3/21/2022
RacinBoys
James’ patience rewarded with first Spring Nationals IMCA Modified win
By IMCA (Beatrice, NE) -- Fifteen years and 21 laps of patience paid off for Jeff James.
James finally chased down Tim Watts, then led the last four times around the track for the much anticipated Spring Nationals IMCA Modified feature win Sunday at Beatrice Speedway.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Zimmerman
“I followed him and I followed him and I followed him, and I was finally able to sneak up underneath him,” said James, $2,500 richer and newly eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “We’ve been coming to Beatrice for the better part of 15 years and have never won one before. We’ve been trying and doing a lot of different things for a lot of years. It’s a relief to finally win one.”
James had started outside Watts on the front row. Jacob Hobscheidt, Todd Shute and Johnny Saathoff, a seven-time Spring Nationals winner, completed the top five.
James’ victory came in his sixth start in a second-hand 2020 Rage by Precision Performance.
He’d posted second- and third-place finishes in the same ride last fall at Beatrice’s Octoberfest and ran sixth in the Saturday Spring Nationals opener. The Sunday trophy may go on long-term display in 8-year-old son Braxton’s room.
“He hasn’t let it go yet,” James said. I’m guessing it will stay in his room for a while. It’s almost as tall as he is.”
Kyle Vanover’s career third IMCA Sunoco Stock Car crown was good for $1,000 and B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility. He led the last 20-lapper after passing Saturday winner Jordan Grabouski and Tyler Frye.
“We had a good five lap run and I got away (from the rest of the field) a bit,” Vanover said following his career 104th win in the class. “I was worried about opening the door and giving it away after the last caution. We’d had just enough time to get into a rhythm but not enough to keep rolling.”
Dan Nelson started ninth and ended in second. Frye, Grabouski and Chanse Hollatz rounded out the top five.
“I grew up going to this event and can remember how excited I was when they added Hobby Stocks and I’d get to race at Sprint Nationals,” Vanover said. “We thought going into the week that we had a pretty good chance and overall it was a pretty successful weekend. We were third on Saturday and first on Sunday running with a good caliber of cars.”
Vanover’s previous Spring Nationals wins came in 2016 and 2018.
Kyle Vanover became a three-time Spring Nationals king, taking the Sunday IMCA Sunoco Stock Car checkers at Beatrice Speedway. (Photo by Jim Zimmerline)
Joining James as first-time Spring Nationals winners were Nick Ronnebaum in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Izac Mallicoat in the IMCA Northern SportMods and Zach Bohlmeyer in the Mach-1 Sport Compacts.
Ronnebaum started 8th and won ahead of 12th starting Taylor Huss and Justin Frederick.
Mallicoat led 12th starting and former Spring Nationals winner Lance Borgman across the stripe, with Dylan VanWyk third.
Bohlmeyer, Tyler Fiebelkorn and Kaden Murray ran 1-2-3 in the 4-cylinder finale.
