5/19/2018
Boone Speedway
Four in a row for Thornton
Mother Nature did not win this one from Boone Speedway on Saturday night. The earlier rain did delay start time by about 45 minutes, but from then on, it was racing as usual. Travis Stensland won the Mod Lite feature, Keith Burg took his first ever win in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, Mike Houseman won his second IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature, and Johnathon Logue was victorious in the IMCA Northern SportMod class. The IMCA Stock Car main event went to Jeff Mueller in his second win of the season, and the man on fire, Ricky Thornton, Jr., made it four in a row in the IMCA Modifieds.
Travis Stensland chased down Bryan Zehm in the Mod Lite 15-lap event, taking command on lap twelve and staving off any threats thereafter. He took the double checkers, leaving Zehm to relish only second place. Third went to Joe Glick, Tanner Gannon was fourth, and Chelsea May rounded out the top five. Stensland started eighth, and won for the second time this season.
The 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod A main was plagued with yellow flags, but in the end it was Johnathon Logue surviving all those cautions to take the win. Logue came from eleventh starting spot, ran down the front runners, and took charge at lap eight. The race was under the time limit rule at lap ten, but then continued on the remainder of the distance without another caution. Early leader Ethan Braaskma was a distant runner up, third went to Tyler Inman, fourth was Austin Luellen who started twenty-third, and Hunter Longnecker was fifth. This was Logue's first win at Boone this year.
Mike Houseman won for the second time in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint class. Houseman snapped up the lead on lap four, and never looked back. Seventh place starter Tyler Thompson, fell short in his attempt to run down the leader, and had to settle for second place. Third was C. J. Houseman, Mike Johnston was fourth and Ben Woods rounded out the top five.
Veteran racer Scott Davis, who has been absent from the racing scene for a couple of years, is back piloting the familiar orange 81D IMCA Stock Car this season. He took the lead at lap five, and looked to be on his way to the winner's circle as he lead the pack. He soon had the challenges of Donavon Smith and Jeff Mueller to contend with and the battle was intense. With just a lap to go, Davis and Smith made contact which resulted in a flat tire for Davis, and allowing Mueller to scoot by Smith to take the lead. He kept it the remainder of the way to the checkers and the win. Smith held on to second, Trent Murphy started eleventh and finished in third, Wayne Gifford came from fifteenth to finish in fourth, and Ty Hill was fifth. Mueller started sixteenth, and won for the second time at Boone this year.
Joel Bushore led the field to green in the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature. Bushore was soon trying to hold back eighth place starter Mike VanGenderen who was sniffing at his heels. At lap seven, VanGenderen made a nifty move to take the number one spot away, only to have Ricky Thornton snatch it away the following lap. From there on, it was all Thornton as he pulled away from the field to take a comfortable win. Tim Ward started fourteenth, and finished second, VanGenderen, who is the past two year's track champion, was third, fourth went to Eric Elliott, and Al "Pep" Wolfgram completed the top five positions. Thornton has been on a roll at the track this year, winning for the fourth consecutive week.
The nightcap for the evening was twelve laps of IMCA Hobby Stock racing. This race also had its share of caution flags, but it didn't hinder Keith Burg on his way to capture his first ever feature win. Burg was challenged by Justin Wacha in the latter part of the race, but in the final laps, he pulled away to take the comfortable win. Wacha was the runner up, followed by Shawn Wirtz in third, tenth place starter Ryan Wells was fourth, and Todd Bass started dead last in twenty-second place and finished fifth.
Next Saturday night, the racing action continues with all six classes in competition. Hot laps are 5:45, and the green flag drops at 6:30.
Article Credit: Joyce Eisele
