Cooney Wins #200………..and #201 at Stuart

admin | August 5, 2014

Story by Josh Reynolds

Stuart, IA (August 3) – Todd Cooney was the man to beat, and the only car that could do it on this night was a Hobby Stock!! It was Jorgensen Hay Services Night at the Races and the winners for the evening were Todd Cooney (x2), Brian Blessington, Ty Luellen, Cody Cleghorn, Josh Gilman, Andy Forcht and Andrew Burg.

Before heat races started the IMCA Late Models came out to run their makeup feature from July 6 with Curtis Glover and Amanda O’Neal on the front row. Todd Cooney came from third to the lead in the first lap with Charlie McKenna following him through to second on lap two. Vic Lovejoy followed behind in third, but Cooney stayed strong and took home IMCA Late Model win number 200. McKenna finished second with Lovejoy third, Randy Foote fourth and Paul Conrad fifth.

Once heat races were completed the IMCA Stock Cars came to the track with Nyle Godwin and Scott Bailey showing the way. Godwin led the way for the first six laps until Terry Pruitt nosed out front on lap seven. Godwin made it back up front on lap nine, Pruitt on lap eleven, Godwin lap twelve and Pruitt for the next two circuits! All the while the wily veteran Brian Blessington was gaining ground, making it to second on lap thirteen and moving past Pruitt on lap fifteen. Blessington would stay strong and go on to the feature win, number 199 in the Stock Car class! Marcus Fagan snuck into second with Pruitt third, Godwin fourth and Chris Pruitt fifth. Fagan and Terry Pruitt were the heat race winners.

Jake McBirnie and Colton Nelson led the IMCA Northern SportMods to green with McBirnie holding the top spot through lap five. Lap six saw Ty Luellen take over with Kody Havens and Clint Luellen chasing him down. Clint would make it past Havens on lap eleven and make a final charge at the win. As the cars took the white flag Clint would swing high with Ty running in the middle. Clint stuck the top and made the move, but as they made it to turn four the car of Cody Werner spun in turn one, ending the race under a yellow checkered flag and giving the win to Ty Luellen. Clint Luellen finished second with Havens third, Matt Webb fourth and McBirnie fifth. Clint Luellen and Werner were the heat race winners.

IMCA Sport Compacts were up next with Jacob Reiter and Cody Cleghorn on the front row. Cleghorn took command early and never looked back in taking the feature win. Reiter and Lyle Oberhelman rounded out the field and Cleghorn was the heat race winner.

Father and son Ron and Scott Bash brought the IMCA Modifieds to green with Nick Roberts coming from fifth to lead lap one. Josh Gilman and Josh Most ran second and third to Roberts through lap fifteen until Gilman moved past to take the top spot the next time around. Most and Roberts made contact on lap seventeen, bringing out the caution. This gave the field one more shot at Gilman, but the 83G was too strong and went on to take the win. Luke Wanninger came up to take second with Cole Ferguson third, Devon Havlik fourth and Most fifth. Brandon Pruitt and Wanninger were the heat race winners.

Outlaw FWD’s came out next with Cody Cleghorn and Korbin Nourse on the front row. Andy Forcht came from third to take the lead and would go on to the easy feature win. Nourse ended in second with Cleghorn third, Kayla Nichols fourth and Lyle Oberhelman fifth. Forcht was the heat race winner.

Riley Songer and Troy Phillips brought out the IMCA Hobby Stocks next for their fifteen lap feature, and what a strange and entertaining one it would be! Derek Hodges led lap one with Buck Schafroth leading lap two. Schafroth bounced off the wall on the backstretch and into Jamie Schirm, stopping both cars in turn three. Schafroth changed a tire and got back in the race, but Schirm’s race was over. Hodges held the lead until the lights literally went out on lap five, bringing the caution out. After the yellow waved, the cars of Mike Pruitt and John Watson banged off of each other on the backstretch, coming to a rest before turn three. Both drivers would be done for the evening. Once the breakers cooled off and the lights came back on, Andrew Burg took the lead on lap six with Hodges and fourteenth starting Jason Fusselman running second and third. Burg would go on to take his first win of the year at SIS with Hodges second, Fusselman third, Shannon Anderson fourth and Andy Coffman fifth. Watson, Schirm and Anderson were the heat race winners.

IMCA Late Models were the last feature on the track with Bill Crimmins and Amanda O’Neal on the front row. O’Neal led till a lap four yellow with Randy Faux and Crimmins battling it out for second. Another yellow flew on lap five, this one for O’Neal as she spun out while leading. Crimmins inherited the lead, but Faux took it away for the next two laps. Todd Cooney worked the bottom of the track and took over on lap eight. One last caution on lap twelve set the stage for Randy Foote or Charlie McKenna to steal the win away, but Cooney was tough out front and went on to take the win. Foote was second with McKenna third, Al Zeitner fourth and Vic Lovejoy fifth. Foote and McKenna were the heat race winners.

The last event for the night was a match race between Jamie Songer in his Hobby Stock and Todd Cooney in his Late Model. Cooney spotted Songer 2 ½ laps in the twelve lap race. Cooney was able to make up the ½ lap, but that was all as Songer took the win in the race for charity. All proceeds went towards the charity of each driver’s choice, and fun was had by all. Now, Facebook can finally rest for a while.

