(Bill W) May 6, 2015 – Jamie Ball held off Nate Van Haaften for his first career feature win with the Shottenkirk Sprint Invaders Wednesday night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. The Knoxville, Iowa driver topped a 25-car field on a beautiful night and earned $1,500 for his win.
Tony Shilling, who won the Randall’s Performance Shake-up Dash, led from his starting spot outside of row one early in the 20-lap feature event. Ball charged by Harold Pohren into second on the second lap, and Van Haaften followed him into third.
By lap three, Terry McCarl, who started in row five was up to fourth. Ball continued to reel in Shilling as the lead pair hit traffic on lap six. Coming out of turn four, the two contacted. Ball emerged unscathed and in the lead, while Shilling careened sideways. Masterful driving saw him save his mount and gather himself in the fifth position. Van Haaften, McCarl and Joe Beaver found their way by Shilling.
On lap 13, Donnie Steward came to a stop on the backstretch, bringing the race’s first caution. Ball led Van Haaften, MccArl, Beaver and Shilling back to green. Van Haaften tried the low side of turns one and two, but couldn’t find his way by the leader. The story was the same after a lap fifteen restart.
That slowdown came when Russ Hall and B main winner, Jon Agan, contacted in a battle to work into the top five. It was a wonder neither got upside down. Dakota Hendrickson slid into the two stopped cars as well. No one was injured.
Ball held on the last five laps ahead of Van Haaften, McCarl, Beaver and Shilling. Chris Martin, John Schulz, Josh Schneiderman, Ricky Montgomery and Mike Philben rounded out the top ten. Beaver, Jarrod Schneiderman and Montgomery won heat races. Ryan Jamison was leading his heat before suffering motor issues and retiring for the night.
“I want to apologize for getting into (Shilling),” said Ball in Victory Lane. “Those two lapped cars…there were four cars there you could throw a blanket over. I guess I don’t have too many friends out there. We come to win. That’s what we did tonight. About five days ago, I led 22 of 25 laps and got bit by a yellow in Rock Rapids. Every time it came out tonight, I thought, ‘not again’. When you have Terry McCarl behind you, it’s hard not to think about what he might do. To beat Terry and a good field of cars was one heck of an accomplishment and a good start to our season.”
Van Haaften talked about his plan on going for the lead on the low side. “That’s usually my forte. I thought I needed to give it a shot at least. I tried grabbing for a little more wing on the last restart. Jamie hadn’t been taking off that well. The last one he actually did. He ran really strong and hit his marks. I just needed him to bobble a little more. It was definitely a pretty good racetrack. There were two good grooves. When you have Terry McCarl behind you, you think about him going around you, but we needed to go for the win. It was a heck of a lot of fun. I think this is our best Sprint Invaders finish so far, and hopefully, it’s a good sign of things to come.”
McCarl talked about his third place run. “Early we were able to move around. I don’t run 360’s much and we kind of missed the gear. Once we had to run the top, I just didn’t have the speed. It was good early when we could run the bottom, I just needed traffic. In the open, we weren’t fast enough. It was a great racetrack. I hope for a track like that for the Front Row Challenge (Monday, August 10 at Oskaloosa). It was such a good bottom. We just couldn’t run it. They did a great job with the track. We weren’t planning on running this race, but we’ve been sitting at home and we needed to make a few bucks and get some laps.”
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders next event will be at the 34 Raceway on Sunday, May 24.. For more information on the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com!
Results
Shottenkirk.com A main (started), 20 laps: 1. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (4) 2. 3, Nate Van Haaften, Otley, IA (7) 3. 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (9) 4. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (5) 5. 22, Tony Shilling, Knoxville, IA (2) 6. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (10) 7. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (13) 8. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (11) 9. 9m, Ricky Montgomery, Lakewood, CO (6) 10. 59KB, Mike Philben, Knoxville, IA (15) 11. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (3) 12. 10T, Tim Moore, Rock Island, IL (19) 13. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (16) 14. 29, Russ Hall, Pleasant Hill, IA (12) 15. 5H, Dakota Hendrickson, Omaha, NE (18) 16. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (8) 17. 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA (14) 18. 68, Mike Houseman Jr., Des Moines, IA (17) 19. 3G, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (1) 20. 0, Mike Mayberry, Fremont, IA(20). Lap Leaders: Shilling 1-5, Ball 6-20. KSE Hard-charger: Moore.
CenPeCo Heat one (started), 8 laps, top five to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Joe Beaver (2) 2. Jamie Ball (1) 3. Nate Van Haaften (3) 4. Chris Martin (4) 5. John Schulz (6) / 6. Jon Agan (5) 7. Mike Houseman Jr. (7) 8. Dakota Hendrickson (8) 9. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (9)
Budweiser – Golden Eagle Distributors Heat two (started), 8 laps, top five to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Jarrod Schneiderman (2) 2. Harold Pohren (3) 3. Dustin Clark (6) 4 Josh Schneiderman (7) 5. Donnie Steward (8) / 6. 1st, John Greenwood, Woodward, IA (5) 7. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (1) 8. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (4)
Van Haaften Racing Heat three (started), 8 laps, top five to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Ricky Montgomery (1) 2. Tony Shilling (4) 3. Terry McCarl (5) 4. Russ Hall (3) 5. Mike Philben (6) / 6. Tim Moore (7) 7. Mike Mayberry (8) 8. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry, IA (2)
Randall’s Performance Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Tony Shilling (4) 2. Harold Pohren (1) 3. Jamie Ball (2) 4. Joe Beaver (6) 5. Ricky Montgomery (5) 6. Jarrod Schneiderman (3)
B main (started), 10 laps, top five to A main: 1. Jon Agan (1) 2. Mike Houseman Jr. (4) 3. Dakota Hendrickson (6) 4. Tim Moore (3) 5. Mike Mayberry (5) / 6. John Greenwood (2) 7. Rob Weuve (9) 8. Alan Zoutte (7) 9. Dave Getchell (8) DNS – Ryan Jamison
Contingencies
Weld – Ricky Montgomery
Saldana Racing Products – Russ Hall
Pyrotec – Jarrod Schneiderman