Paul Nienhiser Rallies Late At Indee For His Fifth Sprint Invaders Victory of 2024
Paul Nienhiser
Independence IA (July 16th) – Winning for the fifth time in nine events on the 2024 schedule, it can be said that Chapin, Illinois, driver Paul Nienhiser is having a dominating season with the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders. However, on Tuesday night at the Independence Motor Speedway, Paul’s route to victory lane was anything but easy despite starting from the outside of the front row in the twenty-five lap main event.
Pole-sitter Colton Fisher would battle Nienhiser wheel-to-wheel down the backstretch on the opening lap before sliding up in front of the series point leader to snare the race lead. And then the third-starting Ryan Bunton would soon power under Nienhiser to move to second before taking up the chase on the leader. As the top two closed in on the back of the field on lap ten, Bunton was able to pull even with the rim riding Fisher in turn four only to have Colton ward him off and that same scenario would play out again on lap eleven with Fisher now having to deal with the soon to be lapped cars as well as the challenge from Bunton.
As Colton scored what would have been lap thirteen, he would drop his right rear wheel off the lip of the banked front stretch and that would then steer him off the track and into a wild spin that would see him get on his side before slamming into the guardrail outside of turn one. The only things that was injured on the up and coming young driver was his pride as he knew that he had let this one get away from him.
Bunton would assume the lead for the restart with the hope of getting his first career victory with the Sprint Invaders despite the fact that he is the defending series champion after finishing in the top ten of every event on the schedule in 2023. With Ryan entering the turns low and then exiting toward the top, Nienhiser would now pound the cushion on both ends bringing him ever closer to the leader as the laps counted down. And, with just six laps remaining, that high side momentum would pay off as Paul would sail around Bunton for the lead on the back stretch.
Lapped traffic would come into play again in the closing laps and when the leader made contact with the rear bumper of Tanner Gebhardt entering turn three while coming to the white flag, it would send Gebhardt for a spin with the caution setting up a two lap shootout for the win. Tasker Phillips had just taken second away from Bunton before the caution so he would make a run at the leader in turn one on the restart only to see Nienhiser drive away for the win and to have Bunton slip by him on the outside to regain second at the checkers. Terry McCarl who had won each of the two previous appearances of the Sprint Invaders here at Independence made a nice run from eleventh to fourth while two-time series champion Cody Wehrle filled out the top five.
It was an emotional victory for Nienhiser who dedicated the win to his longtime friend and supporter of his racing career, Ralph Willhite, who lost his life in an accident at the Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois just a few weeks ago.
