Newswire

Larson rides borrowed car to East Moline checkers

By Rob Hinckley EAST MOLINE, Ill. (May 23) – Jeff Larson borrowed Kenny Kostenbader’s machine for the second straight night and won for the second evening in a row, dominating the Sunday evening IMCA Modified 20-lap main at East Moline Speedway. With the win from ninth starting the previous night at Maquoketa Speedway, he picked up a $100 bonus for the second time this year. Travis Denning, missing a lot of sheet metal, roared from near the back for second. Tim Hamburg, Brandon Durbin and Brandon Hamburg rounded out the top five. It was a rollercoaster race for Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod driver Justin Veloz. He started fifth, suffered an early flat tire and then raced the high groove from the rear after a restart to take the 15-lap finale. Jarett Franzen zipped to second, but could not chase down Veloz. Jacob Copley also came from the tail to take third, followed by Logan Veloz and C.J. Durbin. Blake Gonzales’ rough season hit a high note as he wheeled his brother R.J.’s IMCA STARS Mod [Read More]

Grube leads the way to Hagerstown checkers

By Jim Haines HAGERSTOWN, Md. (May 22) – Dave Grube topped the 25-car field Saturday night in a Hagerstown Speedway event co-sanctioned by the Virginia Sprint Series and Laurel Highland Sprint Series. Donny Hendershot and Alex Schmiedel paced the IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car field to green and Hendershot out first but nobody was getting away. While leading on lap three, Hendershot slowed to a stop and Grube took over on the restart, bringing Brad Mellott with him. The laps went by quickly on the wide smooth oval as Grube and Mellott entered lapped traffic with Jerald Harris and Dylan Shatzer closing in. Shatzer got by Harris for third and was working on Mellott, allowing Grube to start inching away as the two raced for second. Shatzer got second and was making up ground as his line on the bottom was working better. Time ran out, however, as Grube flashed under the waving checkered flag for his second win of the year, the first coming on May 1 with the Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Shatzer, Mellott, Jeff [Read More]

Hometown hero thrills fans Friday at Wagner

WAGNER, S.D. (May 21) – The Fort Randall Casino Weekly Racing Series took the green flag at Wagner Speedway this past Friday night with no shortage of excitement, presented by Powers Port-A-Pot and Myers Sanitation. The IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks would be first and ended with Jordan Vosika holding off a hard charge from last week’s victor Kaylb Brunssen. Toby Ives settled for third while Craig Clift and Mike Hanson rounded out the top five. Once back to green in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods, Dudley Schroeder Jr. picked up win number two of the season, outlasting Rusty Montagne and Kevin McCarthy. Jerry Pfeifer and Brian Schutt completed the top five placers. For the second consecutive week, the winner of the Mach-1 Sport Compacts would come from the fifth starting spot and be named Trent Reed. Reed took the green from inside the third row and quickly marched forward. Taylor Brown and Conner Brown settled for second and third respectfully, with Auston Honeycutt and Richard Gray next. The IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature had fans on the edge of [Read More]

IMCA Dakota Classic Tour point funds total $10,000

MANDAN, N.D. – Point funds totaling $10,000 will be paid to IMCA Modified and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car drivers in top 10 point standings for the upcoming Corral Sales IMCA Dakota Classic Tour. Courtesy of Hoosier Tire and IMCA, point fund amounts increase from $2,000 to $6,500 for the Modifieds and from $1,000 to $3,500 for the Stock Cars. The Modified champion earns $1,600, with $1,150 for second, $850 for third, $700 for fourth, $550 for fifth, $450 for sixth and $300 for seventh through 10th places. The Stock Car champion gets a $850 share of the point fund, with $625 for second, $475 for third, $400 for fourth, $325 for fifth, $225 for sixth and $150 for seventh through 10th. All Modified features pay $2,000 to win and are qualifying events for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. Stock Car features pay $1,000 with winners becoming eligible to qualify for the B & B Chassis All-Star race. Opening night for the 32nd annual tour is Saturday, July 10 at Jamestown Speedway. From there it heads to [Read More]

Funeral services are Friday for Denny Osborn

JANESVILLE, Iowa – Funeral services for Denny Osborn, IMCA’s national Late Model champion in 1989, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Janesville Riviera-Roose Events Center. Friends may call from 3-7 p.m. Thursday at Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home. Memorials in his honor can be directed to the University of Iowa Cancer Center at U of I Center for Advancement, PO Box 4550, Iowa City, Iowa, 52244 Osborn, 67, of Janesville died at his home on May 24 following a courageous battle with cancer. During his career with IMCA, he won track championships at Marshalltown Speedway and at Independence Motor Speedway. Osborn raced Late Models for more than 30 years and had been inducted into the Hall of Fame at Independence, Hawkeye Downs and Hamilton County Speedway. Survivors include his wife of 44 years Nancy; son Brad (Shelly) Osborn and daughter Bethany (Jeremy) Heidemann; three grandchildren and an honorary grandchild; his father Dale (Carol Mae); stepbrothers Jeffrey (Sherry) Sabbath and Michael (Gloria) Sabbath; sister Kathleen (Stan) Gerdes; stepsister Cindy Horbochuk; and two half sisters, [Read More]

New NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series opens with May 30 Sean Lias Memorial at Penn Can

SUSQUEHANNA, Pa. – The inaugural Sean Lias Memorial kicks off the new NY-Penn IMCA Modified Series this Sunday, May 30 at Penn Can Speedway. IMCA Modifieds race for $1,037 to win their Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifying feature, with $137 paid to start the 37-lap main event. Nearly 30 drivers from New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan have pre-registered to be part of the new series. Lap money now totaling $1,850 will be paid as well on Sunday. Bonuses of $50 will be paid to leader of laps three and seven, and $100 bonuses go to the lap 18 leader, the last place driver on lap 19 and the driver making the longest haul. A $237 hard luck award, a set of custom Sean Lias Memorial cornhole boards and IMCA special events contingencies will also be given, along with a $50 Ron Lias Award to the winning team’s crew chief. Held in honor of the eight-time IMCA regional champion, the Sean Lias Memorial is co-sponsored by Barucky Brothers Sale & Service LLC of Carbondale and [Read More]

Whitman cashes in at Shawano

SHAWANO, Wis. (May 22) – A picture perfect night for racing brought a large crowd to the Legendary Half Mile Shawano Speedway and with added money in the IMCA Modified division it wassure to be a big night of racing. Thanks to Line x Extreme Coating there were 1,000 reasons to win the IMCA Modified feature. Normally a driver leading green to checkered for the win makes the recap a mundane thing to write but not on this night. Johnny Whitman took the lead on the opening lap after starting third. Whitman began to power away from the field. With multiple feature wins this season, Mike Mullen was doing his best to entertain as he sliced his way to the front. By lap six, Mullen made his way to second from 10th. Mullen began to cut into the lead lap after lap and it looked like he would get by the Whitman machine on multiple occasions. Whitman was up to every challenge, however. A late-race caution gave Mullen one more shot but Whitman was up to [Read More]

Seidler, Sandberg keep winning at Mandan

By Becca Rattei MANDAN, N.D. (May 21) – Marlyn Seidler and Ken Sandberg continued their winning ways Friday at Dacotah Speedway. Scott Gartner led from the pole in the IMCA Modified feature. As Gartner stretched his lead over second place Crist Pittenger, Seidler cracked the top five after starting eighth. Seidler passed Chris Welk for fourth and when Michael Hartigan got loose, Seidler slipped by for third place as well. Wasting no time, Seidler quickly caught and passed Pittenger for second and set his sights on the leader. Once Seidler caught Gartner, he struggled to get around the young driver. Switching his line to the high side, Seidler found some extra speed to get around Gartner and take the lead on lap 10. Seidler pulled away as Gartner had his hands full with a speedy Zach Frederick and Jeremy Keller. It was a three-car battle before Keller slipped by to take second. As the laps wound down, Seidler started to catch lapped traffic but it didn’t slow him down any as he pulled away to [Read More]

IMCA Late Model win, Sunoco bonus go to Johnson

By Jeremy Fox INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (May 22) – Sean Johnson scored the IMCA Sunoco Late Model feature win and $250 Sunoco Race Fuels bonus Saturday at Independence Motor Speedway. Johnson took the race lead after two early restarts and pulled away from Curt Martin, Logan Duffy and Travis Smock before the caution came out on lap 17 for debris. Johnson held on leading the last eight laps to take the feature win and the Sunoco Race Fuels bonus. Martin, Duffy, Smock and Austin Russell rounded out the top five. Johnson’s victory was worth $850 in all. Jordan Hicks flexed his IMCA Modified muscles because not even the cautions on lap two or on lap 12 him from adding his name to the history books of feature winners in Indee. Hicks took the win despite tenth place starter Troy Cordes trying to chase him down late. Ryan Maitland, Jason Briese and Kip Siems rounded out the top five. Leah Wroten wrestled the early lead of the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car 20-lap feature event from fellow front starter [Read More]

Dialed in, Speckman scores at Arlington

ARLINGTON, Minn. (May 22) – Matt Speckman was dialed in for the IMCA Stock Sunoco Car feature as he led the entire race to win his first feature of the year Saturday at Arlington Raceway. The Ford-powered no. 87 of Brent Uecker, who had started 15th, was fast on the track as he was contending with Speckman by lap 14 but had to settle for second and Dan Mackenthun took third ahead of Josh Larsen. The IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car feature saw Mike Stien lead the entire race to win his second trophy of the season. Trevor Serbus was wheeling his car quickly around the track to gain on Stien but on lap 11 going into the turn two he wheelhopped a lapped car and ended up rolling up against the wall and ending his night. On the restart, Stien again took the lead with Bill Johnson holding off Justin Allen to take second. Three different leaders and close racing throughout highlighted a caution-free IMCA Modified feature. Josh Ruby held the lead for two laps [Read More]