Dylan Westbrook celebrates his “Fall Haul” of $5,000 at 34 Raceway Saturday (MF Photography)
Chris Martin Wins Driver Title/Scott Bonar is Owner Champion
(Bill W) West Burlington, IA, September 26, 2020 – Dylan Westbrook emerged victorious on a huge night of racing Saturday at 34 Raceway’s Sprint Invaders “Fall Haul” in West Burlington, Iowa. The driver of the Hill’s Racing #47x is a native of Scotland, Ontario, Canada, and became the first Canadian winner in Sprint Invaders history. His win was worth $5,000 in the finale for the Sprint Invaders.
Despite a rough night that saw him miss the feature, Chris Martin claimed his second Sprint Invaders driver championship (his first came in 2016). Scott Bonar’s #50 team won the season owner championship.
The 34-lap feature was slow to start. Riley Goodno and Ricky Montgomery made contact, and both cars were damaged enough to retire. Scott Bogucki, who won the Dash, led early ahead of Westbrook and Trey Starks. Westbrook tracked the leader down and won a battle for the point on lap five. At that point, Devon Dobie and Joe Beaver came to a stop and retired.
Westbrook led Bogucki, Starks, Justin Sanders and Austin McCarl back to green. It was a short-lived good run for Sanders who slowed in three and four on the restart. When the green flew again, McCarl and Paul Nienhiser swapped the fourth position, while Westbrook continued to lead the field.
Nienhiser gained the spot and then, surged from fifth to second. The move was negated when Bogucki’s second place run was thwarted with a 360 spin. On that restart, the top ten cars of Josh Schneiderman and Kyle Offill, who were both feature winners here in 2020, came together. Both suffered damage enough to retire.
Two more laps into green flag racing, Nienhiser passed Starks for second, before Nate Mills came to a stop on the front stretch. The last 22 laps went non-stop. Carson and Austin McCarl battled for fourth, while the top three pulled away.
The track developed a low groove in three and four, and Nienhiser tracked down Westbrook. The two exchanged the lead a few times, with Nienhiser leading lap 19. Westbrook officially took the lead back for good on lap 20, and entered lapped traffic on lap 23.
Starks reeled in the lead pair and passed Nienhiser for second on lap 31, but Nienhiser powered back by on the white flag lap.
Westbrook would pull away for the win, ahead of Nienhiser, Starks, Carson McCarl and Austin McCarl. Ayrton Gennetten, hard-charger Lynton Jeffrey, Bogucki, Colton Fisher and Dugan Thye rounded out the top ten. Sanders, Gennetten, Carson McCarl, Westbrook and Nienhiser won the five heats. Bogucki won the Shake-up Dash and Goodno claimed the B main. Blaine Jamison tangled with Mike Johnston in his heat race and got upside down hard. He was uninjured.
Nienhiser took home $500 for his win in the first annual eight-lap Shottenkirk Terry Jamison Memorial Owners Dash, honoring the top eight in owner points coming in. Dozens of sponsors boosted the purse and provided bonuses throughout the night.
“The track changed a lot,” said Westbrook. “I ran on the bottom of one and two, and in three and four, I kind of rolled through the middle. Later on, it got really thin on the bottom, so I had to really slow down in one and two. Late in the race, the bottom of turn four took rubber, so I had to hit that just right. Paul got by me the one time. I saw his nose on the top of turn four, so I thought I better try that. When I tried it, he got by me. After that, I knew I couldn’t let that happen again. I hit my marks and it paid off.”
“It’s tough to say how it would have played out (without an early caution that cost him a couple of spots),” said Nienhiser. “I was rolling the top really well, and eventually it ended up taking some rubber down low. I found it pretty well. We passed for the lead once or twice, I just missed my marks a couple times. Dylan is a really good driver, and I knew I was going to have to run a perfect race to get by him. All in all, it was a good night, but second stings a little worse than a regular night with the money we had up for grabs. But it was a good night, we can’t complain.”
“The track definitely changed throughout the race,” said Starks. “Thirty four laps is a long time. We saw it go from the top to the bottom, and parts taking rubber. I was trying the top at the end, and I felt like we found something. I just kind of ran out of laps. I feel if we had a little more traffic, and took one or row of those cautions out, it would have been interesting with everyone else on the bottom. I think all of us were pretty equal. It’s a really fun track that was changing constantly.”
