West Burlington, IA (Saturday, April 4, 2015) - Another track in Southeast Iowa, 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA, opened their 2015 racing season on Saturday, April 4th. Also holding their season opener on the night was the Sprint Invaders. At the end of the night Jerrod Hull (Sprint Invaders), Scott Hogan (IMCA Modifieds), Mike Morrill (Mod Lites), and Austen Becerra (4 Cylinders) were standing in victory lane.
With thirty 360 Sprint cars signed in for the night they would be divided into 4 heat races, in which each driver drew a number to determine there starting spot in those heat races. The top 4 in each heat race moved on to the feature, with the top 2 going to the dash to determine the first four rows of that feature. The remainder of the finishers went to the B Main, where the top 4 out of that moved into the feature to set the 20 car field.
Heat race 1 went to Donnie Steward, with Paul Nienhiser coming from 8th to finish 2nd, Tony Shilling started 7th and finished 3rd, with Tim Moore holding on for 4th. Heat race 2 went to Harold Pohren, John Schulz driving Jimmy Davies #99 came from 6th to finish 2nd, Jon Agan, defending Sprint Invaders Champion, finished 3rd, with Wayne Johnson coming home 4th after coming from the rear for jumping the start twice. Heat race 3 went to Jamie Ball, with Joey Moughan 2nd, Ryan Jamison was 3rd, with Jordan Goldsberry, who was driving the 14P owned by Randy Plath, finishing 4th. The final heat race went to Jerrod Hull, with Josh Schneiderman in 2nd, Dustin Clark came from 6th to finish in 3rd, with Nate Van Haaften holding on for 4th.
Chris Martin cruised to an easy win in the B Main, with Andy Huston coming from 7th to finish in 2nd, Mike Philben came from 6th to finish in 3rd, with rookie Sprint car driver Justin Buchholz, who came out of the Mod Lite class, holding on for the final transfer spot. Jamie Ball grabbed the lead on the drop of the green in the dash and then cruised to the win. He then drew the number 1 invert to start the feature on the pole.
The first feature to take to the track on the night was the 15 lap Mod Lites, with Devon Rouse and Terry Brown drawing the front row. Rouse would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Jimmy Halcomb and Brown. Mike Morrill, who started 7th, went to the high side of the track to take over the top spot on lap 2. While Morrill set a fast pace out front Randy Bryan, who started 5th but fell back to 7th on the start, was working his way towards the front. Bryan would move into second on lap 10, as Morrill started to enter lapped traffic. Coming to the white flag Bryan was able to cut Morrill's lead down to just a car lengths. But Morrill was able to hold on, in a caution free race, to claim the win. Bryan settled for 2nd, Halcomb was 3rd, Terry Brown was 4th, with Charlie Brown coming from 8th to finish in 5th.
Up next was the 25 lap IMCA Modified feature, with Carter VanDenBerg and Brandon Rothzen leading the field to the green flag. But just as the green flag was waved the caution light would come on, as Ryan Cook and Phillip Beard spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Rothzen jumped out front to lead lap 1 over VanDenBerg and Mitch Morris. Rothzen would set the early pace, with VanDenBerg, Morris, Jeff Waterman, and Scott Hogan, who started 6th, battling for the runner up spot. Hogan was able to work himself into the runner up spot on lap 11, just as Rothzen started to enter heavy lapped traffic. This would allow Hogan to slip past Rothzen for the lead on lap 14 and then pulled away from there to pick up the win and the $1,000 top prize. Rothzen held on for 2nd, Waterman was 3rd, Morris was 4th, with VanDenBerg coming home in 5th.
Jamie Ball and John Schulz lead the field to the green in the 25 lap Sprint Invader feature. But just as the green flag was waved the caution light would come on, as Nate Van Haaften and Andy Huston spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Ball jumped out front to lead lap 1 over Schulz and Josh Schneiderman. Just as the lap was scored complete, Harold Pohren would spin in turn 2 to bring out the caution. Ball once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Schulz working to hold back Paul Nienhiser for the second spot. Nienhiser would find the fast way around the track early, by going to the bottom to slip past Ball on lap 4 to grab the top spot away. While Nienhiser worked his way through lapped traffic on lap 10, Jerrod Hull, who started 5th, was working his way towards the front. Hull would slip into the runner up spot on lap 15 and then went to work on cutting into Nienhiser's straight-away lead. Nienhiser's lead was wiped away on lap 18 when the caution flag was waved. Wayne Johnson, who started 14th and had worked his way to 4th, got his left rear tangled with the right front of Pohren's car, with Johnson pulling into the infield with rear end troubles. While Pohren's car came to a stop in turn 1 with a broken front end to bring out the yellow.
