Ryan Clark

Nelson gets first career win at Stuart

By Josh Reynolds STUART, Iowa (July 27) – Garrett Nelson raced to the first Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod victory of his career Friday at Stuart Speedway. Hunter Longnecker and Nelson drew front row starts. Nelson led Longnecker and Matt Webb until Webb moved to second on lap four. Two laps later, Austin Luellen passed Longnecker for third but it was Nelson looking strong out front. Webb and Luellen had a great race for second, but it was all Nelson as he went on to take his first ever SportMod win. Webb finished second with Luellen third, Chase Rudolf fourth and Colton Nelson fifth. Josh Gilman was the IMCA Modified winner and Chris Pruitt prevailed in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main. Matt McAtee took the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock checkers and Cody Cleghorn checked out in the Mach-1 Sport Compact main.

Dahl rules Governor’s Cup standings at Dacotah Speedway

MANDAN, N.D. (July 27-28) – Casey Arneson and Jeff Taylor were $800 feature winners while Mark Dahl’s consistency made him the overall IMCA Modified champion at Dacotah Speedway’s Governor’s Cup special. Arneson captured the Friday night victory ahead of Travis Hagen and Dahl. Taylor pulled away in collecting the Saturday win, with Jeremy Keller, Dylan Goplen and Dahl next across the stripe. Arneson caught Marcus Tomlinson for the lead early in the opening night show, then pulled away as Tomlinson started to fall into the clutches of Dahl and Hagen. Dahl passed Tomlinson, bringing Hagen with him. Hagen grabbed the second position with 10 laps to go and began reeling in Arneson as the leader dealt with lapped traffic. Arneson ultimately used that traffic to his advantage, however, holding off Hagen for his first feature victory at Mandan. Dahl held the Saturday advantage until Keller took advantage of a restart and took the lead away with 10 laps left. Another caution set up what proved to be an eight lap shootout. On the restart, Goplen [Read More]

Zevenbergen repeats, banks another $4,000 for latest Hobo 100 feature win

BRITT, Iowa (July 27) – No rally was needed for Elijah Zevenbergen to repeat as the winner of Hancock County Speedway’s Hobo 100 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car special. Zevenbergen had raced his way back to the front with five laps to go in the 2017 race. He started 10th, had the lead just five circuits in and stayed in front to the finish Friday night in winning the event a second straight year and taking home another $4,000 check. “The car was set up perfect. I could drive in the corners deeper than anyone else,” he said. “I just went to the high side and picked ‘em off.” Zevenbergen built up a big lead as the race stayed green, then outran 14th starting Jeff Mueller following a caution late in the 25-lapper. Randy Brands, Brandon Czarapata and Cayden Carter rounded out the top five. Fifty Stock Cars battled at Britt. Carter won the IMCA Modified feature, earning $2,000 and a Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot nod. Cody Thompson raced from 17th starting to win the [Read More]

First LaSalle Speedway date is Aug. 4 for Deery Brothers Summer Series

LASALLE, Ill. – The Deery Brothers Summer Series makes its first-ever visit Saturday to LaSalle Speedway, where a $2,000 check awaits the winner of the Aug. 4 Illinois Valley IMCA Showdown main event. The 10th of a dozen races on the 2018 IMCA Late Model tour schedule pays a minimum of $300 to start. “IMCA Late Models have previously raced at LaSalle One Night Stand events and I know our drivers are looking forward to being part of the first Deery event there,” said Tour Director Kevin Yoder. “There are no weekly sanctioned events that night so Late Model drivers looking to run for national points can do so at LaSalle.” Pit gates open at 2 p.m. and the grandstand opens at 4 p.m. with the drivers’ meeting at 6:30 p.m., hot laps at 7 p.m. and racing at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $30 and free for kids ages 11 and under. Pit passes are $40 or $20 for kids. When purchased online, skybox seats and VIP stadium seating are both $35. Advance tickets [Read More]

Nearly perfect, Peeler paces Crist Memorial

OSBORN, Mo. (July 27) – Twenty-two near-perfect laps after taking the initial green flag, Blake Peeler was celebrating a $1,262 payday and the highlight of his IMCA Sunoco Stock Car career. Peeler led every circuit of US 36 Raceway’s Joe Crist Memorial Friday night, taking the big win in front of a packed grandstand at Osborn. Peeler took command from the start of the second annual event after wife Nellie drew the two pill for him. A couple cautions kept him out of lapped traffic and Peeler put some distance on the rest of the field following the final restart with four laps left. “I’ve won championship night and mid-season championship night features before but this is the absolute highlight of my career,” he said. “I’m good friends with the (Crist) family so winning this race means a lot to me.” Brad Whitney was second, a couple car lengths back, and hard charger Mich Ross was third. Billie Hoover and Brian LaBonte completed the top five. “I knew Brad would race me clean,” said Peeler. [Read More]

