Ryan Clark

Douglas County triumph to Stevens

By Ben Deatherage ROSEBURG, Ore. (July 17, 2024) – Jordan Stevens stood on the top step of the podium, following the Wednesday night feature for Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts at Douglas County Dirtrack. Bid VanLoon captured the lead in the first set of turns of the feature, but down the backstretch, Stevens powered his way to the front. Stevens built a sizable advantage over the rest of the pack via the high side as the race developed. The father-daughter combination of Burnie and Melissa Bryant fought hard for second. Melissa secured the position a couple of laps into the race. Burnie settled into third, while VanLoon was close behind him in fourth. Stevens began to hit traffic right around the halfway point while Burnie Bryant continued to put pressure for second. The race experienced a bit of twist when Melissa Bryant got into a lapped car on the eighth circuit, forcing Burnie to check up and allowing VanLoon to perform a double overtake. Burnie Bryant rallied to beat Melissa to the line on the same [Read More]

Mayden, Points prevail in Midweek Mayhem at Cottage Grove

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 17, 2024) – Wednesday provided the second installment of the brand-new Midweek Mayhem series at Cottage Grove Speedway, with IMCA feature wins going to Jake Mayden and Trevor Points. When the green flag dropped for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, it was Paul Rea who led the pack. He soon found himself in a heated battle with Mayden, who was determined to challenge for the race lead. Rea got some breathing room, but before too long, Mayden worked the bottom of the racing surface brilliantly to beat Rea to the wire on lap four by a mere three hundredths of a second. Mayden pedaled hard to separate from the runner-up and the race for second erupted into a complete melee. Carter Patterson threaded the needle under Rea on the eighth circuit, but Rea was able to get back around him on the following lap. As Rea and Patterson battled, it brought Kevin Williamson into the fold to create a three-car contest for second 11 laps into the contest. [Read More]

Fast Shafts All-Star eligible list adds 13 drivers

VINTON, Iowa (July 18, 2024) – Add 13 drivers to the list of those eligible to qualify for the upcoming Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds. Ty Clemens topped Gallatin’s Modtana Madness and Keith Lamphere was a winner in NY-Penn Series action. Eric Mass was best in the .38 Special at Black Hills and Jake Pike’s long tow to Bakersfield paid off with the Richie McGowan Memorial checkers. Caden Roberts ruled the Upper Missouri Valley Fair show at Williston. Todd Shute paced Stuart’s Ron Little Memorial while Todd Stinehart scored at Kossuth County’s Bradie Becker Memorial. Winners of weekly features paying $1,000 or more included Steve Askew, Jordan Bartz, Austen Becerra, Jed Freiburger, Bill Roberts Jr. and Jeff Westergard. Drivers already eligible winning qualifying events were Tom Berry Jr., Ethan Braaksma, Troy Foulger, Jordan Grabouski, Kollin Hibdon, Bricen James, Ryan Jenkins, Jeff Larson, Jake McBirnie, Izac Mallicoat, Jake Nightingale, Dakota Sproul, Kyle Strickler, Dylan Thornton, Collen Winebarger and Chris Zogg. Drivers now eligible to qualify for the 2024 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational [Read More]

Lemmens is best of the best at 141’s IMCA King of the Creek

FRANCIS CREEK, Wis. (July 17, 2024) – Luke Lemmens drove back to the pits after hot laps Wednesday night knowing he had a good shot at winning 141 Speedway’s King of the Creek special for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars. After 50 laps of main event racing, he’d done just that. “This has been a race that‘s probably eluded me for years. We’ve won a lot of races at 141, a lot of $1,000 to win races and two track championships, and we’ve finished in the top four, top five three or four times in this race,” the Green Bay driver said after outrunning Troy Jerovetz to the $10,000 checkers. “This race brings a lot of competition, guys like Benji LaCrosse and Mike Mullen, the best of the best, so this one is definitely one I’ve wanted for a long time. “It’s a relief and absolutely amazing that we finally got it done.” More than 80 of the best drivers in the division from Wisconsin, the Midwest and from as far away as New Mexico were [Read More]

Antioch win is IMCA first for Jennings

By Candice Martin ANTIOCH, Calif. (July 13, 2024) – Jason Jennings won his first career IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event Saturday at Antioch Speedway. The Class Too Tough To Tame was also given a Polar Bear Rolled Ice Cream Trophy Dash. Title contender Jason Robles won that four-lap race after his son Kenneth Robles made his season debut with an eight-lap heat race triumph. Scott Foster and Jennings started on the front row and battled early. Jennings would win that battle with Jason Robles getting around Foster to take up pursuit of the leader. In the end, Jennings made all the right moves and came home with a well-earned first career victory over Robles, Foster, Jeff Bentancourt and Mitch Machado.

