(by Bill Wright) April 19, 2008 – Matt Rogerson won his fifth career Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders Association Saturday night at the 34 Raceway near West Burlington, Iowa. Entering the night, his four wins at the facility were already tops with the series. Rogerson survived a mid-race duel with John Schulz and pulled away on an extremely heavy surface to claim his third Sprint Invaders tally in the month of April at 34.
After a sixth place showing in the Rich DeReu Memorial Shake-Up Dash, things didn't look good for Rogerson, until winner Bobby Mincer rolled a three on the dice. That put Matt outside row one. "It was all about track position tonight the way the track was," said Rogerson. "I should thank Bobby Mincer for drawing what he did after the dash. We've got a few laps around this place."
After a lap one flip by Nick Guernsey, who was uninjured, and a lost wheel by Ryan Jamison on the next try, the third start was a charm, and Rogerson shot out to a lead immediately. Schulz tucked into second, and the lead pair separated from the pack. After a caution on lap six, the remaining 20 laps went non-stop. On lap 16, in lapped traffic, Schulz made a pass for the lead at the flagstand before Rogerson returned the favor and led the rest of the way.
"I was trying to get around a lapped car and bicycled badly over in turn two," says Rogerson. "I had to get off it and counter-steer, and he got by me. Then pretty much the same thing happened to him. From then on I was running well. Everyone knows that's where Matt Rogerson's going to end up running anyway, the bottom."
Schulz, who won with the Sprint Invaders here last July, remembered the lead exchange the same way. "Matt was a little better in the open track, and I could reel him in in traffic. We both bicycled up with a lapped car and he ended up getting by us again. I've known him my whole life. It was just a good race. I could make some ground up on top, but you had to watch the lappers sliding up in front of you. You had to just bite the bullet and take what you could get."
Finishing a distant, but solid third, was fourth generation driver, Korey Weyant. "It helped us to start up front," he said. "We've got a new motor this year, so that helped a ton. The track was really tacky. We messed up on the setup a bit, we were spiking on the right rear pretty bad. Maybe if it wasn't, we could have been up there with the top two."
2007 Knoxville Raceway 360 Track Champion, Josh Higday was fourth, and Bobby Mincer was fifth. Jon Agan, Jerrod Hull, Josh Schneiderman, hard-charger Jordan Goldesberry and Justin Newberry rounded out the top ten.
Heats went to Weyant, Rogerson, Schulz and Josh Schneiderman. Mincer won the Shake-Up Dash, and Nick Eastin dominated the 12-lap B main event.
The Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders will be back in action on Friday, May 16 at the Morgan County Speedway in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Results Ideal Ready Mix 25-lap A main Finish (started): 1. 29, Matt Rogerson, Burlington, IA (2) 2. 2, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (4) 3. 99w, Korey Weyant, Springfield, IL (1) 4. 1, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (5) 5. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (3) 6. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (7) 7. 12, Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO (10) 8. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (6) 9. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (19) 10. 36, Justin Newberry, West Burlington, IA (18) 11. 53H, Matt Harms, Morton, IL (17) 12. 23, Kevin Hetrick, Gladstone, IL (9) 13. 29x, Russ Hall, Des Moines, IA (15) 14. 4B, Scott Boles, New London, IA (8) 15. 22x, Nick Eastin, West Burlington, IA (16) 16. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL (11) 17. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka, IL (20) 18. 6, Dustin Whiting, Burlington, IA (12) 19. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (13) 20. 0, Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA (14) DNS – 1x, Jayson Ditsworth, Gladstone, IL. Lap Leaders: Rogerson 1-15, Schulz 16, Rogerson 17-25.
Staats Heat Race #1 (8 laps, top four to A, top two to Dash): 1. Korey Weyant (4) 2. Bobby Mincer (3) 3. Kevin Hetrick (2) 4. Ryan Jamison (8) / 5. Matt Harms (7) 6. Jordan Goldesberry (1) 7. Justin Newberry (5) 8. 4J, Justin Parrish, Des Moines, IA (6)
Golden Eagle Distributors/Budweiser Heat Race #2 (8 laps, top four to A, top two to Dash): 1. Matt Rogerson (4) 2. Jon Agan (2) 3. Jerrod Hull (5) 4. Nick Guernsey (6) / 5. 18A, Dan Avery, Burlington, IA (7) 6. Nick Eastin (1) 7. 9, Rager Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (3) DNS – 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA
Midland Performance Heat Race #3 (8 laps, top four to A, top two to Dash): 1. John Schulz (2) 2. Josh Higday (3) 3. Matt Sutton (4) 4. Russ Hall (5) / 5. 10, Eric Vanderploeg, Altoona, IA (8) 6. 17, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (6) 7. Jimmy Davies (7) 8. 38, Seth Wilke, Burlington, IA (1)
Fastway Fabrication Heat Race #4 (8 laps, top four to A, top two to Dash): 1. Josh Schneiderman (5) 2. Scott Boles (2) 3. Dustin Whiting (1) 4. Jayson Ditsworth (3) / 5. 5MRE, Tim Rose, Burlington, IA (6) 6. 88, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (4) DNS – 35, Brian Hetrick, Stronghurst, IL, 78, Robert Bell, Colfax, IA
Rich DeReu Memorial Shake-Up Dash (6 laps): 1. Bobby Mincer (1) 2. John Schulz (3) 3. Josh Higday (5) 4. Josh Schneiderman (2) 5. Korey Weyant (8) 6. Matt Rogerson (7) 7. Jon Agan (6) 8. Scott Boles (4)
Holtkamp's Trailer Repair B Main (12 laps, top five to A): 1. Nick Eastin (2) 2. Matt Harms (1) 3. Justin Newberry (7) 4. Jordan Goldesberry (3) 5. Jimmy Davies (9) / 6. Austin McCarl (5) 7. Justin Parrish (11) 8. Seth Wilke (6) 9. Dan Avery (8) 10. Jarrod Schneiderman (12) 11. Tim Rose (10) 12. Rager Phillips (4) DNS – Eric Vanderploeg, Brian Hetrick, Donnie Steward, Robert Bell
Contingency Awards:
KSE Products Hard Charger -
The Brake Man – Nick Eastin
Diversified Machine – Korey Weyant
Kinser Air Filters – Josh Higday
M&W Aluminum Products – Russ Hall
Ultra Shield – Jimmy Davies
Saldana Racing Products – John Schulz
Rod End Supply – Justin Newberry, Josh Schneiderman