(Bill W) September 10, 2011 – Dustin Selvage is called "The Shocker", but his win on Saturday night didn't shock many in attendance at the 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa as he had a dominant ride to his first career win with the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders. Forty-one sprint cars descended on West Burlington for Season Championship Night for the Invaders. Matt Sutton emerged with his first series title.
Bobby Mincer led the points race coming into the evening, but after losing a wheel in the heat, suffering a break in the C, and flipping in the B, all Sutton needed to do was take the green in the main event to clinch his first championship.
Before a lap could be completed in the main event, Russ Hall contacted the wall and another car and went pitside. Casey Friedrichsen was running his first career Sprint Invaders event, started on the pole of the 25-lap main event, and led in the early going. Jon Agan, who won the Shake-up Dash, settled into second, followed by Randy Martin, Jerrod Schneiderman and Selvage. While the leaders hit the high side, Selvage found the low groove to his liking, and started picking off positions.
With nine laps in the books, Selvage had gotten by Agan and was in second behind Friedrichsen when Tyler Groenendyk spun in turn two. The restart saw Friedrichsen and Selvage ahead of Agan, Martin and Kaley Gharst. As Friedrichsen went high at the drop of the green, Selvage pounced on the low side to jet by into the lead. Agan was able to shoot to second on the eighteenth lap, as Selvage entered lapped traffic.
With five laps to go, Selvage led Agan, Gharst, Friedrichsen and Martin. Joey Moughan entered the top five shortly after from his starting spot in row eight, but he made contact with Friedrichsen going for fourth with two laps to go and spun. The two lap dash to the finish was uneventful, and Selvage held on for the $1,500 win.
"It's hard to believe," said Selvage in Victory Lane. "We've been racing with these guys for five or six years now. We've never been able to put a full night together. To get a win here is very special, because we've struggled here. It's an awesome night. I like running the bottom, and that was our game plan. We tightened it up, especially for one and two."
Agan, who also won a heat, settled for second. "I should have known about the bottom a little better. They kept hammering the top with the trucks between the races and it's not what we wanted to see. It got too dry and slick in one and two. I should have went down low sooner. Dustin does a good job rolling the bottom wherever he's at, and we spent our tires running the top. All in all, we're happy. We were one spot from the clean sweep."
Gharst was third, and propelled himself into second in the final point race. "We were coming towards the end, and we had a shot at Agan when the last caution came out. He took my line away on the restart, and we kind of held on at the end."
Friedrichsen finished fourth ahead of Martin. Jarrod Schneiderman, Sutton, Nate Van Haaften, Groenendyk and Jimmy Davies rounded out the top ten. Friedrichsen, Martin, Selvage and Jarrod Schneiderman joined Agan as heat winners. Chad Heimbaugh took the C main, and Jerrod Hull took the B main.
Sutton savored his first Sprint Invaders title. "We've run second a lot of times in this deal," he said. "We about had one in 2006, and we finally got one this year. We picked up the pace the second half. I thought coming into tonight that Bobby had a good shot with a decent night. Unfortunately for him, he had a rough night. It's big for our whole team, not just me. My Mom and Dad put a ton of time, effort and money into it. Chris, Tommy, Chad and Sandy really work hard for this."
Ideal Ready Mix A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 7s, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (5) 2. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (2) 3. 14P, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (8) 4. 54, Casey Friedrichsen, Arthur, IA (1) 5. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (4) 6. 88, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (3) 7. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL (11) 8. 3x, Nate Van Haaften, Otley, IA (6) 9. 10x, Tyler Groenendyk, Oskaloosa, IA (7) 10. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka, IL (10) 11. 97, Blake Nimee, Oswego, IL (9) 12. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (18) 13. 2, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (13) 14. 80x, CJ Houseman, Des Moines, IA (19) 15. 4J, Justin Parrish, Oquawka, IL (20) 16. 10, Mike Trent, Rocheport, MO (17) 17. 22x, Dustin Barks, Farmington, MO (14) 18. 14M, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL (16) 19. 8H, Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO (15) 20. 45c, Russ Hall, Pleasant Hill, IA (12) DNS – D12, Dennis Moore Jr., Grinnell, IA. Lap Leaders: Friedrichsen 1-9, Selvage 10-25. KSE Hard-charger: Jamison.
