Ian Madsen won the Sprint Invaders main event at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines (Dave Hill Photo)
(Bill W) May 18, 2016 – Ian Madsen was the class of the field Wednesday night with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines. The St. Mary’s, New South Wales, Australia driver swept the night’s events by winning his heat, the Dash and the $1,500 feature in the KCP Racing #18. It was his second career Sprint Invaders win. His previous victory also came in Des Moines.
When the 25-lap feature went green, John Klabunde and Austin Johnson would bring out the caution flag in the first corner. On the next try, Chris Martin was penalized a row for jumping. Once the event finally went green for good, Matt Moro would lead Madsen and Jamie Ball from his pole position.
The leaders entered lapped traffic on the fifth circuit and Madsen went to work on the leader. He would stick the bottom to move to the point on lap six. When Nate Van Haaften spun with eight laps in the books, the restart saw Madsen leading Moro, Ball, Logan Forler and Cody Ledger back to green flag racing.
Forler moved into third shortly after the restart, but Madsen would pull away from the field. The rest of the feature went non-stop, with Madsen winning by more than a straightaway over Moro. Forler was third ahead of hard-charger Martin and Ball. Ledger, Austin Johnson back from the tail, Jon Agan, Jarrod Schneiderman and Ryan Bowers rounded out the top ten. Ball, Madsen and Moro won heat races, while Madsen also took the Shake-up Dash.
“It’s a really cool track,” said Madsen in Victory Lane. “We always have fun at the big fairgrounds. They are really cool to race on. I had an awesome racecar thanks to the whole KCP Racing team. (Matt Moro) was fast all night. I was kind of worried when he got out in front, but we were lucky enough to catch a break there in traffic.”
“Ian was just the class of the field tonight,” said Moro. “We had a great car. This was our first night on this car and motor. This is actually our backup stuff, and it was awful good. The track was great tonight. It had a lot of moisture and a nice big cushion. That made it fun. Jaymie Moyle builds one heck of an engine for us. It just thumps all the time. We’re happy. We haven’t had the best luck in the past here with the Sprint Invaders.”
“The bottom was really good in the three and four the whole race,” said the third running Forler. “The bottom of one and two was there at the beginning. Overall, it went well. We just had to start a long way back. It turned out o.k.”
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders next event will be Sunday, May 29 at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. For more information on the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com!
Results
Shottenkirk.com A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 18, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (3) 2. 2m, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (1) 3. 2L, Logan Forler, Boise, ID (7) 4. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (10) 5. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (4) 6. 35L, Cody Ledger, Omaha, NE (6) 7. 81, Austin Johnson, Pleasant Hill, IA (11) 8. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (9) 9. 3G, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (13) 10. 199, Ryan Bowers, Ham Lake, MN (2) 11. 77, John Klabunde, Fort Calhoun, NE (5) 12. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (8) 13. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (19) 14. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry, IA (15) 15. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (18) 16. 3, Nate Van Haaften, Otley, IA (16) 17. 10T, Tim Moore, Rock Island, IL (12) 18. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (20) 19. 58, Andy Krieger, Burlington, IA (17) 20. 85, Chase Wanner, Agency, IA (14) Lap Leaders: Moro 1-5, Madsen 6-25. KSE Hard-charger: Martin.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps, top two to Dash: 1. Jamie Ball (1) 2. Cody Ledger (2) 3. Logan Forler (5) 4. Chris Martin (6) 5. Jarrod Schneiderman (4) 6. Nate Van Haaften (7) 7. Harold Pohren (3)
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat two (started), 8 laps, top two to Dash: 1. Ian Madsen (2) 2. Ryan Bowers (4) 3. John Schulz (5) 4. Austin Johnson (7) 5. Chase Wanner (3) 6. Andy Krieger (1) 7. Rob Weuve (6)
Fraise Mowersports Heat three (started), 8 laps, top two to Dash: 1. Matt Moro (4) 2. John Klabunde (1) 3. Jon Agan (6) 4. Tim Moore (2) 5. Dave Getchell (5) 6. Justin Buchholz (3)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Ian Madsen (1) 2. Jamie Ball (2) 3. John Klabunde (3) 4. Cody Ledger (4) 5. Matt Moro (5) 6. Ryan Bowers (6)
Photo: Ian Madsen won the Sprint Invaders main event at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines (Dave Hill Photo)