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Sprint Invaders Fall Haul A main (started), 34 laps: 1. 47x, Dylan Westbrook, Scotland, ONT, Can. (1) 2. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (6) 3. 44s, Trey Starks, Puyallup, WA (3) 4. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (10) 5. 99, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (4) 6. 3, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (7) 7. 83, Lynton Jeffrey, Prairie City, IA (18) 8. 28, Scott Bogucki, McLaren Vale, SA, Aust. (2) 9. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (15) 10. 11T, Dugan Thye, Burlington, IA (14) 11. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (20) 12. 41, Noah Samuel, Burlington, IA (17) 13. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (23) 14. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (16) 15. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (22) 16. 15, Christian Bowman, Altoona, IA (24) 17. 24N, Nathan Mills, Bondurant, IA (9) 18. 88, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (12) 19. 88w, Kyle Offill, Tracy, CA (13) 20. 16A, Justin Sanders, Prunedale, CA (5) 21. 23, Devon Dobie, Wapakoneta, OH (8) 22. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (11) 23. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (19) 24. 66M, Ricky Montgomery, Lakewood, CO (21) DNS – 19, Colby Thornhill, Enumclaw, WA. Lap Leaders: Bogucki 1-4, Westbrook 5-18, Nienhiser 19, Westbrook 20-34. $500 Robert’s Tire Center/Fenton Pawn Shop Hard-charger: Jeffrey.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Justin Sanders (5) ($150 Gift Certificate from Maxim Racing) 2. Brayden Gaylord (1) 3. Trey Starks (8) 4. Joe Beaver (6) 5. Josh Higday (7) 6. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (3) 7. 83M, Kurt Mueller, Reynolds, IL (2) 8. Riley Goodno (4) DNS – 84K, Wayne Kniffen, Fort Madison, IA
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Ayrton Gennetten (1) ($150 Gift Certificate from Schure-built Suspension) 2. Scott Bogucki (8) 3. Nate Mills (6) 4. Dugan Thye (7) 5. Wyatt Wilkerson (5) 6. 5m, Collin Moyle, Knoxville, IA (3) 7. 51J, Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (4) 8. 14J, Mike Johnston, Des Moines, IA (2)
Paisano’s Ristorante of Preston, Illinois Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Carson McCarl (1) ($150 Gift Certificate from Maxim Racing) 2. Colton Fisher (2) 3. Devon Dobie (8) 4. 22L, Ryan Leavitt, Knoxville, IA (3) 5. 11B, Ben Woods, Newton, IA (4) 6. JJ Beaver, Knoxville, IA (5) 7. 83A, Austin Miller, Lacona, IA (6) 8. 1A, John Anderson, Des Moines, IA (7)
Heat four (started), 8 laps: 1. Dylan Westbrook (1) ($150 Gift Certificate from Schure-built Suspension) 2. Austin McCarl (8) 3. Lynton Jeffrey (4) 4. Colby Thornhill (6) 5. Ricky Montgomery (5) 6. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (3) 7. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (7) 8. 11x, Tyler Barrick, Slater, IA (2)
Heat five (started), 8 laps: 1. Paul Nienhiser (2) ($150 Gift Certificate from Midland Performance) 2. Noah Samuel (1) 3. Kyle Offill (3) 4. Josh Schneiderman (8) 5. Christian Bowman (4) 6. Cody Wehrle (5) 7. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (6) DNS – 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 8 laps: 1. Scott Bogucki (1) 2. Trey Starks (4) 3. Austin McCarl (2) 4. Justin Sanders (3) 5. Paul Nienhiser (6) 6. Dylan Westbrook (10) 7. Ayrton Gennetten (8) 8. Devon Dobie (5) 9. Nate Mills (7) 10. Carson McCarl (9)
B main (started), 15 laps: 1. Riley Goodno (17) 2. Wyatt Wilkerson (2) 3. Ricky Montgomery (3) 4. Christian Bowman (5) 5. Cody Wehrle (6) / 6. Tanner Gebhardt (8) 7. Mike Johnston (16) 8. Daniel Bergquist (13) 9. Ben Woods (4) 10. Collin Moyle (9) 11. Kurt Mueller (15) 12. JJ Beaver (7) 13. Tyler Barrick (18) 14. Austin Miller (12) 15. John Anderson (14) 16. Ryan Leavitt (1) 17. Kelby Watt (11) 18. Chris Martin (10) DNS – Blaine Jamison, Wayne Kniffen, Kaley Gharst
Shottenkirk Automotive Terry Jamison Memorial Owners Dash: 1. Paul Nienhiser (2) 2. Chris Martin (4) 3. Austin McCarl (8) 4. Daniel Bergquist (1) 5. Colton Fisher (3) 6. Cody Wehrle (5) 7. Brayden Gaylord (6) 8. Wyatt Wilkerson (7)
Contingencies
Kreitz Oval Products: Josh Schneiderman
Pyrotect: Cody Wehrle
Saldana Racing Products: Riley Goodno
Other Included Bonuses
QTC $250 B Main Hard Charger: Riley Goodno
Storm Steel $100 “Worst Draw”: Trey Starks
PositivelyRacing.com $150 Best Sprint Invader Finish: Paul Nienhiser
MT Farms $100 Hard Luck: Blaine Jamison
Riverview Design $100 Hard Luck: Josh Schneiderman
In Memory of Todd Taeger $200 7th Place: Lynton Jeffrey
Cash for Junk Cars $50 Hard Luck: John Anderson
Paul Boles and Steve Morrison Trucking $400 for Non-Qualifiers finishing sixth through eleventh in B
Other Participating Sponsors…
Rocket Graphics
Stronghurst Collision
Storm Steel/3G Spot
American Hemp Research
US Bank
Engler Machine & Tool
Chalk Stix
CSI
Feedlot Bar and Grill
Four Seasons Excavating
High 5 Racing
Roth Trucking
Collision Center West Burlington
Beckman’s Towing
Kirchner Machine
Ecolab
Heartland Trailer Manufacturing
Avis Rental Car Burlington
Jarrod Schneiderman Racing
Mellinger Tire and Auto
Randy Samberg
Burlington Auto Wash
Rodney Bliesener
Rusty Rogerson
Jimmy Sykes
Blackbird Motorsports
Lori Hetrick
Cory Timmerman Mechanical
Darkside Tint and Graphics
Midwest Striping
OpenWheel101.com
Automotive Machine