8/17/2024
Arlington Raceway
Deals & Steals Night
There was plenty of great racing action on the track for the Deals & Steals Night at the Arlington Raceway Saturday night. Father and son dueled until the final lap of the Jack Pines Resort IMCA Hobby feature. Father Dan took the lead on the second lap from his 2nd row start from Carter Holmquist. There were a series of yellow flags on the 4th lap when cars kept spinning out. After the 2nd restart, son Cory who had moved up 11 spots restarted right behind his dad. For the next 10 laps the two battled each other with Taylor Manderfield and Chad Volk also gaining head way on them. As the checkered flag came out, Cory passed his Dad for the win. Dan took 2nd and Manderfield finished ahead of Volk.
Gary Schumacher had a great run in the Coors Light IMCA Sport Compact feature leading from start to finish in the flag to flag race. Alan Lahr took 2nd and Justin Dose took 3rd.
Thirteen cars began the eXmark Outlaw hobby but only 8 finished as there were several yellow flags throughout the race. On the first lap, Luke Rhode spun and two other cars went to the work area, Pat Schauer and Craig Groebner. They both rejoined the field but Groebner went back into the pit a few laps later with a flat tire. Rod Manthey also spun out on the same last and went into the work area after he and the 38 of Fred Heidecker made contact putting both cars into the pit area. George Motto was the early leader in the race but by lap 4 Dan Eckblad had taken over the race and leading until the end to win ahead of Garett Uecker and Mark Oestreich.
Hunter Hanson took the lead at the start of the Rice Companies IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature and worked hard to remain out front as he and Matt Johnson raced side by side down the backstretch every lap. Hanson was on the bottom and Johnson on top and by the time they would come into turn #4 each one took turns doing slide jobs on each other. They raced this way for the entire 15 laps but it was Hunter who took the checkered flag first to win his first ever feature. Matt was 2nd and Dad Bill took 3rd ahead of Brett Allen.
Matt Hollerich led the first two laps of the Arlington State Bank IMCA Sport Modified feature with Broddy Enter right behind him. By the third time around the track, Enter was leading the race. On lap 7 race night sponsor Eric Bassett had engine troubles and stopped on the track ending his race. After the restart, Matt Looft was able to get around Enter and take the lead and the win once again. Enter held on to 2nd and Ben Reierson took 3rd.
The B&B Racing Chassis IMCA Stock car feature started 23 cars but only 14 finished as there were several upsets in the race. At the start of the race, Josh Larson’s car gave up and caused the 18m to of Randy Melvin to have a mishap and take out his radiator. As the race restarted, Chris Neisen was the leader with Tim Pessek and Matt Schauer all racing side by side for the first 5 laps. A red flag came out when Ryan Bjerkeset spun on top of turn #3 and Gage Seehafer took the top side of the track to avoid him but ended up doing a dukes of hazard jump and rolling over against the wall landing on his roof. He was ok but his car was severely damaged. Once the race restarted, Pessek and Schauer raced the rest of the distance side by side with Dakota Robinson trying to gain on them. In the end, Pessek picked up the win after an 8 year hiatus in victory lane. Schauer took 2nd and Robinson finished 3rd ahead of Dan Eckblad.
There were three different leaders in the Ottomotive Tire & Repair IMCA Modified race. JJ Reimers took the lead with Chad Porter in second. A second lap yellow saw the 21g of Wayne Govig spin out and Paul Burger in the work area. On the restart, Porter got around Reimers for the lead but that only lasted for 2 laps as Clint Hatlestad was moving through the field quickly from his 9th place start and on lap 5 he became the new leader. Porter stuck with him while being challenged lap by lap by Trent Loverude. Hatlestad pulled off the win breaking Loverude’s winning streak as he had to settle for 3rd behind Porter.
