Kyle Suter Memorial Stock Car Shootout

Presented by Scooter's Bar & Grill and North Central Line Service

Jeremiah Davis

Storm Lake Times

Tuesday night at Buena Vista Raceway in Alta was a special night of racing for several reasons. It marked the first of three nights of racing in the Stock Car Shootout Series, but it also marked the Kyle Suter Memorial Race.
This night put the Stock Cars center stage, making them the main event, and doubling their distance, from the usual 15 laps to 30.
44 cars showed up for the Memorial Race, with drivers from Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota being represented in the event. Many, however, didn’t even make the main event, having been eliminated via a B-Feature.
David Smith started on pole for the event, and wasted no time extending his lead to about 5 car lengths right from the green flag. Jeff Wollam battled in the early going with Jeff Joldersma for the second position.
Close behind was Chris Ullrich, who was beating down Joldersma’s rear bumper, trying to get past for the third position.
After a quick caution, Joldersma moved to second behind Smith. Behind them, Ullrich and Wollam raced for third. The two made contact off of turn 2, resulting in Wollam spinning in front of the field, collecting 8 cars in the process and bringing out the red flag.
Once back to racing, Joldersma gave a brief challenge to Smith for the lead. However, Smith’s #8 car was noticeably stronger as the laps clicked off.
Behind David and Joldersma, Ullrich had fallen into the clutches of veteran drivers Dustin Smith and Brian Blessington. Dustin moved past Ullrich into third, and made a push to challenge Joldersma for second in the middle part of the race.
With 11 laps remaining, Dustin got past Joldersma and set his sights on his older brother. Behind them, Blessington had gotten around Ullrich for 4th, and continued on his mission towards the front after starting 21st and coming through the B Feature.
With four laps remaining, a caution flag erased a half-straightaway lead for David, putting Dustin and Joldersma right on his rear bumper.
David’s experience paid off, as he was able to pull away once again on the restart. David erased all doubt as to who was going to win the race in the closing laps, extending his lead with each of the final four circuits.
Behind him, Blessington moved past Joldersma on the restart, and set in on moving to second. On the final lap, David was unchallenged. He completed the flag to flag win, his first of the season at BVR.
Blessington picked up 2nd place laurels, passing 18 cars en route to his top five finish. Joldersma ended up third, passing Dustin on the final lap.
While the Stock Car race had a bit of suspense to it, the Modified race was about as un-suspenseful as you could get.
Nick Deal started on pole, and took off to a 6 car length lead right away. Behind him, Jeremy Mills secured second, with Adam Larson settling in the third position.
From there, the race turned into a strung out parade of cars. The top three were evenly separated, with Mills not really able to gain ground on a smooth running Deal.
The only real race on the track was for third, in which Jay Noteboom gave Larson a few challenges for the third position.
Ultimately, the Modifieds ran an extremely clean race, going caution free in the feature for the first time this season. Deal won his first at BVR this year, by a solid margin. Mills finished where he ran all race, in second, while Larson held off Noteboom and other challengers for the third position.
Where the Modifieds were caution free, the Sport Mods were the exact opposite. The guys couldn’t seem to go more than five laps without a caution, and most times it was less than five.
Brett Meyer and Doug Smith battled for the early lead, neither one ever gaining an advantage in the early going due to the over abundance of cautions.
The two swapped spots several times, but no one in the top 5 could seem to gain a rhythm due to the cautions.
On one restart, Meyer lost control a bit off turn 2, losing several positions and allowing Smith to take sole possession of the lead. Chad Dills gave chase behind him, with Mike Bailey close behind him.
Meyer was moving back up through the field after his slip up, but got caught up with Bailey while racing for third, resulting in Meyer spinning and bringing out yet another caution.
Bailey ended up turned around himself a few laps later after yet another restart, leaving Dills and Smith to battle it out for the win. And battle they did.
Over the final laps, Dills caught Smith, and gave him a challenge for the race win. It came down to the final lap, in which Dills and Smith made contact, resulting in Smith’s being spun in front of most of the field.
Dills made it through cleanly, and powered away to the finish line, picking up the win. Doug Bartels escaped the spinning cars and cruised home to second, followed closely by Tony Pogeler. The crazy race had 10 cautions in 15 laps.
The Hobby Stock class also had a huge field on Tuesday night. The usually full field of cars raced three and four wide right from the get-go, each car vying for its own real estate.
Kenneth Hansen secured the early lead with Shannon Anderson and Daniel Smith racing close behind him.
The first 5 laps were a bit wild, with the three and four wide racing. With 10 to go, things settled in, and Andy Boeckman moved past Smith to take the third spot, and immediately set his sights on the two front runners.
With 8 laps remaining, Anderson and Boeckman both moved past Hansen to take first and second respectively. Hansen didn’t let the two get far away, and it became a three way battle for the lead.
With four to go, Boeckman and Anderson made contact in turns three and four, allowing Boeckman to move past Anderson and take the lead. Anderson tried high and low over the final laps, but to no avail.
Boeckman held on to notch his first win at BVR this season, with Anderson coming home a strong second and Hansen third.
The Sport Compact feature saw its largest field on the season. Mark Lindgren took the early lead, being chased by both Josh Egesdal and Cory Flanigan.
The top three were soon joined by John Sedlachek. Sedlachek raced from the back of the pack in just a few laps. He got past Flanigan with 5 to go and set his sights on Egesdal and Lindgren.
Lindgren’s stay at the front wouldn’t be long, as something on the car broke, causing him to lose speed considerably over the final 3 laps.
Lindgren’s stumble held up Egesdal just enough to allow Sedlachek to get past. Once that happened, the race was over. Sedlachek held on to pick up the win, with Egesdal second and Flanigan third.