(
The
Bob Ahrendsen
picked up his second win in two days in Barron Motor Supply IMCA Stock Cars.
The quarter-mile veteran started inside row two, took the lead on lap three,
and went on to finish 1.2 seconds ahead of point leader Kurt Bohnsack. Brian Beaty finished
third followed by Cory Houdek and Dave Ballstaedt.
Roland Bohnsack
took top honors in the IMCA Hobby Stocks crossing stripe ahead of point leader
Scott Siems. Deb Mefford
finished third with Duayne Herb and Jeremy Robbins
close behind.
Nathan Ballard led most of the race
and appeared to have things well in hand before tangling with a slower car with
just a couple laps remaining. Ballard did rally to finish sixth.
The duo of Doug Steggall/Mitch
Comried crossed the stripe first in Two-Person
Cruisers with Mike Kimm/Lee Rouse next in line. Mike
McDonald/Rob Miller finished third and Quinton Embry/Matt Petrzelka
were fourth.
PRIETZEL TOPS MID-AM STOCK CARS
With heat indices topping the 100 degree mark at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the look on Bill Preitzel’s face in victory lane said it
all. A fatigued Prietzel, who won for the first time in his stock car at
Hawkeye Downs, slowly climbed from his victorious mount and solemnly posed for
pictures after winning the Mid-American Stock Car Series’ “Return to Rapids.”
“For me it was tough,” said the three-time MASCS champion. Prietzel then
recalled his trip to Cedar Rapids in 2003 when he ran three features between
his MASCS car and his Midwest Super Truck. “It was 90 degrees that day, but I
still didn’t feel like this.”
The winning move was performed by Prietzel on lap 26. After a lap 22 restart,
in which Prietzel utilized the outside line to swipe the second spot from
Jeremy Spoonmore, Justin Neisius’ race-long lead was soon in danger.
The leading rookie contender of Mid-American gave a valiant effort to hold off
the current point leader, but Prietzel worked the inside line to perfection and
did not look back after wrestling the lead away from Neisius exiting turn two.
All the while, Prietzel and the other Mid-American Stock Car Series competitors
literally had to sweat out 40 laps of caution-plagued competition.
The first caution took its toll on the afternoon’s fastest qualifier. Louie
Goss entered a spin cycle entering turn one to slow the field. As the cars
began to speed up for the lap five restart, Brian Back fell off the pace. When
he revealed the right side of his car to the crowd, the rear tire was flat.
Back pulled into the infield and saved a caution, but ended his day with a 23rd
place finish.
Goss later lost control of his ride and slid heavily into the soft wall
suffering damage to the right side of his machine. He was awarded the Wehrs
Machine Hard Luck Award.
The final of five cautions set up a 13-lap showdown after Hawkeye local Mike
Weber tangled with Jake Finney entering turn one. With no space to evade the
scrum, three others were involved. Fellow Hawkeye locals Kevin Franks and
Travis Thompson along with Nick Crawford sustained enough damage to end their
afternoons.
In all, it was a tough day for the Hawkeye regulars. Current point leader Dave
McCalla struggled to a 19th place finish while trying to wheel an ill-handling
race car. Weber recorded the best finish amongst them by placing 14th.
With the amount of heat and excess time in the race car due to caution laps,
MASCS officials paused during the lap 27 cleanup to bring water to the
competitors on the track. Although the event was taxing, and the attrition rate
high, 12 MASCS competitors finished on the lead lap.
However, due to heat exhaustion, several drivers were forced to an early
retirement in the feature event. No serious symptoms were reported, and all
drivers were able to leave Hawkeye Downs on their own terms.
As for Prietzel, he heard all he needed to keep inspired in the waning laps.
“The lady in my ear told me to keep going,” said Prietzel in reference to his
wife Jan who also serves as his spotter and crew chief.
After the green flag was dropped on the final restart, Prietzel dashed out
ahead of the field and won by a margin of 0.864 seconds over Jeremy Spoonmore.
Justin Neisius held on to a podium finish, Kyle Shear recorded his best finish
of the season in fourth and Troy Shear, Jr. recovered from an earlier
altercation to round out the top five.
BARRON MOTOR SUPPLY IMCA STOCK CARS
HEAT- 1. Dave Ballstaedt,
FEATURE
(20 laps) 1. Ahrendsen 2.Bohnsack 3.Beaty 4.Houdek 5.Ballstaedt 6. Hentrich 7.Hundley 8.Siems
BARRON MOTOR SUPPLY IMCA HOBBY STOCKS
HEAT-
1.Deb Mefford,
FEATURE
(20 laps) 1. Bohnsack 2. Siems 3. Mefford 4.Herb 5. Robbins
6.Ballard 7.Petrzelka 8.K. Floyd 9.J. Floyd 10.Betzer
TWO-MAN CRUISERS
FEATURE 1. Doug Steggall/Mitch
Comried 2.Mike Kimm/Lee
Rouse 3.Mike McDonald/Rob Miller 4. Quinton Embry/Matt Petrzelka
SUNLINE HORNETS
HEAT- 1. Derek Parrott,
FEATURE-
1. Nathan
Chandler 2. Brad Burhite 3. Bailey 4. Brad Chandler
5. Jim Hanson 6. Dan Burhite 7. Parrott
8. J.C. Floyd 9. Dains 10. DeJesus 11. Merv
MID-AMERICAN STOCK CAR SERIES
HEAT 1- 1. Brent Widdis,
HEAT 2-
1.Justin Neisius,
HEAT 3- 1. Dave McCalla,
FEATURE
(40 laps) 1. Prietzel 2.Spoonmore 3.Justin Neisius
4.Kyle Shear 5. Troy Shear, Jr, 6.Paul Neisius 7. Pluer 8.Beyer 9. Null 10. Bendzick 11. Gutknecht 12. Pyburn 13. Finney 14. Weber 15.
Nowak 16. Franks 17. Crawford 18.Thompson 19.McCalla 20. Widdis 21.Wilson 22.Goss
23 Back