Ryan Clark

Duke adds BAPS to dream season

By Frank Buhrman YORK HAVEN, Pa. (Aug. 25) – Ken Duke Jr. is enjoying a season most racers can only dream about, winning races and leading both the Pennsylvania Sprint Series and national IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car point standings, but one track was conspicuously missing from the top tier of his 2019 resume: BAPS Motor Speedway. On Sunday night, Duke took care of that small discrepancy with a convincing victory in the 20-lap PASS feature at the York County speedway. It’s not that you could call Duke’s performance at BAPS poor: he had a 12-race streak of top 10 finishes at BAPS dating to early 2017 but his last victory at the track had come nearly three years ago, on Sept. 3, 2016. With the victories mounting at other regular PASS tracks like Port Royal, Path Valley, Clinton County and Duke’s hometown Selinsgrove Speedway, BAPS stood out. No more. After drawing the outside front row starting position Sunday, Duke out-charged pole sitter and Saturday night Port Royal winner Landon Price for the early lead, then [Read More]

LaCrosse leads the way at Outagamie

By Edward Anschutz SEYMOUR, Wis. (Aug. 23) – Benji LaCrosse only led one lap of the IMCA Modified feature but it was the one that paid as he snatched the victory from Andy Kleczka Friday at Outagamie Speedway powered by EWSC. Kleczka used his front row starting spot to build a huge lead early. That was erased when the caution flew just past midway. The first to challenge for the top spot was last week’s winner Wyatt Block Jr. as he worked down low and Kleczka ran the cushion. Once again Kleczka built a gap as LaCrosse took the runner-up position with three laps remaining. LaCrosse closed in but remained two car lengths behind. On the final corners, LaCrosse came in high and dove down the track to the inside of the leader as they came to the checkers. When the dust settled it was LaCrosse winning by the width of his bumper in a thriller. On the other side of the coin it was heartbreak city for Kleczka who had to settle for second. Block placed third while Jerry Wilinski and rookie Cody Apfelback completed the top five. In IMCA Sunoco [Read More]

Michonski, Nolan fight to the finish

By Scott Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (Aug. 24) – Nate Michonski and Trent Nolan brought the Shawano Speedway crowd to its feet as the two traded paint in the race to the checkered flag in Saturday’s IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature. Michonski prevailed for his first win of the year. The feature started with a four-wide battle to lead lap one with Vern Stedjee ahead of the pack by a bumper. The four-wide battle continued on lap two, but this time it was Tom Riehl leading the way. On lap three, Nolan took his car to the front of the pack. Michonski moved to second on lap five and the lead duo began to pull away a bit from the rest of the field. On lap 17, Michonski pulled to the inside and led by the slightest of margins at the line. Nolan tried to return the favor on lap 18 as he went to the inside but to no avail. Not giving up the chase, Nolan again pulled alongside Michonski on the final lap. The two made contact exiting [Read More]

High groove gets Thompson to victory lane

By Ronnie Williams SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Aug. 24) – Bad Boy Mower IMCA Modified point leader James Thompson shocked the field by moving in the high groove on lap 15 and pulled away to record his fifth feature win of the season at The Quick-Quarter of the Springfield Raceway. Thompson, who twice this season has pulled off late-race wins by using the bottom groove to his advantage, showed patience on the ultra-quick surface after the track was hit by heavy rain showers both Friday night and Saturday morning. After searching for a spot on the track to gain ground on the leaders, Thompson used two early cautions to get position as leader Bobby Pearish and last week’s winner Ryan Gilmore were waging an all-out war for the spot. Action went solid green after the lap three caution. Thompson the very quietly picked his spots very carefully. The lap 15 caution bunched the pack together as Thompson had moved to second and picked the outside lane for the double-file restart to most everyone’s surprise. He wheeled to the upper [Read More]

Carroll collects I-37 feature win

By J.M. Hallas PLEASANTON, Texas (Aug. 24) – Chris Carroll looked like he was on his way to an easy victory in Saturday’s IMCA Modified main event at I-37 Speedway, until a mid-race caution flew. Carroll then had to fend off Dillon Tindall and a last lap challenge from former champion Greg Dinsmore to secure that win. A spun car on lap 13 brought out the yellow that erased Carroll’s lead. Greg Dinsmore and Dillon Tindall stayed wheel-to-wheel for second on the restart with Jason Borlace, Donald Banker and Anthony Gordon three-wide for fifth. Banker took the spot and then passed Campbell for fourth. Dinsmore finally shook off Tindall for second but remained a handful of [Read More]

