Ryan Clark

IMCA Modified special events drivers chase Strange Oval product certificates and cash

MORTON GROVE, Ill. – Strange Oval gives a product certificate and cash to a top five finisher at 30 specials for IMCA Modifieds again this season. The Morton Grove, Ill., manufacturer of axles and drive plates is a third-year IMCA sponsor and awards both a $50 product certificate and $50 in cash at designated events. All awards are mailed from the IMCA home office the week after official race results are received and product certificates are redeemable through Performance Bodies. Strange Oval is a division of Strange Engineering and expanded its product line to the oval track market in 2013. “IMCA is the only sanctioning group we are actively involved with,” Company President Jim Kontje said. “They presented us with the ability to give back to the racer and there’s such a far reach with their car counts and quality of the drivers and teams participating. We’ll be doing more in the future.” Information about Strange Oval products is available at the www.strangeoval.com website, by calling 800 653-1099 and on Facebook. “The combination of both [Read More]

VanDeest makes late pass for Urbana 5 checkers at Benton County

By Ryan Clark VINTON, Iowa (June 11) – Two last-lap passes and a photo finish provided for arguably the best night of racing so far this season at Benton County Speedway. A field of 105 race teams assembled for Sunday’s third annual Urbana 5 Memorial/Iowa Donor Network event, which celebrated the memory of five area youth killed in a car accident in Benton County. The Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods, paying $1,500 to the winner, headlined the event. An extra $350 was also up for grabs for anyone who could beat Tony Olson, the winner of the race each of the last two seasons. It was pole sitter Sam Wieben surging to the early lead of the 20-lapper. He built a sizable advantage while Jared VanDeest and Joey Schaefer worked through traffic from mid-pack starts. Cautions on laps five and 14 kept the field bunched, however Wieben maintained the point throughout. VanDeest kept pace with the leader following the lap 14 restart and ran the high side while Wieben remained committed to the low groove. VanDeest surged ahead as the white flag waved and [Read More]

Allen leads every lap for first IMCA win at Crystal’s Optima Modified Challenge

CRYSTAL, Mich. (June 10) – Chance Allen made the most of his opportunities in scoring his career-first IMCA Modified feature win Saturday at Crystal Motor Speedway. Allen drew the pole and led all 20 laps, holding off Gary VanderMark and earning $1,052, along with a berth on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot, for the Optima Batteries Modified Challenge victory. “It was a good night of racing. I definitely had to be at the top of my game,” said Allen. “The bottom was definitely the place to be. I had to hug the tires and Gary was right behind me.” Cautions came out on lap two and again after midway. VanderMark was faster in the turns but Allen hung on to win by a car length. Nick Stormzand, Jerry Hunt and 10th starting Myron DeYoung were next across the stripe. Feature results – 1. Chance Allen; 2. Gary VanderMark; 3. Nick Stormzand; 4. Jerry Hunt; 5. Myron DeYoung; 6. John DeYoung Jr.; 7. Chad Wernette; 8. Brenten DeYoung; 9. A.J. Ward; 10. Austin Wonch; 11. Casey Tasker; [Read More]

Daniels tops Stock Car feature at Stuart

By Josh Reynolds STUART, Iowa (June 9) – Josh Daniels proved up to the task in a six-lap shootout in scoring Friday’s IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature win at Stuart Speedway. Daniels took over at the front following a pair of early restarts and set sail until a lap 14 yellow bunched the cars up for a six lap shootout. Daniels was up to the task and went on to his first win of the season. Brandon Pruitt finished second with Cory Bushnell third. Nick Roberts led from lap 10 to the finish in the IMCA Modified main and Brandon Cox checked out on the rest of the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock field after getting to the front on the third circuit. Austin Luellen prevailed in a hotly contested Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod feature with John Watson a close second and Chase Rudolf not far behind in third. John Gill scored local Mach-1 Sport Compact feature win number three on the season.

