9/22/07
Lee County Speedway
Donnellson, IA
Sprint Invaders
30 cars
Heat one (started): 1. Rusty Potter 3P (2) 2. Joe Beaver 53 (4) 3. Jarod Smith 24 (8) 4. Tyler Thompson 48 (6) / 5. Matt Harms 53H (7) 6. Charlie Gilpin Jr. 9G (5) 7. Mark Tischer 4m (3) 8. Daniel Avery 18A (1)
Potter led flag to flag in the 10 lapper. Smith was third after the completion of the first lap, and that's where he stayed. The top two heat finishers redrew for the feature.
Heat two (started): 1. Rager Phillips 14P (2) 2. Kaley Gharst 3* (6) 3. Nick Eastin 22x (3) 4. John Schulz 2 (4) / 5. Josh Schneiderman 49 (7) 6. Tim Moore 10T (8) 7. Brian Stansberry 70 (5) 8. Johnny Anderson 7a (1)
Anderson led early and was pulling away until he lost power on lap eight. That handed the lead to Phillips, who held off Gharst the rest of the way. Gharst had battled at the midway point with Eastin, as the two exchanged chops.
Heat three (started): 1. Dustin Selvage 7 (2) 2. Russ Hall 29x (4) 3. Korey Weyant 99w (3) 4. Matt Sutton 3 (6) / 5. Jeff Mitrisin 10 (7) 6. Lance Gullo 3G (1) 7. Scott Boles 4B (5)
Selvage dominated. Boles dropped out on lap nine. Mitrisin worked over Sutton late for the final transfer to no avail.
Heat four (started): 1. Jordan Goldesberry 65 (2) 2. Bobby Mincer 15 (3) 3. Bart Andrews 9x (4) 4. Donnie Steward 16s (7) / 5. Ryan Jamison 51J (6) 6. Justin Newberry 36 (5) 7. Jimmy Davies 99 (1)
Goldesberry led flag to flag despite late pressure from Mincer. Steward grabbed fifth from Jamison at the halfway point, and then got under Davies for the final transfer after starting on the tail.
Dash (started): 1. Phillips (2) 2. Schulz (4) 3. Mincer (8) 4. Weyant (1) 5. Sutton (5) 6. Schneiderman (3) 7. Jamison (7) 8. Gharst (6)
Phillips dominated the $1,000 to win Storm Steel Shake-up Challenge for cars who gained enough dash points during the year to qualify. Gharst elected to start at the rear and pulled off early, sparing his car for the feature.
B main (started): 1. Schneiderman (2) 2. Mitrisin (3) 3. Jamison (4) 4. Harms (1) / 5. Gullo (7) 6. Gilpin (5) 7. Boles (11) 8. Davies (12) 9. Tischer (9) 10. Avery (13) 11. Moore (6) 12. Newberry (8) 13. Stansberry (10) DNS – Anderson
Newberry got upside down before a lap could be completed. The incident also involved Stansberry and Moore. All three retired. Schneiderman led the non-stop 12 lapper for the distance. Mitrisin pressured him as he entered traffic, but he was able to hold the advantage.
A main (started): 1. Gharst (2) 2. Mincer (5) 3. Potter (6) 4. Hall (1) 5. Weyant (11) 6. Sutton (15) 7. Schulz (14) 8. Beaver (8) 9. Schneiderman (17) 10. Jamison (19) 11. Goldesberry (3) 12. Andrews (12) 13. Selvage (7) 14. Steward (16) 15. Thompson (13) 16. Eastin (10) 17. Harms (20) 18. Phillips (4) 19. Smith (9) 20. Mitrisin (18)
Hall paced the field early in the 25 lapper with Gharst in tow. As the pair neared lapped traffic on lap seven, Selvage spun, bringing a caution. Hall led Gharst, Mincer, Goldesberry, Potter and Phillips back to green flag racing. Mitrisin had charged from 18th to 9th. That's when his luck would end. On the restart, he contacted Smith, who was running 8th. Smith was into the wall and Mitrisin couldn't get a flat changed in time to continue. Hall was back in front during the green, but slipped high as rubber started to develop down low. The slip allowed Gharst to take a lead he would never relinquish. Twelve more laps were in the books when right rear tires started to pay the price of the abrasive track surface that finally succumbed to over 100 door slammers in support. The lap 20 victim was Phillips, who was running 7th. On the restart, a fourth running Goldesberry got slightly sideways in turn two, and Eastin made contact. Goldesberry's incident collected Steward. Gharst continued leading through lap 22, when Eastin bowed out of 4th with a flat, and Harms retired with the same woes. The three lap dash to the checkers would be led by Gharst ahead of Hall, Mincer, Weyant and Potter. Potter shot into a higher gear and quickly disposed of Weyant and Mincer with two to go. He then got around Hall coming for the white flag. A last ditch effort to overtake the leader got him high in turn two and he lost second to Mincer. Nonetheless, it was entertaining run out of nowhere. Gharst's 7th Sprint Invaders tally of the season sealed his title with the series. Sutton and Jamison drove by nine cars to share top passing honors.