(Bill W) April 17, 2009 – Kaley Gharst emerged triumphant at the season opener for the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders with a win Friday night at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. The race served as a preliminary event in the 1st Annual Sprint Invaders Spring Nationals. Gharst was followed by Ryan Jamison, Matt Rogerson and Brian Brown. All are locked into Saturday night's finale paying $2,500 to the winner!
Pole-sitter Ben Wagoner led the first of twenty laps in the feature. Jamison overtook him on the second circuit and started to pull away from the pack. Meanwhile, Rogerson, who has captured more feature wins (five) than any other driver in Sprint Invaders history at 34 Raceway, had moved into third by lap seven, when Josh Schneiderman spun bringing out a caution.
Jamison led Gharst, Rogerson, Wagoner and Brown back to green flag racing on the restart. A lap later, Gharst went high to loop around Jamison for the point. Jamison stayed close to the leader on the dry surface, while Brown found his way by Wagoner and Rogerson to move into third.
With thirteen laps completed, when Mike Houseman Jr. spun, bringing out the final yellow flag of the event. Rogerson worked back by Brown for third to settle the final running order, while Gharst checked out on Jamison to secure his eighth career win with the Sprint Invaders. The 2007 series champion talked about the final restart. "The caution gave me an opportunity to move my wing back," he said. "I couldn't do it under green. We're glad to start the year with a win. We got here tonight and checked out the track. We threw a setup on it, and it worked."
Gharst's win came aboard Randy Plath's #14P, and was the first of his career at the 3/8 mile banked oval. Jamison talked about losing the lead after the restart. "The yellow was a bit of a hindrance for me. We were good on the bottom. We had a good lead at that point, and I think if it stayed green we could have held on. I think that it was better to be in second where Gharst was, than leading. I'm sure he was searching around a bit. Our main goal was to get locked in, and we did that."
Rogerson talked about his hard-charger honor, worth $125 courtesy of Donnie Hamilton. "I was able to go by a lot of guys by going through the middle there. They were either high or low, and slowing down when they hit the corners. I just sailed by them through the middle. Once I got by several of those guys, I hit the bottom. I think I can run a little lower than most guys here."
Behind Brown, 2008 series champion John Schulz rounded out the top five. Josh Higday, Bobby Mincer, who took the B, Jimmy Davies, Matt Sutton and Wagoner completed the top ten.
In a rare time trial show for the Sprint Invaders, Matt Sutton took $150, courtesy of Electric Rayz Tanning, for his quick time of 14.652 seconds. He was the only car in the fourteen second bracket. Gharst, Schneiderman and Brown won heats.
Results
Spring Nationals 20-lap Preliminary A main Finish (started): 1. 14P, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (5) 2. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (3) 3. 29, Matt Rogerson, Burlington, IA (12) 4. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (6) 5. 2, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (4) 6. 10, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (8) 7. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (15) 8. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka, IL (11) 9. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL (9) 10. 84, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (1) 11. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (10) 12. 4J, Justin Parrish, Oquawka, IL (2) 13. 7, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (16) 14. 40, Andy Huston, Roseville, IL (17) 15. Y2, Mike Houseman Jr., Des Moines, IA (18) 16. 53H, Matt Harms, Morton, IL (13) 17. 14, Tony Daniels, Galesburg, IL (14) 18. 80x, CJ Houseman, Norwalk, IA (19) 19. 83, Jim Moughan Jr., Springfield, IL (7) 20. 1PC, Pete Crall, DeSoto, KS (20) DNS - 29x, Russ Hall, Des Moines, IA. Lap Leaders: Wagoner 1, Jamison 2-7, Gharst 8-20. Hard Charger: Rogerson.
Golden Eagle Distributors/Budweiser Heat Race #1 winner: Ben Wagoner
HustonLand Improvement Heat Race #2 winner: Josh Schneiderman
Cole Implement Heat Race #3 winner: Brian Brown
Holtkamp's Trailer Repair B main winner: Bobby Mincer
Qualifying Results: 1. Matt Sutton, 14.652; 2. Dustin Selvage, 15.080; 3. Josh Higday, 15.106; 4. Jim Moughan Jr., 15.150; 5. Russ Hall, 15.165; 6. Brian Brown, 15.192; 7. Kaley Gharst, 15.287; 8. John Schulz, 15.362; 9. Ryan Jamison, 15.377; 10. Mike Houseman Jr., 15.382; 11. Bobby Mincer, 15.413; 12. Justin Parrish, 15.452; 13. Ben Wagoner, 15.569; 14. Josh Schneiderman, 15.644; 15. 12, Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO, 15.671; 16. Jimmy Davies, 15.731; 17. Matt Rogerson, 15.750; 18. 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA, 15.878; 19. 0, Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA, 15.989; 20. Matt Harms, 16.012; 21. Pete Crall, 16.068; 22. CJ Houseman, 16.250; 23. Andy Huston, 16.387; 24. Tony Daniels, 16.516.