Fagan Wins Stew Hansen Dodge Stock Car Shootout at Stuart Speedway

Story by Josh Reynolds

Stuart, IA (June 15) – The sun was shining and the cars were flying as night number five of the season arrived at Stuart Speedway. Cody Cleghorn, Clint Luellen, Cole Ferguson, Shannon Anderson and Marcus Fagan took home the hardware on Stew Hansen Dodge Night at the Races.

IMCA Sport Compacts were the first feature on the track with Dean Richards and Cody Cleghorn on the front row. Cleghorn took command on lap one and never faltered in taking the win. Richards finished second with Shannon Mahlberg third, Logan Richards fourth and Brandon Patava fifth. Cleghorn was also the heat race winner.

Colton Nelson and Shawn Cooney brought out the IMCA Northern SportMods next for their fifteen lap feature. Nelson would lead lap one, but Brandon Williams took over on lap two with Clint Luellen passing Nelson for second on lap three. Luellen gave chase high and low and finally took over the lead on lap ten. Williams tried everything he had, but Luellen was too strong and went on to take the win. Williams took second with Jerry Hinton third, Nelson fourth and Cooney fifth. Nelson was the heat race winner.

IMCA Modifieds came out next with Rex Parkison and Marcus Fagan on the front row. Fagan took control with Cole Ferguson and Josh Gilman giving chase. Ferguson moved alongside Fagan a few times, finally taking the top spot on lap eight. Luke Wanninger moved into second on lap eleven, and wasted no time in passing Ferguson a lap later for the lead. The caution flag waved on lap fourteen and as the cars were getting lined up Wanninger pulled to the work area with a flat tire. This set up quite a finish with Ferguson out front with Randy Havlik, Brandon Pruitt and Josh Gilman in tow for the restart. Two laps later the yellow flew again, leaving Ferguson four laps from his first ever Modified win. Once the cars got going again, Ferguson showed his muscle on the bottom while pulling away from the field. After taking the white flag, two cars spun going into turn one and that brought the yellow-checkered out. Ferguson took home that first win with Gilman second, Havlik third, Nick Roberts fourth and Pruitt fifth. Fagan and Ferguson were the heat race winners.

Korbin Nourse and Dean Richards led the 6 Cylinder FWD’s to green with Richards holding the lead on lap one. Richards kept the top spot until Cody Cleghorn moved by on lap five. Cleghorn would go on to the win with Richards second, James Hawxby third, Shannon Mahlberg fourth and Jamie Coady fifth. Cleghorn was also the heat race winner, giving him four wins on the night!

IMCA Hobby Stocks were up next with Aaron Rudolph and Derek Hodges showing the way. Rudolph would lead until the caution waved on lap three. Shannon Anderson played the restart perfectly and took over the top spot on lap four with Jamie Schirm moving into second the next lap. Anderson was strong at the front until another yellow slowed the field on lap thirteen, setting up a two lap dash for the win. Anderson would power his way to the victory, and Mike Pruitt made the most of the last restart, moving past Schirm to take second. Schirm settled for third with Rudolph fourth and Dusty Van Horn fifth. Chad LeGere, Hodges and Austin Luellen were the heat race winners.

The last event for the night would be the third annual Stew Hansen Dodge Stock Car Shootout for the IMCA Stock Cars. After Marcus Fagan, Brian Blessington and Robert Stofer picked up the heat race wins, Fagan and Terry Pruitt drew the front row for the twenty five lap feature. Pruitt held the lead at the start with first Donovan Smith and then Fagan following behind in second. The top three stayed Pruitt-Fagan-Smith until a caution for Stofer on the frontstretch wall. Once the cars got going again, Smith took the lead until Pruitt nosed ahead on lap ten right before the caution flag flew again.  One more yellow before the cars completed a lap would be the last thing to slow these cars down, and Pruitt held the lead until Devin Smith passed him on lap thirteen. Devin would lead one more lap, and then Fagan found the grip he needed on the bottom to take over on lap fifteen. Until about lap twenty you could throw a blanket over the top three, but from then on Fagan stretched out the lead and went on to the win and the $1000 top prize. Devin Smith held on to second with Pruitt third, eleventh-starting Brian Blessington fourth and Donovan Smith fifth.

We’d like to thank all who came out to support the race track at our fifth event of the year. Next week is National Investors Night at the Races. In addition to our regular classes we will have the IMCA Late Models in town for their second installment of the season. See you then!

 

Category: Iowa, Stuart Speedway