Randy Martin celebrates his Moberly win with race sponsor Tony Stuart (MF Photography)
(Bill W) Moberly, MO, September 13, 2020 – Who says old tricks don’t work? Randy Martin utilized one of his old setups to capture the Sprint Invaders feature Sunday night at Randolph County Raceway near Moberly, Missouri. Thanks to Tony Stuart of The Stuart House, the event paid $2,500 to win. It was the veteran’s fifth career feature win with the Sprint Invaders series.
Martin led early in the 20-lap feature over Ayrton Gennetten, who not only had picked up two wins with the Sprint Invaders on the 4/10-mile high banks in 2020, but also was aboard series owner points leader Scott Bonar’s #50. ASCS visitor Harli White settled into third, while first-time Sprint Invaders competitor, Devon Borden, roared up on the high banks in his first visit to the track, from tenth to fourth within two laps.
Braydn Greubel spun two laps in, setting up a restart. Borden performed a slide job on White to take over third when the green fell again. The leaders were in lapped traffic by the sixth circuit, but Borden’s podium run hopes came to an end when he tagged the turn three wall eight laps in.
Martin led Gennetten, White, Austin Alumbaugh and Robbie Price back to green flag racing, but it was short-lived when contact from another car sent driver point leader and seventh place running Chris Martin upside down in turn two. He was uninjured.
Price snatched fourth from Alumbaugh on the restart. Up front, Gennetten put the pressure on the leader as the pair entered lappers with five to go with White not far behind. However, White’s run would end when she suffered a tie rod issue in the front end, and retired.
The four-lap dash to the finish saw Martin (with a broken nose wing) hold off Gennetten, while Alumbaugh and Price traded the third spot. Price would gain it for good at the white flag, and Alumbaugh and Riley Goodno would trail him to the checkers. Kaley Gharst, Caleb Thornhill, Cody Wehrle, Wyatt Wilkerson and Colton Fisher would round out the top ten. Fisher, Gennetten and Chris Martin won heats. Alumbaugh won the Dash.
“It’s been a jacked up year with everything that’s been going on,” said Martin afterwards. “I think this was only my twelfth race this year. We come up here with a setup I run here years ago, and we thought we’d try it. We were decent all night. We made some changes for the feature, and starting on the front row definitely helps. Ayrton is the man to beat up here right now, and to outrun him is a pretty good accomplishment for a 60 year old man! The nose wing broke with three or four to go, and it was a handful. It hung on long enough, and it all worked out.”
“I stumbled my motor at the start and (Martin) got in front of me,” said Gennetten. “I think it was the deciding factor. We never really got to race in lapped traffic. He and I were pretty much the fastest two out there. I have to thank Scott for giving me the opportunity to drive tonight. I’ve been bugging him for four years, and he finally let me do it. I think we were fast enough, but the yellows didn’t play in our favor. One mistake on my part, and that was the difference. It was really a good race with Randy.”
“This place is fast,” said Moberly first timer Price. “It was tough to move around with the lapped cars, but we came from (seventh) to finish third. We were good. We tried something different. That’s what we were trying to do is learn. We tried some things we’ve never tried before.”
Saturday’s rained out event at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa will be made up this Saturday, September 19. The “Fall Haul” at 34 Raceway will pay $5,000 to the winner and hold several bonuses for drivers on Saturday, September 26. For more information on the Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com or look us up on Facebook.
Sprint Invaders A main (started), 20 laps: 1. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (2) 2. 50, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (1) 3. 21P, Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, BC, Can. (7) 4. 33, Austin Alumbaugh, Higginsville, MO (3) 5. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (9) 6. 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (8) 7. 19, Colby Thornhill, Enumclaw, WA (11) 8. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (16) 9. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (12) 10. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (6) 11. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (20) 12. 14R, Sean Rayhall, Woodstock, GA (14) 13. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (15) 14. 6, Mitchell Alexander, Knoxville, IA (17) 15. 64c, Braydn Greubel, Lacona, IA (19) 16. 21, Bradley Potter, Fulton, MO (18) 17. 17w, Harli White, Lindsay, OK (4) 18. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (5) 19. 8, Devon Borden, Raymond, WA (10) DNS – 99, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (13). Lap Leader: R. Martin 1-20. $150 The Stuart House/KSE Hard-charger: Gaylord.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Colton Fisher (2) 2. Austin Alumbaugh (7) 3. Kaley Gharst (4) 4. Riley Goodno (6) 5. Sean Rayhall (3) 6. Cody Wehrle (5) 7. Brayden Gaylord (1)
CenPenCo Lubricants Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Ayrton Gennetten (1) 2. Robbie Price (3) 3. Colby Thornhill (2) 4. Devon Borden (6) 5. Austin McCarl (5) 6. Mitchell Alexander (4) 7. Braydn Greubel (7)
Paisano’s Ristorante of Preston, Illinois Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Chris Martin (2) 2. Harli White (4) 3. Randy Martin (6) 4. Wyatt Wilkerson (5) 5. Daniel Bergquist (1) 6. Bradley Potter (3)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Austin Alumbaugh (1) 2. Harli White (4) 3. Chris Martin (3) 4. Colton Fisher (2) 5. Ayrton Gennetten (6) 6. Randy Martin (5)