by Bill Wright
Davenport, IA, May 9, 2025 – Paul Nienhiser notched another win with the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders Friday night at the Davenport (IA) Speedway. The 2024 Sprint Invaders’ champion had come close at the facility before but never recorded a win on the quarter-mile. The $2,000 score aboard Scott Bonar’s #50 was Paul’s 21st with the Sprint Invaders, putting him just one shy of Kaley Gharst’s record mark of 22 wins with the series.
Tasker Phillips dominated his heat and the Agriland FS Dash before storming out to the early lead in the 25-lap feature event, ahead of Nienhiser, Josh Schneiderman, Cody Wehrle and Jake Blackhurst. Terry McCarl shot from his starting spot inside row six to the top five by the second circuit. Wehrle claimed third from Schndierman on lap four.
On lap five, Phillips shot over turns one and two, re-emerging on the backstretch, having lost his lead to Nienhiser. Six laps later, McCarl used the low side to pass Schneiderman. Riley Scott spun to bring the first caution of the event on lap 14. Nienhiser led Phillips, Wehrle, McCarl and Schneiderman back to green. The restart saw Wehrle slow to a stop, surrendering his third place run. McCarl was deemed to have jumped the start and was penalized one spot, setting up a final restart with 11 laps to go that saw Nienhiser ahead of Phillips, Schneiderman, McCarl and Goodno.
McCarl quickly moved into third, with Goodno following into fourth. Goodno would pass McCarl for third on lap 15. Nienhiser was into lapped traffic with four laps to go. McCarl disposed of Goodno on lap 22 for third, and began reeling in Phillips.
Nienhiser diced through traffic to the win, while McCarl got a run on Phillips and took second at the finish. Goodno was fourth, and Schneiderman was fifth. Dustin Clark, Jake Blackhurst, Cam Martin, Garrett Benson and Colton Fisher rounded out the top ten. Phillips, Schneiderman, and Blackhurst were the heat winners, while Phillips took the Dash.
“This is a track that always has got away from us,” said Nienhiser. “We’ve finished second here quite a bit. I felt like there were a couple that I gave away. I did what I could not to make any mistakes there. I never feel great here. I don’t feel like I get down the straightaways for whatever reason. I don’t know if it’s the shape of the racetrack or what, but Scott (Bonar) is always working hard trying to figure something out for me. I was happy to check off a win at a track we haven’t won at in front of a great crowd. I feel like I had a really maneuverable racecar. I feel like there’s guys who are sometimes making better clean air speed that we are, but we were good in traffic.”
“Early on, I stared on the bottom and everyone was finding their way,” said McCarl. “The track was rough in spots. There was some pretty good juice in one and two in the middle. On exit, you really had to hold onto the car. We wanted to get what we could and I think we got to fifth pretty quickly. Then we had to move up, and I was mad at myself for not moving up sooner. It was a really fun racetrack. It wasn’t just flat out, drive around the cushion. It was treacherous in spots, and really slick in spots. I found a spot driving off the front straightaway. There was moisture out there, that I noticed when we were lining up. Me and (Nienhiser) were kind of cleaning it off on the first yellow flag. About halfway down, there was some juice, and it would launch me into one and two. That was kind of the key to making that speed towards the end.”
“The two times I’ve been here, I’ve been over the top,” joked Phillips of the fifth lap. “There’s a half-mile track here on the outside, and I have to visit it at least once when I’m here. We were happy to just finish. I think that’s the second one we’ve finished all year (the other was at Knoxville Raceway). The track really slicked off, and we’re really good when it’s heavy. I have to learn how to run it when it slicks off. The car was really fast, but the bumps were really upsetting (the car). I just didn’t quite have a handle on it. We were right there with two of the best around, so nothing to hang our head about. After flying off the track, we were just about finishing for once.”
The Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders head to CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction, Iowa on Friday, May 16. For more information on the Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.net or visit us on Facebook.
Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders Results
Alchemy Skin & Health A main (started), 25 laps: 1. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (2) 2. 24, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (11) 3. 1TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (1) 4. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (9) 5. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (3) 6. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (13) 7. 99, Jake Blackhurst, Hanna City, IL (4) 8. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (14) 9. 2B, Garrett Benson, Concordia, MO (10) 10. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (8) 11. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (7) 12. 57, Cam Sorrels, Hallsville, MO (16) 13. 23, Devon Dobie, Wapakoneta, OH (17) 14. 28, Luke Verardi, Illiopolis, IL (19) 15. 88, Brogan Carder, Sioux Falls, SD (15) 16. 52D, Skyler Daly, Hallsville, MO (21) 17. 83, Kurt Mueller, Reynolds, IL (18) 18. 88x, Riley Scott, Quincy, IL (20) 19. 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA (22) 20. 99D, Tucker Daly, Hallsville, MO (12) 21. 15JR, Cole Mincer, Burlington, IA (6) 22. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (5) Lap Leaders: Phillips 1-4, Nienhiser 5-25. $75 Christine Wahl-Levitt/KSE Hard-charger: McCarl.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started, *qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Tasker Phillips (1*) 2. Riley Goodno (2*) 3. Garrett Benson (4*) 4. Brogan Carder (3*) 5. Terry McCarl (8*) 6. Cam Martin (9*) 7. Devon Dobie (7) 8. McCain Richards (6) 9. 71, Nathan Murders, Burlington, IA (5)
Dennis Woodworth, Attorney at Law Heat two (started, *qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Josh Schneiderman (2*) 2. Cole Mincer (4*) 3. Paul Nienhiser (7*) 4. Dustin Clark (5*) 5. Cam Sorrels (6*) 6. Luke Verardi (8) 7. 7G, Jackson Gray, Ankeny, IA (3) 8. Riley Scott (1) 9. 7B, Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA (9)
Morning Sun Farm Implement Heat three (started, *qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Jake Blackhurst (4*) 2 .Tanner Gebhardt (3*) 3. Cody Wehrle (6*) 4. Colton Fisher (7*) 5. Tucker Daly (8*) 6. Kurt Mueller (1) 7. Skyler Daly (2) 8. 25Y, Brett Yeager, Coal Valley, IL (9) 9. 51J, Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (5)
Agriland FS Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Tasker Phillips (1) 2. Paul Nienhiser (2) 3. Josh Schneiderman (3) 4. Jake Blackhurst (6) 5. Cody Wehrle (5) 6. Cole Mincer (4)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors B main (started), 12 laps: 1. Devon Dobie (2) 2. Kurt Mueller (3) 3. Luke Verardi (1) 4. Riley Scott (8) 5. Skyler Daly (5) 6. McCain Richards (6) / 7. Nathan Murders (9) 8. Blaine Jamison (10) 9. Nick Guernsey (7) 10. Brett Yeager (11) 11. Jackson Gray (4)
Contingency Award Winners
DMI – Colton Fisher
Saldana Racing Products – Jake Blackhurst
King Racing – Riley Goodno
BR Motorsports – Cam Sorrels
Rod End Supply – Riley Scott, Tanner Gebhardt, Skyler Daly
BMRS – Jake Blackhurst