Miller’s Dominance Continues
Stuart, IA (June 8) – A beautiful evening and some wild racing marked night number four of the 2018 season at Stuart Speedway. Brandon Pruitt, Curtis Miller, John Watson, Austin Luellen, Nick Roberts and the team of Chadwick Rigby/Carson Carpenter picked up the wins on Town & Country Insurance Night at the Races.
Robert Stofer and Brandon Pruitt led the IMCA Stock Cars to the first green flag of the night with Pruitt leading Stofer and Marcus Fagan on lap one. The three stayed in formation until Chris Pruitt charged past Fagan on lap five. C. Pruitt would dispose of Stofer on lap nine, gaining ground each lap on the top side of the track as the race wound down. Just as the gap on the lead was shrinking for C. Pruitt, B. Pruitt opened it up a bit with two laps to go and would go on to his third consecutive win at Stuart. C. Pruitt finished second with Stofer third, Fagan fourth and Josh Daniels fifth. Brandon Pruitt was the heat race winner.
IMCA Sport Compacts were up next with Hunter Patrick and Travis Graspy on the front row. Patrick led Curtis Miller and Dean Richards in the early going with Miller taking the lead on lap four. Ryan Brown went for a wild tumble in turn two, landing just outside of the concrete barriers. Brown was ok, but his night was over. Once the cars came back alive it was Miller cruising to the win with Richards second, Patrick third, Eric Alexander fourth and Zak Sickles fifth. Miller and Richards were the heat race winners. Miller is 4 for 4 on the season and shows no signs of letting up. Promotor Chuck Vanderheiden just might have to get the bounty out soon, time will tell!
Matthew Wahl and Nick Foster brought out the IMCA Hobby Stocks next with Foster, Gregg Anderson and Wahl the top three on lap one. Anderson made it to first on lap two with Wahl getting past Foster a lap later. Two more circuits would see the end to Wahl’s night as contact between him and Solomon Bennett send Wahl barrel rolling in turn three. Wahl was ok, but his night was understandably over. When the racing resumed it was Anderson picking up where he left off, but a wily veteran was on his tail by lap six as John Watson began dogging the leader. It took a few laps, but Watson made the bottom groove work on lap eleven and went on to take the win. Korbin Nourse gave the crowd a show on the top side as he finished second with Jeremy Purdy third, Anderson fourth and Brandon Cox fifth. Watson, Cox and Bennett were the heat race winners.
After a couple of tries the IMCA Northern SportMods got things going with Kevin Gyles and Mitchell Morris leading the field to green. Colton Nelson led early with Austin Luellen and Morris not far behind. As Nelson and Luellen began to separate themselves from the pack, Luellen made ground on the bottom of the track and passed Nelson on lap six just before a caution came out. When the green flew so did Luellen as he set sail and took the feature win. Nelson finished second with Matt Webb third, Shawn Kralik fourth and Morris fifth. Luellen and Chase Rudolf were the heat race winners.
IMCA Modifieds were up next with Eric Elliott and Jason Hickingbottom on the front row. Nick Roberts came from sixth to first on lap one to lead Elliott and Tony Hilgenberg. Clint Luellen charged to second on lap three with Josh Gilman passing Elliott two laps later for third. Lap traffic began to set in on lap fourteen, and this was the perfect opportunity for Gilman as he pounced on second place. Luellen wasn’t done, however, and took back the spot on the next circuit. Gilman regrouped and took back second for good on lap eighteen, but Roberts was long gone and went on to take the win. Gilman finished second with Luellen third, Kyle Brown fourth and Elliott fifth. Roberts cleaned up as he took the heat race win as well.
Last up for the night was the Two Man Cruiser Cars with Kyle Gibbons/Collin Gross and Jeff Culp/Charles Belew on the front row. Gibbons/Gross led early over the team of Chadwick Rigby/Carson Carpenter and Culp/Belew. Everything looked great for Gibbons/Gross until their car went for a spin on lap eight, opening the door for Rigby/Carpenter to take the lead and go on to the win. Gibbons/Gross recovered for second with Culp/Belew third and Jena Clemons/Katie Huff finishing fourth.
We want to remind all of you that Monday, July 2 will be a special night at Stuart Speedway as along with IMCA TV we will present a Monday Night Spotlight race, the first of its kind! This race will pay the IMCA Modifieds $1000 to win along with having a $1000 to win Dirt Dominator after the features are over! The bracket race will include some IMCA Northern SportMods, so things could get interesting to say the least!! The IMCA Stock Cars and Northern SportMods will both be racing for $700 to win so get your work done during the day and put in for a vacation day on Tuesday to add to the July 4 holiday and come have fun with us at Stuart! Anne says the $2 hotdogs are a go!!!!
We’d like to thank all who came out to support the race track at our fourth event of the year. Next week will be Fox Welding Night at the Races with our five regular classes in attendance. See you then!
Story by Josh Reynolds
Category: Iowa
