Paul Nienhiser won the Sprint Invaders Opener at 34 Raceway Saturday (Ashley Zimmerman Photo)
(Bill W) West Burlington, IA, April 13, 2024 – Paul Nienhiser dominated Saturday’s Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders event at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. It was the second year in a row that Nienhiser has won the opener for the series. In addition, he tied Matt Rogerson and Jerrod Hull with his fifth career Sprint Invaders win at 34 Raceway, tops all-time. It was also career win number 13 for Nienhiser, tying him with Terry McCarl for fourth all-time with the series. His $2,000 win came aboard Scott Bonar’s #50.
Nienhiser started on the pole after winning the Agriland FS Dash, and took the lead immediately in the 25-lapper, ahead of defending series champ, Ryan Bunton, Kaleb Johnson, Sterling Cling and Miles Paulus. The third running Johnson blew his left rear tire four laps in, bringing the first caution. He restarted at the tail. Carson McCarl moved into the top five on the restart before Chris Martin took the spot on lap seven.
Though Nienhiser went relatively unchallenged, the battle behind him was intense. Martin took fourth from Paulus on lap eight. The leaders entered lapped traffic on lap 12. Bunton, Cling and Martin were all within two car lengths, when the yellow flew again for debris on lap 13. Cody Wehrle was running twelfth on the restart when he got over the top of turn one, bringing another caution. He would restart at the tail and join Johnson by surging into the top ten.
Nienhiser took off again. A battle between Martin and Paulus for fourth ensued. With ten laps to go, Paulus got sideways in turn two. Martin had nowhere to go, slammed into Paulus, righted that car and flipped his own. The red flag set up a restart with Nienhiser leading Bunton, Cling, Paulus and Carson McCarl.
Cling shot by Bunton to take over second. Tasker Phillips spun with five to go, bringing out the final caution. The late stages saw Paulus move up to third, followed by McCarl and Chase Porter. Josh Schneiderman, Bunton, Johnson, hard-charger Wehrle and Cam Martin rounded out the top ten. Paulus, Cling, Dustin Clark and Cam Martin won heats. Phillips claimed the B.
“Sometimes having traffic when the track is really wide like this…I can gauge what lane I need to be running,” said Nienhiser in Victory Lane. “(Without traffic) we couldn’t do that. Hopefully, we made enough of the right moves…obviously, we did when we’re standing on the front stretch. I about took the wall out in turn four there a couple laps in. That developed a bit of a vibration in the right rear. I stuck to the low side of one and two as the top became a long way around. There was moisture on the bottom. Cautions fell the right way, but I would have liked to see it go green. It’s just a pleasure every time I get in this car. I know it’s going to be prepared impeccably. I just have to do my job.”
“I really didn’t know what to expect showing up here,” said Cling, who was making his first career start with the Sprint Invaders. “it’s my first year running a wing car. I’ve been here once with USAC without the wing. I was happy with our speed all night. I lean on my crew chief, Mikey Kuemper a lot. He has experience with the wing (Kraig Kinser) everywhere in this country. It’s nice to roll out there with confidence. It helps a lot. We didn’t quite have the speed Paul did in one and two.”
“It was a good night for us, a great night to start out the year,” said Paulus. “Our motor and car are in one piece. I had one major mistake there, and I feel bad for Chris Martin. I really ruined his night. It was more my fault than his. I apologize for that. I don’t like doing that to anybody. We can’t complain about the results. We hope we can keep this momentum and carry it to the rest of the year.”
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Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders Results
Shottenkirk Automotive Group A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (1) 2. 34, Sterling Cling, Tempe, AZ (4) 3. 98P, Miles Paulus, Marshall, MO (6) 4. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (9) 5. 2, Chase Porter, St. Joseph, MO (10) 6. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (12) 7. 6R, Ryan Bunton, Morton, IL (2) 8. 22K, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (5) 9. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (19) 10. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (3) 11. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (15) 12. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (16) 13. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (18) 14. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (11) 15. 99, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (13) 16. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (8) 17. 99D, Tucker Daly, Hallsville, MO (20) 18. 1TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (17) 19. 3A, Aaron Rixmann, Coulterville, IL (14) 20. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (7). Lap Leader: Nienhiser 1-25. $75 Christine Wahl-Levitt/KSE Hard-charger: Wehrle.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started, *qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Miles Paulus (2*) 2. Chase Porter (1*) 3. Kelby Watt (4*) 4. Ryan Jamison (3*) 5. Tasker Phillips (6) 6. 17N, Nate Anderson, Newton, IA (5) 7. 24x, Eric Wilke, Genessee, WI (8) 8. 51, Aaron Ferch, Kirkwood, IL (7) DNS – 67, Jonathan Hughes, Knoxville, IA
Joshua Denning & Associates Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Sterling Cling (4*) 2. Paul Nienhiser (7*) 3. Carson McCarl (5*) 4. Tucker Daly (1) 5. Cody Wehrle (3) 6. Clint Garner (6) 7. 4x, Chase Richards, Burlington, IA (2) 8. 4G, Cole Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (9) 9. 7B, Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA (8)
Morning Sun Farm Implement Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Dustin Clark (2*) 2. Chris Martin (4*) 3. Kaleb Johnson (6*) 4. Tyler Lee (3*) 5. 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA (1) 6. B8, John Barnard, Sherman, IL (5) 7. 21H, TJ Haddy, Waupun, WI (7) 8. 32, Riley Valentine, Terril, IA (8) DNS – 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA
Golden Eagle Distributors – Budweiser Heat four (started), 8 laps: 1. Cam Martin (2*) 2. Ryan Bunton (4*) 3. Aaron Rixmann (1*) 4. Josh Schneiderman (6*) 5. Colton Fisher (8*) 6. Steven Russell (7) 7. 52D, Skyler Daly, Hallsville, MO (3) 8. 33, Alan Zoutte, Knoxville, IA (5)
Agriland FS Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Paul Nienhiser (2) 2. Ryan Bunton (4) 3. Cam Martin (1) 4. Sterling Cling (6) 5. Kaleb Johnson (3) 6. Miles Paulus (5) 7. Chris Martin (7) 8. Dustin Clark (8)
Golden Eagle Distributors – Budweiser B main (started), 12 laps: 1. Tasker Phillips (1) 2. Clint Garner (3) 3. Cody Wehrle (5) 4. Tucker Daly (2) / 5. Steven Russell (4) 6. John Barnard (7) 7. McCain Richards (6) 8. Chase Richards (11) 9. Nick Guernsey (12) 10. TJ Haddy (10) 11. Cole Garner (12) 12. Alan Zoutte (13) 13. Riley Valentine (15) 14. Eric Wilke (9) 15. Nate Anderson (8) DNS – Skyler Daly, Aaron Ferch, Jonathan Hughes, Tanner Gebhardt
Avis Rent A Car/Budger Car Rental $50 Draw Award: Nick Guernsey
(Ashley Zimmerman Photo)