7/18/04
Louisa County Fairgrounds
Columbus Junction, IA
Sprint Invaders
27 cars
Heat one (started): 1. Josh Higday 10x (1) 2. John Schulz 2 (4) / 3. Brent Antill 10 (2) 4. Donnie Steward 16s (6) / 5. Nick Eastin 25 (7) 6. Jayson Ditzworth 1 (5) 7. Rager Phillips 9P (3)
Higday led early, with Schulz hot on his tail. Schulz pulled around the leader on lap five, when Phillips, who was running an impressive third, stopped in turn four. The caution negated Schulz’s pass, and Higday held on. The top two finishers in the eight-lap heats went to the shake-up dash, while the top four went to the feature.
Heat two (started): 1. Larry Ball Jr. 5J (1) 2. Jon Agan 4J (6) / 3. Matt Sutton 3 (7) 4. Justin Newberry 36 (2) / 5. Jimmy Davies 99 (3) 6. Matt Harms 53H (4) 7. Josh Schneiderman 49 (5)
Ball led the distance, with the only caution coming out for Schneiderman, who detonated his powerplant on lap three. Newberry and Davies exchanged the final transfer spot a couple of times in a good battle.
Heat three (started): 1. Bobby Hawks 5H (2) 2. Matt Rogerson 45 (5) / 3. Manny Rockhold 50 (3) 4. Stevie Walsh 20 (4) / 5. Justin Parrish 4G (6) 6. Jamie Needham 93 (7) 7. Brian Hetrick 35 (1)
Hetrick got over the berm on the first circuit, sending him pitside. Hawks took the lead and checked out on the field. Rockhold made his car wider by sliding from the bottom up the track coming out of turns two and four, holding off a charging Walsh.
Heat four (started): 1. Bobby Mincer 15 (2) 2. Ryan Jamison 51J (1) / 3. Kerry Madsen D1 (5) 4. Jeff Nehring 9 (3) / 5. Dustin Whiting 97x (4) 6. John Hall 7H (6)
Mincer led flag to flag. Madsen, subbing for Jesse Giannetto, who is still suffering from flu-like symptoms after back surgery, surged to third immediately, but couldn’t reel in the leaders.
Shake-up Dash (started): 1. Higday (1) 2. Ball (2) 3. Mincer (4) 4. Hawks (3) 5. Schulz (5) 6. Agan (6) 7. Jamison (8) 8. Rogerson (7)
Higday led flag to flag in a mostly single-file affair. He drew the four pill, putting him outside row two for the feature.
B main (started): 1. Eastin (1) 2. Ditzworth (5) 3. Davies (2) 4. Parrish (3) / 5. Phillips (8) 6. Whiting (4) 7. Harms (6) 8. Hall (7) 9. Hetrick (9) 10. Needham (10) DNS – Schneiderman
Eastin jumped out to an early lead before Phillips got over the turn three berm on lap two, bringing out a caution. On the restart, Ditzworth put on a show, jumping from sixth to second riding the high line. Eastin won going away. Phillips recovered from the tail for fifth, but couldn’t quite run around Parrish.
A main (started): 1. Madsen (12) 2. Schulz (2) 3. Ball (5) 4. Rockhold (11) 5. Rogerson (8) 6. Sutton (10) 7. Hawks (1) 8. Jamison (7) 9. Antill (9) 10. Nehring (16) 11. Walsh (15) 12. Steward (13) 13. Mincer (6) 14. Agan (3) 15. Higday (4) 16. Parrish (20) 17. Eastin (17) 18. Newberry (14) 19. Davies (19) 20. Ditzworth (18)
This one became a race of attrition where the strong survived in the 25 lapper. Hawks jumped out to the lead from his pole position. Ditzworth went over the berm and retired before a lap was in the books. Hawks led when the green fell, but on the second lap, Schulz spun bringing out another caution. Now Hawks led Agan, Mincer, a surging Sutton and Ball back to green, while Schulz restarted at the tail. Hawks used the high line to maintain his advantage on the 4/10 mile oval. On lap six, Davies stopped on the frontstretch and retired. Hawks led Agan, Mincer, Madsen (from 12th) and Jamison back to the green this time. Madsen was closing fast and took the point from Hawks on lap 11. Two laps later, Eastin spun in turn three. The incident collected Jamison, who had surged to second and was running strong, Agan who was fourth, Parrish and Newberry, who ended up upside down. Jamison and Agan were able to make repairs under the red and rejoin the field and the tail, while Parrish did so sans nose wing. He would retire a lap later. Eastin and Newberry called it a night. Madsen appeared to have a left rear going down on the restart in which he led Hawks, Mincer, Rogerson and Ball. Nine green flag laps of racing passed before a lap 22 spin by Higday, who went pitside as well. Ball had moved by Rogerson for fourth, but Schulz was the man on the move now in sixth from the tail of the field. Agan came to a rest on the white flag lap, setting up a two lap dash for the win. Now smoke appeared out of Madsen’s motor while he wiped away fluids from his faceshield. The tire was low as well. Mincer retired due to what appeared to be fuel. Madsen led Hawks, Ball, Schulz and Rogerson to the green flag, two-lap dash. He held on in strong fashion for the win, despite the problems. Schulz used the high side to slide into second, while Hawks slowed down the front straight with what also appeared to be fuel. Other late movers included Rockhold and Rogerson.