Friday, June 22, 2012

Sutton scores Sprint Invaders win at Lee County Speedway

Defending series champion Matt Sutton topped a 29-car field to take his first series win of the year when the Sprint Invaders made their first appearance of the season at Lee County Speedway on Thursday night.

Following his heat win, Sutton also scored the win in the six-lap Shake Up Dash, then drew the #1 pill for the invert, placing him on the pole for the 20-lap feature.

After a couple of failed attempts to get the first lap in the books, which included a stoppage when Matt Krieger took a soft rollover in turn one, Sutton grabbed the lead. He paced the field as second row starter Tyler Blank and Tony Shilling gave chase. The top three ran in that formation until the next caution on lap six.

When racing resumed, Shilling dropped to the low side of Blank to take second while Sutton extended his advantage. Sutton built a straightaway lead just as he encountered lapped traffic on the 11th circuit, maintaining his large lead until the yellow flag waved a final time on lap 17.

On the final restart, Sutton once again pulled away to take the win ahead of Blank, who snuck past Shilling on the final restart. Shilling ran third at the line ahead of Russ Hall and Justin Parrish. Ryan Jamison, Jerrod Hull, Ben Wagoner, Bobby Mincer and Andy Huston completed the top 10.

The IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA SportMods were also in competition. Although they did not race for track points, both divisions were running for state, regional and national points.

From his outside front row starting spot, Abe Huls took charge at the drop of the green in the 15-lap Stock Car main. He put a few car-lengths on the rest of the 16-car field while his pursuers jockeyed in two and three-wide formation behind him.

After working hard on the low groove of the speedway, Jeff Mueller eventually made his way past Jason Cook and Matt Greiner for second, a straightaway behind the leader. Mueller's progress, however, came to a halt when he came upon the lapped car of Matt Keller. Locked in behind Keller with Cook and Greiner close behind, Mueller had no where to go and spun in turn one in the waning laps, exiting the event to the infield.

Huls, meanwhile, ran away from the pack to take the win in the caution-free event. Cook ran second ahead of Greiner. John Oliver Jr. and Tanner Thomann completed the top five.

A nice field of 22 SportMods took the green in that 15-lapper. Pole-sitter Tom Elsen held the early lead while fellow front row starter Tony Dunker settled into the second spot. The leaders ran in that order until the caution flag waved on lap five.

When the green flag waved again, Dunker shot to the inside of the leader to take command. He quickly pulled away from the field while John Oliver Jr., doing double duty on the night, worked the high side of the slick, smooth 3/8-mile oval.

Oliver worked past Jim Gillenwater and Vance Wilson on the top side, but was unable to reel in Elsen or Dunker. Dunker maintained his advantage to drive to the victory ahead of Elsen and Oliver. Wilson and Gillenwater rounded out the top five.

Since Lee County raced on Thursday of this week, that leaves Friday night open on my schedule. As of now, the plan is to make my first trip of the year to CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction for the second Late Model special of the year on the half-mile. Have a great weekend!

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