Thursday night brought the 3rd and final night of Great American Stock Car Shootou Series which saw 53 IMCA Stock Cars, 28 IMCA Hobby Stocks and 16 IMCA Sport Mods signed in. The Stock Cars ran for $1250 to win, Hobby Stocks for $400 to win and Sport Mods for $300 to win.
In heat race action, Jenae Gustin won her 1st career IMCA Sport Mod heat race. Gustin is the youngest of the Gustin family, she is nicknamed "The Rocket Princess" bc she has racing in her blood. Her mon and dad is Rick "The Rocket" Gustin and Judy DeFrance-Gustin, She has brothers Jimmy, Richie and Ryan so I am sure many more to come. Other than that the heats and b-features were really good.
First up is the IMCA Hobby Stocks for their 20 laps, 24 of the 28 cars made the call for the A-main. Kenny Hansen jumped to the racing lead from his outside front row starting spot. The first of 2 cautions came out on lap 9 when Scott Pippert blew up in turn 2, Dylan Book spun in turn 2, Gary Pfantz blew up and caught fire in the pits, chad koch blew up. The next caution came out on lap 11 when Devin Smith was spun around on the front stretch by Dustin Elliott, Smith rejoined after changing a flat tire, Elliott sent to the pits for aggressive driving. Through all this Hansen remained as the leader. During the final 9 laps, Hansen would have to hold off Todd Reitzler and Andy Boeckman. Hansen would go on to the win, Reitzler finished 2nd, Boeckman came home 3rd, Josh Irvine was 4th and Scott Lagrosso was 5th.
Next up is the IMCA Sport Mods for their 20 lap feature, "The Rocket Princess" Jenae Gustin and "Downtown" Kyle Brown lead the field to the green flag. Gustin would lead the first lap of the feature but she slipped up and lost the lead to Kyle Brown on lap 2. Brown would see the yello come out on lap 3 when Gustin would slid off the top of turn 2, then again for debris in turn 4 and "The Ice Princess" Lauren Vis in turns 1 and 2 and then again on the restart when Vis spun around again. Brown maintained the lead until lap 5 when he was passed by Kevin Sather. Then the yellow came out for Gustin again in turn 1 and 2. The final 2 cautions came out on lap 9 and lap 16, first for Joe Luethje in turn 2 on lap 9 and then on lap 16 for Tom Burke in turn 3 and debris in turn 2. Sather goes on to take the $300 to win pay check, Zach Rawlins in 2nd, Kyle Brown in 3rd, Brad Iverson in 4th amd Randy Roberts in 5th.
The final feature of the night was the IMCA Stock Cars for $1250 to win 30 laps. 6 Heats and 3 B-features would be used to set the field with 53 cars signed in. There was a lot of 3 and 4 wide racing in the feature event but before there was 1 lap in the books, Roger Verdoorn would spin around in turn 2. Pole Sitter Jeremy Christians would take the lead on the restart, only to see another caution come after 1 lap in the books this time for Robert Stofer and Dustin Smith spinning in turn 4. Christians would hold the top spot until lap 6 when he was passed by Jeff Joldersma, mean while "Flyin" Brian Blessington, who started 23rd was chargin to the front. The final caution came out on lap 9 when Rob Schneider would stop in turn 4. Joldersma held the top spot until Blessington made the pass for the lead on lap 19, a spot he would hold on to until the end. Blessington took the $1250 to win pay check while Joldersma would finish home 2nd, he would als be crowned the Great American Stock Car Shootout Series Champion, making him eligible for Sunoco Racing Fuels Stock Car Race of Champions at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals in September. "The Chelsea Charger" Damon Murty, Keith Knop and Mike Jergens rounded out the top 5.
Racing action started at 7:05 pm on thursday and was completed 9:45 pm.
On Friday Night, there was 109 cars that signed in, 20 dwarf cars, 26 sport mods, 22 stock cars, 16 modifieds and 25 hobby stocks signed in, only to have mother natrue win the event. The track was water too much but when expect a little sun and don't get any its hard. The track was worked in and 2 hours after the normal hot lap time they ran hot laps, only to see Promotor Toby Kruse decide to pull the plug at 9:17 pm. So fans, drivers and crews are encourage to keep their ticket stubs and wristbands for re-entry to the races. Racing resumes next friday in marshalltown.
Next week The Trackside Report will be covering the Harris Clash at Knoxville on Tuesday and Wednesday, "Budweiser Showdown at Motown" on Friday (where the modifieds run for $500 to win and $100 to start the a-main) and the ARCA Re-Max Series/ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series on Saturday at the Iowa Speedway!
