Craig Dollansky (50) and Jeremy Schultz (10w) battle at 34 Raceway (Mark Funderburk Photo)
4/6/19
34 Raceway
West Burlington, IA
IRA/MOWA
36 cars
Bill Balog (9th car out to time) set quick time at 13.278 seconds on the 3/8-mile oval. Austin McCarl (16th car out) was second quick, followed by Carson Short (1st), Joey Moughan (7th), Jeremy Schultz (8th), Scotty Thiel (15th), Scott Neitzel (3rd), Ben Schmidt (25th), Josh Schneiderman (22nd) and Chris Martin (6th). The track surface was dry from the get-go. John Schulz did not get a time in.
Heat one (started): 1. Schneiderman 49 (2) 2. Joe B. Miller 51B (1) 3. Balog 17B (4) 4. Parker Price-Miller 96 (6) 5. Lynton Jeffrey 83 (7) / 6. Schultz 10w (3) 7. Brayden Fox 53 (5) 8. Jeremy Standridge 10s (9) 9. Zach Daum 5D (8)
10 lap heats took the top five to the feature. Heat winners and the top six qualifiers making it through the heats redrew for the first five rows of the feature. Schneiderman led the distance over Miller, Balog and Price-Miller, up from sixth. Daum worked his way from eighth to the fifth and final transfer spot before going up in smoke on the last lap.
Heat two (started): 1. Mike Reinke 02 (1) 2. Martin 44 (2) 3. McCarl 2KS (4) 4. Paul Nienhiser 9x (5) 5. Thiel 64 (3) / 6. Steve Short 8s (8) 7. Daniel Bergquist 9 (9) 8. Cody Wehrle 40c (6) 9. Cory Bruns 44x (7)
Reinke led the distance over Martin and McCarl. The best duel was for fourth between Nienhiser and Thiel. Wehrle was in contention for a transfer spot before the defending Sprint Invaders champion suffered issues four laps in. Thiel grabbed fourth late, before Nienhiser stormed back by on the last lap.
Heat three (started): 1. C. Short 21 (4) 2. Neitzel 2w (3) 3. Jake Blackhurst 25 (6) 4. Steve Meyer 85m (5) 5. Tanner Gebhardt 81 (7) / 6. Kris Spitz 4K (2) 7. Jacob Patton 79J (8) 8. Ryan Jamison 51J (1) 9. Hunter Custer 29 (9)
Jamison led C. Short, Neitzel and Meyer early. C. Short ran down Jamison to lead lap four. Neitzel would follow him into second a lap later. Blackhurst moved into fourth on lap six, and the defending IRA champion continued riding the low groove under Jamison for fourth on lap nine. Disaster struck for Jamison on the last lap when his driveline let go, surrendering a transfer spot, which Gebhardt snatched up Jamison was taken to the hospital for observation. Gebhardt was one of a handful of 360 drivers getting laps in. He was the only one to qualify for the main event.
Heat four (started): 1. Brooke Tatnell 55 (1) 2. Joey Moughan 29m (4) 3. Russel Borland 23 (2) 4. Schmidt 73 (3) 5. Craig Dollansky 50 (5) / 6. Robbie Standridge 17* (7) 7. Jordan Goldesberry 65 (6) 8. John Schulz 99 (9) 9. Kyle Schuett 9K (8)
Tatnell led wire to wire. Borland and Schmidt trailed him early, but Moughan was using the low side of the track to move forward. He won a back and forth battle with Schmidt for third on lap four. A pass of Borland was negated by a Schulz spin, but he won the spot on lap six.
B main (started): 1. Schultz (1) 2. Spitz (2) 3. Jo. Standridge (3) 4. Fox (5) / 5. Patton (7) 6. Goldesberry (6) 7. Bergquist (8) 8. S. Short (4) 9. Schulz (10) 10. Je. Standridge (9) 11. Schuett (11) 12. Custer (12) DNS – Jamison, Daum, Wehrle, Bruns
Spitz took the early lead over Schultz, Jo. Standridge and Goldesberry. Schultz took the lead from Spitz with two to go in traffic. Goldesberry slowed with two to go, handing the final transfer to Fox. Patton grabbed fifth on the final lap, but wouldn’t be able to use his first alternate status.