West Burlington, IA (Saturday, August 18, 2018) - On Saturday night August 18th the Sprint Invaders made their third stop of the season at 34 Raceway, which was also their second race of the weekend after a stop at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa on Friday night. The nights action would not only honor the late Brian Hetrick, who was a past 305 Sprint champion at 34 Raceway, but it was a night to remember Larry Beckman, who has provided 34 Raceway with tow and push trucks for many, many years.
With twenty-four Sprint Cars signed in for the night there was 4 heats races, a B-Main and dash ran to determine the 20 car starting field for the 25 lap A-Feature. Plus there was 4 heat races ran in the three support classes. Then an intermission was held for a huge candy dash. With all of this complete it was time to go feature racing.
The 12 lap Mini Hauler Truck feature was up first, with Dakota Fenton and Lake Carlson drawing the front row for the event. Dakota Fenton took advantage of his starting spot to jump out into the lead on lap 1 over Drake Fenton and John Helenthal. The action was slowed for the first time of the race on the completion of lap 1, when Colton Bowman spun in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Dakota Fenton moved back out front, with Drake Fenton and Helenthal following close behind. Another lap scored complete produced another caution, as Billy Stanford slowed to a stop in turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Dakota Fenton grabbed the lead on the restart, as the rest of the field went two and three wide with plenty of bumping and banging. As a result Jacob Ruble, who started 7th, and Colton Bowman, who brought out the yellow on lap 1, emerged as the second and third place runners. The final caution of the race appeared on lap 5, as debris in turn 1 brought out the yellow. On the restart Dakota Fenton moved back out front, with Ruble and Drake Fenton close behind. Ruble would look under Dakota Fenton over the final laps, but Dakota was able to hold him off to pick up the win. Ruble was 2nd, Drake Fenton was 3rd, Cody Bowman was 4th, with Colton Bowman rounding out the top 5.
Up next was the 12 lap Mod Lite feature, with Mike Morill and Devon Rouse leading the field to green. Morrill would edge out Rouse and Jason Masengarb at the line to lead lap 1. Morrill then started to pull away from the rest of the field. Without a caution there was no catching Morrill, as he cruised to an easy win. The Mod Lites have made 6 appearances at 34 Raceway in 2018, and Morrill has won all 6 features. Masengarb was 2nd, Rouse was 3rd, Wyatt Wilkerson was 4th, with Michael Dominguez coming home in 5th.
Cody Wehrle and McKenna Haase led the field to green in the 25 lap Sprint Invaders feature, with Wehrle grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Haase and Daniel Bergquist. With Wehrle setting such a fast pace he would start to enter lapped traffic on lap 5. The lapped traffic would help Paul Nienhiser, who started 6th, over take Haase for the runner up spot on lap 6. As Wehrle got into more lapped traffic, Nienhiser would quickly close in on his back bumper. Then coming off turn 4 to complete lap 14, Wehrle went high to clear a lapped car and made contact with Nienhiser's left front. As a result Nienhiser spun into the wall to bring out the first caution of the race. On the restart Wehrle jumped back out front, with Haase and Bergquist following. Once again the pace that Wehrle was setting put him into lapped traffic on lap 18. One lap later, lap 19, disaster would strike Bergquist, as he slowed to a stop in turn 1 after loosing a motor while running third to bring out the yellow. Wehrle grabbed the lead on the restart, with Haase and Dustin Clark close behind. With an open track in front of him there was no catching Wehrle, who went on to score his first Sprint Invaders feature win. Haase finished 2nd, Clark was 3rd, Tanner Gebhardt started 10th and finished 4th, with Randy Martin rounding out the top 5.
The final feature to take to the track on the night was the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature, with Dennis LaVeine and Dustin Smith drawing the front row. Smith used his starting spot to his advantage, as he jumped out into the lead on lap 1 over LaVeine and Dakota Simmons. LeVeine would try to work under Smith over the next 12 laps, but Smith would hold him off each lap. That was until lap 13 when Smith drifted high off turn 2, which allowed LaVeine to shoot by him for the top spot. LaVeine then pulled away over the final laps of a caution free race to score the $1,000 victory. Smith was 2nd, Simmons was 3rd, Bill Roberts Jr. was 4th, with Dean McGee coming home in 5th.
Notes from 34: John Schulz started the Sprint feature in 12th and then finished 6th....Jarrod Schneiderman came from 11th to finish 7th....Josh Schneiderman finished 8th after starting in 14th....Justin Buchholz came from the B-Main to start 18th in the A-Feature. He would pass 7 cars to finish 11th and picked up the hard charger award....Dugan Thye, who was driving Nick Breuer's #78 305 Sprint, made his second feature start in a row. He would start 15th and finished 12th....Harold Pohren, who won the B-Main and started 17th, would finish 13th....Colton Fisher finished 14th after starting in 19th....Doug Sylvester, who started 21st after Brayden Gaylord Racing put up the extra money for the extra car to start the feature, would come home in 15th....Joe Laue, Dave Getchell, and Matt Krieger were the cars who didn't make the A-Feature.
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