RESULTS
BUDWEISER IMCA MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 71-Jeff James[2]; 2. 11W-Tim Watts[1]; 3. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[3]; 4. 5-Todd Shute[5]; 5. 96J-Johnny Saathoff[8]; 6. 30T-Terry Phillips[9]; 7. 4J-Jordy Nelson[11]; 8. 20-Brandon Schmitt[15]; 9. 14M-Danny Morrison[4]; 10. 21H-Shane Hiatt[17]; 11. 7C-Benjamin Chukuske[21]; 12. 75K-Kyle Olberding[14]; 13. 3-Trey Duensing[20]; 14. M80-Jim Mathieson; 15. 4B-Brandon Verbeek[18]; 16. (DNF) 33X-Dan Rodel[13]; 17. (DNF) 72-Mike Lineberry[22]; 18. (DNF) 60IV-Anthony Roth[7]; 19. (DNF) B1-Jeff Larson[19]; 20. (DNF) 15-Devin Fouquette[23]; 21. (DNF) 30-Jordan Grabouski[12]; 22. (DNF) 16-Austin Svoboda[6]; 23. (DNF) 96-Jaxon Saathoff[10]; 24. (DNS) 35D-Dylan Sillman; 25. (DNS) 141-Matt Bonine
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. B1-Jeff Larson[1]; 2. 3-Trey Duensing[2]; 3. 7C-Benjamin Chukuske[3]; 4. 72-Mike Lineberry[5]; 5. 15-Devin Fouquette[7]; 6. 141-Matt Bonine[8]; 7. 54D-Dillon Schultz[4]; 8. M80-Jim Mathieson[6]; 9. 10X-TeeJay Janousek[9]; 10. (DNS) 21-Josh Blumer
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14M-Danny Morrison[1]; 2. 96-Jaxon Saathoff[3]; 3. 4J-Jordy Nelson[8]; 4. 5-Todd Shute[7]; 5. 33X-Dan Rodel[2]; 6. 35D-Dylan Sillman[10]; 7. B1-Jeff Larson[4]; 8. 54D-Dillon Schultz[6]; 9. (DNF) 15-Devin Fouquette[9]; 10. (DNF) 21-Josh Blumer[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Jordan Grabouski[4]; 2. 30T-Terry Phillips[1]; 3. 16-Austin Svoboda[2]; 4. 60IV-Anthony Roth[3]; 5. 75K-Kyle Olberding[6]; 6. 21H-Shane Hiatt[8]; 7. 3-Trey Duensing[7]; 8. 72-Mike Lineberry[5]; 9. 141-Matt Bonine[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[1]; 2. 71-Jeff James[2]; 3. 96J-Johnny Saathoff[6]; 4. 11W-Tim Watts[3]; 5. 20-Brandon Schmitt[8]; 6. 4B-Brandon Verbeek[7]; 7. 7C-Benjamin Chukuske[9]; 8. M80-Jim Mathieson[4]; 9. 10X-TeeJay Janousek[5]
IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 24Z-Zach Bohlmeyer[1]; 2. 61F-Tyler Fiebelkorn[5]; 3. 9K-Kaden Murray[4]; 4. 00-Coleton Williamson[9]; 5. 89-Kaylee Richards[8]; 6. 12C-Brandon Carmichael[3]; 7. 34V-Dakota Voight[2]; 8. 05H-Shaye Howe[11]; 9. 6M-Madison Reed[10]; 10. 23B-Jacob Schwab[15]; 11. 3R-Marschall Robinson[7]; 12. (DNF) 32X-Nathan Wahlstrom[16]; 13. (DNF) 76-Hallie Borgman[12]; 14. (DNF) 45-Josh Buchli[13]; 15. (DNF) 3-Jordan Bender[14]; 16. (DQ) 33D-Devin Schmidt[6]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 9K-Kaden Murray[2]; 2. 33D-Devin Schmidt[5]; 3. 6M-Madison Reed[1]; 4. 3R-Marschall Robinson[6]; 5. 00-Coleton Williamson[7]; 6. 05H-Shaye Howe[4]; 7. (DNF) 32X-Nathan Wahlstrom[3]; 8. (DNF) 3-Jordan Bender[8]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 24Z-Zach Bohlmeyer[2]; 2. 89-Kaylee Richards[8]; 3. 61F-Tyler Fiebelkorn[5]; 4. 34V-Dakota Voight[4]; 5. 12C-Brandon Carmichael[3]; 6. 76-Hallie Borgman[6]; 7. (DNF) 45-Josh Buchli[1]; 8. (DNS) 23B-Jacob Schwab
