Bunch Gets First Career Win at Stuart
Stuart, IA (August 10) – A beautiful evening and some great side by side racing marked night twelve of the 2018 season at Stuart Speedway. Austin Luellen, Mitchell Bunch, Brandon Cox, Robert Stofer and Josh Gilman were the winners on Wyfeels Hybrids Seeds Night.
IMCA Northern SportMods were first up with Mitchell Morris and Hunter Longnecker on the front row. Morris led Austin Luellen and Longnecker over the first three laps until Luellen powered by to take the lead on lap four. A caution on lap ten along with a couple of subsequent restarts were the only thing slowing down Luellen as he went on to a dominating win. Morris finished in second with Longnecker third, David Schwartz fourth and Matt Webb fifth. Garrett Nelson and Luellen were the heat race winners.
Dean Richards and Mitchell Bunch led the IMCA Sport Compacts to the green flag next with Bunch pulling out to a large lead over Richards and Nathan Castellano. Lap eight saw James Moss come to a stop on the backstretch to bunch the field up, but Bunch was up to the task as he went on to his first career feature win. Thirteenth starting Cody Cleghorn finished in second with Curtis Miller third, Richards fourth and Castellano fifth. Hunter Patrick and Bunch were the heat race winners.
IMCA Hobby Stocks came out next with Nick Foster and Jack Phillips on the front row. Foster led lap one with Adam Ayers taking over on the second circuit. Ayers, Foster and Tommy Killen Jr were the top three through six laps until Brandon Cox found the high side and flew into second on lap seven. Ayers, who at one point looked to check out on the field, began to lose his lead in large chunks each lap as Cox stayed on the top. Lap ten saw Cox overtake Ayers for the lead and go on to the easy win. Ayers finished in second with Dylan Nelson third, Killen Jr fourth and Foster fifth. Korbin Nourse and Phillips were the heat race winners.
Robert Stofer and Cory Bushnell brought out the IMCA Stock Cars next with Stofer leading lap one. Josh Daniels and Bushnell fought it out for second as Stofer stretched a sizeable lead. That margin closed on lap eleven as a caution flew for James Carroll, but Stofer was up to the task as he led the rest of the way to pick up the win. Chris Pruitt won a hard fought battle for second with Cory Bushnell third, Daniels fourth and Brandon Pruitt fifth. Stofer and Daniels were the heat race winners.
IMCA Modifieds were the last feature on the track with Tony Hilgenberg and Matt Meinecke on the front row. Meinecke led the first two laps with Josh Gilman taking over the helm on lap three. Meinecke and Hilgenberg fought hard for second as they traded the runner up spot a couple of times through lap seven, but Clint Luellen changed all of that on lap eight as he jumped into second. Gilman had checked out by this point and went on to take the feature win. Luellen finished second with Jeff James third, Meinecke fourth and Scott Bash fifth. Hilgenberg was the heat race winner.
We’d like to thank all who came out to support the race track at our twelfth event of the year. Monday night, August 13 will see IMCA Monday Night Spotlight #2 at Stuart Speedway! This pilot program backed by IMCA.TV has picked up steam as a way to showcase weekly racetracks on a night most people would be at home. The ticket price is $5, Anne is selling hotdogs for $2 and if that isn’t enough to get you to the track you can watch the event live and free of charge on IMCA.TV’s Facebook page! Come see the Modifieds, SportMods and Hobby Stocks duke it out to be the second round of winners on a Monday night at Stuart! See you then!
Story by Josh Reynolds
Category: Iowa
