McBirnie, Logue, Anderson score Salute to Veterans wins at Boone

Results

Jake McBirnie topped the Salute to veterans main event for IMCA Modifieds Saturday night at Boone Speedway. (Photo by Bruce Badgley, Motorsports Photography)

By Joyce Eisele

BOONE, Iowa (July 31) – It was Hunting with Heroes Salute to Veterans Night at the Boone Speedway on Saturday, with 205 race cars packing the pits and running before a full grandstand.

Jake McBirnie repeated his win from last week in the IMCA Modified division, as did Mike Kennedy in the IMCA STARS Mod Lites. Logan Anderson in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods and Dylan Nelson in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks captured their first wins of the year and Johnathon Logue saw his first career win in an IMCA Sunoco Stock Car.

The Modifieds ran 25 laps for their main event. Richie Gustin started on the outside front row and shot into the lead, seeking the $3,000 payday. McBirnie started fourth and tucked in immediately to run in second. 

Gustin took to the top of the track while McBirnie challenged on the low side. A slight bobble by Gustin allowed McBirnie to slip by and into the lead on lap 12 and that was all he needed to take his ride home the rest of the way to the win and Fast Shafts All-Star qualifying eligibility. 

Gustin had to be content with the runner-up spot.  Ethan Dotson started 14th and finished third.

Logue, a Northern SportMod regular,  got the lucky pole starting spot in Stock Car feature and led all 25 laps to take the $1,000 win and B & B Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility. 

It was a heated battle behind him with Buck Schafroth taking second just ahead of David Smith.

IMCA Sunoco Stock Car career win number one for Johnathon Logue came during the Salute to Veterans program at Boone Speedway. (Photo by Bruce Badgley) 

The Northern SportMods ran a 20-lap feature that paid $1,000 to win. Anderson led all 20 laps of the feature that saw only one caution fly at lap two for debris. Jake Sachau took the runner-up position and Dylan VanWyk was third.

Hobby Stocks ran a 20-lap feature. Nelson led the field to green and stayed at the front the entire race to take the checkers. 

It was a battle for position behind him as three cars duked it out.  As the checkers flew, it was last week’s winner, Eric Stanton winning out for the runner up spot.  Solomon Bennet was a close third, with 10th place starter Mike Smith right behind in fourth. 

Kieron Ahrens led the opening lap of the Mod Lite 15 feature, but lost the handle just after the first lap was scored, and was then out of the game. This put Kennedy to the point for the restart and he would go on to lead the rest of the way to the checkers. 

Trailing a distant runner up was Josh May. Travis Stensland made his first appearance of the year, and took home a third place finish.

Nine drivers had wrapped their cars to honor veterans and were on display prior to the races.  Todd Shute, Kelly Shryock and Nick Meyer represented the Modifieds. It was David Smith, Jeff Larson and Snip Pesicka, Jr. paying honor in the Stock Cars and representing in the Northern SportMod division, it was Cam Reimers, Jared Boumeester and Colby Fett.

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