IMCA Stock Car heavyweights square off at Stuart

By Josh Reynolds

STUART, Iowa (June 10) – The drivers running 1-2 in IMCA Sunoco Stock Car career wins ran 1-2 in a battle for the ages Wednesday at Stuart Speedway. 

Brad Derry and Shawn Ritter lined up on the front row. Mike Nichols jumped to the lead on lap one and after a couple of cautions looked to cruise to the win, but a caution on lap 17 bunched the field and gave 11th starting Damon Murty a shot. 

The top two put on a show over the last two laps and it was Nichols with a couple of strong moves to hang onto the lead and take the win by a half a car length. Murty finished in second with Todd VanEaton, Josh Daniels and Buck Schafroth the rest of the top five. 

John Davis and Scott Bash led the IMCA Modified field to the green flag. Ricky Thornton Jr. took over the pole when Davis dropped to the tail before the start of the feature. One caution on lap eight was all that slowed Thornton as he sailed to the win. Tom Berry Jr. finished second with Todd Shute third, Josh Gilman fourth and Matthew Meinecke fifth.

Blair Simmons and Josh Sink brought the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods to green, and it was Brayton Carter working his way to the lead at the halfway point. Matt Webb put up quite a fight but Carter was strong as he went on to take the win. Webb, Dusty Masolini, Tyler Inman and Cam Reimers were the rest of the top five finishers.