Mike Murphy Jr. took the lead at the drop of the green flag, then held off pressure from Tyler Bruening and Jeff Aikey in lapped traffic to take the win in the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models feature at Boone Speedway. The traditional Memorial Day special at Boone drew over 125 cars in five divisions, including 23 IMCA Late Models.
Murphy, who started outside of the front row alongside Bruening, pulled away from Bruening early in the 40-lapper. He continued to lengthen his advantage until lapped traffic slowed his progress on lap 10. The traffic allowed Bruening to stay within a couple of car-lengths of Murphy as the leaders raced through backmarkers for most of the event.
In the meantime, Jeff Aikey was working the low side of Dale Hackwell Jr. for the third spot as the lead pair pulled to a straightaway lead. Aikey eventually slipped past Hackwell, then went to work on reeling in the leaders, who remained mired in lapped traffic. Aikey cut the deficit to half of a straightaway with 15 laps to go and continued to close in on the leaders in the waning laps.
Bruening, who chased Murphy throughout the event, remained within striking distance as Aikey closed on Bruening's rear bumper. The race took on a different look when Jason Hahne's car came to a stop on the low side of turns three and four with only two laps to go for the race's first caution. The incident led to an expected green, white, checker finish on the ensuing restart. That, however, didn't go as planned.
On the initial restart, cars in the lead pack spun exiting turn two, collecting a handful of drivers, shaking up the order and forcing another restart. That restart made it to the white flag lap, but a spinning car in turn four bottled up the pack and forced one final caution, leading to another attempt at a green, white, checker finish.
When racing resumed a final time, Murphy pulled away once again to take the win, his series leading third of the season. Aikey tried both high and low to get around Bruening in the final laps. Although he had brief success making his way to second, Bruening fought back beneath him to hold onto second at the line. Aikey ran third ahead of Ray Guss Jr. and Luke Goedert.
The "Mike Murphy" theme continued in the IMCA Stock Car division as Michael Murphy scored his first-ever win in the division. The former Hobby Stock track champion, in his first year in the Stock Cars, came from a third row starting spot to earn the milestone win.
Pole-sitter Eric Brown jumped (literally) to the early lead before Murphy made his way into contention in less than a lap in the 20-lapper. Murphy worked into a side-by-side battle with Brown for a few laps before finally breaking free on around the fifth circuit. He held the point until the caution flag waved a few lap later, at which time Brown was penalized two spots for jumping the initial start.
On the restart, Michael Jaennette, who was running fifth at the time, shot to the inside of his competitors and into third place by the time they returned to the start/finish line on the following lap. He then went to work on Dean Wray for second as Murphy started to pull away from the field. Jeanette made a nice run to second, but his progress ended there as Murphy drove away to victory. Wray ran third ahead of David Smith.
Darren Huntley held the early lead in the 20-lap IMCA SportMod main event. He paced the field while Scott Davis, Daniel Tasler and Eric Elliott gave chase. The leaders ran in single file formation down the straightaways, but tried to better their positions by running the low groove through the corners.
With just five laps to go, Tasler tried his luck on the top side and swept past Davis, then set his sights on Huntley. The leader slowed to the infield coming off turn four on the white flag lap, leaving Tasler to take the win, his first of the season. Davis came home second ahead of Elliott, Casey Greubel and Joel Rust.
John Watson drove to another Boone win in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. The points leader, who started on the pole of the draw/redraw program, received pressure from Andy Mahlstedt before he was able to pull away to score the victory. Mahlstedt ran second ahead of a hard-charging Tyler Pickett. Dustin Filloon and Robert Smith completed the top five.
Mod Lite points leader Josh May raced away from the pack from his pole position start, then held off a late surge from Ed Zehm in lapped traffic to take the win in the 18-lap feature. May, who rolled his car just a few days ago at Boone, had everything properly restored to drive to the impressive win. A straightaway behind the leaders, Joel Keenan ran third ahead of Randy Bryan and Jason Whitehead.
It was my first trip to Boone for a non-Super Nationals show in 10 years and I was as impressed with the crew's efficiency tonight as I am during the week in September. When I looked at my watch with three features to go, it showed approximately 8:30. I knew better than to question a late night as the final three races were in the books at around 9:15. Thanks to Lawty and IMCA for asking me to fill in on the mic tonight. I
look forward to returning to Boone for Super Nationals week in
September.
While the Mike Murphy wins were coincidental tonight, another oddity (of absolutely no relevance) hit me on the way home. When I left the gas station in Vinton this morning, the clock showed 11:31 a.m. I pulled back in town tonight (and was driving past the same station), you guessed it, at 11:31 p.m.
That takes care of a fun four days of racing over the weekend. This week I'll post the Stats Blitzes for Independence Motor Speedway and Benton County Speedway. While I already have the Blitz done for Indee, I may add a couple things before I post it sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. I'll put together the Vinton stats tomorrow night and post it sometime on Wednesday.
I hope everyone was able to make it to a race or two over their holiday weekend! As always, thanks for reading.
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