Finishline Racing Products-Hondo’s Sales and Service-KCHE Race Night
Wednesday May 19th, 2010
By Jeremiah Davis
Storm Lake Times Staff Writer
After a week off due to rain, racing action returned Wednesday night at Buena Vista Raceway in Alta.
With that week off, the drivers and crews came back excited and ready to race.
Being only the second race of the season, the winners from the first race all were eager to make it two for two on the season. Two drivers were able to do just that.
The IMCA Modifieds as usual were the main event for the evening, and Week 1’s winner Justin Sackett at first didn’t look like he was going to be able to get back to back victories.
Brian Schmidt jumped out to a sizeable lead at the beginning of the race, with Sackett in tow. It looked like Schmidt was going to run away with the race, but a caution just past halfway changed everything.
“[Schmidt] was running really good,” Sackett said.
Lady Luck was not on Schmidt’s side, however, as on the restart he was forced to the pits with a flat right rear tire, ending his chance for a win.
But Schmidt’s misfortune turned out to be great fortune for Sackett, who had the rest of the field covered from there on out, cruising to his second straight win at “The Beaver.”
“We put a couple new tires on there,” Sackett said. “We made a few adjustments, and calm and patience really paid off for us.”
Behind Sackett, Jeff Nielsen came home third, while Brad Williams drove from the back to finish second, on a night where he and his crew had to work hard to repair damage sustained in his heat race.
Wednesday night was a tale of two races for Devin Smith in the Hobby Stock class. It was the Hobby Stock night for King of the Hill, which took place between the heat races and features.
Smith ousted Justin Nehring, John Briggs and Michael Murphy on his way to the $100 bonus. After winning the championship round, Smith said, “I hope I didn’t use up all my good luck.”
Unfortunately for Smith, it seemed that was the case come feature time.
On the first lap of the A-Main, several cars piled up in turns 3 and 4, with Hobby Stock juggernauts Smith and Shannon Anderson both being caught up.
Anderson was able to continue, but Smith suffered right rear wheel damage, and went three laps down repairing it.
When the race finally got going, the race for the lead heated up quickly. Drew Barglof led from the pole early, with Craig Brotherton close behind.
With nine laps to go however, the two got together in the middle of the backstretch, sending Barglof spinning and cost him a chance for the win.
After the restart, Brotherton didn’t stay in the lead for long, as while he was racing with Kyle Robinson and Michael Murphy, lost a right front tire, ending his chances at taking the win.
Once back to racing, Robinson and Murphy raced door-to-door over the closing laps, while Justin Nehring and Merle Bass raced for third behind them.
Robinson led up until the white flag lap, where Murphy seized the opportunity of lapped traffic to get past Robinson.
“I wanted to use the lapped car as a pick if I could,” Murphy said after the race. “I held my line and everything worked out good.”
Murphy took home the third win of his 2010 season, while notching his first ever win at BVR. Behind him, Robinson held on for second, while Justin Nehring took third.
In the Stock Car feature race, fans at BVR almost got to see a hometown winner.
Josh Suhr, of Alta, led early from the pole, with Chris Ullrich racing with a gaggle of cars behind him.
With the rest of the field racing for position, Suhr used the clear track ahead of him to slowly build a sizeable lead.
But a caution midway through the race erased it, and also spelled trouble for his chances at the win.
“It was a rocket off the corner at the start of the race,” Suhr said. “And I really didn’t want to see that caution.”
On the restart, Suhr was able to hold off Ullrich for a few laps, but with seven laps remaining, the handle started to go away and Ullrich moved into the lead.
Another caution two laps later saw Jake Masters and David Smith move past Suhr to take second and third, with Masters immediately going after Ullrich for the lead.
While racing hard, Masters and Ullrich got together coming to the white flag, knocking them both out, and handing over the lead to David Smith, and second and third to Donavon and Dustin Smith.
The race ended with a green-white-checker finish, and a Smith sweep of the top three positions. David picked up the win, with Dustin second and Donavon third.
After a not-so-stellar opening night at BVR, Brett Meyer rebounded in a big way Wednesday night in the Sport Mod feature.
Meyer led early, with Zach Norgaard following close behind. Norgaard only ever got as close as a car length though, as Meyer was not to be denied.
Meyer cruised to the victory, with Norgaard solidly in second, and Doug Smith taking third.
The other driver to get back to back victories at BVR was Jess Bieret. Bieret looked nearly unbeatable throughout the BVR Bomber feature, leading flag to flag and taking the win.
Behind him, Colby Davis finished second and Nicholas Smith picked up third.
The Sport Compact feature saw a good race between Kyle Hill and Cory Flanigan for the win. Hill never surrendered the lead, but had Flanigan right on his tail up until the final lap, when Flanigan had shifter problems, dropping him out of contention.
Hill picked up the win, with Caine Mahlberg in second and Randy Cass taking third.
