Opheim and Huggins post first Boone wins

August 20, 2016

Saturday night found the pits packed at the Boone Speedway with 147 race cars that put on another great show for the big crowd on hand.  Two drivers left with their first wins of the season, while three others came away with repeats from earlier.

One of the drivers getting his first ever win at Boone Speedway came out of the Mod Lite division when Joel Huggins took the

Joel Huggins led the entire 15-lap Mod Lite feature on Saturday, August 20, 2016, to capture his first ever feature win at Boone Speedway.

checkers.  Huggins led the entire 15-laps on his way to victory.  Josh May started eighth and took the runner up spot after getting around third place finisher Mike Kennedy in the closing laps.  Randy Bryan just held off Bryan Zehm at the finish line, as they went fourth and fifth respectively.

Jake McBirnie found his way back to the winner’s circle in the IMCA Northern SportMod 18-lap feature event.  McBirnie started in the eighth position and by lap three, had the lead.  From there on, he was captain of the ship, taking the comfortable win.  Chad Ryerson came from thirteenth starting spot to finish second. and tenth place starter Jonathon Logue, was third. Fourth went to pole sitter Bill Wears, and first time visitor Colby Fett from Thompson, Iowa started twelfth, and rounded out the top five. This was McBirnie’s seventh win of the season.

Jon Snyder took the win in the 20-lap Modified A main, but it was a drawn out affair with many yellows marring the feature event.  The field finally found their racing rhythm, but not until a handful of cautions had flown with just five laps in the books.  By that time, Snyder had made his way to the front of the pack and from there on, never relinquished the spot.  He finished well ahead of second place Denny Pittman.  John Logue started tenth, and finished third, Josh Truman was fourth, and point leader Mike VanGenderen was fifth.  Snyder also won on season opening night.

Veteran competitor in the IMCA Stock Car class, Kevin Opheim, paid the Boone Speedway a visit, and found it to his liking in winning the 20-lap feature. Opheim, who is from Mason City, Iowa had to wrestle by Trent Murphy after dueling lap after lap, talking command with just three laps remaining.  He held on to take the checkers and the win.  Murphy had to be content with the runner up spot.  Finishing a distant third was Robert Stofer, fourth went to Josh Daniels and visiting driver David Brandies from Wilton, Iowa, started twenty-first and was fifth.

John Watson repeated his win from last week in the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature.  He was able to finally get around leader Aaron Rudolph, who had led the entire race, with just two laps remaining, and secured the victory.  Rudolph held second place, third went to Tyson Overton, point leader Eric Stanton was fourth, and Seth Janssen completed the top five.  This was Watson’s third feature win of the year.

Next Saturday night, August 27, is Season Championships.  Hot laps are 6:45 and racing at 7:30.