Dan Grams Memorial checkers fly for Serbus

ARLINGTON, Minn. (July 13, 2024) – Extra money was on the line before and in the Rice Companies-sponsored IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature on Dan Grams Memorial Night Saturday at Arlington Raceway. Andrew Allen and Chris Graf each won heat races and earned $100 from GRP Motorsports. Then Allen won the foot race on the front stretch with the top 10 drivers to determine who would draw first, picking up $50 from Johnson Motorsports and a 55-gallon barrel of methanol from Rick and Jessica Linde and Joel and Katie Eckberg. In the feature, Brandon Allen was the early leader as he led the first seven laps until Trevor Serbus came up in turn four, saw an opening on the top and then made an awesome move, sliding under Allen to take the lead. They stayed in that 1-2 order through back-to-back cautions, when Brett Allen took the high groove and got around Brandon Allen to gain the second spot. Brett Allen wasn’t able to catch Serbus, who took the win and $1,400, plus the $130 hard charger [Read More]

Kaeding Classic is stage for Frazier’s first feature win

By Steven Blakesley Blakesley Sports Media WATSONVILLE, Calif. (July 12, 2024) – Opening night at Ocean Speedway’s 14th annual Howard Kaeding Classic saw Matthew Frazier collect top honors in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event. The win was the career first for Frazier, 15 years old and a sophomore-to-be at St. Joseph High School in his hometown of Santa Maria. “It’s a pretty crazy feeling to get my first win in my second season” in the class, said Frazier, who topped the 20-lap contest over a 16-car field. “There was a lot of excitement at the end. I pretty much wanted to yell.” Jeff Mead led the opening lap after starting third. Frazier started seventh and used a restart on lap two to advance to second. A caution on lap four allowed Frazier to challenge Mead for the lead. Frazier jumped inside to lead lap five. Emali VanHoff and Mead battled for second place through a series of cautions in a challenging race. Frazier got away cleanly on a green, white, checkered finish attempt [Read More]

Mass fires on all cylinders at .38 Special

By Ben Deatherage RAPID CITY, S.D. (July 12, 2024) – The final checkers thrown Dakota Classic Modified Tour powered by Industrial Electric, Eric Mass made a beeline for his home turf and the .38 Special for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds at Black Hills Speedway. Then he made a beeline for victory lane to collect the $1,000 payday and accompanying Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility. Mass led from lap 14 to the green, white, checkered finish, the win his ninth of 2024. Brent Nielsen and Travis Tooley were next across the stripe. Nielsen had grabbed the initial race lead going into the first set of corners and held on to first place while a melee for second occurred. Tooley stayed ahead of Connor Friske and Mass on the second circuit, with Mass in close proximity. On lap three, Friske ripped the top to get around Mass and then worked on Tooley. With four circuits complete, Friske got a little too close to the outside wall, which killed his momentum, resulting in Mass getting around him [Read More]

Smith, Veber, Burg get first Boone wins of season

By Joyce Eisele BOONE, Iowa (July 13, 2024) – Devin Smith, Curtis Veber and Keith Burg all won first features of the season at Boone Speedway Saturday evening. It was another top notch night of racing Saturday night, on a typical hot and humid July night in Iowa. Jimmy Gustin got the crown in the King of the Hill for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, while Jake McBirnie returned to victory lane for another feature win in the division and Travis Stensland kept racking up wins in the Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lites. Smith took the high road in capturing the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature, Veber won in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods and Burg took the checkers in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks. Feature racing kicked off with the 15-lap main event for the Mod Lites. Stensland wasted no time in getting to the front. He started sixth, had the lead at lap one and never looked back in a race that went caution-free. He had no issues with lapped traffic as he pulled [Read More]

Vanderheiden sprints to first Eagle win

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (July 13, 2024) – Young fans got a chance to add some heft to their piggy banks with the $1,500 money grab on the front stretch sponsored by One Shot Auto Repair but the big winner Saturday night at Eagle Raceway was Cole Vanderheiden. Vanderheiden won for the first time in his career at America’s Home Track, snagging the lead on a mid-race restart and denying Trevor Grossenbacher’s mad slide job attempt in the final turn for the $1,300 IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car checkers. “It’s been a long time coming. Over the past three years we’ve been second, had thirds and fourths all year. It just feels amazing to finally get a win here at Eagle,” Vanderheiden said. “That’s the longest lap (the last one) I’ve ever experienced in my three years of racing. Going down the back stretch I couldn’t see him (Grossenbacher). I hopped his wheel going into three, but luckily my car didn’t break and I didn’t pop a tire,” he continued. “I kept going into four and [Read More]