(Bill W) August 22, 2009 – A touching tribute to the late Brian Hetrick highlighted a night that saw Kaley Gharst and Donnie Steward both take feature wins on "Night of the Twins" at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa Saturday. Gharst's win came aboard the Plath Motorsports #14P, while Steward won in the Heartland Harley Davidson #16HD.
Gharst's win came in the first feature, as he led from wire to wire in the 20-lapper. The "Four-wide Salute to the Fans" preceding the event included a moment of silence for Hetrick, and for Justin Parrish's crewmember, Pete Williams, who passed away this week.
The race was marred by several cautions, but Gharst was unaffected and undeterred in winning his fourth feature with the series in 2009. "The car felt decent," he said. "About halfway through, it started rolling up really hard. I thought I broke something, because the right rear bounced in the corners. The car didn't really feel that good the last half of the race. I had no idea how big our lead was. I knew there were some lapped cars in there though."
Austin McCarl, who also won the Shake-Up Dash started on the pole and chased Gharst for nine laps before performing a 360 spin that brought a lap nine caution and sent him to the tail. Fuel line problems would later sideline him. John Schulz assumed the second spot, and held off Jim Moughan Jr., who advanced ten spots. Race hard-charger and series' point leader, Bobby Mincer, was fourth, followed by Ben Wagoner.
Fifteen cars ended up on the lead lap in the first feature, and that would be the invert that Gharst would face in the second one. Dave Feese and CJ Houseman started up front, with CJ, who won Friday night at the Morgan County Speedway, taking the early lead. He slid into the frontstretch wall on lap seven, and the veteran Feese took the point.
Steward was ready to pounce, and on lap ten took the lead ahead of Feese, Ryan Jamison, Matt Rogerson and CJ Houseman. The West Burlington driver pulled away every time, despite four late restarts. An incident when Mincer flipped after contact with McCarl, and a five-car pileup marred the event. Ten cars finished the race.
Steward was followed to the finish by Jamison, Moughan, who finished third and charged forward ten spots in both features, Dustin Selvage and Gharst. "I knew Kaley Gharst would be coming up and Ryan Jamison was right there," said Steward. "You have to concentrate on your own race, and that's what I did. I've been in situations where I had reds and yellows before, and I just think positive. It worked out this time. It feels good to win the Brian Hetrick Tribute. I raced quite a bit with Brian in the 305s. I have a lot of respect for him."
Schulz, Matt Sutton and Gharst won heat events, while Mincer took the B main. The next race on the schedule for the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders is Saturday, August 29 at the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, Iowa.
Results
Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders 20-lap A main #1 Finish (started): 1. 14P, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (2) 2. 2, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (4) 3. 1m, Jim Moughan Jr., Springfield, IL (13) 4. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (16) 5. 84, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (7) 6. 29, Matt Rogerson, West Burlington, IA (5) 7. 7, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (14) 8. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka, IL (18) 9. 29x, Russ Hall, Des Moines, IA (11) 10. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (12) 11. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL (3) 12. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (9) 13. 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA (17) 14. 80x, CJ Houseman, Norwalk, IA (10) 15. 83, Dave Feese, Saybrook, IL (6) 16. 53H, Matt Harms, Morton, IL (19) 17. Y2, Mike Houseman Jr., Des Moines, IA (15) 18. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (1) 19. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (8) 20. 38, Seth Wilke, Burlington, IA (20). Lap Leader: Gharst 1-20.
Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders 20-lap A main #2 Finish (started): 1. Donnie Steward (3) 2. Ryan Jamison (6) 3. Jim Moughan Jr. (13) 4. Dustin Selvage (9) 5. Kaley Gharst (15) 6. Ben Wagoner (11) 7. Jimmy Davies (8) 8. John Schulz (14) 9. Matt Harms (16) 10. Tasker Phillips (19) 11. Matt Sutton (5) 12. Matt Rogerson (10) 13. Josh Schneiderman (4) 14. Mike Houseman Jr. (17) 15. Seth Wilke (20) 16. Bobby Mincer (12) 17. Austin McCarl (18) 18. Dave Feese (1) 19. Russ Hall (7) 20. CJ Houseman (2). Lap Leaders: CJ Houseman 1-6, Feese 7-9, Steward 10-20. Hard Charger (both features combined): Jim Moughan Jr.
Golden Eagle Distributors/Budweiser Heat Race #1 (started, Top Five to the A, Top Two to the Shake-Up Dash): 1. John Schulz (2) 2. Austin McCarl (1) 3. Ben Wagoner (4) 4. CJ Houseman (3) 5. Jim Moughan Jr. (5) / 6. Bobby Mincer (8) 7. Donnie Steward (7) 8. 40, Andy Huston, Roseville, IL (6) DNS – 8H, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL
Cole Implement Heat Race #2 (started, Top Five to the A, Top Two to Shake-Up Dash): 1. Matt Sutton (3) 2. Dave Feese (2) 3. Tasker Phillips (6) 4. Russ Hall (4) 5. Dustin Selvage (5) / 6. Jimmy Davies (1) 7. Seth Wilke (8) 8. Matt Harms (7)
Huston Land Improvement Heat Race #3 (started, Top Five to the A, Top Two to Shake-Up Dash): 1. Kaley Gharst (3) 2. Matt Rogerson (5) 3. Josh Schneiderman (1) 4. Ryan Jamison (4) 5. Mike Houseman Jr. (8) / 6. 4J, Justin Parrish, Oquawka, IL (7) 7. 31P, Travis Porter, Rock Island, IL (2) 8. 23, Kevin Hetrick, Gladstone, IL (6)
Fastway Fabrication/Jamison Rubber Shake-Up Dash: 1. Austin McCarl (1) 2. Kaley Gharst (4) 3. Matt Sutton (2) 4. John Schulz (3) 5. Matt Rogerson (5) 6. Dave Feese (6)
Holtkamp's Trailer Repair B main (started, Top Five to the A): 1. Bobby Mincer (1) 2. Donnie Steward (4) 3. Jimmy Davies (2) 4. Matt Harms (8) 5. Seth Wilke (5) / 6. Andy Huston (7) 7. Justin Parrish (3) 8. Travis Porter (6) 9. Kevin Hetrick (9) DNS – Joey Moughan
Contingency Awards
Rod End Supply – Mike Houseman Jr., Jimmy Davies
Saldana Racing Products – CJ Houseman
Diversified Machine, Inc. – Seth Wilke
Hepfner Racing Products – Josh Schneiderman
Brake Man – Matt Sutton