On the restart Hull went to the top side of the track off turn 2 and then shot to the bottom of the track in turn 3 to grab the lead away from Nienhiser on lap 19. The final caution of the race would appear on lap 20, as Joey Moughan and Schneiderman battled side-by-side off 4 for the 5th spot. With Moughan getting into the outside wall down the front stretch and coming to a stop in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. Hull once again grabbed the lead on the restart and then pulled away to claim the win and the $1,500 top prize. Nienhiser held on for 2nd, Donnie Steward came from 8th to finish in 3rd, Schulz was 4th, with Jon Agan coming from 10th to round out the top 5.
The final feature to take to the track was the 15 lap 4 Cylinders, with Brandon Setser and Austen Becerra drawing the front row. Just as the green flag was waved the caution light would come on, as Kenny Smith, Ron Kibbe, and 93k collided in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. On the restart a tire was clipped in turn 2 and pushed onto the track to bring the yellow back out. The third attempt of a start saw Becerra edge out Setser at the line to lead lap 1. After the completion of lap 2 the red flag was waved, as Billy Stafford, who started 8th and was going for 4th, rolled off turn 2 to bring out the red. He climbed from the car okay. Becerra moved back out front on the restart, with Setser, Jerrod Nichols, and Kimberly Abbott, who started 10th, all battling for the runner up spot. Becerra, would start off 2015 where he finished in 2014, as he pulled away to pick up the win in one of Abbott's cars. Setser held on for 2nd, Nichols held off Abbott on the final 2 laps to claim 3rd, Abbott was 4th, with Steven Struck finishing 5th.
Notes from 34: 30 Sprints, 23 Modifieds, 19 4 Cylinders, and 14 Mod Lites made up the 86 cars signed in for the night......Gary Snyder started the Mod Lite feature in 10th and finished in 8th....F8 started 13th and finished in 10th....Joel Huggins had troubles in his heat race and was forced to start 14th in the feature. In the first 4 laps he was able to climb his way to 10th, before more troubles forced him to the pits on lap 5 to end his night in 14th......Tyler Glass started the Modified feature in 9th and finished 7th....Dugan Thye started 10th and finished 8th....Ray Cox Jr. started 11th and finished 9th....Tony VonDresky came from 14th to finish in 10th....Blake Woodruff started 16th and finished 11th....Ryan Cook recovered from his spin on the start to come back up to finish 12th....Larry McConnell passed 10 cars from his 23rd place starting spot to come home in 13th....Brian Woodruff started 19th and finished 14th....Chadwick Giberson passed 6 cars from his 21st starting spot to finish in 15th....Mike Fluegel was suppose to start in 12th, but elected to go to the rear for the start. He would make 1 lap before pulling it into the pits....Dakota Hayden, who was suppose to start 13th, had troubles on the parade lap that forced him to the pits before the green flag was waved......Tony Shilling started the Sprint feature in 9th and finished 7th....Chris Martin, who won the B Main, started 17th and passed 9 cars to come home in 8th....Ryan Jamison started 11th and finished 9th....Dustin Clark started 12th and finished 10th....Jordan Goldsberry came from 15th to finish in 11th....Nate Van Haaften recovered from his spin on the start to come back up to finish in 13th....Andy Huston also recovered from his spin on the start to come back up to finish in 14th....Justin Buchholz started 20th and finished 15th....Nick Guernsey had troubles in hot laps that forced him to scratch for the night......Ron Kibbe started the 4 Cylinder feature in 16th. He would pit to change on tire under the caution on the start and again under the red flag on lap 2. Kibbe then recovered from those flat tires to come back up to finish in 7th....Larry Miller started 13th and finished 9th....Shawn Baker came from 14th to finish in 9th....Bryerson Tharp started 13th and finished 10th....The 66, who was suppose to start 4th, had troubles after the heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature....66J also had troubles after his heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature....Daytona Fenton and Jeffrey DeLonjay both had troubles in hot laps that forced them to scratch for the night.
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