Ryan Clark

Speedweek night two sees Foulger pace Petaluma show

By Stephanie Deatherage PETALUMA, Calif. (Aug. 11) – The second leg of the California IMCA Speedweek presented by Hoppes Motorsports saw Troy Foulger parked in victory lane following the Modified main event at Petaluma Speedway. Foulger picked up $1,000 and a Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot berth for the big win atop the 3/8-mile adobe clay oval. The third starting Foulger had been quick to the lead and stayed in front through long green flag action. Lapped traffic did become a factor but Foulger avoided all obstacles on his way to the checkers. Paul Stone again charged out of a “B” feature, started last in the main and rocketed to a second-place result. Night one winner Bobby Hogge IV placed third while fourth went to New Mexico standout Zane DeVilbiss. Veteran Paul Gugliomoni was fifth via a consolation feature. In the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod main event, Garrett Jernagan picked up from where left off from the previous evening This time the Bakersfield driver seized the lead on the initial start, mastered each restart and didn’t [Read More]

Notable firsts, previous race winners among 28 drivers elected to Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational

BOONE, Iowa – IMCA Modified drivers from a dozen states, representing notable first-time competitors as well as previous race winners, have been elected to start the 17th annual Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. Kelsie Foley of Tucson, Ariz., becomes the first female driver elected to the All-Star race. Other first-time All-Stars who will take the green flag in the Friday, Sept. 11 spectacular, during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s at Boone Speedway, are David Goode Jr. of Copperas Cove, Texas, Jake O’Neil, also of Tucson, and Brandon Smith of Bath, N.Y. They’ll be joined on the starting grid by defending race winner Joel Rust of Grundy Center, 2018 winner Hunter Marriott of Brookfield, Mo., 2013 winner Todd Shute of Norwalk, 2011 winner Chris Abelson of Sioux City and 2005 and 2008 winner Jay Noteboom of Hinton. Noteboom will make his career 12th All-Star start, Abelson and Tim Ward of Chandler, Ariz., both their 10th. Calera, Okla.’s William Gould is an eight-time All-Star. Richie Gustin of Gilman, Ricky Thornton Jr. of Adel and A.J. Ward [Read More]

RPM Stock Car Shootout checkers to Zevenbergen

HAYS, Kan. (Aug. 11) – A season that’s already seen its share of career-type highlights saw Elijah Zevenbergen in victory lane again Tuesday night. Zevenbergen held off challenges from Dallon Murty before taking the $5,000 checkers at RPM Speedway’s 1st Class Chassis Shootout for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars. Murty ran in the top three all 40 laps and stayed alongside or right behind Zevenbergen until taken out of contention by a flat tire on the final circuit. “We wanted to bide our time, conserve our tires and be patient, and it all worked out for us,” said Zevenbergen. “The car was phenomenal.” Abe Huls led the first 24 laps and ended the night in second. Angel Munoz, Jeff Tubbs and Jason Rogers rounded out the top five. The front three of Huls, Murty and Zevenbergen had started putting distance on the rest of the field following a lap five restart as Jesse Sobbing and then Kyle Pfeifer ran in fourth. Zevenbergen finally corralled Huls for the point on lap 25, then swapped the lead with Murty [Read More]

Hogge makes history with Modified win in California IMCA Speedweek opener

By Stephanie Deatherage PLACERVILLE, Calif. (Aug. 10) – Bobby Hogge IV made history on a history-making night for the inaugural California IMCA Speedweek. Placerville Speedway had the honor of opening the first-ever Speedweek event, presented by Hoppes Motorsports and 51 IMCA Modifieds and 36 Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods contended. Hogge earned $1,000 and a 2021 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot nod for his Modified victory while Garrett Jernagan took the $750 Northern SportMod checkers. Polesitter Hogge struck first on the opening lap to beat the field to the wire. Consecutive cautions kept the field bunched up preventing the Salinas standout from developing a large lead and Hogge soon had his hands full with a hard-charging Danny Wagner. Wagner slipped past Hogge on lap six only to lose the lead on the following trip past the flag stand. Hogge reclaimed the front spot and built a decent advantage during long green flag runs. Around halfway, Shane DeVolder applied loads of pressure on the leader and eventually took over the top position on the 21st circuit. However, DeVolder lost [Read More]

Super Tuesday All-Star voting begins

VINTON, Iowa (Aug. 11) – It’s Super Tuesday and voting for the 17th annual Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational voting has begun. Twenty-eight of the 30 IMCA Modified drivers starting the All-Star race, to be held Sept. 11 at Boone Speedway during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, will be elected today. All voting will be conducted on the IMCA Facebook page with the electronic polls open until 9 p.m. CST. Voters must cast ballots for 10 candidates. The top three vote recipients from each of the five Modified regions are guaranteed starting spots, with their region of candidacy determined by where they made the majority of their IMCA sanctioned starts. The next 13 drivers with the highest vote totals, regardless of region, become All-Stars. Completing the field will be drivers with the top national point total and with the most 40-point feature wins as of Aug. 28 who compete at Super Nationals. One hundred and twenty-three drivers are on the ballot. The Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational pays $1,000 to win. Each All-Star driver [Read More]

