By Josh Reynolds
STUART, Iowa (July 27, 2022) – Karl Chevrolet of Stuart International Speedway had 125 cars in the pits for the Clint Walrod Memorial Wednesday night. Feature winners were Michael Hotze, Cam Reimers, Austin Kaplan, Cody Laney and Dylan Nelson.
The first feature on the track was the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts with Hotze, Tyler Fiebelkorn and Kolby Sabin battling over the top three spots. Hotze stretched his lead out to just over a second and went on to the $1,000 feature win, his first in the division. Sabin came out on top in the battle for second with Fiebelkorn third, Jake Walding fourth and Ryan Brown fifth.
Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods came out next and it was Bryan Morris leading one lap before the yellow flew. Tyler Inman blasted into the lead on the restart and held it until Reimers moved by on lap seven.
The fight was on for second between Inman and Brayton Carter, but out front it would be Reimers using the top of the track to go on to the win and the $1,000 top prize. Inman took the runner-up spot with Carter third, Izac Mallicoat fourth and Josh Sink fifth.
Kaplan used his drawing luck to start on the front row and jumped out to the lead on lap one for the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars.
After a quick caution it was Kaplan, Buck Schafroth and Austin Meiners the top three, but while they were doing battle it was Tom Berry Jr. charging to the front. Berry made it to third on lap five, then worked a lapped car to his advantage to get by Schafroth on lap 14.
Lap 16 saw a caution fly and a four-lap shootout was lined up as Damon Murty joined the top three. Berry threw a slider or two and even held the lead on the white flag lap, but Kaplan worked the track like a seasoned veteran and went on to grab the $1,000 win and B & B Racing Chassis qualifying eligibility. Berry finished second with Schafroth third, Murty fourth and Brandon Pruitt fifth.
Californian Laney, already Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible, started out front and stayed there for all 20 laps as he drove off to the $1,000 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified win. Tim Ward finished second with Josh Gilman third, Chase Rudolf fourth and Zack Rawlins fifth.
The last race of the night was the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and it was Dylan Nelson getting by Skylar Pruitt on lap four to cement himself in the top spot. Pruitt stayed in his tire tracks but it was Nelson getting the win and the $1,000 that came with it. Pruitt finished second with John Watson third, Brandon Cox fourth and Eric Stanton fifth.
Next Wednesday is the Jake Durbin Memorial with all the regular classes running for increased purses while remembering a popular central Iowa Modified racer.