6/1/2024
Arlington Raceway
Midwest Machinery Night
The very first lap of the Midwest Machinery Night saw the John Deere tractor take t the Truck Cross track when the 99 of Carrion Antonio rolled his truck. The trucks restarted and two laps later the 80 truck of Brandon Karnick rolled over also. Both trucks were out of the race. In the feature race, it looked as if Aric Rolf was going to win as he led the first 7 laps but he forgot to exit the cross track and took another lap which then gave the lead and win to the 51k of Robert Knuth from NYA. He had passed several lapped cars to can the lead. Cody Sierfert took 2nd ahead of Josh Compton.
The Jack Pines Resort IMCA Hobby feature had a tough time getting started as there were two restarts in two laps. Jonathon Schroeder was the first yellow casualty as he went into the pit. The second was for Carter Holmquist, he was able to finish the race. Half way through the race Blake Foesch rolled his car down the front stretch. He was ok but out of the race. Scott Porter led the first lap with Dan Probst right behind him. By the second time around Dan had the lead and was able to maintain it until the white flag was displayed, son Cory Probst then got by Dan and went on to win the race just ahead of Dan and 3rd place went to Taylor Manderfield.
Eric Stocker had his Coors Light IMCA Sport Compact moving and led the first 3 laps of the race with Gary Schumacher trying to gain on him lap by lap. By the 4th lap, Nate Coopman had worked his way up from his 5th place start and took over the race. Stocker held on for 2nd ahead of Neil Forsberg.
Patrick Schauer did a great job leading the eXmark Outlaw cars around the track from his pole position start, the battle behind was between Karl Hewitt and Dan Eckblad who was piloting the 39x car. Schauer spun on lap 8 which started a restart and Eckblad took the lead, despite another yellow two yellows Hewitt could not catch Eckblad and he won the race. Hewitt took 2nd and Mark Oestreich took 3rd.
Tony Stephensmeier led the Arlington State Bank IMCA Northern Sportmod feature, starting in pole position for the first 7 laps. Then a yellow was thrown for the spinning car of Joey Reimers. The field restarted and Reimers had misfortune again spinning off the track and that ended his night. On the restart, Matt Looft was able to take over the lead spot and remain the leader to win the race with Eric Larson behind him and Jeff Lloyd taking 3rd ahead of Jeff Carter. Stephensmeier fell back to 5th place at the white flag was displayed.
Mike Stien led the entire Rice Companies IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature to win his first feature of the year. He started in the front row alongside Bruce Allen. The race behind them was Brett Allen moving forward and passing 5 cars to challenge Stien. He tried to get under him a couple of times but ran out of room on the track and settled for 2nd ahead of Matt Johnson.
The B&B Racing Chassis IMCA Stock Car feature saw three leaders and 4 and 5 cars side by side, lap by lap. The early leader was Dave Moriarty with Dan Eckblad, Matt Speckman and Dan Mackenthun all in the mix. A yellow came out for Craig Groebner. On the restart, Speckman was the new leader but that lasted for 5 laps until Matt Looft who had started 12th was running alongside Speckman. Another yellow was thrown for 34 of Dakota Robinson when he retired for the night. On that restart, Looft took control of the race but by only inches as the top 4 cars were all side by side and soon the 00 of Ryan Bjerkeset was challenging and getting by Mackenthun. Speckman gave Looft a run on the high side of the track but in the end, Looft won with Speckman taking 2nd, Bjerkeset taking 3rd and Mackenthun taking 4th ahead of Brent Uecker.
There were four leaders in the Ottomotive Tire & Repair IMCA Modified feature. Jason Schroeder led the first three laps and then he and JJ Reimers traded spots, a yellow was thrown when Rick Nelson spun out. That gave the lead to Clint Hatlestad but he had the company of Trent Loverude and the two battled throughout but it was Loverude who came out the winner. Hatlestad took 2nd ahead of Dan Menk.