Next up for the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders will be another Tuesday night trip, this time to the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway on July 30th that will serve as an appetizer for the Knoxville 360 Nationals that will start its three day run just two nights later.
14 entries
360 SPRINTS – WINGED
Shottenkirk Automotive Group A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 50-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 2. 6R-Ryan Bunton[3]; 3. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[6]; 4. 99-Terry McCarl[11]; 5. 40C-Cody Wehrle[7]; 6. 16-Dustin Clark[4]; 7. 7-Tyler Lee[9]; 8. 62-Jake Glasgow[5]; 9. 2B-Garrett Benson[10]; 10. 81-Tanner Gebhardt[13]; 11. 4-Chase Richards[8]; 12. 31-McCain Richards[12]; 13. 32-Riley Valentine[14]; 14. 11-Colton Fisher[1]
Agriland FS, Inc Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 11-Colton Fisher[1]; 2. 50-Paul Nienhiser[3]; 3. 6R-Ryan Bunton[4]; 4. 16-Dustin Clark[2]; 5. 62-Jake Glasgow[5]; 6. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[6]
Randalls Performance Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 62-Jake Glasgow[1]; 2. 50-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 3. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[5]; 4. 7-Tyler Lee[3]; 5. 40C-Cody Wehrle[7]; 6. 99-Terry McCarl[6]; 7. 31-McCain Richards[4]
Joshua Denney Associates Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 16-Dustin Clark[1]; 2. 11-Colton Fisher[3]; 3. 6R-Ryan Bunton[2]; 4. 4-Chase Richards[4]; 5. 2B-Garrett Benson[6]; 6. 32-Riley Valentine[7]; 7. (DNF) 81-Tanner Gebhardt[5]
15 entries
IMCA SPORT MOD BY WOLFEY’S & EDDIE’S
A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. T23-Tony Olson[6]; 2. 7-Will Wolf[3]; 3. 777-Rayce Mullen[4]; 4. 75-Cole Suckow[8]; 5. 8-Austin Kemp[1]; 6. 118-Austin Stamm[7]; 7. 01-Brayton Carter[9]; 8. 1-Doug McCollough[5]; 9. 42-Chris Lewis[14]; 10. 15B-Troy Burkhart[10]; 11. 55-Ben Shannon[2]; 12. 17-Ethan Krall[15]; 13. 28B-Curt Smeins[12]; 14. 39-Brian Hilbert[11]; 15. (DNS) 88K-Kole Quam
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 777-Rayce Mullen[5]; 2. 75-Cole Suckow[7]; 3. T23-Tony Olson[6]; 4. 8-Austin Kemp[1]; 5. 15B-Troy Burkhart[8]; 6. 39-Brian Hilbert[2]; 7. (DNF) 88K-Kole Quam[4]; 8. (DNF) 17-Ethan Krall[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Will Wolf[4]; 2. 01-Brayton Carter[7]; 3. 1-Doug McCollough[5]; 4. 118-Austin Stamm[6]; 5. 55-Ben Shannon[1]; 6. (DNF) 28B-Curt Smeins[2]; 7. (DNF) 42-Chris Lewis[3]
17 entries
IMCA HOBBY STOCK BY PERFORMANCE BODIES
A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 23Z-Zach McNeese[8]; 2. 27B-Tyler Ball[7]; 3. 2G-Bradly Graham[10]; 4. 7N-Trenton Neuhaus[14]; 5. 7B-Jim Ball Jr[9]; 6. 17B-Garrett Ball[2]; 7. 27-Brad Graham[5]; 8. 73-Quinton Miller[17]; 9. 06S-Adam Streeter[12]; 10. M35-Chad Mannion[1]; 11. 20CK-Justin Ginther[4]; 12. 26X-Connor Clubine[3]; 13. 13K-McKenna Koch[15]; 14. (DNF) 3-Dalton Weepie[11]; 15. (DNF) 35B-Shawn Kuennen[6]; 16. (DNF) 33J-Carson James[13]; 17. (DNF) 29-Matt Miller[16]
Heat 1 (7 Laps): 1. 26X-Connor Clubine[2]; 2. 2G-Bradly Graham[9]; 3. 23Z-Zach McNeese[8]; 4. 35B-Shawn Kuennen[7]; 5. M35-Chad Mannion[1]; 6. 3-Dalton Weepie[6]; 7. 33J-Carson James[5]; 8. 13K-McKenna Koch[3]; 9. 73-Quinton Miller[4]
