(Bill W) April 4, 2015 – Jerrod Hull took advantage of a late restart to pass Paul Nienhiser and go on to his sixteenth career Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders win Saturday night at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. The Sikeston, Missouri driver is second on the all-time wins list with the series, and it was his fifth such victory at 34 Raceway.
Randall’s Performance Shake-up Dash winner Jamie Ball paced the field from the pole. After spins by Nate Van Haaften and Andy Huston negated the first start, Ball took the lead over John Schulz and Josh Schneiderman in the early going. Harold Pohren’s 360 spin with a lap in the books slowed things again. Nienhiser, who started fourth moved past Schneiderman into third on the restart.
The young driver from Chapin, Illinois overtook Schulz for second on lap three, using the low side, and shot under Ball for the lead on lap four. Nienhiser pulled away to a sizable lead, while Schulz, Ball, Schneiderman and Hull exchanged positions two through five in some great racing action.
Hull was into third behind Schulz by lap nine, and took second from the veteran on lap 15. Wayne Johnson, who started fourteenth, was working into the top five on lap eighteen, when contact with the lapped car of Pohren sidelined both and brought another caution.
Nienhiser’s lead evaporated and when he took the low line on the restart, Hull shot around him on the cushion. Donnie Steward had moved into third riding the cushion himself by that point. Two laps later, Joey Moughan, who was trying to work by Schulz for fourth, ran out of real estate between his fellow driver and the wall, breaking his front end.
Hull pulled away the final five laps to gain the $1,500 win. Nienhiser held second, ahead of Steward, Schulz and defending series champion, Jon Agan. Schneiderman, Tony Shilling, hard-charger Chris Martin, Ryan Jamison and Dustin Clark rounded out the top ten. Steward, Pohren, Ball and Hull claimed heats. Ball won the Dash, and Martin took the B main. Daniel Bergquist flipped in his heat race, but returned for the B. Kelly Graham made hard contact with the wall in hot laps, but he too returned for the B.
“I have the best crew chief there is in Scott Bonar,” said Hull in Victory Lane. “The car was good everywhere on the track. I pulled the wing back on the restart and we were better. We had another one, and I pulled it back a little farther. I have to thank Alec and Colton too. I could go on the Outlaw tour with those three and win some races. We’re going to win some races this year and have some fun. I want to thank the fans for coming out, and they did a great job with the racetrack.”
“I think we found the way to run the bottom before anybody and that’s what got us the lead,” said Nienhiser. “I didn’t know what kind of lead we had, but it felt good. I thought if we didn’t have any cautions we’d be o.k. I knew on the restart that they knew I was going to the bottom, and maybe I should have gone to the top. That’s where Jerrod got around me, but hat’s off to him. The last five laps he had the better car. I sure hated to see the yellow come out on lap 18 though!”
“This is a brand new car for us, and we learned a lot tonight,” said Steward. “Running here every week, we like the high side. I made a few mistakes at the end there. There were two lines and it got crazy for a while there. We just kind of settled in, and it was fun to go through and pick off a few spots. We’re excited about the way the car ran tonight. I’m excited about the Sprint Invaders…we’re planning on running quite a few races with them this year, if not all of them.”
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Results
Shottenkirk.com A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 12, Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO (5) 2. 9, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (4) 3. 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA (8) 4. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (2) 5. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (10) 6. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (3) 7. 22, Tony Shilling, Knoxville, IA (9) 8. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (17) 9. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (11) 10. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (12) 11. 14P, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (15) 12. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (1) 13. 3, Nate Van Haaften, Otley, IA (16) 14. 40, Andy Huston, Roseville, IL (18) 15. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (20) 16. 17m, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL (7) 17. 77x, Wayne Johnson, Knoxville, IA (14) 18. 10T, Tim Moore, Rock Island, IL (13) 19. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (6) 20. 59KB, Mike Philben, Grimes, IA (19). Lap Leaders: Ball 1-3, Nienhiser 4-18, Hull 19-25. KSE Hard-charger: Steward.Hard-charger: Martin.
CenPeCo Heat one (started), 8 laps, top four to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Donnie Steward (2) 2. Paul Nienhiser (8) 3. Tony Shilling (7) 4. Tim Moore (1) / 5. 09, Andrew Genkinger, Mt. Pleasant, IA (3) 6. Justin Buchholz (6) 7. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry, IA (4) 8. 9D, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (5)
Budweiser – Golden Eagle Distributors Heat two (started), 8 laps, top four to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Harold Pohren (3) 2. John Schulz (6) 3. Jon Agan (1) 4. Wayne Johnson (2) / 5. Chris Martin (5) 6. Mike Philben (7) 7. 59, Jacob Glasgow, West Burlington, IA (8) 8. 58, Andy Krieger, Burlington, IA (4)
Fraise Motorsports Heat three (started), 8 laps, top four to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Jamie Ball (1) 2. Joey Moughan (2) 3. Ryan Jamison (3) 4. Jordan Goldesberry (6) / 5. 68, Mike Houseman Jr., Des Moines, IA (5) 6. Andy Huston (4) DNS – 12G, Kelly Graham, Collins, IA
Shottenkirk.com Heat four (started), 8 laps, top four to A main, top two to Dash: 1. Jerrod Hull (2) 2. Josh Schneiderman (4) 3. Dustin Clark (6) 4. Nate Van Haaften (3) / 5. 1st, John Greenwood, Woodward, IA (1) 6. 61, Dillan Roth, Burlington, IA (5) DNS – Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA
Randall’s Performance Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Jamie Ball (2) 2. John Schulz (3) 3. Josh Schneiderman (1) 4. Paul Nienhiser (4) 5. Jerrod Hull (8) 6. Harold Pohren (6) 7. Joey Moughan (7) 8. Donnie Steward (5)
B main (started), 12 laps, top four to A main: 1. Chris Martin (2) 2. Andy Huston (7) 3. Mike Philben (6) 4. Justin Buchholz (5) / 5. Mike Houseman Jr. (3) 6. Dillan Roth (8) 7. Daniel Bergquist (11) 8. Dave Getchell (9) 9. Jacob Glasgow (10) 10. Andy Krieger (12) 11. Kelly Graham (13) 12. Andrew Genkinger (1) 13. John Greenwood (4) DNS – Nick Guernsey
Contingencies
Weld – Nate Van Haaften
Saldana Racing Products – Harold Pohren
Pyrotec – Justin Buchholz