4/16/05
Southern Iowa Speedway
Oskaloosa, IA
Searsboro Telephone Spring Challenge
25 cars
Wayne Johnson (25th car out to time) set the pace in qualifying with a tour of the tacky half-mile in 15.876 seconds. Kerry Madsen (15th car out) was second quick, followed by Skip Jackson (19th), Brian Brown (22nd), Lynton Jeffrey (6th), Billy Alley (23rd), Don Droud Jr. (17th), Tim St. Arnold (3rd), Calvin Landis (20th) and Kim Mock (12th). Tyler Houseman suffered mechanical ills and was unable to get a time in. Joe Beaver also had problems, but managed to get one lap in at the end of qualifications. Both Jackson and Eric Vanderploeg suffered scares in hot laps. Jackson had a water line problem that looked more serious, and Vanderploeg had a lot of smoke eminating from his mount. Both returned for time trials. W. Johnson drew a feature invert of 10. A nice crowd showed up despite the threat of rain all day. Frankie Heimbaugh earned $100 as the highest qualifying 360 (Gary Moyer was the other 360 in the field).
Heat one (started): 1. Travis Whitney 9 (2) 2. Droud 17G (4) 3. Johnson 14AJ (6) 4. Brown 21 (5) 5. Mock 1m (3) / 6. Steve Meyer 85m (8) 7. Beaver 53 (1) 8. Matt Moro 47 (7)
It took three starts for this one to go green. After a false start, Beaver and Whitney came together, with Beaver spinning and collecting Mock. Both had to surrender their prime starting spots. Whitney led when the 8 lapper finally went green and he did so for the distance. The lone caution came out for Beaver who came to a stop with apparent rear end problems on lap six. Moro exited on lap three. W. Johnson surged to third on the first lap and held that spot until the finish. Whitney earned the $100 prize given to all three heat event winners, compliments of Full Throttle Racing and Cox Design and Fabrication.
Heat two (started): 1. Mike Kertscher 80K (2) 2. St. Arnold 7w (4) 3. Chad Meyer 1w (1) 4. Madsen 55 (6) 5. Jeffrey 4AU (5) / 6. Scott Neitzel 2w (7) 7. Vanderploeg 7x (3) 8. Heimbaugh 04 (8)
Kertscher led flag to flag despite persistent pressure from a strong running St. Arnold, who came up just short at the line. Vanderploeg was also a rocket in the McCarl 7x, but appeared to suffer brake problems on lap three while in a battle for fourth position. He came to a stop, bringing out the race's only caution.
Heat three (started): 1. Mike Moore 69 (1) 2. Jackson 2 (6) 3. Ryan Anderson 71R (2) 4. Landis 70 (4) 5. Alley 22 (5) / 6. Ricky Logan 10 (3) 7. Jerrel Slinkard 15s (7) 8. Gary Moyer 5m (8) DNS - Houseman 50
Moore led the distance in dominating fashion. His margin over second place Jackson was nearly a half a lap. Jackson earned the spot from Anderson on the last lap. Alley hounded Logan the entire race for the final transfer spot and took it in turn four on the final go-around in exciting fashion.
B feature (started): 1. Logan (2) 2. Neitzel (1) 3. Moro (4) 4. S. Meyer (3) 5. Slinkard (6) / 6. Heimbaugh (5) DNS - Vanderploeg, Beaver, Moyer, Houseman
Logan led in a mostly single-file affair. Heimbaugh earned another $300 as the highest finishing 360.
A feature (started): 1. W. Johnson (10) 2. Droud (4) 3. Landis (2) 4. St. Arnold (3) 5. Madsen (9) 6. Mock (1) 7. C. Meyer (14) 8. Brown (7) 9. Alley (5) 10. Logan (16) 11. Neitzel (17) 12. Moore (15) 13. Jeffrey (6) 14. Whitney (11) 15. Anderson (13) 16. S. Meyer (19) 17. oro (18) 18. Slinkard (20) 19. Jackson (8) 20. Kertscher (12)
The veteran IRA competitor, Mock took the early advantage over fellow front row starter, Landis in the 20 lapper. W. Johnson was trying to fly by Jackson on the low side for fifth on lap three, when he clipped Jackson's front left tire, sending the Aussie into a tipover. Jackson suffered minor damage and was done for the night. Slinkard flipped on the ensuing restart, ending his night. Droud was breathing down Mock's neck after the restart and took the point with a sixth lap pass. Five laps later, Droud stumbled behind the lapped car of Moro and W. Johnson closed in on the straightaway. W. Johnson roared on the high side around Droud in turns one and two, and never looked back from there. The last slowdown of the night came for S. Meyer, who spun on lap 14. The restart saw W. Johnson pull away from Droud, Landis, St. Arnold and Madsen adn that is the way they would finish. W. Johnson earned $2500 for the win, and cashed in $300 for his hard-charging performance from row five.