Heat 2 (7 Laps): 1. 17B-Garrett Ball[1]; 2. 27-Brad Graham[5]; 3. 27B-Tyler Ball[7]; 4. 7B-Jim Ball Jr[8]; 5. 20CK-Justin Ginther[2]; 6. 06S-Adam Streeter[6]; 7. (DNF) 7N-Trenton Neuhaus[4]; 8. (DNF) 29-Matt Miller[3]
15 entries
IMCA STOCK CAR BY CHRISTIE DOOR COMPANY
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7D-Dakoda Sellers[1]; 2. 74C-Cole Mather[7]; 3. 57VG-Rowdee Van Genderen[8]; 4. 64-Vern Jackson[5]; 5. 18-Tom Schmitt[10]; 6. 357-Brett Vanous[6]; 7. 3-Jarod Weepie[9]; 8. 115-Hannah Chesmore[11]; 9. 15-Norman Chesmore[12]; 10. 3H-Ty Hill[3]; 11. 4JR-Russell Damme Jr[15]; 12. 23-Tyler Travis[14]; 13. (DNF) 25-Bryan Klein[13]; 14. (DNF) 9E-Austin Evens[4]; 15. (DNF) 22K-Kevin Rose[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7D-Dakoda Sellers[2]; 2. 3H-Ty Hill[3]; 3. 3-Jarod Weepie[7]; 4. 74C-Cole Mather[6]; 5. 64-Vern Jackson[4]; 6. 115-Hannah Chesmore[5]; 7. 25-Bryan Klein[8]; 8. 4JR-Russell Damme Jr[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22K-Kevin Rose[2]; 2. 9E-Austin Evens[3]; 3. 18-Tom Schmitt[7]; 4. 57VG-Rowdee Van Genderen[6]; 5. 357-Brett Vanous[4]; 6. 15-Norman Chesmore[5]; 7. 23-Tyler Travis[1]
11 entries
IMCA SPORT COMPACT BY CC’S FLOORS AND MORE
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 54A-Jake Anderson[3]; 2. T2-Jaice Tuttle[4]; 3. 73B-Andrew Bieber[2]; 4. 81-Christopher Mannion[9]; 5. 7K-Kord Sellers[6]; 6. 6R-Spencer Roggentien[5]; 7. 35M-Tyler Mannion[1]; 8. 04-Jace Knight[10]; 9. 10P-Chris Pittman[7]; 10. 8-Jeff Burgess[8]; 11. 15-Kaden Shannon[11]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. T2-Jaice Tuttle[9]; 2. 6R-Spencer Roggentien[10]; 3. 73B-Andrew Bieber[7]; 4. 35M-Tyler Mannion[5]; 5. 54A-Jake Anderson[8]; 6. 7K-Kord Sellers[11]; 7. 10P-Chris Pittman[6]; 8. 8-Jeff Burgess[2]; 9. 81-Christopher Mannion[4]; 10. 04-Jace Knight[3]; 11. 15-Kaden Shannon[1]
20 entries
IMCA MODIFIED BY WATERLOO AUTO PARTS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 111-Ethan Braaksma[10]; 2. B24-Owen Barnhill[8]; 3. 71C-Troy Cordes[7]; 4. 59-Josh Fisher[5]; 5. 70-Jerry King[2]; 6. 56K-Dustin Kroening[4]; 7. 16K-Kaylin Lopez[9]; 8. 16S-Kip Siems[1]; 9. 77-Jeff Aikey[6]; 10. 72-Kolton Osborn[16]; 11. 415-Josh Barta[3]; 12. 72B-Jerod Ballhagen[12]; 13. 01-Ed Thomas[15]; 14. 24-Kyle Roose[13]; 15. 21L-Brandon Lewis[19]; 16. (DNF) 24R-Adam Johnson[11]; 17. (DNS) 88-Luke Bird; 18. (DNS) 49-Rod McDonald; 19. (DNS) 3S-Adam Shelman; 20. (DNS) 1X-Stephen Streeter
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 111-Ethan Braaksma[10]; 2. 77-Jeff Aikey[8]; 3. 70-Jerry King[3]; 4. B24-Owen Barnhill[9]; 5. 56K-Dustin Kroening[5]; 6. 24R-Adam Johnson[4]; 7. 24-Kyle Roose[2]; 8. (DNF) 01-Ed Thomas[1]; 9. (DNF) 72-Kolton Osborn[7]; 10. (DNS) 49-Rod McDonald
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16S-Kip Siems[2]; 2. 71C-Troy Cordes[8]; 3. 415-Josh Barta[3]; 4. 16K-Kaylin Lopez[9]; 5. 59-Josh Fisher[5]; 6. (DNF) 72B-Jerod Ballhagen[4]; 7. (DNF) 3S-Adam Shelman[6]; 8. (DNF) 1X-Stephen Streeter[10]; 9. (DNS) 88-Luke Bird; 10. (DNS) 21L-Brandon Lewis
Category: Independence, Iowa
