By Bob Coney
JEFFERSON, S.D. (Aug. 21) – Drivers and fans enjoyed a great night of racing Sunday as Raceway Park hosted the Tom Baker Memorial Race.
The highlighted division of the evening was the MOPAR IMCA Northern SportMods. Kyle Welch jumped out to the early lead only to be overtaken on the seventh lap by Karl Brewer. The race’s first caution did not come out until the 14th of 20 laps were complete. On the restart, Kirk Beatty and Darin Roepke got together between the first and second turns leading to a second attempt to finish the race.
Once the green flag flew, it was Brewer all the way to the checkered flag followed by Rusty Montagne, Cameron Meyer and Kyle Welch.
The Total Motors IMCA Modified division ran a fast, clean, green to checkers feature. Dan Loggins led the opening laps until being overtaken three laps in by Bob Moore. Moore then set sail with Jim Cole on his tail while Chris Abelson worked his way through the field to third at the halfway point. Through the final laps, Moore kept control over Cole to take the win, while Abelson held off point leader Ricky Stephan for third place at the checkers.
The Casey’s General Store IMCA Stock Cars had a classic battle through most of the feature between Aaron Cain and Jason Ward, with the lead traded four times in an eight lap period. Ward finally took control of the top spot with four laps remaining to take the feature win while Todd Gereau got past Cain for the runner-up spot. Behind the top trio, Nick Lakes rounded out the top four.
Aaron Shearn picked up his second win in a row in the Car Quest IMCA Hobby Stock division. Shearn slipped past race-long leader Brody Spreng with two laps remaining and held off a hard-charging Dave Riley at the checkers. Spreng finished in the third position followed by Andy Hoffman.
The KISS 107 FM IMCA Sport Compact feature saw another clean green to checkered feature. Jake Newsom took the lead on the opening lap and never looked back en route to the feature victory followed by Luke Jackson, Ramsey Meyer and Tyler Thompson.
This upcoming Sunday, Raceway Park holds its season championship races with champions crowned in all five IMCA divisions and in the Big Wheel Shootout Series. Gates open at 5 p.m. with the first green flag dropping at 6:30 p.m.