First wins to Hofbauer, Boumeester, Rudolph and Gannon
July 21, 2018
A pit packed with 166 race cars provided the fans at the Boone Speedway an entertaining Saturday night of exciting racing action.
Four drivers captured their first win of the year. Tony Hofbauer made his way to Victory Lane in the IMCA Modified division, visiting Minnesota racer, Jared Boumeester took home the $750 prize in the IMCA Northern SportMod class, Aaron Rudolph snagged his first win of the year in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Tanner Gannon made it his first career win in the Mod Lite class. Devin Smith in the IMCA Stock Cars, and Mike Houseman in the IMCA RaceSaver Sprints made return visits to the winner’s circle.
Tanner Gannon began the 15-lap Mod Lite feature in fifth starting position, and had the lead by lap one. He then motored off as the race went green to checkered and took the win by a comfortable margin. Bryan Zehm, last week’s winner finished in the runner up spot, third went to Travis Stensland, Joe Glick was fourth and Jeff Stensland rounded out the top five. This was rookie Tanner Gannon’s first career win.
The IMCA Northern SportMods were running for $750 to win. The stout field of 38 cars had to be whittled down to a 24-car starting field through two B Main events.
Jared Boumeester from Waseca, Minnesota made his first ever trip to the Boone Speedway and went home with the win. Boumeester started fourth and took command at lap two, never to relinquish it on his run to the checkers. Finishing a distant runner up was Thomas Egenburger, Johnathon Logue was third, Ethan Braaksma had a good run through the field to finish fourth after starting seventeenth, and Austin Luellen was fifth.
The IMCA RaceSaver Sprints came next for their 20-lap feature. Mike Johnston and Mike Houseman led the parade through the halfway mark of the main event. Houseman had just gotten to the lead when a red flag situation occurred when Devin Wignall rolled his machine on the backstretch after contact with Frank Rodgers. He was okay.
The race just got restarted when a scary incident brought out another red flag before another lap was scored. Mike Moore went flying off of corner one, flipped and hit the bottom of the catwalk. Thankfully, he also was not injured. When the race did get back to green, Houseman continued to lead the troops the remaining way to the checkers, and secured the win. Tyler Thompson slipped by Mike Johnston in the final lap…finishing second and third respectively. Matt Richards and Bob Hildreth rounded out the top five. This marked Houseman’s sixth trip to Victory Lane this season.
Cody Gustoff led the IMCA Stock Car 18-lap main event from the drop of the green. Gustoff started on the outside front row and looked to be on his way to his second win of the year. However in the end, it was Devin Smith making that second trip to the winner’s circle. Smith started seventh, and took command at lap nine. He then stretched out his lead and took the easy win. Gustoff held on to second place, Josh Daniels was third after starting nineteenth, fourth was veteran racer Robert Stofer, and Wilton, Iowa’s David Brandies came from twelfth starting spot, to finish in fifth place.
Tony Hofbauer, who has been absent from the racing scene for several years, brought out his lucky #13 ride this season, and took the victory in the IMCA Modifieds. Hofbauer finished well ahead of Ricky Thornton in second. Eric Elliott, Tim Ward and early leader Bill Davis, Jr. completed the top five
Aaron Rudolph was leading comfortably in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature until a yellow flew with just two laps remaining. Rudolph fought off the challenges of Andrew Burg on the restart, and captured the win. John Watson had his four wins in a row streak broken, and came home in third place. Fourth went to Eric Knutson, and Bob Daniels was fifth. This was Rudolph’s first win at the speedway in 2018.
The night cap was the 2-person Cruiser feature and another lucky #13 went to victory lane. This time it was the #PG13 piloted by Brandon Alden and Brett Warrick. Early leaders Matt Harris and Jeremy Moore were the runner ups, third was the duo of Tyler McCumber and John Grey, fourth went to Donnie Mason and Carl Agan, and fifth to Brandon Williams and Seth Bowen.
Next Saturday night, July 28, racing continues in all classes and there will be a big bike giveaway for the kids. Hot laps are 6:45 and racing at 7:30.
