Hinton Gets Birthday Win
Stuart, IA (May 31) – After yet another week of wet weather the racing was back on as a picture perfect night led to some unbelievable action at the bullring! Winners for Town and Country Insurance Night at the Races were Jerry Hinton, Casey Greubel, Dean Richards, Austin Luellen and Josh Gilman.
IMCA Northern SportMods were up first with Colton Nelson and Arie Schouten on the front row. Nelson took control early with Schouten, Shawn Cooney and Kody Havens taking turns in second. Jerry Hinton moved steadily through the field from his seventh starting spot into third on lap five. Hinton would go from third to first on lap eight when Nelson slid up into the outside wall in turn one. Havens gave chase, but it was to no avail as Hinton stayed strong and went on to the win, on his birthday nonetheless! Havens finished second, and Clint Luellen came back from a lap one spin to finish third. Shawn Cooney and Chase Rudolf rounded out the top five, and the heat winners were Hinton and Luellen.
Bryan Snell and Ben Walding brought out the IMCA Stock Cars next for their twenty lap feature. Walding held the lead until lap ten when Brandon Pruitt took the point. Casey Greubel took the lead on lap eleven with Pruitt grabbing it back on lap thirteen just before a yellow came out. The next seven laps were some of the most exciting we’ve seen in the short season with Greubel, Pruitt and Marcus Fagan battling for the win! Greubel took everyone’s best shot and held on for his first win in the Stock Car class! Fagan finished second, Josh Daniels third, Pruitt fourth and Brian Blessington fifth. Derrick Rohe and Daniels were the heat race winners.
IMCA Sport Compacts came to the track next with Curtis Miller and Randy Rush on the front row. Miller led the first three laps till his front suspension came apart and he came to a stop in turn two. That handed the lead to Dean Richards and he would take that lead all the way to the checkered flag to take the win. Dean’s son, Logan, took second with Jacob Peters third, Sabrina Killen fourth and Rush fifth. Miller was the heat race winner.
Korbin Nourse and Jordan Peters led the IMCA Hobby Stocks to green next with Peters leading the first three laps. Cory Adams took over on lap four, but that lead was short lived as Austin Luellen swept around the top side in turn four to take over on lap five. Jamie Schirm moved past Adams on lap seven and set out to track down Luellen, but it was not to be as Luellen went on to the win, his second in two races. Schirm settled for second with John Watson third, Buck Schafroth fourth and Adams fifth. Andy Hick, Watson and Luellen were the heat race winners.
IMCA Modifieds were our last race for the evening with Cole Ferguson and Jake Durbin on the front row. After a couple of attempts at going green, Ferguson took the top spot early with Josh Gilman hot on his heels. Gilman made the pass for the lead on lap five and held it over first Ferguson and then Jeff James. A yellow with two laps to go set up a dash to the checkers, and what a dash it would be! The race wasn’t for the lead as Gilman had that in hand, but for second between James, Luke Wanninger and Shane Demey! Gilman would go on to the win with Wanninger, from his eighteenth starting spot, taking second. Demey took third on the last lap from James and Jeff Joldersma finished fifth. Ferguson, Durbin and James were the heat race winners.
We’d like to thank all who came out to support the race track at our second event of the year. Next week is Roy Sargent Building Night at the races where we will have the IMCA Late Models in addition to our five weekly classes. The following week will be the rescheduled 15th annual Ron Little/Bones Memorial in addition to the Stew Hansen Dodge Stock Car Shootout. We will honor two great men on this night, and with this being TWO of our crown jewels for the season you won’t want to miss it! We will have our regular classes along with Mod Lites, and it will be a draw/redraw format for all classes. The Modifieds will be $1000 to win and that makes this race a Fastshafts All-Star Qualifier. The Stock Cars will ALSO be $1000 to win! I’ll say it again, YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS SHOW!!! See you then!
Story by Josh Reynolds
Category: Iowa, Stuart Speedway
