Newswire

Bag toss win puts Shannon on front row

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 6) – Those California drivers are just as good at bag tossing as they are at wheeling their IMCA Modifieds. D.J. Shannon became the second California speedster to win a front row starting spot in Saturday’s main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s, defeating Nick Roberts in a Friday matchup. Both had won Thursday qualifying features at Boone Speedway. Top four finishers in those events duked it out this afternoon in the Fan Zone to determine the order one through eight in the middle row. Cody Laney will start third, Jordan Grabouski fourth, Randy Brown fifth – making the California drivers 3-for-3 on the day – Kelly Shryock sixth, Jeff Taylor seventh and Jimmy Gustin eighth. Ethan Dotson of Bakersfield, Calif., will start on the pole.

Jeff Bodendorfer Jr.’s Incredible Hulk super hero-themed ride was the young judges’ pick for top honors in the best appearing car contest for IMCA Modifieds at Super Nationals. Along with bragging rights and a trophy, Bodendorfer will take a steering box from Sweet Manufacturing and a case of oil home to Waterford, Wis. (Photo by Nick Woolley)

Hesston Shaw

BOONE, Iowa – Hesston Shaw’s previous IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s career highlight was starting on the pole for the Sunoco Race Fuels Race of Champions in 2016. He topped that and then some Thursday night. Shaw, from Hennessey, became the first driver from Oklahoma to qualify for the Stock Car Big Dance when he ran third in his qualifying feature. The Longdale Speedway regular put the Baird Motorsports ride, a former Mike Nichols car purchased over the winter, in the show after starting eighth. Needless to say, the superlatives flowed following post-race tech. “I still can’t believe I did it. This is a huge deal,” said Shaw, who pretty much grew up at the track. “Making the show is a dream come true. I’ve got goose bumps just thinking about it.” He raced his way up to fourth by lap seven and to third before a series of cautions near midway. “It was hard not to pay attention to the leader board,” said Shaw, who had tough customer Cayden Carter moving [Read More]

Grabouski, Larson get Stock Car qualifying feature wins

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – Jordan Grabouski and Jeffrey Larson wrote their names in the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s record book with Stock Car qualifying feature wins Thursday night. Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hesston Shaw put their names in the history book with second and third-place finishes, respectively, on night four of America’s Racin’ Vacation at Boone Speedway. Grabouski, the current national point leader in both IMCA Modified and IMCA Sunoco Stock Car divisions, led the last 19 of 25 laps in topping the first qualifier ahead of Jeff Mueller of Albion, Shaw, from Hennessey, Okla., and 16th starting Cayden Carter of Oskaloosa. Larson was even more dominant in pacing the second qualifier from start to finis. He won in front of Thornton, from Adel, 14th starting Johnny Spaw of Cedar Rapids and Jason Rogers of Selden, Kan. All eight move on to the middle row of the main event grid Saturday night. Shaw became the first Sooner State driver to make the main event since Stock Cars were added to the Super Nationals program [Read More]

Shannon leads California chargers, Roberts races to Modified checkers in nightcap

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – They were dancing in streets all over the Golden State Thursday night. Nick Roberts had them dancing in the street in Des Moines later in the evening. Californians D.J. Shannon of Merced, Cody Laney of Torrance and Randy Brown of Chowchilla led 2010 champion Jimmy Gustin of Marshalltown across the stripe in the first of two Modified qualifying features at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. The nightcap saw Roberts, from Des Moines and the 2012 Northern SportMod champion at Super Nationals, beat Jordan Grabouski of Beatrice, Neb., Kelly Shryock of Fertile and Jeff Taylor of Cave City, Ark., to the checkers. The national Modified and Stock Car point leader, Grabouski had won a Stock Car qualifier earlier in the program. Taylor was the Modified champ at Super Nationals seven years go. All eight drivers will advance to the middle row of Saturday’s main event at Boone Speedway. Brown led the first three laps of the opening qualifier before Shannon buzzed by. Shannon, Laney and Brown ran [Read More]

Californians D.J. Shannon of Merced, Cody Laney of Torrance and Randy Brown of Chowchilla ran 1-2-3 in Thursday’s first Modified qualifying feature at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. (Photo by Jim Zimmerline)

Top tosser Dotson will start on Modified pole

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – Ethan Dotson picked up another win at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s … one that will put him on the pole for Saturday’s Modified main event. The California hotshoe got the best of Ricky Thornton Jr. in a single round bag toss matchup in the Fan Zone at Boone Speedway. Both had won qualifying features on Wednesday. The pole start is worth several thousand dollars in contingency awards and Thornton will take the initial green behind Dotson in the inside row. Second through fourth place finishing drivers squared off to decide the next six spots. Tom Berry Jr. defeated Zane DeVilbiss for third and Tim Ward beat Corey Dripps for fifth. Jeffrey Abbey made earlier practice he gotten in the Stock Car bag toss pay off, topping Jeremy Mills.

Smith bags Saturday pole start

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 5) – Multi-talented Devin Smith will start on the pole of Saturday’s Stock Car main event, at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. Smith defeated fellow Wednesday night qualifying feature winner Jason See in a one-round bag toss tournament, held during a track prep session at Boone Speedway this afternoon. See will start second on the inside row. Second through fourth place finishers from last night went one-on-one with varying degrees of bag toss ability and accuracy for their respective starting spots. Bryan Rigsby will start third, Abe Huls fourth, Donavon Smith fifth, Jeffrey Abbey sixth, Josh Daniels seventh and Mike Van Genderen eighth.

Smith, See score in Super Nationals Stock Car qualifiers

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 4) – Devin Smith and Jason See added to their trophy collections by taking home the hardware in Wednesday night Stock Car qualifying features at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s. 2014 champion Smith outran Abe Huls, brother Donavon Smith and Josh Daniels for top four transfer spots in the opener. The nightcap was a battle of hard chargers as 11th starting See, 27th starting Bryan Rigsby, Jeffrey Abbey and 30th starting Mike Van Genderen also moved on to Saturday’s main event at Boone Speedway. Devin Smith set the fast pace from the initial green in the first qualifier, stopped by caution just once. Defending champion Damon Murty was on the move before getting caught up in a turn two mishap at midway; Huls regained the second spot from 2009 and 2012 champion Donavon Smith with two laps left. See made like a rocket in the second qualifier, moving from inside row six at the start to the front in just eight circuits. A succession of potential challengers took their turns running [Read More]

Dotson, Thornton are super in Wednesday Modified qualifying wins

BOONE, Iowa (Sept. 4) – Ethan Dotson took the next step toward winning his career first IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s championship while Ricky Thornton Jr. took the next toward winning his second of the week Wednesday at Boone Speedway. Dotson, from Bakersfield, Calif., got the best of fellow Shaw Racing Western Region foe Zane DeVilbiss in topping the first Modified qualifier feature. Thornton, meanwhile, led all 25 laps of the second qualifier. The 2016 champion at Boone, he’d started the week by winning Monday’s Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Model main event. Top four finishers from each qualifier advance to the inside row of Saturday’s main event. DeVilbiss, from Farmington, N.M., Corey Dripps of Reinbeck and Jeremy Mills of Britt completed the top four behind Dotson. Tom Berry Jr. of Newburg, N.D., Tim Ward of Harcourt and Jeffrey Abbey of Comanche, Texas, chased Thornton to the checkers. Abbey had qualified for Saturday’s Stock Car main event earlier in the program. He’d won the Southern SportMod crown at Super Nationals in 2016. [Read More]