From Jeff Broeg
DAVENPORT, Iowa (June 23, 2023) — Making his first ever appearance at the Davenport Speedway on Friday night, Scott Bogucki left with a very good impression of the place after scoring a clean sweep of the Sprint Invaders at the wide and banked quarter-mile oval. The driver from Mclaren Vale South Australia ran away with the opening heat race of the night after starting from the front row and then prevailed in two spirited duels with Paul Nienheiser to clinch the perfect night.
That first battle with Nienheiser would come in the Fastway Fabrication Shake-Up Dash that saw more passes for position than perhaps any other six car, six lap Sprint Car race fans will ever see highlighted by the back-and-forth battle between Bogucki and Nienheiser for the win. When the “Junior Invader” fan pulled his favorite box of candy from the tray though, it would have a “6” on it putting Bogucki on the third row outside and Nienheiser on the outside of row one for the twenty-five lap main event after Ryan Bunton nipped Paul at the line for second.
In the evening’s headliner it would be Nienheiser setting a quick early pace that Bunton would try to maintain while both Bogucki and the two-time former Sprint Invaders champion Chris Martin were making their way toward the front on a freshly reworked surface that allowed drivers to choose from multiple racing lines. A caution on lap eleven for Kurt Mueller who had stopped on the apron entering turn three would slow the field and, while under caution, young Cam Martin would see his best performance yet with the Invaders come to an early end due to a left rear tire going flat. The two-time champ’s younger brother, Cam had made the Dash earlier in the night and was running fourth before having to call it a night.
On the restart Bogucki would pick up the challenge on Nienheiser for second and, just as they had done in the Dash, they would swap lines and the lead a couple of times within a lap until Bogucki was first scored as the leader on lap fourteen. Just after that lead change the final caution of the night would wave for Dustin Clark who had slid off the track at the entrance of turn and it would now be Bogucki bringing the field back to green.
Once back to green the elder Martin would slip off the top of turn one while running third taking him out of contention. Nienhesier would stay within ten car lengths of the leader as the laps wound down and when Bogucki used his patience with a lapped car in the final three circuits, that allowed Nienheiser to take a look, especially at the exit of turn four. The third-place car of Tasker Phillips was closing fast as well, but the Aussie veteran was smooth after taking the white flag and would not allow a last lap effort from his challengers in taking the victory. Nienheiser would extend his series point lead through three events as the runner-up and when Phillips slipped off the top of turn four on the final lap that allowed Colton Fisher to complete an impressive drive from fifteenth to third. Phillips recovered to finish fourth while Bunton held on for a top five showing.
An impressive field of twenty-seven drivers were in attendance on night one of this doubleheader weekend with a trip to the Spoon River Speedway next up on Saturday. It will be the first visit to the track that sits a few miles south of Canton, Illinois, for the Sprint Invaders since 2009. And there will be two more events coming next weekend on a pair of quarter-mile bullrings with the Jacksonville Speedway on Friday June 30th and the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, Iowa, on Sunday July 2nd.
Sprint Invaders Association
Davenport Speedway
Davenport, Iowa
Friday, June 23, 2023
Fastway Dash #1 (6 Laps)
1. 84-Scott Bogucki[4]
2. 6R-Ryan Bunton[3]
3. 50-Paul Nienhiser[5]
4. 4-Cameron Martin[6]
5. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[1]
6. 6-Dustin Selvage[2]
Randalls Performance Accessories Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 84-Scott Bogucki[2]
2. 44-Chris Martin[1]
3. 6R-Ryan Bunton[7]
4. 4-Cameron Martin[8]
5. 11-Colton Fisher[5]
6. 28-Luke Verardi[3]
7. 14-Randy Martin[4]
8. 51J-Ryan Jamison[9]
9. 31-McCain Richards[6]
Josh Denning Assoc Ameriprise Financial Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 6-Dustin Selvage[5]
2. 50-Paul Nienhiser[4]
3. 6A-Alex VanderVoort[1]
4. 81-Tanner Gebhardt[7]
5. 1E-Josh Higday[8]
6. 83-Kurt Mueller[6]
7. 7B-Nick Guernsey[3]
8. 4X-Chase Richards[2]
DNS: 357-Ryan Edwards
Mohrfeld Solar Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[8]
2. 2A-Austin Archdale[3]
3. 40C-Cody Wehrle[5]
4. 16-Dustin Clark[2]
5. 7-Tyler Lee[7]
6. 99-Bret Tripplett[4]
7. 1K-Kelby Watt[6]
8. 21-Devin Wignall[1]
9. 25Y-Brett Yeager[9]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 99-Bret Tripplett[1]
2. 28-Luke Verardi[2]
3. 14-Randy Martin[5]
4. 1K-Kelby Watt[3]
5. 21-Devin Wignall[8]
6. 31-McCain Richards[9]
7. 51J-Ryan Jamison[4]
8. 4X-Chase Richards[7]
9. 25Y-Brett Yeager[11]
10. 7B-Nick Guernsey[6]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 84-Scott Bogucki[6]
2. 50-Paul Nienhiser[2]
3. 11-Colton Fisher[15]
4. 7TAZ-Tasker Phillips[4]
5. 6R-Ryan Bunton[1]
6. 81-Tanner Gebhardt[9]
7. 40C-Cody Wehrle[8]
8. 99-Bret Tripplett[17]
9. 6-Dustin Selvage[5]
10. 21-Devin Wignall[21]
11. 7-Tyler Lee[13]
12. 1K-Kelby Watt[20]
13. 28-Luke Verardi[18]
14. 1E-Josh Higday[11]
15. 6A-Alex VanderVoort[12]
16. 44-Chris Martin[10]
17. 16-Dustin Clark[14]
18. 4-Cameron Martin[3]
19. 83-Kurt Mueller[16]
20. 14-Randy Martin[19]
21. 2A-Austin Archdale[7]