Sutton over Gharst at 34 Raceway
By Jake Croxton

BURLINGTON, Ia (Sept 14) – Matt Sutton scored his first Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders victory at 34 Raceway in his S&S Shortstop / Thom’s Auto Body / Onion Farms / Maxim. Sutton led all 25-laps as the Invaders filled out preliminary night of the Pepsi USA Late Model Nationals.

“We didn’t plan on running the bottom in the dash, but I did,” said Sutton. “ It seemed to work out pretty well and after me and Chris [McGraw] talked about it a
little bit more, we set up for the top in the feature.”

With 75 Laps of Late Model Heat Races, time trials, and a full four-heat Invaders program, the track was smooth and wide with the cushion pushed to the concrete wall. That seemed to throw some drivers for a loop as they battled for the quick way around.

Pole-sitter Russ Hall was the first to be bitten on lap 3 as the looped his Waterfront Seafood entry in turn two while running in the top five. Two minor incidents for Nate Mosher’s stalled car and Matt Harms and Lance Gullo’s tangle slowed the action near halfway. That brought eighth-starter Jeff Mitrisin to the tail tank of Sutton with 14 laps remaining.

“I tried to get going on the restarts as best I could,” Sutton explained. “I knew they’d be coming. There was a lot of fast guys back there.”

“The Magician” ducked underneath Sutton on the restart, but pushed up the racetrack in turn two. Rather than driving over Sutton’s entry and potentially destroying both mounts, Mitrisin did a 360 in front of the entire field and was forced to restart at the tail.

Natalie Sather was the next to challenge Sutton but nearly lost control in the same spot. Sather was able to save the car and detour through the infield, losing eight spots in the process.

Kaley Gharst emerged as the new second place contender, but Sutton was gone.

“I was running the top there, messing around too long,” said Gharst, who will carry the point lead into the final night at Donnellson. “I pulled the wing back and started hammering the bottom. I got around a couple cars and got in behind him. I was hoping for another yellow flag, but it never came.”

Gharst will enter the Donnellson event with two wins on his resume at the Lee County facility.

“We didn’t lose too many points, tonight,” continued the driver of the Hostiowa.net / Bell Helmets / Wesmar / Maxim. “We struggled all night with steering problems. We lost power steering two or three laps into the Heat Race and we came back in and changed the pump, thinking it just might’ve been the pump. [It seemed fine when we lined up for the dash] and as soon as we took the green flag, it went all the way out…We got everything changed for the feature and then it worked fine.”

Sutton took a more conservative approach to his chances even with prior success at Donnellson.

“I learned last year that it ain’t over until it’s over. We’ll see what happens at the checkered flag after 25 laps at Donnellson.”

John Schulz turned a horrible draw into good fortune as he won his Heat Race from the tail. The Independence Day 34 Raceway winner turned in another
top three performance.

“We didn’t draw very good and started in the back,” Schulz said of his heat race run. “ We picked our way through…the car was just super and we could run the top, the bottom, and the middle. About halfway through, we got the lead and set sail. It was good [in the feature]. It could have been a little better…You had to be careful. We were up on the fence…The track held up very well.”

Bobby Mincer pressured Schulz over the last half of the distance but settled for fourth. After spinning early on, Mitrisin rebounded to take the final spot in the top five. Korey Weyant earned hard-charger honors in sixth after winning the B-Main. Nick Eastin, Sather, Jordan Goldesberry, and Josh Schneiderman rounded out the top 10.

The series culminates at the Lee County Speedway next Saturday, September 22. A driver autograph session for the top five in points and the rookie of the year will
get under way at 5 pm.



Results

Car Count – 30
Cautions – 4 – L3, 9, 11, 11
Leaders – Sutton 1-25
Laps Led – Sutton 25
Highest Finishing Rookie – Jordan Goldesberry (9th)

***Alan Zoutte flipped in Heat #1 – he was uninjured

Contingency:
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger – Korey Weyant
(Started 17th, Finished 6th)
Rod End Supply – Jordan Goldesberry
Rod End Supply – Tyler Thompson
Saldana Racing Product – Josh Schneiderman
Ultra Shield – Brian Hetrick
Diversified Machine – Jimmy Davies
Hepfner Racing Products – Donnie Steward
The Brake Man – Matt Harms
M&W Aluminum Products – Ryan Jamison
M&W Aluminum Products – Russ Hall

Staats Awards Heat Race #1 (Top 4 advance) -- 1. 48 Tyler Thompson, Des Moines; 2. 29X Russ Hall, Des Moines; 3. 22N Nate Mosher, Prairie City; 4. 35 Brian Hetrick, Stronghurst, IL; 5. 4M Mark Tischer, Hannibal, MO; 6. 36 Justin Newberry, Burlington; 7. 53H Matt Harms, Chillicothe, IL; 8. 33 Alan Zoutte,
Knoxville

Budweiser Heat Race #2 (Top 4 advance) -- 1. 2 John Schulz, W. Burlington; 2. 3 Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL; 3. 7 Dustin Selvage, Indianola; 4. 99 Jimmy Davies,
Oquawka, IL; 5. 9G Charlie Gilpin, Jr., Dallas City, IL; 6. 10T Tim Moore, Moline, IL; 7. 18A Dan Avery,Burlington; 8. 2X Patrick Moore, Moline, IL

Storm Steel / Abrasive Jet Technologies Heat Race #3(Top 4 advance) -- 1. 3* Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL; 2.94S Natalie Sather, Fargo, ND; 3. 15 Bobby Mincer,
Burlington; 4. 49 Josh Schneiderman, W. Burlington; 5.99W Korey Weyant, Springfield, IL; 6. 51J RyanJamison, Mediapolis; 7. 9X Bart Andrews, Muscatine

Ideal Ready Mix Heat Race #4 (Top 4 advance) – 1. 10Jeff Mitrisin, Oskaloosa; 2. 65 Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL; 3. 22X Nick Eastin, Burlington; 4. 3G Lance Gullo, Springfield, IL; 5. 14P Donnie Steward, Burlington; 6. 38 Seth Wilke, Burlington; 7. 4B Scott Boles, New London

Holtkamp Trailer Repair Shake-up Dash – 1. Sutton; 2.Schulz; 3. Sather; 4. Thompson; 5. Gharst; 6. Hall; 7. Goldesberry; 8. Mitrisin

Valley Distributing Corp. B-Main (Top 4 advance) – 1.Weyant; 2. Jamison; 3. Steward; 4. Harms; 5. Newberry;6. T. Moore; 7. Wilke; 8. Andrews; 9. Tischer; 10.
Gilpin, Jr.; 11. Avery; 12. P. Moore; 13. Boles DNS;14. Zoutte DNS

J&J Steel / Ideal Ready Mix 25 -- 1. Sutton (2); 2.Gharst (6); 3. Schulz (3); 4. Mincer (11); 5. Mitrisin(8); 6. Weyant (17); 7. Eastin (12); 8. Sather (4); 9. Goldesberry (7); 10. Schneiderman (15); 11. Jamison (18); 12. Hall (1); 13. Harms (20); 14. Selvage (10); 15. Thompson (5); 16. Davies (14); 17. Gullo (16); 18. Hetrick (13); 19. Mosher (9); 20. Steward (19)