Gnat notches Norfolk feature win

By Randy Pospishil sports@norfolkdailynews.com NORFOLK, Neb. (Aug. 24) – Jeremy Gnat led 18 laps, then had to hold off hard charger Cameron Meyer to win Saturday’s Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod feature at Off Road Speedway. Meyer pulled alongside Gnat as the pair took the white flag and entered the final lap together. Gnat promptly retook the lead coming out of turn two and won his first race of the season at Norfolk, in 13 tries this season. Meyer, who held a narrow two-point lead over Robbie Thome at the top of the division’s point list, finished second ahead of Joey Haase. Meanwhile, Thome’s car was damaged earlier in the race and did not finish. Another highly-contested finish came in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars feature where Jason Wilkinson earned his second win of the season at Off Road Speedway by holding off repeated challenges from TeJay Mielke during the race’s final 10 laps. Mielke’s second place was his sixth top five finish of the season, while Chad Bruns took third for his ninth top five. [Read More]

Arlington checkers are career first for Larsen

ARLINGTON, Minn. (Aug. 24) – Josh Larsen led the entire B&B Racing Chassis IMCA Stock Car feature to pick up his first career win in the class Saturday at Arlington Raceway. By the 18th lap, Larsen got a bit high in turn four as he was going around lapped traffic and slid off the track a bit but was able to recover and maintain his spot. Matt Speckman was working to challenge and got up to second before mechanical troubles putting him in the pit. After that, A.J. Zimmerman stayed right behind Larsen to take second ahead of Dan Mackenthun, who had started 10th. The MN 93 IMCA Modifieds put on a flag-to-flag race with three-wide racing throughout the 20 laps. The fast car on the track was piloted by Tyler Limoges, who got around five cars in six laps to take over the front spot and stay there for the duration. Trevor Serbus took home the trophy in the Alpha Media IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature while the Eckblad Trucking IMCA Hobby Stock feature [Read More]

Much to see, enjoy in Fan Zone during week of Super Nationals

BOONE, Iowa – There’s much to see and plenty to enjoy at the Fan Zone throughout the week of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Numerous events will be held at the Fan Zone, located south of the main grandstands, each day of America’s Racin’ Vacation Sept. 2-7. The Casey’s General Store redraw for starts in the front six rows of the Deery Brothers Summer Series main event will be held at approximately 7 p.m. on Monday. Monday’s Hobby Stock and Northern SportMod qualifying feature winners sign autographs at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Drivers in the two divisions winning qualifiers Tuesday evening sign autographs during another 6 p.m. session on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Card games to determine the starting grid for Northern SportMod and Hobby Stock race of champions events will be held at approximately 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively, on Wednesday Top four finishers from Wednesday’s Modified and Stock Car qualifiers Rochambeau for starting positions and sign autographs starting at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively on Thursday, Sept. 5. Qualifiers from [Read More]

Season championship wins to Rust, Smith, Logue, Watson

By Joyce Eisele BOONE, Iowa (Aug. 24) – The 2019 IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing point season came to a close Saturday at Boone Speedway with season championship night. Jake McBirnie held a thirty-two point lead over Cory Pestotnik going into the final go around of the season in the Elmquist IMCA Northern SportMod 23-lap feature. McBirnie shot to the lead as the race went green and continued to hold it through three early cautions. When the yellow flew on lap 10, Johnathon Logue had moved from sixth starting to third and on the restart made the move into second and began to hound leader McBirnie. His persistence paid off a handful of laps later when he made the pass at the flagstand to take over the top spot. He would then keep it the rest of the way to the checkers and the win. Cory Pestotnik came home in second place and McBirnie finished third. McBirnie is the 2019 track champion. The Pickett Salvage IMCA Hobby Stocks had an eight point separation between Aaron [Read More]

Inaugural Super Nationals bag toss tourney has expanded field, title sponsor

BOONE, Iowa – The inaugural bag toss tourney planned at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s will have an expanded field as well as a title sponsor. The initial field of 32 two-person teams filled up quickly and has been expanded to 48. Scorezit, a division of Wehrs Machine and Racing Products, takes on the title sponsor role for the Sunday, Sept. 1 tourney. Entry fees are $30 per team and top four teams will receive shares of the 100 percent payback of that $1,440. The first-place team goes home with $576 and a Scorezit scorekeeper. Second place is good for $432, third for $288 and fourth for $144. Sorezit is The Ultimate Scorekeeper for backyard games. Pre-orders will be taken during the week on Manufacturers’ Row and a new website will launch in mid-September. IMCA, Boone Speedway and MyRacePass will also give prizes to bag toss (aka cornhole) tourney competitors. Entry forms for the tourney are posted online. The tourney will start at approximately noon Sunday at a location near the east catwalk [Read More]