Newswire

Championship Saturday underway at Super Nationals

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 7) – Championship Saturday has arrived at the 31st annual IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Fifteen last-chance heats for Modifieds, the last-chance feature for Stock Cars and last-chance features for Modifieds get the Sept. 7 show started at Boone Speedway. The Karl Chevrolet Races of Champions for Hobby Stocks and Northern SportMods, the Sunoco Race Fuels Race of Champions for Stock Cars and the Harris Auto Racing Race of Champions for Modifieds precede main events for all four divisions. Hobby Stocks, SportMods and Stock Car headliners are all 30 laps. The big dance for Modifieds is 40 laps. * Front row starters for the Harris RoC are Tim Ward and Dustin Smith, ahead of Ryan McDaniel, Jimmy Gustin, Clint Hatlestad, Brandon Beckendorf, Aaron Turnbull, Chris Abelson, Dylan Smith, Jesse Sobbing, Richie Gustin and Corey Lagroon. Scott Pippert will lead the Sunoco RoC field to the initial green, with defending race winner Donavon Smith to his outside. Brandon Czarapata, Abe Huls, Brian Irvine, Perry Misner, David Smith, Kevin Opheim, Jay [Read More]

Southern SportMod Nationals underway at HO’T

WACO, Texas (Sept. 6) – George Egbert, Jake Upchurch, and Dean Abbey took the top three spots in Friday’s qualifying feature at the Southern SportMod Nationals, at Heart O’ Texas Speedway. Twelve previous feature winners earned starting positions in the All Star Invitational race that will kick off Saturday’s program. The Sprint Series of Texas and Winged Mini Sprints, A Class and Restrictors, will also be on the card on night two of the ninth annual event. Gates open at 6 p.m. and racing starts at 8 p.m. Results Qualifying feature – 1. George Egbert, Belton; 2. Jake Upchurch, Grand Prairie; 3. Dean Abbey, Waco; 4. Jon White Jr., Red Oak; 5. Kevin Rutherford, Flower Mound; 6. Chris Coburn, Robinson; 7. Jarrett Roberts, Temple; 8. Justin Shaw, Sweetwater; 9. Brian Walker, Bruceville; 10. Cody Leonard, Sinton; 11. Keith McCullough, Denison; 12. Don Painter, Austin; 13. Tim McDonald, Keller; 14. Gary Fox, Joshua; 15. Kenny Ware, Belton; 16. Wes Cummings, Joshua; 17. Jacob Pirkle, Venus; 18. Alex Hickham, Conroe; 19. Albert McCall, Ennis; 20. Ted Thomas, [Read More]

Masters, Meyer pace Stock Car qualifiers

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 6) – Jake Masters and Steve Meyer took home trophies from Friday night Stock Car qualifiers at Boone Speedway. Masters made his way from 12th starting to win the first IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s qualifier of the evening. Meyer beat Brian Irvine in a near photo finish to the green, white, checkered second show. Wayne Gifford, Ken Tietz and Todd Reitzler joined Masters in advancing to the outside row of Saturday’s main event. Also advancing from the nightcap were Damon Murty, who’d started 24th, and Dustin Larson. Perry Misner led most of the second show before slowing with mechanical difficulties. Larson and Irvine did brief stints in front before Meyer’s late heroics. All eight drivers have previous Saturday starts on their resumes. Murty is a nine-time qualifier while Irvine counts a pair of championships among his six starts. Tietz is in for the fourth time, Meyer and Larson both for the third and Masters, Gifford and Reitzler each for the second. Blake Cole was disqualified from third place [Read More]

Mills, Snyder dominate Friday Modified qualifiers

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 6) – Dominating runs put Chris Mills and Jon Snyder on the podium following Modified qualifying features Friday at Boone Speedway. Mills led every lap in the first IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s qualifier. Snyder was scored in front on each of the last 19 of 25 circuits in the second show. Ryan Watnem, defending champion Jeff Taylor and J.D. Auringer chased Mills across the stripe. The top four in the nightcap was represented by four different states as Jason Cummins, Shawn Kilgore and William Gould finished behind Snyder. All eight drivers advance to the outside row of Saturday’s main event. Mills was out in front early in the opener, which was red flagged on lap nine when contact with another car rolled Todd Shute in turn three. The winner of the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational earlier in the evening was OK but clearly done for the night. Watnem continued his pursuit of Mills to the checkers. The 20th starting Taylor nipped Auringer at the line for third. Snyder [Read More]

Shute is fastest in 10th annual Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 6) – The closest finish in the 10-year history of the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational deserved a “10.” Todd Shute was the winner of the Friday special at Boone Speedway, racing from 14th starting to beat Chris Abelson by less than a car length in the 30-lapper. “This ranks right up there,” said Shute, Modified champion at the 2007 IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. “There weren’t any sob sisters in this race. Everybody deserved to be here.” The 30 All-Star drivers hailed from a dozen states and Canada. All had sanctioned wins of $1,000 or more in the past year, or 2012 regional or state championships to their credit. Abelson, the 2011 race winner, Dylan Smith, William Gould and Jeff Taylor rounded out the top five. Shute’s victory was good for $1,100, including $100 in lap money, and put him on the ballot for the 2014 Invitational. Jeremy Mills led the first 15 laps, making the high side work after starting outside the front row. A yellow flag erased [Read More]

