IMCA: Boone Speedway race notes

Russ Fletcher made his trip from Abilene, Texas pay off as he swept to his second straight IMCA Sprint Car Supernationals title on Tuesday night at the Boone Speedway in Boone, Iowa. Fletcher wasted little time tracking down early leader Jason Tostenson after starting outside the fifth row. Minnesota's Dustin Lindquist, who wrapped up the Jackpot Junction Tour point standings on Tuesday night, tried to run Fletcher down using the low groove but could not catch the fleet Texan. Following a string of yellow flags and a red for a Matthew Porter flip off the third turn, 16th-starting Terry Reilly mounted a late charge and passed Elmer Morgan and Dustin Lindquist in the waning laps but ran out of time to catch Fletcher.

At the conclusion of the 20-lapper, it was Russ Fletcher, cruising to his 17th win of the 2003 season, with Terry Reilly and Dustin Lindquist rounding out the podium spots. Elmer Morgan and Bob Hildreth finished fourth and fifth. Heat races for the 17 car field went to Lindquist and Fletcher.

20 Lap A-Feature: 1. Russ Fletcher (10), 2. Terry Reilly (16), 3. Dustin Lindquist (3), 4. Elmer Morgan (5), 5. Bob Hildreth (4), 6. Scott Winters (15), 7. Jason Tostenson (2), 8. Bruce Allen (8), 9. Lyle Sylvester (11), 10. Scott Broty (12), 11. Nate Laugen (13), 12. Chris Martinez (14), 13. Bruce Defries (6), 14. Bobby Rawson (7), 15. Rodney Henderson (1), 16. Gary Serbus (17), 17. Matthew Porter (9)

Heat 1: 1. Lindquist, 2. Allen, 3. Tostenson, 4. Henderson, 5. Porter, 6. Sylvester, 7. Martinez, 8. Reilly, 9. Serbus

Heat 2: 1. Fletcher, 2. Morgan, 3. Hildreth, 4. Rawson, 5. Defries, 6. Broty, 7. Laugen, 8. Winters

News and Notes from Boone Supernationals

Gary Serbus, who recently tied Scott Winters for the Redwood Speedway track title, had a long night in Erv Huwe's 43 car. Serbus tangled with Reilly in turn one of the first heat and flipped. After a long night of thrashing on the car, the team put the car back together with a wing on loan from Jason Tostenson's ride.

Terry Reilly, and the Jim Haney racing team, had to weld a new shock tower to the frame and charged from 16th to 2nd in the feature. Two years ago, Haney, with driver Donavon Peterson, won the Supernationals from the tail, and with a late yellow, may have done the trick again this season. Reilly came into the night with three straight third place finishes, at Arlington on Saturday, and Sunday and Monday at Huset's and used a white flag lap pass of Dustin Lindquist to take second.

Scott Winters will finish his season at Arlington but will be making a trip to River Cities in Grand Forks on Friday to show off the Schwanke concept engine. According to Winters' father, Kent, Scott will most likely make the jump to Wissota competition in 2004.

Dustin Lindquist is currently leading the IMCA National point standings but may lose the lead when Russ Fletcher gets his required number of shows in the books. Lindquist has 14 victories with IMCA this season and 4 against Wissota competition. This weekend, Lindquist will run Madison, Minnesota on Friday, Arlington on Saturday and the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa on Sunday afternoon.

Chris Martinez was once again the only Knoxville regular to make the tow to Boone. Martinez, who may do some late season traveling this year, has quite a transition to make from running a big half-mile with a big wing to running the tiny Boone oval with a small wing.

Rodney Henderson, known as the Hurricane, came north this weekend from Texas and did the Arlington/Redwood Jackpot Junction double header on Saturday and Sunday before heading to Boone with a team car for Bruce Defries. Henderson went over the turn two bank early in the race and was scored 15th while Defries finished 13th.

Scott Broty, who wrapped up the 2002 Jackpot Junction Tour title at Boone last year, is unsure if he'll do any late season traveling but did note that he enjoyed running with the Wissota Sprints at Jackson a few times in 2003. Broty may make a run at Jackson for the NMRA 410/Wissota 360 double header on September 27.

Bob Hildreth had a nice run in just his fifth start of the 2003 season and his second in the IMCA Sprints. Hildreth ran in the top five for much of the feature before settling for the fifth spot.

Elmer Morgan, the 2001-02 IMCA National titlist, will make his first non-wing start at Cowtown Speedway on October 3-4-5. Morgan had another strong showing at Boone as he took his homebuilt chassis to a fourth place finish.

-jz-