Golden Eagle Distributing Budweiser of Mount Pleasant Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Casey Friedrichsen (2) 2. Nate Van Haaften (4) 3. Matt Sutton (3) / 4. Mike Trent (5) 5. 53K, Kevin Hetrick, Gladstone, IL (7) 6. 1st, John Greenwood, Woodward, IA (9) 7. 04, Chad Heimbaugh, Pleasant Hill, IA (8) 8. 6D, Don Dawson II, Indianola, IA (6) 9. 22, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (1)
Huston Land Improvement of Roseville, Illinois Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Randy Martin (3) 2. Tyler Groenendyk (6) 3. Dennis Moore Jr. (5) / 4. 1A, Adam Jones, Wright City, IL (8) 5. CJ Houseman (7) 6. 2x, Pat Moore, Moline, IL (2) 7. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (1) 8. 36, Justin Newberry, West Burlington, IA (4)
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Jon Agan (1) 2. Kaley Gharst (2) 3. Russ Hall (5) / 4. Ryan Jamison (3) 5. 9x, Bart Andrews, Ft. Madison, IA (7) 6. 7H, John Hall, Marion, IA (8) 7. 1m, Jim Moughan Jr., Springfield, IL (6) 8. 7, Kenny Bragg, Knoxville, IL (4)
Heat four (started), 8 laps: 1. Dustin Selvage (1) 2. Blake Nimee (2) 3. Josh Schneiderman (3) / 4. Joey Moughan (6) 5. 40, Andy Huston, Roseville, IL (4) 6. 53, Joe Beaver, Knoxville, IA (5) 7. 84, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (8) 8. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (7)
Heat five (started), 8 laps: 1. Jarrod Schneiderman (2) 2. Jimmy Davies (1) 3. Dustin Barks (6) / 4. Jerrod Hull (5) 5. Justin Parrish (3) 6. 1, Jayson Ditsworth, Gladstone, IL (4) 7. 18, Jami Lusher, Pekin, IL (8) 8. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (7)
Dave Brown Memorial Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Jon Agan (2) 2. Jarrod Schneiderman (1) 3. Randy Martin (5) 4. Dustin Selvage (4) 5. Casey Friedrichsen (3)
Holtkamp's Trailer Repair B main (started), 12 laps: 1. Jerrod Hull (4) 2. Joey Moughan (3) 3. Mike Trent (1) 4. Ryan Jamison (2) 5. CJ Houseman (6) 6. Justin Parrish (9) / 7. Ben Wagoner (16) 8. Kevin Hetrick (5) 9. John Greenwood (10) 10. Bret Tripplett (17) 11. Andy Huston (8) 12. Chad Heimbaugh (15) 13. Justin Newberry (18) 14. John Hall (12) 15. Kenny Bragg (19) 16. Pat Moore (11) 17. Bart Andrews (7) 18. Jayson Ditsworth (16) 19. Joe Beaver (15) 20. Bobby Mincer (20) DNS – Jami Lusher
C main (started), 10 laps: 1. Chad Heimbaugh (1) 2. Ben Wagoner (4) 3. Bret Tripplett (9) 4. Justin Newberry (5) 5. Kenny Bragg (6) 6. Jami Lusher (3) 7. Bobby Mincer (2) / 8. Don Dawson II (10) DNS – Jim Moughan Jr., Jordan Goldesberry, Harold Pohren
Contingencies
Rod End Supply – Jimmy Davies, Ryan Jamison
Saldana Racing Products – Justin Parrish
Super Shox – CJ Houseman
Competition Suspensions – Mike Trent
Brake Man – Blake Nimee
Keizer Wheels – Russ Hall
Weld Wheels – Josh Schneiderman