4/6/2019
US 36 Raceway
Bowers, Richards, Nichols, Clancy, Bailey and Masoner Grab First Checkered Flags of 2019
By: Jacob Blair
US 36 Raceway roared back to life with the return of racing on Friday, April 5. Although US 36 dealt with some opening night hiccups, the drivers on track made sure to remind everyone racing was back and showed the offseason rust was gone.
The last race of the night proved to be the best race of the night as Steven Bowers and Jeff James dueled back and forth in the closing laps of the IMCA Modified feature. Richard Spriggs led the early portion of the race before he faded in the closing stages. With Spriggs no longer pacing the field, James inherited the lead and brought Bowers with him to second. Bowers consistently put in faster laps and caught James around the five to go mark. Bowers made his move and took the lead, just briefly. This move set up the early nominee for race of the year as the two traded the lead back and forth in the closing laps. Bowers found himself timing his final move right and rolled into Westfall GMC Victory Lane.
“He bobbled coming out of four and I got underneath him and got the lead,” Bowers said. “I said I’d kind of go easy in turns three and four, didn’t want to do the same mistake he did, but when he came in there wide open, I said we would either flip this thing or win it.”
Jeff James finished second, Tyler Hibner third, Jim Masoner Jr. fourth and Clay Hale fifth.
The IMCA Stock Car feature was dominated by Mike Nichols. Nichols took a front row starting position from the redraw and drove away from the rest of the field.
“The Stock Car class is tough no matter where you go,” Nichols said. “Fortunately for me I asked my wife to draw a two tonight and she came back and said you got what you wanted.”
One caution slowed the field, but Nichols resumed his steady pace out front on the restart. Lance Dixon kept Nichols honest but wasn’t able to get close enough to make a challenge. Dixon finished second with Mich Ross third, Tim Eaton fourth and Blake Peeler fifth.
The IMCA Sprint Cars saw one of three defending champions earn their first win of 2019. Matt Richards, last year’s champion, put together a wire to wire performance for the win. Toby Chapman made it interesting in lap traffic before Richards was able to pull away. Chapman finished second, Mike Houseman Jr. third, Mike Moore fourth and Kenny Potter fifth.
Steven Clancy, last year’s IMCA Sport Mod track champion, continued last year’s momentum by winning race one of the Sport Mod’s 2019 season. Clancy used a front row starting position and a mistake free race in route to the win. Josh Munsen finished second while Cade Richards had an impressive third place run after moving up from the E-Modified division. Randy Ainsworth finished fourth and Matt Andrews fifth.
A good field of E-Modifieds found themselves chasing a black number 77 all race long. Kit Bailey used a front row starting position to get out front early. Bailey had to fend off multiple challenges from Josh Adkins before he finally saw the checkered flag fly. Adkins finished second, Chris Dishong third, with last year’s track champion Gary Ainsworth fourth and Kyle Russell fifth.
The Pure Stocks were the first class to hit the track for their feature and the Connor Masoner became the first feature winner of 2019. The 2018 Pure Stock co-champion got out front early and checked out from the rest of the field.
“I didn’t even hardly touch the car or wash the car or anything since the Hobbystock Stampede deal, just left it how it was and drove it,” Masoner said.
Tyler Starmer finished second, DJ Barnes third, Shawn Huston fourth and Brandon Hoover fifth.
Up next for the competitors at US 36 Raceway is season championship night number two on Friday, April 12. IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sprints, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Sport Mods and E-Modifeds will take to track. Pure Stocks have the night off.
US 36 Raceway thanks all the drivers, crews and fans for making the trip for opening night and helping us get the 2019 season started.
