Des Moines, IA - There were plenty of fireworks on the speedway Thursday night and soon after Don Droud Jr. celebrated his Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders win in victory lane there were fireworks over the State Fair Speedway as well to kickoff the Independence Day weekend. It was the first career win with the Invaders for the veteran driver from Lincoln, Nebraska, who was in the right place at the right after misfortune struck others in the series' first ever visit to Des Moines.
Bad luck took out two top contenders even before feature time as heat race winner Dave Hall spun into the infield retaining wall on the opening lap of the Budweiser "King of Beers" Shake Up Dash to end his night. And then a few laps later in that race the motor let go on the Bragg Ag Drainage #73 of Dustin Selvage relegating him to being a spectator for the rest of the evening as well.
Two drivers from suburbs of the capital city, Matt Moro and Carson McCarl would bring the field to green for the twenty-lap main event with Moro racing off to the lead on the opening lap and Dash winner Billy Balog quickly moving to second. As the leaders raced through turns three and four for the second time though, Balog slowed with mechanical issues and at that same moment on the back stretch a two car tangle left Mitchell Alexander sideways while Dave Getchell got upside down to bring out the red flag.
With Balog, who was driving the Jimmy Davies owned #99 tonight, now sidelined another top contender was off the list of potential winners as Moro brought the field back to green for the restart. However, before another lap could be scored hometown driver C.J. Houseman went for a tumble in turn four that saw him go up and over the wall in turn two. "The Headhunter" was out of the car quickly under his own power which was a huge relief for the crowd who feared the worst after watching the #80x Sprint Car shed its top wing and leave the ballpark.
On the following restart current Sprint Invaders point leader Jon Agan drove to the inside of Moro in turn one to swipe the lead, but when Agan bobbled for a split second in turn four that allowed Moro to regain the lead as the field finally scored lap number two. Now racing under green flag conditions Moro opened up a solid advantage until the mid-race mark when Agan closed the gap quickly as the leader started to deal with lapped traffic.
After scoring lap eleven Agan again pulled a slider on Moro going into turn one, but Matt was able to counter out of turn two and retain the lead for lap twelve. As the leaders again raced hard into turn one the following lap Kelly Graham spun to a halt on the cushion of turn two, right where Moro was charging hard and the race leader was unable to avoid the stopped car of Graham. The impact was solid sending Moro for a tumble and badly damaging Graham's ride as well and once again the crowd held its breath until the announcement came that both drivers had crawled out of their cars uninjured.
Agan would now inherit the lead for the restart, but during the red flag cleanup the left front tire went flat on his #4 car. Knowing that under Sprint Invader rules if he went to the pits to change it he would be done for the night, the current point leader decided to give it a try and see if he could salvage a good finish by driving on three good tires over the final eight laps. With Agan limping a bit on the bottom, Don Droud Jr. flew around him on the top side of turn one to take the lead and the driver of the Casey's General Stores #2 was not about to look back as he cruised that final four miles around the historic half-mile oval to victory. Defending Sprint Invaders champion Russ Hall avoided the bad luck that has plagued him during most of this year's schedule to finish second while the winner of the B-Main, Josh Schneiderman came from sixteenth to finish third. Mike Houseman Jr. had another solid run in the fourth spot while if Agan does go on to win his first Sprint Invaders point title he will be able to look back to this night where he somehow muscled his disabled mount in for fifth.
Carson McCarl took the sixth spot, Tony Shilling was seventh, and Josh Higday who was subbing for Chris Martin in the #44 tonight was eighth. Ninth went to Jerrod Schneiderman while central Illinois driver Bret Triplett completed the top ten.
Next up on the schedule for the Brockway Mechanical and Roofing Sprint Invaders will be a visit to the annual Cedar County Fair in Tipton, Iowa, on Friday night July 11th.
Results - Iowa State Fairgrounds Speedway (Thursday July 3, 2014)
A-Main - 1. Don Droud Jr., Lincoln NE 2. Russ Hall, Pleasant Hill 3. Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington 4. Mike Houseman Jr., Des Moines 5. Jon Agan, Knoxville 6. Carson McCarl, Altoona 7. Tony Shilling, Knoxville 8. Josh Higday, Des Moines 9. Jerrod Schneiderman, West Burlington 10. Bret Tripplett, Lincoln IL 11. Austin Johnson, Pleasant Hill 12. Stacey Alexander, Lacona 13. Harold Pohren, Lowell 14. Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville 15. Matt Moro, Polk City 16. Kelly Graham, Collins 17. C.J. Houseman, Des Moines 18. Billy Balog, Union Grove WI 19. Dave Getchell, Sperry 20. Mitchell Alexander, Knoxville
Advanced Plumbing and Mechanical Heat One - 1. Dave Hall, Des Moines 2. Balog 3. R. Hall 4. Tripplett 5. Jerrod Schneiderman 6. Josh Schneiderman 7. Higday 8. Pohren 9. Tim Moore, Rock Island IL
Huston Land Improvement Heat Two - 1. Agan 2. McCarl 3. M. Houseman 4. Shilling 5. Getchell 6. Phillips 7. M. Alexander 8. Graham
Cen-Pe-Co Lubricants Heat Three - 1. Moro 2. Dustin Selvage, Indianola 3. Droud. 4. C.J. Houseman 5. Johnson 6. Paul Nienheiser, Chapin IL 7. S. Alexander 8. Antony Guiffre, Newton
Budweiser "King of Beers" Shake Up Dash - 1. Balog 2. Agan 3. Moro 4. McCarl 5. Selvage 6. D. Hall
B-Main - 1. Josh Schneiderman 2. Phillips 3. Higday 4. S. Alexander 5. M. Alexander 6. Graham 7. Nienheiser 8. Pohren DNS: Guiffre and Moore
Contingencies:
Hard Charger - Josh Schneiderman +11
Weld Racing - Kelly Graham
Mountain Dew Kick Start - Sawyer Phillips
Saldana Racing Products - Bret Tripplett
Pyrotect - Austin Johnson
Next Event: Friday July 11th, Cedar County Fair, Tipton, Iowa
- administrator on Jul 04, 2014
- Article Date: 7/4/2014