We’d like to thank all who came out to support the race track at our ninth event of the year. Next week is Hawkeye Auto Salvage Night at the Races. This night will be a memorial race for our fallen friend Richard “Bones” Welch. We will have a $1000 to win “topless” IMCA Northern SportMod special along with Mod Lites and the last race of the season for the IMCA Late Models. See you then!

Late Models – Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown
1	9	30	Todd Cooney	Des Moines, Ia
2	7	37	Randy Foote	Stanton , Ia
3	8	22	Charles Mckenna	Clear Lake, Ia
4	10	76	Al Zeitner	Bellevue , Ne
5	6	2V	Vic Lovejoy	Audubon , Ia
6	4	11	Randy Faux	Earlham , Ia
7	1	35	Bill Crimmins	Fort Dodge, Ia
8	5	23	Paul Conrad	Colo , Ia
9	3	32	Curtis Glover	Des Moines, Ia
10	2	2A	Amanda O Neal	Council Bluffs, Ia

Modifieds – Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown
1	7	83G	Josh Gilman	Earlham , Ia
2	6	20	Luke Wanninger	Minburn , Ia
3	12	3F	Cole Ferguson	Dexter , Ia
4	9	5D	Devon Havlik	Iowa Falls, Ia
5	10	89	Josh Most	Red Oak, Ia
6	4	10B	Brandon Pruitt	Dexter , Ia
7	5	23JR	Nick Roberts	Des Moines, Ia
8	2	14B	Scott Bash	Windsor Heights, Ia
9	8	18	Jake Durbin	Perry , Ia
10	1	14	Ron Bash	Stuart , Ia
11	11	131S	Ed Seibert	Dexter , Ia
12	3	1F	Marcus Fagan	Adair , Ia
13	13	31R	Rex Parkison	Earlham , Ia

Stock Cars – Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown
1	8	92B	Brian Blessington	Breda , Ia
2	7	1F	Marcus Fagan	Adair , Ia
3	4	78P	Terry Pruitt	Dexter , Ia
4	3	11G	Nyle Godwin	Redfield , Ia
5	5	22	Chris Pruitt	Stuart , Ia
6	6	78	Jeff Anderson	Atlantic , Ia
7	10	1K	Tommy Killen	Des Moines, Ia
8	2	64	Scott Bailey	Carlisle , Ia
9	1	19	Brandon Bach	Des Moines, Ia	DNF
10	9	2C	Dana Cook	Coon Rapids, Ia	DNS

SportMods – Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown
1	7	32L	Ty Luellen	Minburn , Ia
2	9	3L	Clint Luellen	Minburn , Ia
3	6	99K	Kody Havens	Wiota , Ia
4	8	51X	Matt Webb	Des Moines, Ia
5	1	82	Jake Mcbirnie	Boone , Ia
6	5	30	Shawn Cooney	Des Moines, Ia
7	2	93N	Colton Nelson	Osceola , Ia
8	14	99RE	Arie Schouten	Blair , Ne
9	4	8CR	Chase Rudolf	Prole , Ia
10	11	42	Matt Hays	Stuart , Ia
11	13	39	Larry Embrey	Madrid , Ia
12	12	14	Daniel Latture	Omaha , Ne
13	10	21	Cody Werner	Clearfield , Ia
14	3	1	Kendall Davis	Des Moines, Ia	DNF

Hobby Stocks – Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown
1	7	78B	Andrew Burg	Adel , Ia
2	3	77	Derek Hodges	Des Moines, Ia
3	14	78BA	Jason Fusselman	Shelby , Ia
4	10	78	Shannon Anderson	Des Moines, Ia
5	13	77C	Andy Coffman	Des Moines, Ia
6	17	96R	Jamie Songer	Ankeny , Ia
7	12	T56	Tim Barber	Story City, Ia
8	1	42	Riley Songer	Ankeny , Ia
9	16	7P	Jordan Peters	Des Moines, Ia
10	2	66P	Troy Phillips	Prole , Ia
11	15	89R	Ryan Wells	Runnells , Ia
12	4	92	Buck Schafroth	Orient , Ia	DNF
13	8	3A	Austin Luellen	Minburn , Ia	DNF
14	5	5H	Andy Hick	Adel , Ia	DNF
15	9	92P	Michael Pruitt	Redfield , Ia	DNF
16	11	4W	John Watson	Des Moines, Ia	DNF
17	6	56	Jamie Schirm	Dexter , Ia	DNF

Spt Compact – Feature

Finish

Start

Car

Driver

Hometown

21ZC

Cody Cleghorn

Des Moines, Ia

43H

Jacob Reiter

Des Moines, Ia

M13

Lyle Oberhelman

Fort Dodge, Ia

DNF

6 cyl. FWD – Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown
1	3	17	Andy Forcht	Stuart , Ia
2	2	12	Korbin Nourse	Dexter , Ia
3	1	21ZC	Cody Cleghorn	Des Moines, Ia
4	4	7	Kayla Nichols	Des Moines, Ia
5	5	M13	Lyle Oberhelman	Fort Dodge, Ia