Race Results 4-5-2019
Season Championship Race #1
IMCA Modified
A Feature 1 20 laps | 00:18:45.362
- 77-Steven Bowers, 18:45.362[8]; 2. 71-Jeff James, 18:45.724[5]; 3. 89-Tyler Hibner, 18:48.753[6]; 4. 48X-Jim Masoner Jr, 18:50.322[4]; 5. 22H-Clay Hale, 18:50.685[3]; 6. 81-Richard Spriggs, 14:12.542[1]; 7. 67X-Brandon Williams, 13:58.377[2]; 8. 21C-Chad Clancy, 06:56.993[7]; 9. 10B-Garry Billings Jr, 06:59.067[9]
Heat 1 8 laps | 00:02:02.073
- 71-Jeff James, 02:02.073[2]; 2. 48X-Jim Masoner Jr, 02:07.852[1]; 3. 10B-Garry Billings Jr, 02:09.440[4]; 4. 21C-Chad Clancy, 02:09.753[5]; 5. 67X-Brandon Williams, 02:14.860[3]
Heat 2 8 laps | 00:03:02.956 - 81-Richard Spriggs, 03:02.956[2]; 2. 77-Steven Bowers, 03:03.285[1]; 3. 89-Tyler Hibner, 03:06.980[3]; 4. 22H-Clay Hale, 03:07.132[4]
IMCA 305 Sprints
A Feature 1 20 laps | 00:09:04.143
- 1R-Matt Richards, 09:04.143[4]; 2. 7-Toby Chapman, 09:05.146[1]; 3. 4L-Mike Houseman Jr, 09:12.099[6]; 4. 69-Mike Moore, 09:12.767[5]; 5. 55-Kenny Potter, 09:12.331[2]; 6. 15-Jack Potter, 07:06.051[3]
Heat 1 8 laps | 00:03:44.790
- 69-Mike Moore, 03:44.790[2]; 2. 1R-Matt Richards, 03:46.156[1]; 3. 7-Toby Chapman, 03:46.870[5]; 4. 15-Jack Potter, 03:49.821[7]; 5. 55-Kenny Potter, 03:52.666[4]; 6. 4L-Mike Houseman Jr, 03:35.120[6]
IMCA Stock Car
A Feature 1 15 laps | 00:04:10.302
- 63X-Mike Nichols, 04:00.399[2]; 2. 03-Lance Dixon, 04:03.572[1]; 3. 34X-Mich Ross, 04:07.779[9]; 4. 63-Tim Eaton, 04:06.173[3]; 5. 292-Blake Peeler, 04:07.279[5]; 6. 20X-Carson Masoner, 04:09.010[4]; 7. 47X-Connor Masoner, 04:10.302[10]; 8. 91-CJ Turner, 04:04.730[7]; 9. 83-Aaron Sauter, 02:36.217[6]; 10. 11S-Steve Starmer, 00:34.438[8]
Heat 1 6 laps | 00:02:09.208
- 34X-Mich Ross, 02:09.208[1]; 2. 11S-Steve Starmer, 02:09.880[2]; 3. 292-Blake Peeler, 02:10.252[4]; 4. 63X-Mike Nichols, 02:10.872[5]; 5. 83-Aaron Sauter, 02:16.901[3]
Heat 2 6 laps | 00:02:11.380 - 63-Tim Eaton, 02:11.380[3]; 2. 20X-Carson Masoner, 02:12.808[4]; 3. 03-Lance Dixon, 02:13.101[5]; 4. 91-CJ Turner, 02:14.867[2]; 5. 47X-Connor Masoner, 01:55.596[1]
IMCA Sport Mod
A Feature 1 15 laps | 00:00:00
