DONNELLSON, Iowa. (August 18, 2017) – Jamie Ball survived and won a feature that saw about everything when the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders visited the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa Friday night. It was the third career Sprint Invaders win for the Knoxville, Iowa native, who earned $1,500 aboard the White Lightning Motorsports #5J.
Josh Schneiderman shot out from the pole to lead early in the 25-lap feature. Ayrton Gennetten, making his first career Sprint Invaders start, settled into second, ahead of Cody Wehrle. Dustin Clark would spin with four laps in the book. Ball, who started sixth was into fourth by lap eight, and defending series’ champion, Chris Martin followed him into fifth.
The leaders entered lapped traffic on the ten circuit. When Schneiderman was hung up, Gennetten shot around him into the lead. The traffic was thick, and the two swapped the lead three times in three laps. Gennetten split a pair of lappers to take the advantage on lap 13.
Tim Moore would spin a lap later, clearing track ahead of the leaders. Gennetten led Schneiderman, Wehlre, Ball and Martin back to green. Schneiderman would dive in front of Gennetten in turn two when the green flag fell, taking the point. Ball moved into third.
A second spin by Moore in front of the leaders 17 laps in changed the complexion of the entire race. Schneiderman and Gennetten both tagged Moore and sustained enough damage to have to head pitside. Wehrle, who was running fourth was collected, as was Jarrod Schneiderman. Both restarted at the tail.
Ball inherited the lead, ahead of Martin, Paul Nienhiser, John Schulz and Brayden Gaylord. Nienhiser slid in front of Martin for second on the restart, while Gaylord moved by Schulz for fourth. As the leaders approached traffic again with four laps to go, Dave Getchell spun.
Ball would lead the final four laps, with Martin taking second back from Nienhiser with two to go. Jon Agan shot from sixth to fourth, and was followed by Gaylord. Schulz, hard-charger Ben Wagoner, Ryan Jamison, Harold Pohren and Jarood Schneiderman rounded out the top ten. Wehrle, Ball and Josh Schneiderman won heats. Ball also won the Dash.
“Sometimes I’d rather be lucky than good,” said Ball in Victory Lane. “Schneiderman and Gennetten were setting a good pace. I thought we had something for them in traffic, so I was biding my time. Sometimes you have to look a little further ahead than the guy in front of you and we were able to miss the 10T. That was a race of attrition, it may be the longest feature I’ve ever ran. This was a ‘man’s track’. The cushion was right up there on the fence. I was able to run the bottom, which I didn’t do well at the 360 Nationals. You learn something every night out and that helped us tonight.”
“There was a mess (the large crash), but we had a great race car,” said Martin. “We didn’t get ourselves good track position. We had to work for it all night. Paul is a great racer. It’s fun racing with him. We were able to get to second and I can’t thank my crew enough.”
“This Kinney engine ran really well,” said Nienhiser of his first ride aboard Scott Bonar’s #50. “Scott had a great car put together. It felt great all night long. I’m pretty pleased with it. We may have had a better car. I messed up as a driver and we fell back right away. It was a good first night, and we’re looking forward to going to 34 Raceway tomorrow where we’ve been good in the past.”
Shottenkirk.com A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (6) 2. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (11) 3. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (4) 4. 4, Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA (7) 5. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (8) 6. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (12) 7. 78, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (19) 8. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (15) 9. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (2) 10. 3G, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (9) 11. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (18) 12. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (5) 13. 1st, John Greenwood, Woodward, IA (13) 14. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (23) 15. 81, Tanner Gebhart, Burlington, IA (24) 16. 58, Andy Krieger, Burlington, IA (20) 17. 83, Dave Getchell, Sperry, IA (14) 18. 1, Damion Getchell, Sperry, IA (17) 19. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (16) 20. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (21) 21. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (1) 22. 3, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (3) 23. 10T, Tim Moore, Rock Island, IL (10) 24. 38, Mike Dapra, Gillette, WY (22). Lap Leaders: Jo. Schneiderman 1-10, Gennetten 11, Jo. Schneiderman 12, Gennetten 13-14, Jo. Schneiderman 15-17, Ball 18-25. KSE Hard-charger: Wagoner.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), Top two to Dash, 8 laps: 1. Cody Wehrle (3) 2. Paul Nienhiser (7) 3. Jon Agan (8) 4. Tim Moore (4) 5. John Greenwood (1) 6. Dustin Clark (5) 7. Ben Wagoner (6) 8. Mike Dapra (2)
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat two (started), Top two to Dash, 8 laps: 1. Jamie Ball (1) 2. Ayrton Gennetten (3) 3. Brayden Gaylord (4) 4. Chris Martin (6) 5. Dave Getchell (5) 6. Damion Getchell (7) 7. Andy Krieger (8) 8. Rob Weuve (2)
Mohrfeld Electric Heat three (started), Top two to Dash, 8 laps: 1. Josh Schneiderman (1) 2. Harold Pohren (2) 3. Jarrod Schneiderman (5) 4. John Schulz (7) 5. Ryan Jamison (6) 6. Daniel Bergquist (4) 7. Justin Buchholz (3) DNS – Tanner Gebhart
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Jamie Ball (1) 2. Josh Schneiderman (2) 3. Harold Pohren (3) 4. Ayrton Gennetten (4) 5. Paul Nienhiser (6) 6. Cody Wehrle (5)
Contingencies
Pyrotec – John Greenwood
Saldana Racing Products – Daniel Bergquist
Kreitz Oval Track Products – Tanner Gebhart