Jeremiah Davis

Storm Lake Times

When Brian Schmitt took the white flag in the Modified feature at Buena Vista Raceway Wednesday night, nearly a decade’s worth of bad luck and close calls weighed heavily as he was on the verge of picking up the win.

“I was thinking, keep it steady,” Schmitt said.

The race started out like all too many others have for Schmitt.

Mike Jergens, the rookie out of Plover, shot off to a sizeable lead early on, and it seemed as though no one would catch him.

Schmitt started mid-pack, and worked his way to second, passing Craig Reetz and Dale Ransom to do so.

Then, at the halfway point, Jergens—who’d built his lead to nearly a half-straightaway advantage—made a mistake, and gave Schmitt the lucky break it seemed like he hadn’t gotten in nine years.

Jergens’ spin in turn two handed the lead over to Schmitt, and put the young driver to the tail of the field.

When racing resumed, Jergens was a man possessed, weaving his way through traffic on his way back towards the front.

But at the front, Schmitt said goodbye to the rest of the field, and began clicking off laps that pulled him away from the field in a hurry.

By race’s end, Schmitt was well ahead of second place Mike Albertsen, and Jergens, who had made a spirited comeback to third.

“I finally got my lucky break,” Schmitt said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Schmitt got his first win in nearly a decade, the last coming at Audubon nine years ago.

While the Modified feature only saw one caution, the Sport Mod feature was the exact opposite.

There is a maximum number of cautions a feature race can have to help save time for the track. And the Sport Mod drivers reached that six caution limit in a marathon race that saw a new winner.

The cautions came early and often, as after Tim Rupp jumped to the lead all the way from the eighth starting spot, the yellow waved just two laps in.

From there, the drivers literally would race one or two laps, and get another caution.

While under green, Rupp would hold steady in the lead, while Brett Meyer would move up a few positions.

By the time the drivers saw five laps to go, there were five cautions that had flown, and Meyer was right on Rupp’s bumper.

The two raced side by side under green, with Meyer not quite able to close the deal.

With two laps to go, the sixth and final caution flew, ending the race early, to the chagrin of the Meyer team, but jubilation of the Rupp crew.

The Stock Car feature race kept with the tradition of providing some of the best, close racing any class at BVR has to offer.

When the green flag flew, Josh Suhr held the lead from the pole. Behind him, eight cars raced four wide, two rows deep for the second spot.

The drivers got things sorted out soon thereafter, and when they did so, point leader Donavon Smith came out in second, with brother Dustin close behind.

With ten to go, Donavon took the lead from Suhr, with Dustin in tow. That same lap, Dustin cruised past his brother and took the lead himself.

The field got a little strung out at the point, but a caution with six to go bunched everyone up.

On the restart, Brian Blessington got a good jump and moved to second, but couldn’t reach Dustin, who took off from the pack right from the green.

From there, Dustin cruised to the win, with Blessington second, and Donavon holding off brother David for third.

“The track was racing where you could race either the top or the bottom,” Smith said. “There was just enough moisture there where you could get a good run. Everyone was bottling up down there, so I figured I’d give the top a shot, and it worked out for me.”

The Hobby Stock feature looked like a repeat of last week’s race, only this time there was less worrying for Devin Smith.

Smith started on pole for the race, and led right from the start.

Adam Hicks held second early on, just ahead of Shannon Anderson. Anderson wouldn’t stay in third for long though, and began trying to chase down Smith for the lead.

But Smith was just too far out in front for Anderson to catch him.

By the final lap, Anderson had close to the back bumper of Smith, but ran out of time. Smith picked up his second straight win at “The Beaver”, while Anderson had to settle for second. Hicks held on for a solid third place finish.

In the Sport Compact division, Cory Flanigan is proving to the other drivers that he’s the man to beat.

He had to work through traffic to get there, but three laps in Flanigan took the lead, and promptly left the rest of the field behind.

The point leader cruised to his second straight win, with Bill Whalen Jr. second and Kyle Hill third.

In the BVR Bomber class, it looks like two drivers will be battling it out for the points championship.

Colby Davis and Jess Bieret are the only two to win in the division this season, and the feature race Wednesday night came down to the two drivers.

Davis led early, with Bieret giving chase. Bieret was catching him ever so slowly, and ran out of laps by the end.

Davis held on for his second with, with Bieret second and Nicholas Smith third.