work for him on the final lap, getting by both Avila and Lynch to get to the checkers first and sealing his win. 

Avila finished as the runner-up and Cory Pestotnik got by Lynch in the closing moments to take third. Track champion was Dusty Masolini, going back-to-back for the title. 

Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds ran 25 laps.

Johnathon Logue started on the outside front row and took command with Izac Mallicoat, polesitter, taking over second place.

Jake McBirnie made his way to the front of the pack by lap eight and the three broke away from the field. McBirnie was able to get the lead just before halfway with Mallicoat getting by Logue to take over second.

Then at lap twenty, an unfortunate incident occurred when a lapped car got in the leader’s way and contact was made. A yellow flew, and before McBirnie was able to get moving, he was deemed involved and it put him out of the running.

This put Mallicoat to the point position for the restart. Four more yellows flew before the conclusion of the race but Mallicoat skillfully held his lead the rest of the way to the checkers and the win, his first in the Modified class at Boone. Jimmy Gustin took the runner-up spot. Austin Kuehl came from 22nd starting to take third. McBirnie is the track champion for 2024, by only having to take the green to secure his title.  

IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars ran a 25-lap main event.

Devin Smith and Josh Daniels sat on the front row for the start. Daniels grabbed the lead but just a mere four laps later, it was Smith taking over.

Smith didn’t let five cautions after that bother him on restarts, as he took off easily to hold the lead.  In the final laps, Smith pulled away from the rest of the field and took the easy win. Following a distant second was Tyler Pickett and third was brother and 2024 track champion David Smith.

Feature racing ended with the 20-lap IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock main event.

Braden Gifford started on the outside front row and immediately took command. Meanwhile, point leader Mike Smith, who started sixth, was quick to snake his way up to the front, and by lap four, had the lead.

The rest of the race was all Smith’s as he smoothly ran the track on his way to the win in the race that went flag to flag. John Watson finished a distant runner-up with Eric Knutson a close third. Smith is the 2024 track champion.

A season awards ceremony was held in the infield after the races, honoring the top drivers in their respective divisions.  

The regular season has come to a conclusion, but Saturday night, Aug. 24 will be a Super Nationals Tune Up, P1P Challenge, and the Watermelon Classic. IMCA Modifieds, Stock Cars, Northern SportMods, Hobby Stocks and Mod Lites will be in action. Grandstands open at 5:30 p.m. with hot laps at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m. 

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