Wolla is super at Dacotah’s Super Show

MANDAN, N.D. (June 9) – Jason Wolla was super at Dacotah Speedway’s first-ever Super Show on Friday night. Wolla won the IMCA Modified main event in front of a packed grandstand on the history making night, outrunning Tracy Domagala in the race to the checkers. Hank Berry grabbed the lead when the initial green flag waved and started to pull away from the field while Brent Schlafmann had his hands full with Wolla in the battle for second. Wolla passed Schlafmann for second before Schlafmann got loose and spun. A caution was the last thing Berry wanted to see as Wolla took the lead on the restart. Wolla started to distance himself from the field as third running Myles Tomlinson was pressured by Domagala. Late-race cautions erased Wolla’s large lead and on the final restart with five laps to go, Domagala passed Tomlinson for third. Berry, giving it all he had, got too high coming out of turn four, allowing Domagala to slip by for second. Wolla’s victory was his second this season at Mandan.

Near ekes out Tri-City feature win

By Roger Williams AUBURN, Mich. (June 9) – Inches made the difference between first and second as Timmy Near topped Friday’s Main Street Seed and Supply IMCA Modified feature at Tri-City Motor Speedway. Matt Szecsodi led the opening laps before Near took over from his fourth place starting position. All eyes were on 10th starting Chad Wernette as he found speed in the bottom groove and caught Near after halfway. Wernette cleared Near and led on the white flag lap, but Near was able to make the winning pass coming out of turn four to win by inches. Chaz Pray, Kody Johnson and Szecsodi rounded out the top five.

Saathoff scores Eagle IMCA Modified win

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (June 10) – Johnny Saathoff was in the right place at the right time to collect Saturday’s Kaplan University IMCA Modified victory at Eagle Raceway. “I think it’s been about 11 months since my last feature win here. I’ll take wins any way I can get them,” the four-time Eagle track champion said. “I just need to get my car figured out a little better. Tonight it was a little closer, so we’ll keep working on it. We’re running an open motor that Speedway built for us and it’s been working out really well. It’s just driver error when we’re not doing very well.” Shane Hiatt, Clint Homan and Bob Zoubelk rounded out the top four. Adam Gullion won for the first time this season at Eagle in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car main event. Shawn Harker started 10th and won his third straight Hoosier Tire IMCA Northern SportMod feature. Roy Armstrong scored his second straight Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stock checkers. Erica Krichau was promoted to the top spot in the [Read More]

Havlik, Hildreth haul home Boone hardware

BOONE, Iowa (June 10) – It was a night of firsts as well as a night of repeats at the Boone Speedway Saturday night. Three drivers took back-to-back wins while two others took their first wins at the track this year. Randy Havlik got by early leader Kyle Brown and raced to his first IMCA Modified checkers at Boone since 2014. Eric Elliott started 10th and finished as the runner up. After chasing Tyler Thompson for nine circuits, Bob Hildreth found a way to the front and captured his first local IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car victory of the season. Repeating wins from last week were Robert Stofer in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Johnathon Logue in the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and Eric Stanton in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks.

Menasco repeats at Tri-State

By Rob Nugent POCOLA, OK (June 10th) – Kayden Menasco won his second straight IMCA Modified main event Saturday at Tri-State Speedway. Jason Payton and Jake Davis finished second and third, respectively.

Kile wins thriller at West Liberty

By Jerry Mackey WEST LIBERTY, Iowa (June 10) – Close finishes highlighted Saturday action on Miller Lite Night at West Liberty Raceway. The headliner of the night was the Performance Concepts IMCA Modified feature which saw a stellar field of drivers take the green flag for the 20-lap main event. Veteran Davenport driver Bruce Hanford established himself early as the man to beat. Hanford led the main event for 19 and ¾-laps only to have Kurt Kile shoot into the lead as the frontrunners worked lapped traffic. Hanford chased Kile across the finish line in second ahead of ninth starting Chris Zogg. Jonathan Brauns drove a perfect race in scoring the win in the Out-Pace Racing Products IMCA Late Models. Brauns led every lap despite a daring slide job by Chad Holladay. Brauns was not rattled by Holladay’s charge and went on to record his first win of the 2017 season at his home track. Holladay and Andy Eckrich completed the top three. Tim Plummer scored the win in the Weikert Iron & Metal IMCA [Read More]