Dubuque, IA (Thursday, July 30, 2015) - Thursday night was another race event being held during the Dubuque County Fair in Dubuque, Iowa. On the card for the night was the first ever visit for the Sprint Invaders, along with the IMCA Late Models and IMCA Modifieds.
The first feature to take to the track was the 20 lap IMCA Modifieds, with Mike Van Genderen and Sean Rupp drawing the front row for the event. Van Genderen would take advantage of his front row starting spot to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Rupp and Brandon Wilson. The action up front was slowed for the first time on lap 5, when Derek Thompson slowed to a stop in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Van Genderen moved back out front, with Ryan DeShaw, who started 5th, using the top of the track to climb into second. DeShaw kept working the top of the track to grab the top spot away from Van Genderen on lap 9. But Van Genderen didn't give up, as he worked the bottom to pull up beside DeShaw over the next 3 laps. Coming off turn 4 on lap 13, Van Genderen was able to clear DeShaw to grab the lead back. One lap later, lap 14, Jeremy Gengler would spin in turn 2 to bring out the yellow and slow the action up front. On the restart Dustin Crist, Jason Schueller, Jed Freiburger, Keith Pittman and Tim Petitgout collided in turn 4 to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw Van Genderen jump back out front, with DeShaw and Wilson close behind. Van Genderen then pulled away over the final 6 laps to claim his first win at the track in his first ever visit. DeShaw was 2nd, Wilson was 3rd, Rupp was 4th, with Matt Gansen coming from 11th to round out the top 5.
Joel Callahan and Ron Klein drew the front row for the 30 lap IMCA Late Model feature. Just as the green flag was waved the yellow light would come on, as Lyle Klein got into Lee Kinsella in turn 1, which caused Kinsella to spin and collect Eric Pollard and Ryan Hill to bring out the yellow. On the restart Callahan moved out front to lead lap 1 over Luke Goedert and Ron Klein. Kinsella went for a spin in turn 3 on lap 3 to bring out the next caution. Callahan grabbed the lead on the restart, with Dan Shelliam, who started 9th, using the top of the track to move into second. One lap later, lap 4, Steve Schueller would spin in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Hill went for a spin in turn 2 to bring the yellow light back on. The following restart saw Callahan move back out front over Shelliam and Goedert. While Callahan worked the bottom of the track, Shelliam worked the top. Which paid off for Shelliam, who grabbed the lead away from Callahan on lap 6. Shelliam started to enter lapped traffic on lap 11, which allowed Justin Kay to close in on his back bumper. Kay, who was glued to the bottom of the track, would use lap traffic to edge out Shelliam at the line to lead lap 14. Just after the completion of lap 14, Curt Marks would spin in front of Kay in turn 4 to bring out the caution. Kay had to take invasive action to clear Marks, but Hill, who was directly behind Kay, couldn't avoid making colliding with Marks. On the restart Kay moved back out front, with Shelliam and Callahan following. Despite Kay entering lapped traffic on lap 24, Kay would pull away to pick up the win. Shelliam was 2nd, Callahan was 3rd, Luke Merfeld came from 12th to finish in 4th, with Jeff Tharp coming home in 5th.
The final feature to take to the track on the night was the 30 lap Sprint Invaders, with Jamie Ball and Harold Pohren leading the field to the drop of the green flag. Pohren used his front row starting spot to grab the lead on lap 1 over Ball and Jarrod Schneiderman. The action up front was slowed for the first time on lap 2, when Gillette, Wyoming's Matt Dapra spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Ball would use the bottom of the track to edge out Pohren for the top spot. But Pohren wouldn't give up, as he came back on the outside to take the lead back on lap 4. Dapra would spin in turn 4 on lap 6 to slow the battle up front, which was also his second solo caution to end his night. Pohren jumped back out front on the restart, with Ball and Tony Shilling close behind. Ball, who was working the bottom of the track, would take the lead awy from Pohren on lap 8. One lap later John Schulz, who started 5th, slipped under Pohren for the second spot. Schulz followed in Ball's tracks over the final 20 laps. But wasn't able to mount a challenge, as Ball held on to claim the win. Schulz settled for 2nd, Ryan Jamison started 9th and finished 3rd, Shilling was 4th, with Pohren holding on for 5th.
Notes from Dubuque: With only 13 Sprint Cars signed in on the night, the staff got their heads together to come up with a different format to give the fans a show. Instead of running two 10 lap heat races, with the top 3 going to the dash. They decided to run two set of 6 lap heat races. The first set would be lined up by how they drew when they signed in on the night. The second set would be inverted by how they finished the first set of heat races. Drivers were given points for how they finished both sets of heat races, with the points being added together. Then the top 6 in combined points would draw for the 6 lap dash, the remainder would start 7th on back in the feature based on points. The winner of the dash would then draw a pill to determine how many would invert for the first 3 rows of the feature.....Jed Freiburger recovered from the crash on lap 14 of the IMCA Modified feature to climb back up to finish in 6th....Jeff Larson started 10th and finished 7th....Dustin Crist recovered from the crash on lap 14 to come back up to finish in 9th....Tim Petitgout, who started 15th, also recovered from the crash on lap 14 to come up to finish in 10th....Jeremy Gengler recovered from his spin on lap 14 to come back up to finish in 12th......Lyle Klein recovered from his involvement on the start to come back up to finish in 7th....Lee Kinsella, also recovered from the spin on lap 1 and lap 3 to come back up to finish in 10th....Becky Roth started 15th and finished 11th....Steve Schueller, who started 16th, recovered from his spin on lap 4 to come back up to finish in 13th......Chris Martin started the Sprint feature in 10th and finished in 6th....Tim Moore started 12th and finished 10th.
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