DeFrance takes Late Model title, Mueller sees 100th victory at Marshalltown

By Joyce Eisele MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Aug. 7) – Feature wins were especially notable Friday at Marshalltown Speedway. IMCA Sunoco Late Models wrapped up their regular season and hometown hero Darrel DeFrance claimed the track title as well as winning the feature. He led from the drop of the green to the checkers in a 20-lap race that went non-stop. Jeff Mueller had to dig around the bottom of the track in the 18-lap IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature to get the win, but he got the job done. Mueller started 12th, caught and passed rim-riding Dallon Murty at lap 12 and held the lead to the finish to earn his career 100th win in the division. Tom Berry Jr. continued his domination in the IMCA Modified division, winning for the seventh time at the High Banks, and Johnathon Logue made it two in a row in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods. Solomon Bennett snagged his first-ever win at Marshalltown in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks.

Modified checkers fly for Hiatt at Eagle

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (Aug. 8) – They battled tooth and nail the last five times around the track and when the IMCA Modified checkers flew Saturday at Eagle Raceway it was Shane Hiatt first across the stripe. Nate Thompson and Brandon Spanjer took turns at the front of the field before Hiatt gained the front spot with eight laps left. Mike Densberger raced his way to second before that late caution set up the five-lap battle. Hiatt held off Densberger, with Spanjer third and Jordan Grabouski fourth. Doug Lovegrove saw his first pass for the lead negated by a caution, then made the move back to the front two laps later and topped the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature. Ryan Gilland led the last nine circuits in winning the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature, Matt Andrews was the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod victor after edging ahead of Trevor Noonan late in the contest and Brian Cronin was best in the Mach-1 Sport Compact main event.

Wilinski, Forstner, Schmidt are IMCA winners at Shawano

SHAWANO, Wis. (Aug. 8) – The 2019 Shawano Speedway track champions were honored Saturday as part of the Night of Champions. The action on the track that evening saw the 2020 points battle heat up while heading towards the season’s end. In the IMCA Modified feature, Shawn Frelich and Jesse Peebles led the field to the line. Peebles grabbed the early advantage while Konnor Wilinski began his move forward after starting eighth. Wilinski captured the top spot a few laps later. Wilinski began to pull away as Marcus Yarie and Lance Arneson gave chase. As the top three worked themselves free of the pack, Lucas Lamberies was slicing his way through the field. Wilinski proved up to the challenge, grabbing the feature win with Yarie finishing second. It only took Chucky Forstner a couple laps to take the top spot in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature. Gary Kasperek applied the pressure on Forstner for the first half of the feature which went caution free. Jeremy Christians and Trent Nolan would battle it out for [Read More]

Indee holds season championship events

By Jerry Mackey INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (Aug. 8) – Saturday saw the 2020 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season come to an end with the running of season championship races at Independence Motor Speedway and several division titles were decided in dramatic fashion. The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars came into the night with Leah Wroten holding a two-point advantage over Tom Schmitt. Wroten needed to finish no more than two positions behind Schmitt to earn the season championship. With Phil Holtz racing out front and both Schmitt and Wroten headed to the front, Wroten was involved in a skirmish that sent her to the back of the 20-car field. Wroten then charged back to the front as a young lady on a mission. When the checkers flew it was Holtz taking the win with Schmitt in second, Kevin Rose was in third and Wroten raced all the way back to fourth. The finish ended the season point standings in a tie with Schmitt and Wroten and the tie breaker was feature wins with Wroten holding the [Read More]

Thornton makes winning dash to Boone checkers

By Joyce Eisele BOONE, Iowa (Aug. 8) – Dylan Thornton prevailed in a 20-lap IMCA Modified feature decided by inches in a mad dash to the finish line that had the crowd on its feet Saturday at Boone Speedway. Three drivers provided most of the action upfront for much of the race as Joel Bushore, in a new ride after his rollover last week, led the field as the race went green. Thornton was quick to join in and then 14th place starter Jimmy Gustin joined in to make it a trio of fun. The closing laps saw the three drivers go at it in a spectacular dash to the finish line. Thornton had just enough momentum coming out of the final corner as the checkers unfurled, taking the win by inches over Gustin. Bushore finished a close third. Thornton, who is from California, is spending the summer back here in Iowa and, ironically enough, staying with second place finisher Gustin. The victory marked the first time Thornton has visited the winner’s circle at the speedway. Donavon Smith [Read More]