IMCA HOBBY STOCKS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7N-Nick Ronnebaum[8]; 2. 3-Taylor Huss[12]; 3. 83X-Justin Frederick[2]; 4. 00J-John Martinez[11]; 5. 8-Murray Haugen[3]; 6. 45-Travis Landauer[14]; 7. 47P-Parker Anderson[1]; 8. 46-Ryan Gilland[9]; 9. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[4]; 10. 214-Kirk Westring[23]; 11. 2C-David Carter[7]; 12. 20-Chad Borgman[15]; 13. 4-Jeremy Purdy[10]; 14. 8X-Travis Blythe[17]; 15. 22T-Tyler Smith[16]; 16. 3N-Neil Pella[19]; 17. 12K-Eric Knutson[24]; 18. (DNF) 6R-Roy Armstrong[6]; 19. (DNF) 23-Tayte Harazin[18]; 20. (DNF) 24T-Tylan Lambertus[21]; 21. (DNF) 99-Dellas Williams[22]; 22. (DNF) 24R-Dillon Richards[5]; 23. (DNF) 13T-Tyler Jackson[13]; 24. (DNF) 90-Lucas Phillips[20]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-David Carter[1]; 2. 6R-Roy Armstrong[2]; 3. 47P-Parker Anderson[5]; 4. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[3]; 5. 13T-Tyler Jackson[7]; 6. 22T-Tyler Smith[6]; 7. 3N-Neil Pella[4]; 8. 99-Dellas Williams[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24R-Dillon Richards[6]; 2. 8-Murray Haugen[3]; 3. 83X-Justin Frederick[7]; 4. 46-Ryan Gilland[2]; 5. 45-Travis Landauer[8]; 6. 8X-Travis Blythe[4]; 7. 90-Lucas Phillips[1]; 8. 214-Kirk Westring[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Taylor Huss[1]; 2. 7N-Nick Ronnebaum[5]; 3. 4-Jeremy Purdy[6]; 4. 00J-John Martinez[8]; 5. 20-Chad Borgman[7]; 6. 23-Tayte Harazin[2]; 7. 24T-Tylan Lambertus[4]; 8. (DNF) 12K-Eric Knutson[3]
IMCA SPORTMODS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11-Izac Mallicoat[3]; 2. 76-Lance Borgman[12]; 3. 117-Dylan VanWyk[7]; 4. 77W-Tyler Watts[2]; 5. 74-Rick Rohr[5]; 6. 27W-Andrew Whitmore[19]; 7. 19XX-Brandon Spanjer[14]; 8. 16J-Justin Svoboda[10]; 9. 30-Greg Metz[21]; 10. 24-Drake Bohlmeyer[20]; 11. 18M-Mason Richards[16]; 12. 31-Jason York[1]; 13. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[6]; 14. W2-Kash Wenske[23]; 15. 11J-Joseph Cooper[13]; 16. 68+1-Blain Petersen[22]; 17. (DNF) 6A-Adam Armstrong[11]; 18. (DNF) 5H-Shawn Hein[4]; 19. (DNF) 05-David Sherwood[15]; 20. (DNF) 7-Lee Horky[8]; 21. (DNF) 17C-Shane Paris[9]; 22. (DNF) 25-Kyle Ord[18]; 23. (DNF) 17M-Mary Hahn[17]; 24. (DNF) 27-Dane Martindale[24]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 27W-Andrew Whitmore[6]; 2. 24-Drake Bohlmeyer[2]; 3. 30-Greg Metz[3]; 4. 68+1-Blain Petersen[10]; 5. W2-Kash Wenske[5]; 6. 27-Dane Martindale[4]; 7. 11H-Nick Morris[9]; 8. 45-Lane Malchow[1]; 9. 1-Paul Donovan[7]; 10. (DNS) 24R-Dillon Richards
