BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 4) – At the end of 25 laps and seven lead changes, Doug Cook had a qualifying feature win and a pole position
start on championship night to show for his Monday efforts at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
Cook, from Algona, got the best of Mason City’s Nate Whitehurst in a back-and-forth Northern SportMod battle at Boone Speedway.
Pole starter Matt Looft of Swea City was scored first through the first eight laps before Cook and Whitehurst swapped the lead each of the next five times around the oval.
Whitehurst had the edge by a bumper at the end of lap 19 but Cook’s advantage was the same small distance on lap 20. He edged ahead from that point to get the win and coveted inside row one starting spot for Saturday’s main event.
Lining up behind Cook and Whitehurst in that race will be fellow top eight finishers Brett Myer of Lytton, Lance Borgman of Beatrice, Neb., Doug Smith of Lanesboro, Mark Leiting of Lincoln, Neb., Levi Kiefer and Looft.
Meyer had started 14th, Borgman 16th, Smith 17th and Leiting 22nd.
Meyer was the champion at Super Nationals in 2010; Smith is the defending champion. Kiefer, from Pahrump, became the first Nevada driver to make the Northern SportMod main event in the 13 years the division has been part of the Super Nationals program. He’d qualified three years ago while a resident of California.
Borgman and Leiting are also first-time qualifiers while Looft and Whitehurst make career second Saturday night starts. Cook qualified for the third time, Meyer and Smith both for the sixth.
Feature results – 1. Doug Cook, Algona; 2. Nate Whitehurst, Mason City; 3. Brett Meyer, Lytton; 4. Lance Borgman, Beatrice, Neb.; 5. Doug Smith, Lanesboro; 6. Mark Leiting, Lincoln, Neb.; 7. Levi Kiefer, Pahrump, Nev.; 8. Matthew Looft, Swea City; 9. Trent Roth, Columbus, Neb.; 10. Joe Docekal, Dysart; 11. Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; 12. Taylor Musselman, Urbandale; 13. Jake McBirnie, Boone; 14. Miles (Adam) Shelman, Ames; 15. John Watson, Des Moines; 16. Jake Simpson, Algona; 17. Cory Rose, Boone; 18. Dusty Masolini, Des Moines; 19. Tyler Watts, Beloit, Kan.; 20. Chad Shaw, Trimble, Mo.; 21. Brian Schrage, Cresco; 22. Darin Roepke, LeMars; 23. Tyler Soppe, Sherrill; 24. Austin Luellen, Minburn; 25. Kyle Olson, Cedar Rapids; 26. Jared Waterman, Milan, Ill.; 27. Tim Warner, Malone, Wis.; 28. Colby Fett, Algona; 29. Robert Moore, Maxwell; 30. Brandon Ostwald, Algona.