JOSH CLEMONS HOLDS OFF TATE MARTZ FOR FIRST FORD FOCUS MIDGETS WIN OF SEASON

FLECK WINS LATE MODELS, RAY SPAW AND DAVE MCCALLA SCORE MOTOR MADNESS WINS

 

 

(Cedar Rapids, IA  07/22/05)—An interesting collection of vehicles and races greeted fans at Hawkeye Downs Speedway on Friday night as everything from Late Models to School Busses were in action.

 

                The USAC Ford Focus Midget cars made their second appearance of the season along with Performance Concepts Late Models and “Motor Madness II” which featured flat-track motorcycles, Minivans, and school busses.

 

                The top 11 drivers in the USAC Ford Focus Midgets were among those signed in to battle the Hawkeye Downs quarter-mile with 17-year-old Stephanie Mockler of Westfield, IN and  Tate Martz of Rushville, IN both picking up heat wins. Martz leads the points by a substantial margin over Mockler.

 

                Joshua Clemons of Greenfield, IN started on the point of the thirty lap feature and led every lap before collecting the checkers at the Lint Millwright finish line. Martz started in third and quickly zoomed into second and despite his best efforts couldn’t fins away around Clemons as the laps ticked off. Martz tried one last time to pass on the final lap but Clemons maintained his grip on the lead.

 

                Mockler started in fourth and got shuffled back a bit early but worked her way through the pack and into third, taking that spot from Kyle Robbins of New Castle, IN with seven laps to go. Robbins held on to fourth while Derek Fisher of Columbus, IN finished fifth.

 

                In the fifty-lap Performance Concepts Late Models feature, Chris Sevey of Waterloo started on the pole with multi-time track champion Johnny Spaw along side. Spaw led the first lap but caution came out on the next lap as Brian Allen spun in turn.  The cone rule scrambled the field a bit on the restart with Brad Osborn leading at the end of five laps.

 

                Three laps later Dudley Fleck of Cedar Rapids took command of the race for good and started pulling away from the pack. Fleck was chased by Osborn, Scott Wennermark, Kyle Hinrichs, and Denny Osborn until a “Competition Yellow” with 20 laps to go. On the restart Kyle Hinrichs lost power and exited the race which advanced Jeff King into the top five of the order, Denny and Brad Osborn traded positions back and forth battling for third while Wennermark tried to reel in Fleck.

 

                Fleck took the checkered flag with an 8/10ths of a second lead over Wennermark. Denny Osborn  edged out his son Brad for third with King finishing fifth. The win was Flecks fifth of the season.

 

                Brad Osborn and Johnny Spaw have now traded positions in the points chase with Osborn holding a one point margin over Spaw.

 

                The flat-track motorcycles were back to do battle for the second time this season and they put on another exciting high speed show. Trent Bailey of Lacrosse, WI won their ten lap feature edging out Wade Canilin of Rock Island, IL in a near photo finish. Tim Hopkins of Muscatine finished in third with Tony Reilly fourth and Bill Berger fifth.

 

                The Motor Madness Minivans did battle for fifteen laps with Ray Spaw of Cedar Rapids bolting into an early lead in a van painted to resemble his brother, Johnny Spaw’s Late Model. Spaw was chased by Shane Sherman and Jason Sherman, both of Marengo.  Officials threw the flag for a competition yellow at the halfway mark and reversed the direction they were racing. Spaw apparently had his van set up to run in either direction as he pulled away from the field on the restart and took the win in easy fashion, Jason Sherman was second, Shane Sherman third, Mike Rubocki of Cedar Rapids was fourth and John Maakstad of Independence was fifth.

 

                This was Spaw’s second win in a minivan as he won “Motor Madness I” during the Hawkeye Downs Fair.

 

                As the Motor Madness School Busses rumbled to the green flag to the strains of Alice Coopers’ Schools Out,  Dave “high side” McCalla used the outside groove to perfection to blast into the lead. He was chased by Paul Walder  and Dave Coghlan with Sonny Parker running right behind in a bus painted to resemble a Department of Corrections transport complete with jail bars and flashing lights.

 

                With six laps remaining Parker was  trying to make up ground  on the rest of field and ended up dumping the bus on its side exiting turn three. Parker, in appropriate fashion exited the bus via the emergency door. Safety crews immediately went to work, got the bus back on its wheels and Parker was able to continue the race after being “sentenced” to the back of the pack.

 

                Officials elected to reverse the direction of travel for the final six laps but  that didn’t faze McCalla as he  lumbered to the finish line ahead of Paul Walder, Dave Coghlan, Dennis Thomas,  Brian Franks, and Sonny Parker.

 

                Racing resumes next Friday night with all six regular classes in action.

 

               

USAC FORD FOCUS MIDGETS

Heat #1- Stephanie Mockler, Westfield, IN

Heat #2- Tate Martz, Rushville, IN

FEATURE (30 laps)

  1. Joshua Clemons, Grenfield, IN; 2. Tate Martz, Rushville, IN; 3. Stephanie Mockler, Westfield, IN; 4. Kyle Robbins, New Castle, IN; 5. Derek Fisher, Columbus, IN; 6. Jimmy Light, West Springfield, PA; 7. Chet Gehrke, OK; 8. Courtney Kirts, Crawfordsville, IN: 9. James Robertson, Indianapolis, IN; 10. Brandon Wagner, Lafayette, IN; 11. Ronnie Wuerdeman, Cincinnati, OH; 12. Arin McIntosh, Mitchell, IN; 13. Adam Cramer, Shelbyville, IN; 14. Nick Hanson, Miles. MI; 15. Tony Main, Farmland, IN; 16. Nick Wagner, Lafayette, IN

 

PERFORMANCE CONCEPTS LATE MODELS

FEATURE (50 laps)

  1. Dudley Fleck, Cedar Rapids; 2. Scott Wennermark, Ely; 3. Denny Osborn, Janesville; 4. Brad Osborn, Janesville; 5. Jeff King, Cedar Rapids; 6. Johnny Spaw, Cedar Rapids; 7. Chris Sevey, Waterloo; 8. JJ Meyer, Cedar Rapids; 9. Brian Allen, Cedar Rapids; 10. Kyle Hinrichs, Swisher; 11. Lyle Williams, Center Point

 

MOTOR MADNESS MINI-VANS

FEATURE ( 15 laps)

  1. Ray Spaw, Cedar Rapids; 2. Jason Sherman, Marengo; 3. Shane Sherman, Marengo; 4. Mike Rubocki, Cedar Rapids; 5. John Maakstad, Independence; 6. Kris Jones, Cedar Rapids; 7. Scott Siems, Cedar Rapids; 8. Steve Hauskins, Cedar Rapids; 9. Dustin Stansberry, Walker; 10. Duane Herb, Marion

 

MOTOR MADNESS SCHOOL BUSSES

FEATURE (15 laps)

  1. Dave McCalla, Cedar Rapids; 2. Paul Walder, Cedar Rapids; 3. Dave Coghlan, Cedar Rapids; 4. Dennis Thomas, Cedar Rapids; 5. Brian Franks, Cedar Rapids; 6. Sonny Parker, Cedar Rapids