From Bill Wright
Des Moines, IA — (May 18, 2016) — Ian Madsen was the class of the field Wednesday night with the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines. The St. Mary’s, New South Wales, Australia driver swept the night’s events by winning his heat, the Dash and the $1,500 feature in the KCP Racing #18. It was his second career Sprint Invaders win. His previous victory also came in Des Moines.
When the 25-lap feature went green, John Klabunde and Austin Johnson would bring out the caution flag in the first corner. On the next try, Chris Martin was penalized a row for jumping. Once the event finally went green for good, Matt Moro would lead Madsen and Jamie Ball from his pole position.
The leaders entered lapped traffic on the fifth circuit and Madsen went to work on the leader. He would stick the bottom to move to the point on lap six. When Nate Van Haaften spun with eight laps in the books, the restart saw Madsen leading Moro, Ball, Logan Forler and Cody Ledger back to green flag racing.
Forler moved into third shortly after the restart, but Madsen would pull away from the field. The rest of the feature went non-stop, with Madsen winning by more than a straightaway over Moro. Forler was third ahead of hard-charger Martin and Ball. Ledger, Austin Johnson back from the tail, Jon Agan, Jarrod Schneiderman and Ryan Bowers rounded out the top ten. Ball, Madsen and Moro won heat races, while Madsen also took the Shake-up Dash.
“It’s a really cool track,” said Madsen in Victory Lane. “We always have fun at the big fairgrounds. They are really cool to race on. I had an awesome racecar thanks to the whole KCP Racing team. (Matt Moro) was fast all night. I was kind of worried when he got out in front, but we were lucky enough to catch a break there in traffic.”
“Ian was just the class of the field tonight,” said Moro. “We had a great car. This was our first night on this car and motor. This is actually our backup stuff, and it was awful good. The track was great tonight. It had a lot of moisture and a nice big cushion. That made it fun. Jaymie Moyle builds one heck of an engine for us. It just thumps all the time. We’re happy. We haven’t had the best luck in the past here with the Sprint Invaders.”
“The bottom was really good in the three and four the whole race,” said the third running Forler. “The bottom of one and two was there at the beginning. Overall, it went well. We just had to start a long way back. It turned out o.k.”
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders next event will be Sunday, May 29 at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. For more information on the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com!
Results
Shottenkirk.com A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 18, Ian Madsen, St. Mary’s, NSW, Aust. (3) 2. 2m, Matt Moro, Polk City, IA (1) 3. 2L, Logan Forler, Boise, ID (7) 4. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (10) 5. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (4) 6. 35L, Cody Ledger, Omaha, NE (6) 7. 81, Austin Johnson, Pleasant Hill, IA (11) 8. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (9) 9. 3G, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (13) 10. 199, Ryan Bowers, Ham Lake, MN (2) 11. 77, John Klabunde, Fort Calhoun, NE (5) 12. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (8) 13. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (19) 14. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry, IA (15) 15. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (18) 16. 3, Nate Van Haaften, Otley, IA (16) 17. 10T, Tim Moore, Rock Island, IL (12) 18. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (20) 19. 58, Andy Krieger, Burlington, IA (17) 20. 85, Chase Wanner, Agency, IA (14) Lap Leaders: Moro 1-5, Madsen 6-25. KSE Hard-charger: Martin.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps, top two to Dash: 1. Jamie Ball (1) 2. Cody Ledger (2) 3. Logan Forler (5) 4. Chris Martin (6) 5. Jarrod Schneiderman (4) 6. Nate Van Haaften (7) 7. Harold Pohren (3)
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat two (started), 8 laps, top two to Dash: 1. Ian Madsen (2) 2. Ryan Bowers (4) 3. John Schulz (5) 4. Austin Johnson (7) 5. Chase Wanner (3) 6. Andy Krieger (1) 7. Rob Weuve (6)
Fraise Mowersports Heat three (started), 8 laps, top two to Dash: 1. Matt Moro (4) 2. John Klabunde (1) 3. Jon Agan (6) 4. Tim Moore (2) 5. Dave Getchell (5) 6. Justin Buchholz (3)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Ian Madsen (1) 2. Jamie Ball (2) 3. John Klabunde (3) 4. Cody Ledger (4) 5. Matt Moro (5) 6. Ryan Bowers (6)
5/19/16
Iowa State Fair Speedway
Des Moines, IA
17 305’s
Heat one (started): 1. Matt Moro 2m (3) 2. Tyler Drueke 12 (1) 3. Clint Benson 100 (5) 4. Jason Martin 5x (6) 5. Nathan Mills 24N (4) 6. Mike Dapra 38 (2)
Heats were six laps in distance, with the top four redrawing for their feature starting spot. Drueke led early with Moro in Pursuit. Matt would pass him for the win on lap three. Benson worked his way up to third nicely as well.
Heat two (started): 1. Tyler Thompson 48 (2) 2. Austin Johnson 81 (3) 3. Koddy Hildreth 12K (1) 4. Shayle Bade 03 (4) 5. RJ Johnson 53 (5) 6. Kyle Nelson 39 (6)
Hildreth led early, but Thompson tracked him down by lap two. A. Johnson followed Thompson by Hildreth on lap three to nail down second. Bade held off RJ Johnson for the final redraw spot.
Heat three (started): 1. Mike Houseman Jr. 4L (4) 2. Michael Johnston 14J (3) 3. Bob Hildreth 55KC (2) 4. Joe Miller 78 (5) 5. Brad Fopma 16 (1)
Houseman Jr. moved into the lead quickly and pulled away from the field. Fopma was making his first ever sprint start.
A main (started): 1. Martin (1) 2. Benson (2) 3. Thompson (3) 4. Houseman Jr. (8) 5. A. Johnson (11) 6. Johnston (4) 7. RJ Johnson (14) 8. Bade (10) 9. Miller (7) 10. Mills (13) 11. K. Hildreth (5) 12. Dapra (16) 13. Drueke (9) 14. Nelson (15) 15. Fopma (17) 16. B. Hildreth (6) 17. Moro (12)
Martin shot out to an early lead in the 15-lapper, but Thompson was up to the task and used the low side of one and two to grab the lead on lap two. Martin returned the favor on lap three, but the pass was negated when Moro tangled with B. Hildreth in turn four. Both drivers got upside down, but were o.k. Thompson and Martin battled again on the restart, but just one more lap was in the books when Nelson and Fopma came together and crashed in turn one. Both were uninjured. The restart saw Thompson leading Martin, Benson, Houseman Jr. and Johnston back to green. Thompson would lead five more laps before Martin would take command and behin pulling away. One more caution appeared for Drueke, who came to a stop on the front straight on lap 11 while running sixth. Benson would work by Thompson with two laps to go to claim second. Martin maintained his lead for a win worth $1,000.