IMCA crowns record 103 Allstar Performance State champions in 2016

VINTON, Iowa – Sixty-four of the record 103 IMCA Allstar Performance State crowns awarded this season went to first-time champions in their respective divisions.

Each Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified, IMCA Late Model and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car state champion receives a $100 gift card from Allstar Performance.

The Watervliet, Mich., high performance parts manufacturer gives $50 gift cards to each IMCA EMI RaceSaver Sprint Car, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock, Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod, Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod and Mach-1 Sport Compact state champion.

Myron DeYoung paced the point race for Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified drivers in Michigan for the sixth time in his career. Ricky Stephan’s title in South Dakota was his third straight; he’d also won state hon­ors for Iowa three times.

Drew Armstrong’s Arkansas state championship was his career fifth. Tim Ward adds the Iowa prize to a collection that already includes two plaques from his home state of Arizona and another from Nebraska.

Three-time Modified champs were Greg Durbin, Jeremy Meirhofer, Dean Deming and Cory Sam­ple in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico and Nevada, respectively.

Jason Barnhill was state champion in Alabama. He ruled the Florida standings in 2015. Other drivers winning second state crowns were Randy Brown in California, Daryl Hay in Mis­souri, Collen Winebarger in Oregon, Chase Hansen in Utah and Marcus Yarie in Wisconsin.

First-time Modified state champions were Chaz Baca in Arizona, Aaron Monie in Colorado, Kyle Rutkoski in Florida, Chris Clark in Idaho, Steven Bowers Jr. in Kansas, Josh Beaulieu in Minne­sota, Jason Wolla in North Dakota, Anthony Roth in Nebraska, Will Ward in New York, Tate Cole in Oklahoma, Matt Guillaume in Texas and Eddie Kirchoff in Wyoming.

Guillaume was previously a two-time Stock Car champion in Texas.

Drivers winning the first IMCA Late Model state titles of their respective careers were Luke Goedert in Iowa and Rob Toland in Illinois.

Winning career third IMCA EMI RaceSaver Sprint Car crowns were Michael Stien in Minnesota and Jerald Harris in Virginia.

Clint Benson was champion in Iowa. He’d also topped Nebraska state standings in 2014. Also earning career second state Sprint plaques were Mike Haggenbottom in New Jersey and Mike Downs in Ohio.

The first-time champions for the Sprints were Blake Robertson in California, Justin Wolf Medlock in Colorado, Luke Bland in Indiana, Luke Cranston in Kansas, Joshua McCord in Louisiana, Scott Law­rence in North Carolina, Tyler Drueke in Nebraska, Andy Shouse in Oklahoma, Scott Lutz in Pennsylvania, Robby Wolfgang in South Dakota and Robert Vetter in Texas.

A record 16 state Sprint Car champions were crowned this season, including first-ever kings in Colorado and Oklahoma.

Damon Murty motored to IMCA Sunoco Stock Car Iowa state career championship number five. Abe Huls led the way in Illinois for the fourth time while two-time champs were Joren Boyce in North Dakota, Mike Wiseman in Oklahoma and Travis Van Straten in Wisconsin.

Boyce also owns eight Modified titles in North Dakota.

First Stock Car state championships were won by Cody Center in Arizona, Steven Johnson in California, Bob Reese in Colorado, Kyle Pfeifer in Kansas, Gary Mattison in Minnesota, Chad Bruns in Nebraska, Dillon Hill in New Mexico, Chris Mills in South Dakota and Westin Abbey in Texas.

Mills was the South Dakota Modified champion in 2007.

Winners of career second Hobby Stock state crowns were Justin Luinenburg in Minnesota and Dave Riley in South Dakota.

Hobby Stock drivers racing to their first-ever state titles included Richard Bennett in Arizona, Phil Reid in Colorado, Cody Nielsen in Iowa, Brady Bencken in Kansas, Andrew Bertsch in North Da­kota, Damon Richards in Nebraska, Sam Hodges in New Mexico, Wesley Warren in Texas and Dillon Johnson in Wyoming.

Robby Rosselli racked up Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod career championship number four in North Dakota and Chris Toth added a third Arizona state plaque to his collection.

The two-time state champions in the division are Ryan Moser in Colorado, Tony Olson in Iowa, Nelson Vollbrecht in Nebraska and Jorddon Braaten in Oregon.

Winning their first state titles were Brian Cooper in California, Cody Malcom in Idaho, Andrew Burk in Illinois, Brian Davidson in Kansas, Tony Rialson in Minnesota, Bradly Scott Schmidt in Nevada, Hunter McDonald in Oklahoma, Karl Brewer in South Dakota, Robert Williams in Utah, Kevin Bethke in Wisconsin and Chuck Delp in Wyoming.

Jeffrey Kaup collected career crown number five in Kansas while two-time Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod champions were Brock Aeschbacher in Idaho, Cory Williams in New Mexico and Jeffrey Abbey in Texas.

First-time state champions in the class were Dustin Leatherman in Oklahoma, Scott Gray in Utah and Chipita Rowley in Wyoming.

Another five-time state champ was Nate Coopman in Minnesota in the Mach-1 Sport Compacts. Danny Baggerly won for the fourth time in Texas, Kimberly Abbott for the second time in Illinois.

Seven drivers – Shalanda Smith in Colorado, Levi Heath in Iowa, Billy Turner in Kansas, Jason Berg in North Dakota, Lance Mielke in Nebraska, Luke Jackson in South Dakota and Mitch Meier in Wisconsin – each won state crown for the first time.

Twenty-six Modified champions were crowned for the second straight year, 17 Northern SportMod state champions for the third straight year and 10 Sport Compact state champions for the fourth straight year.

Seven hundred and forty-eight different drivers have now won titles since IMCA introduced state championship awards in 2000.