Newswire

Meyer, Prauner open with wins at Off Road

By Randy Pospishil NORFOLK, Neb. (April 16) – Several of the ‘usual suspects’ from the 2015 season were among the winners Saturday night during Off Road Speedway’s opening night racing card. Those familiar names included two of last year’s track champions, Ramsey Meyer, a previous national champion in the Mach-1 Sport Compacts, and Kyle Prauner in the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods division. Meyer eased into the lead just in time for a restart caused by the rollover of Luke Jackson’s car as it headed into turn four. Meyer used the restart to his advantage, sprinting to a commanding lead to secure his third win of the season. Prauner’s win required a trip through traffic, from fifth place early in the race to second after a spin by Dylan Pospisil set up a caution and restart. Although that restart was beneficial, moments later Prauner grabbed the lead twice only to have cautions negate the positioning. Finally, with seven laps remaining, Prauner took the lead from Nelson Vollbrecht as the cars entered turn three and sped to [Read More]

Cole opens IMCA Empire State Series campaign with Five Mile win

KIRKWOOD, N.Y. (April 16) – The two-time and defending track champion got another win he really wanted when the Atomicwraps.com Empire State Series opened Saturday at Five Mile Point Speedway. Matt Cole caught leader Drue Perrault with five circuits left in the 25-lapper for touring Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modifieds, then led to the $500 checkers. “This is our home track and we’ve wanted to get an Empire State Series win here for a while,” Cole said. “It always seemed like there was something that took us out of the race but everything worked out really well for us this time.” Perrault ended a distant second. Three-time and defending champion Eddie Sites, Gary Roberts and James Cornell completed the top five. After finishing second in his heat, Cole redrew the outside front row starting spot for the mail event. He fell to fourth right after the initial green, regrouped and then ran second most of the distance. Frontrunners got into traffic but slower cars didn’t become a factor. Cole used the lower line in passing Perrault on [Read More]

Boone Stock Car win is 100th of career for Donavon Smith

LAKE CITY, Iowa (April 16) – Another congratulatory banner will hang in the Smith Brothers’ race shop, this one belonging to Donavon. Smith won for the 100th time in his IMCA Sunoco Stock Car career Saturday at Boone Speedway. He’s the 20th driver in division history, and the fourth in his own family, to reach the 100 win mark with IMCA. “I’m glad we were able to get this done early in the season. The banner was really cool. I didn’t know a thing about it,” said Smith. “Winning 100 features isn’t the kind of goal you set when you start racing. It becomes a goal once you get close. You try to win races and track championships and it all comes together.” Saturday’s checkers were the second of 2016 for the Lake City, Iowa, driver. He’s posted double-digit wins six times since moving to the Stock Car division in 2007. Smith already had national and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s championships, plus 81 feature wins to his credit in the Hobby Stocks, [Read More]

Point season underway at Raceway Park

By Bob Coney JEFFERSON, S.D. (April 17) – Raceway Park got its 2016 IMCA championship points season underway Sunday night with action in five divisions. The first feature of the evening was in the KISS 107.1 IMCA Sport Compact division. Tyler Thompson took the lead early and held off the field for 11 laps before the white flag flew. Coming out of turn two, Thompson’s car began to slow and by the third turn, Ramsey Meyer had driven by to take the feature win. Next out were the Car Quest IMCA Hobby Stocks for their 14 lap feature. Dustin Gulbrandson led the early going before Dave Riley made the pass out of the second turn to take the point. A four car crash with four laps to go brought the field together, and after two restarts, a final caution led to a green, white, checkered finish where Riley held off the field for the win. The MOPAR IMCA Northern SportMod feature saw Kirk Beatty lead while Kaleb Kennedy latched onto his tail. Kennedy stalked Beatty [Read More]

Soppe scores season opener at Dubuque Speedway

By Jerry Mackey DUBUQUE, Iowa (April 17) – The 2016 racing season took the green flag on Sunday night as the Pioneer Rest Stop sponsored the opening nights action on the high banked 3/8 mile track located on the Dubuque County Fairgrounds. Tyler Soppe took an emotional victory in the GSI Collision Specialists IMCA Northern SportMod class. Soppe raced past leader Mike Mills late in the 20-lap race. Mills was racing with a heavy heart as this was his first race at his home track since losing his father just over a month ago. In a very classy move Soppe brought Mills to the victory lane celebration and awarded Mills with the large first place trophy. Mills followed Soppe across the finish line in second ahead of Justin Becker. Brandon Wilson took the win in the hotly contested Merfeld Brothers Automotive IMCA Modified division. Wilson found the low groove to his liking in taking the checkers ahead of Mark Schulte and Bryce Garnhart. The IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature saw defending track champion Jerry Miles [Read More]

