By Bill W
East Moline, IL, July 21, 2021 – Ayrton Gennetten captured his third career win with the Sprint Invaders Wednesday night at the East Moline Speedway in East Moline, Iowa during the Rock Island County Fair. The native of Gravois Mills, Missouri earned $2,000 for his victory aboard the Scott Bonar/Midland Performance #50.
After winning the Shottenkirk Automotive Shake-up Dash, Gennetten drew the pole for the 25-lap main event. Before a lap was completed, however, two incidents slowed things. Kaley Gharst suffered a mechanical breakdown stemming from a heat race incident in which he was collected by the machine of Rob Kubli, who had broken an axle. Gharst retired at that point.
Blaine Jamison was cruising on the cushion in one and two at the next try at green, when he contacted the right rear tire of another car and flipped hard in turn two. He was not seriously injured. Braydn Greubel also tipped over at the same time, but was not hurt. Josh Higday also exited.
Once the green flew, it flew for good, as all 25 laps went without incident. Gennetten shot out to his lead over Jonathan Cornell, Austin McCarl, Chris Martin and Tanner Gebhardt. He was into lapped traffic by the sixth circuit.
McCarl started gaining on Cornell and passed him on the low side in lapped traffic at the halfway point for the runner-up position. Gennetten and McCarl used the highest stretches of the high-banked quarter-mile to pull away from the field. Several times, both smacked the turn one and two wall.
McCarl closed late on Gennetten, but ran out of time, and settled for second. Cornell was third, ahead of Martin and Garret Williamson from row six. Josh Schneiderman, Gebhardt, Cody Wehrle, Colton Fisher and Kurt Mueller rounded out the top ten. Higday, Cornell and Martin were heat winners.
“I’ve been racing a lot with the Outlaws, and at a lot of different tracks night in and night out,” said Gennetten in Victory Lane. “It kind of helps me there, being able to adapt. This track reminds me of Double X (Speedway near California, Missouri). It’s where I started, and where I got my first win. It was super narrow in one and two, and on the wall. I love it like that. I didn’t know how big a lead I had, and the lapped cars were running different lines. I was trying to be patient, but set a good pace. I saw Austin down there with a slider, and I’m glad we didn’t have another lap. I wanted to move around some, but not too much. The momentum was the key to get the win.”
“I kind of felt like we needed more traffic to get Gennetten to move around,” said the second place McCarl. “He did a good job. Another good job by everyone here on the (Jimmy Davies) #99 car. We’re chipping away at a win here, and we’re slowly getting better. I needed (Gennetten) to make a mistake late there, and I was trying not to make them. He did a good job, and I felt we did everything we could do with what we had there at the end.”
“We have nothing to hang our heads about,” said Cornell. “I wish we could have been there with Austin and Ayrton at the end. The bottom was working for us early. I should have been a little more aggressive with the lapped cars. I got conservative and Austin got by me. I tried going up high. I cheated the cushion for a couple of laps and those guys just checked out. We’re happy with a podium finish tonight to go with our win last time.”
The next event for the Sprint Invaders will be Wednesday, July 21 at the Dubuque Speedway in Dubuque, Iowa. For more information on the Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com or look us up on Facebook.
Sprint Invaders A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 50, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (1) 2. 99, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (3) 3. 26, Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, MO (2) 4. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (4) 5. 24, Garret Williamson, Columbia, MO (11) 6. 88, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (12) 7. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (5) 8. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (7) 9. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (9) 10. 83, Kurt Mueller, Reynolds, IL (10) 11. 23K, Rob Kubli, Milo, IA (18) 12. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (13) 13. 11T, Dugan Thye, Burlington, IA (14) 14. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (15) 15. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (17) 16. 31P, Travis Porter, Rock Island, IL (21) 17. 10T, Tim Moore, Moline, IL (19) 18. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (6) 19. 51J, Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (8) 20. 99x, Braydn Greubel, Lacona, IA (20) 21. 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (16) DNS – 84K, Wayne Kniffen, Fort Madison, IA. Lap Leader: Gennetten 1-25. KSE/$75 Christine Wahl-Levitt Hard-charger: Kubli.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Josh Higday (1) 2. Ayrton Gennetten (4) 3. Colton Fisher (2) 4. Garret Williamson (5) 5. Wyatt Wilkerson (3) 6. Dugan Thye (6) 7. Tim Moore (7) DNS – Wayne Kniffen
Joshua Denning & Associates Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Jonathan Cornell (3) 2. Cody Wehrle (1) 3. Kurt Mueller (2) 4. Josh Schneiderman (4) 5. Daniel Bergquist (6) 6. Brayden Gaylord (7) 7. Braydn Greubel (5)
Mohrfeld Solar Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Chris Martin (1) 2. Austin McCarl (3) 3. Tanner Gebhardt (5) 4. Blaine Jamison (6) 5. Rob Kubli (2) 6. Kaley Gharst (7) 7. Travis Porter (4)
Shottenkirk Automotive Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Ayrton Gennetten (1) 2. Jonathan Cornell (2) 3. Austin McCarl (5) 4. Chris Martin (4) 5. Tanner Gebhardt (6) 6. Josh Higday (3)
Contingencies
MPD Racing: Josh Schneiderman
DMI: Cody Wehrle
Ti22: Daniel Bergquist
Saldana Racing Products: Tanner Gebhardt
CenPeCo $50 Mystery Spot: Braydn Greubel