By Bill W
Quincy, IL, September 16, 2018 – Joe B. Miller made a charge through the field and passed race-long leader, Paul Nienhiser on the white flag lap to capture his first ever Sprint Invaders win Sunday night at Quincy Raceways in Illinois. The win came aboard his own #51B and was worth $1,500.
Nienhiser led current series point leader, Cody Wehrle and Josh Schneiderman early in the 25-lap feature. Just one lap was in the books when JC Bland spun, bringing a caution. Rob Weuve and Harold Pohren brought out another yellow on the ensuing restart. Three more laps were counted before Harold Pohren slapped the turn four wall, bringing what would be the final slowdown of the race.
At the time, Nienhiser led Wehrle, Schneiderman, Dustin Barks and Jarrod Schneiderman back to green. Miller was on the move from row five. He maneuvered into the top five on the fifth lap and grabbed fourth on lap seven.
Up front, Nienhiser was entering lapped traffic on the ninth circuit. In heavy lapped traffic, Miller’s car was able to maneuver anywhere, but he had the middle to low side working best. With ten laps to go, he eased by Josh Schneiderman for third, before setting his sights on Wehrle.
He continued to dissect traffic and passed Wehrle for second with five laps to go. Miller slowly tracked down Nienhiser, and showed his nose with three to go. Coming for the white flag, he slide under him in three and four, and the two were neck and neck passing the flag stand. Heading into turn one, Miller slid across Nienhiser’s nose to take the lead.
He would pull away from there, winning over Nienhiser, Wehrle, Josh Schneiderman and Jarrod Schneiderman. Justin Buchholz, hard-charger Kaley Gharst, John Schulz, Barks and Brayden Gaylord rounded out the top ten. Josh Schneiderman, Wehrle and Buchholz won heats, while Dustin Adams claimed the Dash.
“We could really roll anywhere we needed to,” said Miller, who also won the MOWA Herb Barlow Memorial in Jacksonville, Illinois Friday. “We could go middle, bottom and top…especially when we needed to make up some ground. We were able to keep our momentum up on the top and pass them through the middle. There were a few lapped cars that we had to tiptoe around up on the lip. That was treacherous, but we were able to make it through. I saw the scoreboard when I could see Paul and we had four to go. I think I slid him into one on the white flag lap and I didn’t have enough. I was able to get him in three and we made it around to the checkers first.”
“We were pretty good,” said Nienhiser, who won a last lap race of his own on Saturday night at MOWA’s Tom Knowles Memorial at the Spoon River Speedway. “Scotty (Bonar) really had this thing tuned up. I hope he doesn’t give up on me, because I know we can win races together. We were good. I got there in lapped traffic and thought I felt some rubber about three-quarters of the way up. I stayed there and tried to pace myself and not miss that. And then, with two to go, Joe B. was sticking the bottom. I don’t know how he was doing it, but he had a good car and got by us obviously. I tried to make a last ditch block off of four, but it just didn’t work out.”
“We had a little excitement early,” said Wehrle. “We had our right front brake caliper fall off in hot laps. That put a rush on everything, but we got it fixed and got back out there. I always kind of like the nights that we rush around. It doesn’t give me much time to think, which is good. We haven’t run the best here in the past, so it was good to have a decent night. They said we passed a lot of (lapped) cars, but I couldn’t tell you how many there were or how we did it. I can tell you everything the two leaders did though. I think that’s a good thing.”
The Sprint Invaders season will conclude with the “Fall Haul” at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa Friday, September 28 and Saturday, September 29. Both nights will feature complete shows, with Friday paying $2,000 to win, and Saturday’s feature paying $3,400 to win! For more information on the Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Sprint Invaders A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 51B, Joe B. Miller, Millersville, MO (9) 2. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (1) 3. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (2) 4. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (4) 5. 88, Jarrod Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (7) 6. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (3) 7. 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (14) 8. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (8) 9. 22, Dustin Barks, Farmington, MO (5) 10. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (11) 11. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (10) 12. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (12) 13. 0, Dustin Adams, St. Louis, MO (6) 14. 11AZ, Colten Fischer, Muscatine, IA (17) 15. 4, Bailey Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (20) 16. 1st, John Greenwood, Woodward, IA (16) 17. 007, Brady Barker, New Berlin, IL (21) 18. 2A, Austin Archdale, Brimfield, IL (19) 19. 2D, Dave Keperling, Hannibal, MO (22) 20. 98, JC Bland, Springfield, IL (15) 21. 19, Rob Weuve, Oakland Acres, IA (13) 22. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (18). Lap Leaders: Nienhiser 1-24, Miller 25. KSE Hard-charger: Goldesberry. Hard-charger: Miller.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Josh Schneiderman (1) 2. Paul Nienhiser (3) 3. John Schulz (5) 4. Joe B. Miller (7) 5. Kaley Gharst (4) 6. Colten Fischer (2) 7. Harold Pohren (6) 8. Dave Keperling (8)
CenPeCo Lubricants Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Cody Wehrle (2) 2. Dustin Barks (4) 3. Tanner Gebhardt (5) 4. Brayden Gaylord (7) 5. Daniel Bergquist (6) 6. Austin Archdale (1) 7. Brady Barker (3)
Mohrfeld Electric Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Justin Buchholz (2) 2. Jarrod Schneiderman (4) 3. Dustin Adams (7) 4. Rob Weuve (1) 5. JC Bland (3) 6. John Greenwood (5) 7. Bailey Goldesberry (6)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Dustin Adams (1) 2. Paul Nienhiser (4) 3. Cody Wehrle (2) 4. Justin Buchholz (3) 5. Josh Schneiderman (6) 6. Dustin Barks (5)
Contingencies
Pyrotec – Rob Weuve
Saldana Racing Products – Brayden Gaylord
Kreitz Oval Track Products – John Greenwood