Smith proves up to Saturday Challenge as Eagle opens with Ice Breaker special

By Greg Soukup EAGLE, Neb. (April 15-16) – Dylan Smith proved up to the challenge and earned $2,000 for his Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified exploits at Eagle Raceway’s season-opening Ice Breaker Challenge. Smith took the lead on lap four of the Saturday finale and stayed in charge despite the caution coming out with two laps left. Ricky Stephan got a jump on Kelly Shryock following the restart and moved up to second with Friday winner Jordan Grabouski taking over fourth on the final lap. Grabouski had swapped the opening night lead with Stephan early on before settling into the front spot for good and taking the $1,000 checkers. Second was Scott Smith and Ryan Gaylord raced his way into the top three late in the contest, Both Dylan Smith and Grabouski were already on the ballot for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. Lance Borgman topped both $500 to win Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod features and earned a $1,000 Twice is Nice Challenge bonus for his efforts. Other Friday winners were Roy Armstrong in the [Read More]

Awards for IMCA Hobby Stock drivers added to Landrum Springs program

MENTONE, Ind. – Landrum Springs expands its contingency program with IMCA in 2016, adding awards for Hobby Stock drivers. A product certificate to purchase one spring and get a second free will be given to top three eligible drivers in both Northern and Southern regions of the Sunoco-sponsored division. The Mentone, Ind., company gives the same awards to the top three eligible finishers in each of the five IMCA Xtreme Motor Sports Modified regions and both IMCA Sunoco Stock Car regions, and to the top three eligible drivers in national Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod and Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center Southern SportMod point standings. “Landrum is proud to say that we have been a partner with IMCA over the past 12 years which is why we are excited to expand into the Hobby Stock division in 2016,” said General Sales Manager Jeff Fuller. “We look forward to providing high quality springs for each division and continuing to strengthen our relationship with IMCA and its drivers. ” In addition to competing with four Landrum-manufactured springs, drivers in all [Read More]

Shawano packs the house for season-opening McBride Memorial

By Scott Owen SHAWANO, Wis. (April 16) – An amazing 152 cars and an absolutely packed grandstand were on hand for opening night of the 2016 season as well as to pay their respects to Shawano Speedway legend M.J. McBride Saturday evening. McBride, a seven-time track champion at Shawano who passed way this winter, was honored by the track and its competitors as part of an emotional opening ceremony. His son Dean carried the checkered flag around the track one final time in honor of his father. Brad Lautenbach led the first two laps of the Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified feature before succumbing to the pressures of Marcus Yarie. Lautenbach continued to follow Yarie until Eddie Muenster put his familiar number five car into second. At this point in the race the best battle was for position in the top five as Muenster, Lautenbach, Andy Kleczka, Benji LaCrosse, and Johnny Whitman all vied for runner-up honors. At the end it was Yarie in victory lane, with LaCrosse emerging in the battle for second. Kleczka, Muenster, and [Read More]

Hanson follows high side to Cottage Grove checkers

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (April 16) – His high side momentum put Craig Hanson in victory lane Saturday at Cottage Grove Speedway. Steven Sturdevant had secured the lead on the 11th lap of the caution-slowed contest, then held off Hanson in the battle for the front spot until lap 21. Hanson built some momentum via the high side of the track to make the pass coming out of turn four. Hanson showed the way to the rest of the field en route to his first win of the year. Sturdevant, Nick Trenchard, Mark Carrell and Kyle Casson completed the top five. A good crop of Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods was in attendance and five different drivers took turns leading at the start-finish line. Shawn Hand, Mike Medel, Andrew Mathers and Chris Frisbie all did time up front before Jorddon Braaten took over for good. Frisbie, was second and veteran Gene Ashley was third. The rest of the top five consisted of Hand and Medel.

Linkenhoker is a natural at Natural Bridge

By Jim Haines NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. (April 16) – Anthony Linkenhoker was always at Natural Bridge Speedway, having grown up just 10 miles from the track, and Saturday night he was standing on the front stretch as winner of the Virginia Sprint Series main event. The IMCA EMI RaceSaver tour feature was paced by Linkenhoker and Tony Harris with Linkenhoker out first and Tony and Jerald Harris all in a row. Linkenhoker was smooth out front, running mid-track with Tony Harris high and Jerald Harris low close behind him. On lap 10, Jerald Harris went low and into second with Tom Humphries getting to third two laps later. The top three ran close enough to cover with a blanket until Humphries started to fade and allowing Brian Lawson to close in. Coming to the checkers, Linkenhoker stayed on line as Jerald Harris tried one last time but could only get to the rear of the car as they crossed the stripe as Lawson passed for third. Next Saturday, April 23, the dirt season continues at [Read More]