Articles by Ryan Clark

ALBANY, Ore. – Top-flight competition early in the season in sunny Arizona showed Bricen James how much he needed to step up his IMCA Modified game. The same caliber of competition closer to home in June helped him with the fine tuning that led to a history-making season. From Albany, James became the first Oregon driver to win an IMCA regional championship, pacing Shaw Race Cars Western point standings. “We didn’t know if it was possible with the number of races we have in Oregon,” said James, who made 35 of his 41 starts this season in his home state. “We looked back at last year when we won the E3 Spark Plugs State championship and finished 10th nationally. We told ourselves we could do this and raced as much as we could.” He totaled a dozen feature wins, repeating as the state champion while earning his career first track title at Willamette Speedway. The 1/3-mile clay oval at Lebanon is James’ home track, located a convenient five minutes from home and just 10 minutes from [Read More]

CALERA, Okla. – With titles on the line, William Gould was at his best. And his best is very, very good. Gould won his final six, and seven of his last eight IMCA Modified starts of the season in clinching his career fourth Razor Chassis South Central Region crown. “We didn’t do anything different the last month and a half,” said Gould, who had struggled with powerplant issues. “We had a string of bad luck with crate engines but when the car ran, everything was fine.” From Calera, Okla., Gould collected 15 feature wins, five of them coming in a dozen open motor outings, along with another 22 top five finishes in 55 starts. His travels took Gould to 10 different tracks. He already had Southern Oklahoma Speedway and E3 Spark Plus Oklahoma State titles in hand before that late flurry of feature wins, which added the Grayson County Speedway track and ultimately the regional prize to his resume. “Both Southern Oklahoma and Grayson County are about an hour away from home. If you’re going [Read More]

NEWBURG, N.D. – Tom Berry Jr. was turning heads in his adopted state of North Dakota before he won the Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Tour. He never slowed down. Berry, an Oregon transplant now from Newburg, motored to his career first Side Biter Chassis North Central Region crown. The Dacotah Speedway and Nodak Speedway track champion racked up a dozen wins and another 18 top five finishes in 37 starts on the way to national IMCA Modified runner-up honors. “It’s been wild. We didn’t target any of this. We got a new Razor Chassis and started getting more wins,” Berry said. “We usually ran twice a week, never missed a weekend and always ran with stout fields. We’ll run hard next season. I hope to click out quick and run three nights a week.” The opening night winner at Jamestown Speedway, Berry had two second-place finishes along with a fifth place showing running with top flight competition in the Dakota Tour. He was also second across the stripe in three straight Speedweek starts, at the [Read More]

GLENCOE, Minn. – Alex Dostal has had a thing for speed ever since he crashed a three-wheeler into the front door of the house at the age of five or six.  His ability to go fast paid off this season with the Mach-1 Sport Compact national championship. Encouraged by early success, the Glencoe, Minn., pilot targeted the national prize in mid-summer. He scored 25 feature wins in making that goal become reality. “Everything just panned out,” explained Dostal, a first-time national king after finishing fourth each of the two previous years. “I wasn’t planning on racing a Sport Compact but decided to when Princeton Speedway opened. We got three or four wins and I told my dad we were going to see how far we can take it.” “I had high hopes we could get it about 15 wins in,” he continued. “We had the national championship in our sights in late July.” Dostal showed a knack for getting his wins in bunches, carrying streaks of five straight checkers into early August and later to [Read More]

BELTON, Texas – A career that started with an old chassis rescued from a weed patch has seen James Hanusch race to the IMCA’s Smiley’s Racing Products Southern SportMod national champion­ship. The Belton, Texas, driver followed an ambitious 55-race schedule that took him to eight tracks in three states, collecting five feature wins, another 23 top five finishes and the 281 Speedway crown as well this season. “We were leading at 281 and doing well in national points. Everybody wants feature wins but I also know that top fives will get you a long way,” said the first-time national champ, who has typi­cally made 50-plus starts a season during his career in the class. “We did a lot of traveling.  We were on the road a lot. We strategized how to get the most points out of our late season starts and it worked out for us.” The E3 Spark Plugs Texas State champion two years ago, Hanusch logged most of his Lone Star out­ings at 281 and Heart O’ Texas Speedway, working in visits [Read More]

SHERRILL, Iowa – Racing, says Tyler Soppe, is one of those sports where you never know what’s going to happen. A lot happened for the Sherrill, Iowa, speedster in 2019 and almost all of it was good. Soppe motored to a career second Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod national championship, along with 21 feature wins and track titles at Maquoketa Speedway and Dubuque Speedway. “This one (the national championship) was better. When we won it the first time in 2017, all we were doing was chasing points and that took the fun out of it,” he said. “My daughter Tayler was eight years old then and told me I had to win again so she could go to the banquet.” “This year we just went out and raced. We knew if we won races that it would work out,” Soppe added. “We knew going into the last two weekends that it would be super close but we were able to replace some third-place finishes.” Soppe was spot on when he guesstimated the national championship race would [Read More]