- 12X-Steven Clancy, [1]; 2. 19X-Josh Munsen, [5]; 3. 1R-Cade Richards, [10]; 4. 4-Randy Ainsworth, [3]; 5. 22-Matt Andrews, [7]; 6. 20X-Randy Smith Jr, [8]; 7. 19C-PJ Conger, [6]; 8. 54-Eddie Ingram, [14]; 9. 83-Coleman Browning, [16]; 10. 23B-Casey Burnett, [4]; 11. 13J-Jeffrey Sears, [13]; 12. 22L-Matt Lent, [12]; 13. 45W-Kyle Williams, [2]; 14. 9HJR-Kameron Hanes, [15]; 15. 33-Nicholas Carpenter, [9]; 16. 66X-Chris Wright, [11]; 17. 37P-Tristan Phillips, [17]; (DNS) 12GA-Jason Nelson,
Heat 1 6 laps | 00:00:00
- 66X-Chris Wright, [1]; 2. 20X-Randy Smith Jr, [2]; 3. 22-Matt Andrews, [6]; 4. 19X-Josh Munsen, [3]; 5. 13J-Jeffrey Sears, [5]; 6. 83-Coleman Browning, [4]
Heat 2 6 laps | 00:00:00 - 12X-Steven Clancy, [1]; 2. 22L-Matt Lent, [2]; 3. 33-Nicholas Carpenter, [3]; 4. 4-Randy Ainsworth, [5]; 5. 54-Eddie Ingram, [6]; 6. 37P-Tristan Phillips, [4]
Heat 3 6 laps | 00:00:00 - 1R-Cade Richards, [2]; 2. 19C-PJ Conger, [1]; 3. 45W-Kyle Williams, [4]; 4. 23B-Casey Burnett, [5]; 5. 9HJR-Kameron Hanes, [6]; (DNS) 12GA-Jason Nelson,
E-Modifieds
A Feature 1 12 laps | 00:00:00
- 77-Kit Bailey, [1]; 2. 91J-Josh Adkins, [4]; 3. 41-Chris Dishong, [7]; 4. 14-Gary Ainsworth, [9]; 5. 15-Kyle Russell ,, [11]; 6. 02X-Brock Brewer, [10]; 7. 54JR-Eddie Ingram Jr., [3]; 8. 59J-Justin Mitchell, [12]; 9. 46-Jena Baumli, [13]; 10. 66-Alex Breckenridge, [6]; 11. .308-Andrea Nelson, [14]; 12. 3B-James Burns, [15]; 13. 28-Shawn Burns, [8]; 14. 25C-Casey Anderson, [16]; 15. 67-Brandon Beam, [2]; 16. 33M-Matthew Stotts, [5]
Heat 1 6 laps | 00:00:00
- 77-Kit Bailey, [1]; 2. 67-Brandon Beam, [2]; 3. 14-Gary Ainsworth, [4]; 4. 02X-Brock Brewer, [3]; 5. 41-Chris Dishong, [7]; 6. 15-Kyle Russell ,, [6]; 7. 46-Jena Baumli, [5]
Heat 2 6 laps | 00:00:00 - 91J-Josh Adkins, [2]; 2. 28-Shawn Burns, [5]; 3. 33M-Matthew Stotts, [6]; 4. 54JR-Eddie Ingram Jr., [3]; 5. 66-Alex Breckenridge, [7]; 6. 59J-Justin Mitchell, [1]; 7. 3B-James Burns, [9]; 8. .308-Andrea Nelson, [4]; 9. 25C-Casey Anderson, [8]
Pure Stock
A Feature 1 12 laps | 00:00:00
- 47X-Connor Masoner, [2]; 2. 11S-Tyler Starmer, [1]; 3. 5DJ-DJ Barnes, [3]; 4. 540-Shaun Houston, [8]; 5. 27H-Brandon Hoover, [5]; 6. 3Y-Blake Yonts, [6]; 7. 72-Michael Ford, [7]; 8. 87-Anthony Persell, [4]
Heat 1 6 laps | 00:00:00
- 87-Anthony Persell, [2]; 2. 47X-Connor Masoner, [6]; 3. 5DJ-DJ Barnes, [7]; 4. 11S-Tyler Starmer, [4]; 5. 27H-Brandon Hoover, [8]; 6. 3Y-Blake Yonts, [3]; 7. 72-Michael Ford, [5]; (DNS) 540-Shaun Houston,
Article Credit: Jacob Blair
Submitted By: Jacob Blair
