9/25/04
Lee County Speedway
Donnellson, IA
Sprint Invaders
34 cars
Heat one (started): 1. Josh Higday 10x (1) 2. Skip Jackson 50 (5) 3. Johnny Anderson 7a (3) 4. Brian Hetrick 35 (2) / 5. Jeff Nehring 9 (4) 6. Josh Schneiderman 49 (7) 7. Justin Parrish 4G (6) 8. Jimmy Davies 99 (8) 9. Jamie Needham 93 (9)
The eight lap heats took four to the feature, with the top two going to the shake-up dash. Higday shot out to the early lead. On lap three Jackson, this week's driver of the DeReu 50, moved into second after getting by Hetrick, while Anderson got by Nehring for the final transfer. Jackson set out to try to catch Higday, but the fast track didn't lend itself to catching anyone. Anderson nabbed third on the last lap from Hetrick.
Heat two (started): 1. Nick Eastin 25 (1) 2. Ryan Jamison 51J (3) 3. Rager Phillips 9P (4) 4. Bobby Hawks 5H (5) / 5. Mike Houseman Jr. Y5 (2) 6. Matt Stephenson 55 (6) 7. Manny Rockhold 02 (7) 8. Dustin Whiting 97x (8) DNS - Lyle Sylvester 12
After the green fell, there was contact between M. Houseman and Phillips, but both kept it going. Behind them, Rockhold and Whiting got together, resulting in Rockhold sitting on the catch fence. Both retired. Eastin broke away from the rest on the restart, in a mostly single-file affair.
Heat three (started): 1. Brett Mather 54 (3) 2. Donnie Steward 16s (2) 3. Mike Deavers 72 (4) 4. Matt Sutton 3 (7) / 5. Bronson Maeschen 96 (8) 6. Matt Rogerson 45 (6) 7. John Schulz 2 (5) 8. Jayson Ditzworth 1 (1)
Contact between front row starters, Ditzworth and Steward, resulted in Ditzworth breaking his front end and crashing into the turn two wall before a lap could be completed. He was uninjured, but done for the night. Mather assumed the pole on the restart and took the early lead. Schulz slowed on lap two and Rogerson could not avoid him and climbed his right rear. Rogerson was able to restart at the rear, Schulz was done. Mather led Steward, Deavers, Sutton and Maeschen back to the green flag and that's the way they would finish.
Heat four (started): 1. Stevie Walsh 20 (1) 2. Brett Golik 5G (2) 3. Bobby Mincer 15 (4) 4. Eric Vanderploeg 24 (7) / 5. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (5) 6. Matt Harms 53H (3) 7. Rod Richards 5R (8) 8. Tyler Houseman 50T (6)
Walsh led the distance in commanding fashion. Vanderploeg and Ball waged war most of the way, exchanging the final transfer twice. Ball made a last ditch effort, but came up short.
Shake-up Dash (started): 1. Higday (1) 2. Eastin (2) 3. Walsh (4) 4. Jackson (5) 5. Mather (3) 6. Jamison (6) 7. Golik (8) 8. Steward (7)
Higday led flag to flag on what was still a heavy, fast, track. He drew a one, meaning the starting lineup mirrored the dash finish.
B main (started): 1. Nehring (1) 2. Ball (4) 3. Rogerson (7) 4. Schneiderman (5) / 5. Maeschen (3) 6. Schulz (11) 7. Parrish (9) 8. Davies (13) 9. Sylvester (17) 10. Needham (15) 11. Stephenson (6) 12. M. Houseman (2) 13. Rockhold (10) 14. Whiting (14) 15. T. Houseman (16) 16. Harms (8) 17. Richards (12) DNS - Ditzworth
At the chalk line, Harms and Stephenson made heavy contact and stuck together. Harms exited with severe wing damage, while Stephenson continued without a nose wing. Nehring led flag to flag despite two other interruptions. On lap seven, Rockhold clipeed an infield tire while running fourth and flipped. Nehring led Ball, Maeschen, M. Houseman and Schneiderman back to green flag racing. Two more laps were in teh books when M. Houseman hit the turn four wall hard after being spooked by Rogerson, who was passing him for fourth on the inside. He also went pitside. The caution negated a Ball pass for the lead. The leaders led Maeschen, Rogerson and Schneiderman into the final three laps of the 12 lapper. Rogerson quickly got by Maeschen for third, and Schneiderman began to close using the high side. He made the final pass for the transfer in an exciting last lap move.
A main (started): 1. Jackson (4) 2. Mather (5) 3. Anderson (9) 4. Higday (1) 5. Ball (18) 6. Walsh (3) 7. Hawks (14) 8. Rogerson (17) 9. Schneiderman (20) 10. Jamison (6) 11. Mincer (12) 12. Golik (7) 13. Sutton (13) 14. Eastin (2) 15. Hetrick (11) 16. Steward (8) 17. Phillips (10) 18. Rockhold 72 (19) 19. Nehring (15) 20. Vanderploeg (16)
Deavers gave up his ride for Rockhold, who was racing for the championship, but suffering from a headache of a night. Walsh shot by Higday and Eastin to lead early. For the first seven laps of the 25 lapper, he looked to be in command riding the cushion in smooth fashion when Schneiderman spun. The restart saw Walsh leading Higday, Jackson, Mather and Phillips back to green. Higday used the opportunity to take the point and hold it until a lap nine caution for a spun Phillips. Mather had moved back around Jackson and Ball was on the move in fifth behind Walsh. Jackson got his elbows up when the green flew again, passing Mather and taking the lead using the low side on lap twelve. Nehring and a snakebitten Rockhold tangled on lap 13. Phillips suffered mechanical problems on lap 14 and came to a rest on the track for the final stoppage. He went pitside. Jackson led Higday, Mather, Ball and a surging Anderson with 11 to go. Anderson used what he could find on the low side to work by Ball and battle with Higday for third. He came up just short of second at the line after holding it over Mather briefly in an exciting finish. Ball was the hard-charger, moving forward 13 spots. The win was Jackson's first 360 triumph of the year.