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 117-Dylan VanWyk[5]; 2. 6A-Adam Armstrong[4]; 3. 17C-Shane Paris[6]; 4. 16J-Justin Svoboda[3]; 5. 11J-Joseph Cooper[1]; 6. 18M-Mason Richards[9]; 7. 45-Lane Malchow[2]; 8. (DNF) 27-Dane Martindale[10]; 9. (DNF) 1-Paul Donovan[8]; 10. (DNS) 68+1-Blain Petersen
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Lance Borgman[2]; 2. 77W-Tyler Watts[1]; 3. 74-Rick Rohr[7]; 4. 31-Jason York[3]; 5. 19XX-Brandon Spanjer[6]; 6. 17M-Mary Hahn[9]; 7. 24-Drake Bohlmeyer[8]; 8. W2-Kash Wenske[4]; 9. (DNS) 24R-Dillon Richards
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Izac Mallicoat[2]; 2. 7-Lee Horky[7]; 3. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[1]; 4. 5H-Shawn Hein[6]; 5. 05-David Sherwood[3]; 6. 25-Kyle Ord[9]; 7. (DNF) 30-Greg Metz[4]; 8. (DNF) 27W-Andrew Whitmore[5]; 9. (DNS) 11H-Nick Morris
IMCA STOCK CARS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 19-Kyle Vanover[4]; 2. 3J-Dan Nelson[9]; 3. 77-Tyler Frye[2]; 4. 30-Jordan Grabouski[1]; 5. 6C-Chanse Hollatz[11]; 6. 37D-Brad Derry[6]; 7. 4-Boone Evans[13]; 8. 10A-Austin Brauner[15]; 9. 3T-Terry Dulin[12]; 10. 38-Joe Schmit[10]; 11. 7D-Daniel Holt[20]; 12. 34-Max Harder[21]; 13. 26T-Alex Donovan[23]; 14. 67-Darin Nelson[5]; 15. (DNF) 11-Christine Holt[8]; 16. (DNF) 26J-Justin Addison[19]; 17. (DNF) 11B-Scott Brown[18]; 18. (DNF) 7B-Paul Burck[3]; 19. (DNF) 6-Trace Ayers[16]; 20. (DNF) 12T-Tanner Jones[14]; 21. (DNF) 84-Benji Legg[7]; 22. (DNF) 31K-Nate Desive[17]; 23. (DNF) 46-JJ Baumli[22]; 24. (DNF) 29-John Meyer[24]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 26J-Justin Addison[5]; 2. 7D-Daniel Holt[1]; 3. 34-Max Harder[3]; 4. 46-JJ Baumli[9]; 5. 26T-Alex Donovan[10]; 6. 29-John Meyer[7]; 7. 4W-Jaret Wood[8]; 8. 11A-Andy Huffaker[6]; 9. 7-Matt Fralin[12]; 10. 37W-Darren Wurdeman[13]; 11. (DNF) 7C-Chris Cherney[2]; 12. (DNS) 28-Bobby Eubanks; 13. (DNS) 1X-Bo Egge
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Kyle Vanover[1]; 2. 37D-Brad Derry[8]; 3. 67-Darin Nelson[2]; 4. 38-Joe Schmit[3]; 5. 4-Boone Evans[6]; 6. 6-Trace Ayers[10]; 7. 7D-Daniel Holt[11]; 8. 28-Bobby Eubanks[4]; 9. 29-John Meyer[9]; 10. 26T-Alex Donovan[5]; 11. (DNF) 37W-Darren Wurdeman[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Jordan Grabouski[6]; 2. 84-Benji Legg[2]; 3. 3T-Terry Dulin[4]; 4. 11-Christine Holt[9]; 5. 12T-Tanner Jones[8]; 6. 31K-Nate Desive[10]; 7. 7C-Chris Cherney[7]; 8. 26J-Justin Addison[3]; 9. (DNF) 4W-Jaret Wood[1]; 10. (DNF) 1X-Bo Egge[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6C-Chanse Hollatz[5]; 2. 7B-Paul Burck[2]; 3. 77-Tyler Frye[1]; 4. 3J-Dan Nelson[8]; 5. 10A-Austin Brauner[9]; 6. 11B-Scott Brown[7]; 7. 34-Max Harder[4]; 8. 11A-Andy Huffaker[3]; 9. 46-JJ Baumli[10]; 10. (DNF) 7-Matt Fralin[6]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
