Jeremiah Davis

Storm Lake Times

A week after the USMTS was in town with Kenny Wallace, Buena Vista Raceway got back to its regular racing Wednesday night in Alta.

Despite heavy rains the night before, the track was in great shape, providing for close racing.

The week previous, Brad Williams had given the USMTS drivers a run for their money, starting on pole in that feature and contending for much of the race. Wednesday night, he continued what has become a season of relative dominance in the Modifieds.

At the start of the feature, Williams raced Jim Thies for the lead, while a group of cars behind them raced for third.

Thies held serve for a few laps, but three laps in Williams took sole possession of the lead and never looked back.

Behind them, Daniel Hilsabeck raced with Dale Ransom for third. While those two went back and forth for position, Chris Abelson worked his way from the back of the field to challenge for the third spot.

Up front, Williams’ lead was a full straightaway by the halfway point of the race, and Thies was another half straightaway in front of the group racing for third.

Towards the end of the race, the track got slick for the drivers, making things interesting.

“It was tricky getting into [turn] three, wow,” Williams said in victory lane. “I was just waiting for it to come around on me but it never did.”

If it was tough for Williams, he didn’t make it look like it, taking the win by over a straightaway, with Thies running a strong second, and Abelson getting past both Hilsabeck and Ransom to take third.

In the past in the Stock Car main events, it’s usually been a Smith brothers show. But Wednesday night, it looked for a while like a few other drivers had a chance to make things different.

Early on in the feature, Josh Suhr led from the outside pole, with Trent Murphy on his bumper and the rest of the field racing two and three-wide behind them.

Suhr was able to hold the lead for the first five laps, but Murphy slipped past into the lead, with Dustin Smith close behind.

Smith moved to second the same lap, and set his sights on the lead.

But despite taking second with ten laps remaining, Smith had to work for it to get past Murphy, while also keeping Suhr at bay behind him.

With five laps to go, Smith and Murphy raced side by side for the lead, with Smith eventually taking the lead later that lap.

From there, Smith separated from Murphy and Suhr, who by race’s end had to fight off Chris Ullrich and David Smith for the third spot.

Smith led the final five laps en route to the win, with Murphy coming home a strong second and Suhr holding on for third.

In the Sport Mod feature, Doug Smith took advantage of starting from the front row, shooting off to a big lead right from the start.

But the big question for the Sport Mod drivers on the evening was, ‘Would they be able to finish the race?’ The last two weeks, the Sport Mod feature has ended under caution due to time limits.

This week, however, the drivers put on a great show.

Smith built a huge lead early, while the winner of the last two races Tim Rupp made his way through the field.

With seven laps remaining, Rupp took second from Chris Grothe, but it looked like he wouldn’t have enough time to catch Smith.

A caution two laps later brought Rupp to Smith’s back bumper, but Smith was not to be denied on this night.

Smith took the win, with Rupp a close second, and Grothe third.

Early on in the Hobby Stock feature, it looked like they would have a new winner as well.

Daniel Smith led early, with Matt Anderson running second after starting on the pole. While the two raced for the lead, it caused a bottleneck behind them as cars raced three and four-wide.

 The wild racing mid pack led to a caution just three laps in. Devin Smith, who was in the middle of the mess, surged forward after the restart, moving up several positions to take the lead.

As Devin took off from the pack, Craig Brotherton raced with Daniel for second, with Merle Bass close behind.

A caution with five to go brought everyone back together, and on the restart, Bass moved past Daniel to take the third position.

Up front, things never changed once Devin got the lead, and he cruised to the win making him the third Smith in victory lane on the evening.

Brotherton finished a strong second, with Bass coming home third.

In the Sport Compact feature, Cory Flanigan took the hard route to victory lane.

On the first lap while leading, Flanigan slid off the track and into the tire barrier in turn four. But with no significant damage, Flanigan restarted last and work his way through the field.

Late in the race, Flanigan retook the lead from Merv Chandler, and from there cruised to yet another win.

In the BVR Bomber feature, it looked like there was a first time winner. Cory Bosma drove a great race and picked up the win on the track, edging out Colby Davis and Cole Blair.

But in post race tech, both Bosma and Blair were disqualified, handing the win to Davis.