Super Nationals Friday Notebook

Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational highlights Friday show at Boone BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 6) – The 10th annual Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational highlights Day Five of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Thirty of the best Modified drivers from a dozen states and Canada, voted into the field by balloting conducted on the IMCA website and on Facebook, will take the green flag for the $1,000 to win event Friday at Boone Speedway. Both the Modifieds and Stock Cars will qualify the front eight on the outside row of their respective main events. Also on the card are all qualifying heats for the Sunoco Race Fuels Race of Champions. Racing is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. * The team of Kenny Hansen, Andy Griffith, Chris Obermeir and Kent Inman finished five under to win Friday morning’s four-person golf tournament at Cedar Pointe Golf Course. Awards and drawing prizes were given to participants in the tourney, proceeds from which go to local civic organizations. The event, organizers pointed out afterwards, has never been [Read More]

Schmitt captures Karl Crate Clash

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – Brian Schmitt was the big winner in the winner take all Karl Crate Clash Thursday at Boone Speedway. Schmitt started on the pole for the inaugural 12-lap Modified race, which saw the last-place car blackflagged at the end of each of the first 10 circuits. He then beat Ricky Stephan to the checkers in a green-white-checkered dash to earn a 604 crate engine from Chevrolet Performance and Karl Chevrolet. Stephan was running second when lap 10 was scored and opted to restart behind Schmitt. Twelve drivers of the 121 who entered were selected by drawing to start the Karl Crate Clash. The starting grid was determined at the Fan Zone during a track prep session. Schmitt was the first to choose a hat with the number of his starting spot inside and got the pole. The engine is valued at $5,500. Feature results – 1. Brian Schmitt, Wall Lake; 2. Ricky Stephan, South Sioux City, Neb.; 3. Chevy Hadan, Bennington, Neb.; 4. Scott Hogan, Vinton; 5. Jim Lynch, Bloomfield; 6. [Read More]

Thursday Stock Car checkers fly for Temeyer, Vanover

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – Justin Temeyer and Kyle Vanover took different routes to the same destination Thursday at Boone Speedway. Both won IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s Stock Car qualifying features, Temeyer after a long run at the front, Vanover by stealing the lead away with five laps to go. Temeyer took the lead on the sixth of 25 laps in the opener. Trent Murphy kept it a two-car race past midway but couldn’t make up the distance. 2012 runner-up Chad Palmer was a distant third and Michael Jaennette would complete the top four. Vanover ran second most of the way, finally taking the front spot after a restart in the late going. 2001 champion Brian Blessington was second, rookie Heath Tulp third and Nathan Wood fourth. The top four finishers from each feature advance to Saturday’s main event. They’ll start in the middle row. Blessington starts his 11th career main event. Temeyer is in for the ninth time and, like Murphy, has now qualified six straight years. Palmer makes his [Read More]

Smith, Canadian Scholpp score Thursday Modified qualifiers

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – After Dylan Smith raced his way back into the Saturday night show, Kody Scholpp raced his way into the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s history book. Smith won Thursday’s first Modified qualifying feature at Boone Speedway, taking the lead on the ninth lap and holding off hard charger Kyle Brown. Scholpp led all 25 circuits in the nightcap, keeping hometown driver Kelly Lyons at bay and becoming the first Canadian driver to make the Modified main event. “This is awesome,” Scholpp said during post-race tech. “Lyons ran me hard and he tried to stick his nose in there a couple times. I had a great car tonight and the harder I drove it the better it stuck.” Scholpp drew the pole and led Greg Elliott, Matthew Meinecke and then the 12th starting Lyons in pulling away from the rest of the pack. Lyons moved into the runner-up spot on lap 15. Meinecke slipped by Elliott and into third two laps later. After working his way up from [Read More]

Super Nationals Thursday Notebook Part 2

* Super Nationals is legendary for bringing drivers from across the country and Canada to Boone. The diversity of addresses was best seen Wednesday in the 28th Modified heat where the eight starters represented seven states and our neighbors to the north. That heat included Terry Johnson of Iowa, Mike Petersilie of Kansas, Andrew Timm of Minnesota, Jason Wolla of North Dakota, Kody Scholpp of Saskatchewan, Steve Reynolds of South Dakota, Kyle Kudick of Wisconsin and Richard Mueller of Wyoming. Seven different states are represented in two of the 30 Thursday night heats, the ninth and 18th. * A dozen Modifieds will start tonight’s inaugural Karl Crate Clash. The winner goes home with a 604 crate engine, valued at $5,500, courtesy of Chevrolet Performance and Karl Performance. Names of the drivers starting the race were drawn from 121 entries this afternoon, with starting spots determined later in front of an SRO crowd at the Fan Zone. Brian Schmitt and Chevy Hadan drew front row starts. Ricky Stephan and Mike Petersilie are in the second row, [Read More]