6.29.19 Sprint Invaders Results
West Burlington, IA – After losing the first five events on the 2019 Sprint Invaders schedule to weather, including two at 34 Raceway, the 3/8-mile speedplant west of Burlington made up one of those on Saturday night with a nice field of twenty-five drivers signed in. The roster included Kaley Gharst, the all-time wins leader with the Invaders who tonight would be the guest driver in the Midland Performance #50 and it looked like he would add another win to his total until misfortune struck late in the main event.
John Schulz and Matt Krieger, who is subbing for the injured Ryan Jamison, would start from the front row in the twenty-five lap headliner and it would be the cagey veteran Schulz taking the early advantage. Gharst was on the move from his sixth starting spot and on lap six he would drive under Schulz in turns three and four to take the lead.
The first caution of the event would wave on lap nine for Blaine Jamison’s spin in turn one and on the restart both Gharst and Schulz would drive away from the field. The yellow was needed again on lap fourteen when Dustin Selvage spun off the top side of turn two and on this restart Schulz tried to slide Gharst into turn one. Kaley shrugged it off though and again opened up a lead until lap nineteen when his drive line let loose causing him to spin the car into the infield just before getting into turn three.
That would put Schulz back on the point for the restart, but when his car loaded up a bit taking the green Carson McCarl had a run to the outside while the third driver in line, Brayden Gaylord threw a slider at both of them heading into turn one. Schulz was able to get his Jimmy Davies Racing, Automotive Machine sponsored #99 to spring back to life in time to duck back under Gaylord coming off turn two and Schulz would lead the tight pack down the back stretch.
McCarl would do his best to keep pace in hopes of mounting a late challenge, but there was no staying with Schulz who scored the win worth $2,000 tonight with the extra $500 coming from Shottenkirk.com. McCarl held off Gaylord to take the runner-up spot, Josh Schnedierman advanced from tenth to fourth and Colton Fisher impressed with a top-five finish. The youngster from Mediapolis, Fisher charged from sixteenth to sixth in the first nine laps and even made his way up to third late in the event. Jon Agan had a wild night coming back from two trips over the top of the banking in turns one and two to finish in the sixth position. The B-Main winner Tanner Gebhardt was seventh after starting fifteenth, Daniel Bergquist was eighth, Selvage came back to take ninth and Harold Pohren filled out the top ten.
The night got off to a scary start when Josh Higday went for a high flying nose to tail and then again and again and again flip off the top of turn one at the start of the first heat race. Despite the wild ride, Higday was quickly out of the Kevin Hetrick owned #35 uninjured.
Next up for the Sprint Invaders will be a pair of county fair dates in July. On Thursday the 11th the Lee County Fair and the Pepsi Lee County Speedway will feature the Invaders and then on Wednesday the 24th the Invaders return to the Dubuque County Fair in Dubuque.
Results
A-Main – 1. John Schulz, West Burlington; 2. Carson McCarl, Altoona; 3. Brayden Gaylord, Wever; 4. Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington; 5. Colton Fisher, Mediapolis; 6. Jon Agan, Knoxville; 7. Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington; 8. Daniel Bergquist, Burlington; 9. Dustin Selvage, Indianola; 10. Harold Pohren, Lowell; 11. Justin Bucholz, Davenport; 12. Dave Getchell, Sperry; 13. Cody Wehrle, Burlington; 14. Jonathan Hughes, Knoxville; 15. Kaley Gharst, Decatur IL; 16. Matt Krieger, Burlington; 17. Mason Campbell, New Berlin IL; 18. Richard Nelson, Cascade; 19. Justin Parrish, Oquawka IL; 20. Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis
Randall’s Performance 1st Heat – 1. Gaylord; 2. Schulz; 3. Gharst; 4. Agan; 5. Bergquist; 6. Wehrle; 7. Fisher; 8. Nelson; 9. Josh Higday, Des Moines
Cen-Pe-Co Lubricants 2nd Heat – 1. McCarl; 2. Krieger; 3. Selvage; 4. Schneiderman; 5. Hughes; 6. Campbell; 7. Nelson; 8. Travis Pence, Stronghurst IL
Midland Performance 3rd Heat – 1. Pohren; 2. Kurt Mueller, Reynolds IL 3. Parrish; 4. Jamison; 5. Bucholz; 6. Noah Samuel, Burlington; 7. Damian Getchell, Sperry; 8. Gebhardt
Budweiser Shake-Up Dash – 1. McCarl; 2. Schulz; 3. Krieger; 4. Pohren; 5. Gaylord; 6. Mueller
B-Main – 1. Gebhardt; 2. Fisher; 3. Wehrle; 4. Campbell; 5. Dave Getchell; 6. Nelson; 7. Pence; 8. Samuel; 9. Damian Getchell; DNS – Higday
Contingencies:
Kreitz – Matt Krieger
Pyrotec – Richard Nelson
Saldana – Cody Wehrle
Next Event – Thursday, July 11th, Pepsi Lee County Speedway, Donnellson IA