Jeremiah Davis
Storm Lake Times

Rasmussen Ford Mid Season Championships

On a chilly night at Buena Vista Raceway in Alta, tempers ran hot during the Rasmussen Ford Mid-Season Championships. The Thursday night event kicked off the Buena Vista County Fair.
The Modifieds were once again the main event, and saw plenty of action throughout. Brad Williams and Nick Deal raced for the early lead, racing side by side, not giving an inch. Rod Scheuermann followed close behind in third.
However, the front three couldn’t really get in a rhythm as Chris Ableson lost a motor only three laps in.
On the restart, Deal jumped out to the lead, but with Williams right on his tail. Williams took the lead two laps after the restart. Unfortunately for him, he caught a rough patch in turns 1 and 2 the next lap, and Deal got back past.
After another quick caution a few laps later, Scheuermann got a good restart, jumped in front of Williams and pulled alongside Deal. The two made contacnt off turn two, dropping both cars back a few spots and allowing Williams to retake the lead.
Behind him, point leader Jeremy Mills took second, while Scheuermann held onto third.
Mills caught Williams a lap later, and the two engaged in a brief but spirited battle for the lead. In just two laps Mills moved past Williams and immediately began to stretch his lead out.
Scheuermann followed past Williams to take second. Williams didn’t stay in third for long, though, as on the next lap he experienced mechanical problems and was forced to hit the pits, ending his night. Clayton Christensen benefitted from Williams’ troubles and took second.
With three laps remaining, Mills hit the same rough patch that Williams hit early in the race, allowing Scheuermann to take the lead. Mills wouldn’t let him go, however, as he got right back up on the wheel and chased Scheuermann back down.
Mills made the pass for the lead stick on the final lap, and held off a strong challenge from Scheuermann. Mills picked up the win and padded his points lead while Scheuermann finished a strong second and Christensen a solid third.
The Stock Car feature saw far more cars sign up to race than last week.
Jake Masters took the lead from the drop of the green flag, but didn’t distance himself from anyone as Donavon Smith ran right with him, beating down his bumper as they went along.
The two raced side by side throughout much of the opening laps, with David Smith and Chris Ullrich racing side by side behind them.
Donavon took sole possession of the lead 5 laps in, while David moved past Masters for second and went to challenge his brother for the race lead. Four laps later Ullrich slid past Masters to take the third position.
A caution with 4 to go put a pause on the battle for the lead and erased the gap the two Smiths had built on the field. On the restart Donavon took off, leaving David to race for second.
Ullrich broke a left rear shock on the restart, but was able to continue, only not quite as fast as before that. Dustin Smith moved past Ullrich a lap after the restart.
Donavon held his sizeable lead over the final four laps and picked up the win. David and Dustin followed in second and third respectively, making it an all Smith top 3.
The Sport Mod feature saw the most action on track of any of the races on Thursday night.
Tim Rupp and Doug Smith raced for the lead early on, with Mike Bailey close behind in third and Tanner Powers in fourth.
Powers moved past Bailey a few laps in, then went to challenge Rupp and Smith for the race lead.
A few laps later Rupp lost control off turn 4, holding up Smith who was right behind him, causing them both to lose several spots.
Powers inherited the lead with Bailey to second and Tony Pogeler to third. Pogeler moved past Bailey and was followed by a hard charging Brett Meyer one lap later. Meyer then moved past Pogeler in the next corner.
With six laps to go, the fireworks started. Pogeler and Bailey were racing hard for the third position, and while racing, the two made contact resulting in Pogeler being spun off the racetrack.
Race officials deemed Bailey’s move too aggressive and gave him the black flag, ending his night. Bailey didn’t take the news well, revving his engine loudly as he drove off the track.
On the next restart Meyer suffered a mechanical failure, forcing him to retire from the event. This allowed Doug Smith to move back into second after having had to recover from Rupp holding him up.
Smith caught Powers a few laps later, and did everything he could to get around him, but to no avail. Powers held on to pick up his first win ever in a Sport Mod. Smith finished a solid second while Zach Norgaard finished a solid third.
The drama was thick in the Hobby Stock feature. Cars didn’t make it a lap before a major wreck happened, this time Joe Menke was sent flipping after contact with several cars on the back stretch.
One of those cars belonged to Devin Smith, whose car was damaged enough that he didn’t think he could finish the race with it. Instead, Devin convinced younger brother Daniel to give up his seat in his own car so that Devin could race and possibly get some much needed points.
The switch ultimately didn’t matter, nor did it pay off, as both were penalized for an illegal driver change. According to the IMCA rule book, driver changes can only be made before the cars go to the staging area, and since that was not the way it happened, both Devin and Daniel received no points on this night.
The two drivers were understandably upset, and shared their displeasure with track officials upon hearing that neither would receive points.
Once cars finally got to racing, no one was surprised to see Shannon Anderson rocketing off to the lead. Storm Lake native Justin Nehring showed some strength on Thursday night, pulling into second a few laps in and staying there the rest of the race.
Matt Mahoney held third for several laps, but was passed on track by Devin Smith, who had driven through the field from last to third in his brother’s car. It was all for naught, however, and Mahoney was ultimately bumped up to third.
Anderson removed all doubt early and cruised to the win while Nehring ran a great race and finished third with Mahoney being credited with third.
The Sport Compact feature saw a good race between Josh Egesdal and Mark Lindgren. The two raced side by side the whole race, with Lindgren ultimately holding on to take the win over second place Egesdal. Further back, Zac Johnson picked up third, fighting off Cory Flanigan who finished fourth.