5/5/04
34 Raceway
West Burlington, IA
Sprint Invaders
33 cars
Heat one (started): 1. Terry McCarl 1m (1) 2. Matt Rogerson 45 (4) / 3. Jeff Nehring 9 (2) 4. Bobby Mincer 15 (8) / 5. Brian Hetrick 35 (6) 6. Ryan Bunton 66 (7) 7. Jayson Ditsworth 1 (9) 8. Justin Parrish 4G (3) 9. Josh Schneiderman 49 (5)
Schneiderman got over the top of turn one on the initial start and spun out. McCarl led flag to flag in Mark Burch's 1m. Mincer did a nice job of moving up into the final transfer from the fourth row, but had to hold off a persistent Hetrick at the end. The top two finishers in each heat locked themselves into the shake-up dash.
Heat two (started): 1. Josh Higday 83 (1) 2. Ryan Jamison 51J (3) / 3. Bobby Hawks 5 (4) 4. Matt Sutton 3 (6) / 5. Matt Harms 53H (7) 6. Jimmy Davies 99 (2) 7. Donnie Steward 16s (5) 8. Paul Boles 4B (8)
Higday led the distance in a mostly single file affair. Steward was challenging for a transfer when he exited while smoking on the white flag lap.
Heat three (started): 1. Mark Knapp 16 (2) 2. Stevie Walsh 20 (1) / 3. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (8) 4. Brent Antill 10 (4) / 5. Brad Barickman 10x (5) 6. Tony Daniels 14 (6) 7. Nick Eastin 25 (7) 8. Jessie Giannetto D1 (3)
Vanderploeg got over the rim in turn one on the initial start. Knapp jetted out to an early lead, while Vanderploeg began picking off competitors from the tail. Giannetto was running third on lap five, when he smacked the frontstretch wall. He exited a lap later. Eastin exited on lap seven. Look for Vanderploeg to possibly run sprints full-time now rather than ASA.
Heat four (started): 1. Tyson Hart 5H (2) 2. Manny Rockhold 50 (1) / 3. Larry Ball Jr. 7x (4) 4. John Schulz 2 (7) / 5. Justin Newberry 36 (5) 6. Michael Jones 12 (6) 7. Dustin Whiting 97x (3) 8. Travis Porter 31P (8)
Porter dropped out just before the green fell. Hart led throughout. Schulz moved forward impressively, using all parts of the racy track to pass. Just before challenging Whiting for the final transfer on the white flag lap, Whiting's mount went up in smoke handing the spot to Schulz.
Shake-up Dash (started): 1. Rogerson (5) 2. Knapp (3) 3. Rockhold (8) 4. Hart (4) 5. Jamison (6) 6. McCarl (1) 7. Walsh (7) 8. Higday (2)
Front-row starters McCarl and Higday were sent to the rear on the initial start for not being side-by-side at the chalk stripe. Knapp took an early lead and the field got a lap in before McCarl hit an infield tire in turn four to bring out the caution. The restart saw Knapp leading Rogerson, Hart, Rockhold and Jamison. Rogerson grabbed a lead he would never relinquish when the green flag fell. Knapp held off Rockhold for second in some good racing action. Knapp will spend most Saturday nights at the Lake Ozark Speedway. Rogerson drew a three meaning he would start inside the third row of the feature. This put Jamison and McCarl on the front row.
B main one (started): 1. Hetrick (1) 2. Harms (2) / 3. Bunton (3) 4. Steward (6) 5. Parrish (7) 6. P. Boles (8) 7. Ditsworth (5) 8. Schneiderman (9) 9. Davies (4)
Ditsworth spun over the top of turn one on the initial start. Davies exited on lap one. Harms took the early advantage. On lap four, Schneiderman hit the frontstretch wall hard and tipped over causing a yellow flag. After the yellow was displayed, Hetrick, who was running third spun over the berm in turn one while battling with Bunton and Steward for second. Because his stoppage was after the yellow, he retained his spot behind the leader Harms and second place runner, Bunton. Hetrick grabbed the lead on lap six, and retained it after a red flag for Ditsworth, who was running well, impacted the wall, and flipped hard on the frontstretch.
B main two (started): 1. Jones (4) 2. Newberry (2) / 3. Daniels (1) 4. Porter (5) 5. Whiting (6) 6. Eastin (3) DNS - Barrickman, Giannetto
Newberry jumped out to an early over Daniels and Jones. Jones worked Daniels over for second for four laps before getting by. He took the lead from Newberry on the white flag circuit. Eastin and Whiting pulled in early.
A main (started): 1. McCarl (2) 2. Jamison (1) 3. Schulz (16) 4. Hawks (10) 5. Mincer (13) 6. Higday (8) 7. Rockhold (5) 8. Hart (6) 9. Vanderploeg (11) 10. Ball (12) 11. Antill (15) 12. Jones (18) 13. Sutton (14) 14. Walsh (7) 15. Harms (19) 16. Hetrick (17) 17. Rogerson (3) 18. Newberry (20) 19. Nehring (9) 20. Knapp (4)
Knapp flipped over turn two at the first attempt at green flag racing. He was uninjured. The restart saw Rockhold and Walsh get tangled on the frontstretch with Rockhold spinning to a stop. They both restarted at the tail. McCarl shot out to an early lead with Rogerson in tow. By lap four, Hetrick had moved from 17th to 10th when he spun out over the top of turns one and two. One more lap was in the books, when Nehring, who was running sixth had something break sending him straight into the turn three concrete wall. Fortunately, a nasty ride ended with no injury. McCarl led Rogerson, Jamison, Hawks and Vanderploeg back to the green flag. Schulz began his move at this point, slicing and dicing cars to get to the front, using primarily the top of the track. Newberry exited on lap ten. By a lap 15 caution for a stoppage by the second place car of Rogerson, Schulz was up to sixth. McCarl had a lapped machine between himself and Jamison to cushion him on the restart. Jamison pursued McCarl in the final ten laps. At times he would pull to his bumper. With three laps to go, it appeared Jamison would get around McCarl in traffic, but a slip up in turn one thwarted his efforts. The win was McCarl's first of the year in Iowa. He also has wins in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota. The track held up nicely despite a stiff breeze. The healthy car count made for an enjoyable "wild, winged, Wednesday."