Storm Lake Times

Jeremiah Davis

If you ask someone who has been around racing for a long time, they will tell you a dry, slick racetrack will prove who can really drive.

At Buena Vista Raceway on Wednesday, that theory was put to the test.

With excessive winds throughout the week, the track workers had their work cut out for them keeping moisture in the track.

But despite the lack of moisture, there was no shortage of great racing.

It was the Stock Cars’ night for King of the Hill, and the class many fans say is their favorite delivered in a big way.

In each of the matchups in the King of the Hill tournament, the largest margin of victory was one car length.

Chris Ullrich and David Smith made it to the championship round, and had the crowd buzzing. The two raced side by side throughout the entire three lap race, and came down to a battle of inches in the end.

Ullrich barely edged out Smith at the line to take the $250 payday, winning literally by inches.

When it came to feature time, Ullrich hoped to back up his King of the Hill performance, and for several laps it looked as though he might have a chance.

From the drop of the green flag, you could throw a blanket over the entire field, as all the cars were in one big pack for several laps.

When things sorted out, Donavon Smith had the lead, with Ullrich and David Smith close behind.

Ullrich couldn’t quite catch Donavon during the first half of the race, and looked like he would hang on to second. But as happens in racing, a caution came out with seven laps to go and changed all that.

On the restart, David shot into second, and behind him came brother Dustin, making it an all Smith top three.

While David and Dustin raced for second, Donavon slowly but surely crept away from his brothers, extending his lead every lap.

By race’s end, no one had anything for Donavon, who broke a fairly long dry spell at “The Beaver,” edging out both of his brothers.

“It’s been awhile,” Smith said. “It’s nice, though. I love winning here.”

David ended up second, with Dustin close behind, and for the second straight week the Stock Car feature saw an all Smith top three finishing order.

The Modifieds came out Wednesday night with almost twice the number of cars as last week. And the Modified feature saw another driver break a surprisingly long dry spell at BVR.

Throughout the night, Brad Williams had a dominant car. Whether it was in his heat race or the feature, it seemed as though no one could really get close.

“We haven’t done much good up here in over a year,” Williams said. “So we kind of went back to some of the stuff we had been running and it worked.”

Behind Williams, the racing was fierce, and experience seemed to be the predominant theme amongst those running well on the night.

Mark Noble—a multi-time winner of the IMCA Super Nationals in Boone, and long time racer at BVR—was stout all night, driving from the back to second, and was the only one to get within striking distance of Williams.

Behind Noble, several cars raced for third, with points leader and winner of the first two races Justin Sackett leading that parade.

Williams fought off brief challenges on multiple restarts to notch his first victory at BVR in 2010, with the veteran Noble in second, and Sackett taking home third.

The Sport Mod feature also saw great racing right from the start, with cars going four-wide in the first turn after taking the green.

Dylan Book led early, with Brett Meyer close behind and the rest of the field racing two and three wide behind them.

Book and Meyer broke away from the pack, but after one of the multiple cautions, Meyer was able to slip past Book and take the lead.

Also moving past Book was points leader Zach Norgaard, who stayed right with Meyer after he took the lead.

But Meyer was not to be denied for the second straight week, taking his second win in a row. Norgaard finished a close second, while Book finished third, fading near the end.

For the second straight week in Hobby Stock, Devin Smith met the dark side of Lady Luck, this time in the form of a spinning Craig Brotherton.

On the first lap, while racing in a gaggle of cars, Brotherton ended up sideways on the track, and with nowhere to go, Smith collided with Brotherton, damaging both cars.

Smith was able to repair his car and return, but restarted dead last.

Up front, Adam Hicks and Shannon Anderson raced for the lead. Anderson didn’t take the lead until there was only eight laps remaining. From there, it was smooth sailing for Anderson.

Meanwhile, Devin Smith drove his way through every car in the field. It looked as though he would make his way to the top three, but just after taking the while flag, Smith lost a driveshaft in his car, making all the passing of cars for naught.

Anderson was able to cruise to the victory, with Hicks solidly in second and Merle Bass bringing home third.

The Sport Compact feature was simply a display of dominance from Cory Flanigan. From the drop of the green flag, Flanigan’s number 75 car seemed far superior to everyone else in the race, pulling away to a half-straightaway lead.

Flanigan cruised easily to the win over Kyle Hill, who won last week.

In the BVR Bomber feature, it looked like Jess Bieret would pick up his third win in a row, but fate wouldn’t have it.

Coming to the white flag, Bieret got loose off of turn four, just barely saving the car from spinning all the way out. Unfortunately for Bieret, that allowed Colby Davis to move past.

Davis held off a late charge from the rebounding Bieret, and picked up his first win in 2010, with Bieret taking second.