Nine states, Canada represented in round 2 of All-Star voting

BOONE, Iowa – Voters will have a geographically diverse group of IMCA Modified candidates to choose from when balloting begins at noon today (Monday) to elect the next group of starters in the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. Fifteen starters advanced in the first round of voting last week. Facebook voting runs through 4 p.m. CST Thursday, Aug. 2 to elect another 13 All-Stars from the at-large pool of the next top 25 vote recipients. Those candidates represent nine states (Arkansas, California, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin) and Canada. Completing the starting grid for the 30-lapper will be All-Star candidates with the top national point total and the most 40-point feature wins as of Aug. 31 competing at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. The 15th annual Invitational is Friday, Sept. 7 at Boone Speedway. The race pays $1,000 to win and $200 to start.

Keeton collects first Virginia Sprint Series win of season

By Jim Haines SHENANDOAH, Va. (July 28) – Mike Keeton showed the way to the front of the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field at Shenandoah Speedway Saturday night and stayed there for his first Virginia Sprint Series win of the year. Chris Ware and Bill Rice made up the front row for the start with Rice out first and Ware right behind. Tony Harris, Keeton, Jerald Harris and Glenn Worrell were all lined up and working on Ware in order to get a crack at the leader. Tony Harris got by first to chase down Rice. After some shuffling behind the leader, the top four were all together with Harris holding off Worrell as Keeton was working on Rice for the lead. Keeton went to the front with 10 to go as Worrell took over second three laps later. Keeton would not be caught, however, as he flashed under the checkered flag first with Worrell and Tony Harris close behind. Next Friday it’s the final Fast Friday event of the year at Dixieland Speedway in [Read More]

Jones wins fifth Tri-City feature

By Roger Williams AUBURN, Mich. (July 27) – Nate Jones won his fifth IMCA Modified feature of the season at Tri-City Motor Speedway on Friday, beating Matt Szecsodi to the checkers on autograph night. The Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified division took to the track for a 20-lap main event and Todd Matheson and Kevin McFarland brought the field of 20 to the green with Matheson immediately jumping to the front. Matheson looked as if he was going to run away with the win until an issue with his car caused him to suddenly spin in turn four with just four laps remaining. That spin also ended the night for third-running Chris Cohoon as he was unable to avoid Matheson. With Matheson out, Jones was handed the lead and held off Szecsodi for his fifth feature win of the year. Chad Wernette, Gavin Hunyady and Chaz Pray wrapped up the remaining top five positions at the finish.

Rookie rules at Luxemburg

By Edward Anschutz LUXEMBURG, Wis. (July 27) – Rookie Wyatt Block Jr. proved to be best in the IMCA Modifieds Friday at Luxemburg Speedway. Block jumped from his front row starting spot and never looked back, leading all 20 laps to his first-ever Luxemburg feature win. James Tebon gave chase all race long to place second, Jeff Bodendorfer was third, Johnny Whitman raced from row six to place fourth and rookie Jacob Zellner completed the top five. Mark Schuenemann paced the opening circuits of the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature until Rod Snellenberger raced by. With only a handful of nights in the class, Mike Mullen motored from row six to the runner-up position. Snellenberger worked the cushion with Mullen right on his bumper. Mullen threw a slide job on lap 12, clearing Snellenberger for the top spot. Mullen pulled away to score his first win in the class. A three-car battle ensued for the final 10 laps of the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod main. Todd Wiese paced the field with Kyle Raddant and Craig Dorner hot on his heels. Raddant and Dorner pressured Wiese the entire way but in the end, Wiese was up for the [Read More]

Yarie wires Racing For A Reason IMCA Modified field at Shawano

By Scott Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (July 28) – Marcus Yarie utilized his art skills in drawing the pole for the IMCA Modified feature, then led all 20 laps for the $1,000 win Saturday at Shawano Speedway. Brekken Kleinschmidt challenged Yarie early in the Racing For A Reason Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier, while Lance Arneson and Wyatt Block challenged late in the race. It was all in vain, though, as Yarie would not be denied. He was chased across the finish line by Arneson, the 10th starting Block, Jason Czarapata and 12th starting Mike Mullen. The eighth annual Racing For A Reason event again brought out a huge crowd to raise money for childhood cancer charities. The night was also highlighted by a memorial to honor former track champion Mark Mitchell who passed away this past winter after a battle with cancer. Other winners included Dan Michonski, who came from ninth to win his second IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature of the season, and 15-year-old Jayden Schmidt, who topped the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod main. Schmidt won [Read More]