Goedert holds off Martin in I.M.C.A. late model thriller at Independence Motor Speedway
by Ryan Clark

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (May 5) – Luke Goedert placed himself in rare company as the second year driver did the unthinkable. Goedert passed veteran driver and favorite Curt Martin to take the win in the I.M.C.A. late model division at Independence Motor Speedway.

Early on, it appeared as though Martin was in good position to score another win on his hometown track, starting the event from outside of row two. Following a first lap caution, Martin quickly worked his way to the front on the second lap.

From there, Martin went to work on the high side of the 3/8-mile oval with Goedert and Tyler Bruening giving chase. As quickly as Martin would pull away from the field, however, he gave back his lead as he struggled navigating the high groove.

Goedert was able to remain within striking distance and briefly held the point following a caution on lap 10. Martin edged back into the lead and again appeared to be on his way to the win when trouble on the high side once more allowed Goedert to skirt under the race leader on the 15th circuit.

Goedert continued his stay out front while Martin went back to work on the high side. Martin reeled in the leader and pulled up to his rear bumper over the final lap. Coming out of the final set of turns, Goedert ran the middle groove working around a lapped car while Martin dove to the bottom of the speedway.

Martin’s efforts came up just a few feet short, allowing Goedert to claim the victory. It was Goedert’s second career win in the division, his first coming last season at Independence.

In the I.M.C.A. modified division, another veteran driver appeared to be on his way to back-to-back victories as Jerry Luloff worked through traffic early in the 20-lap feature.

Todd Conrad led the first three laps of the event while Adam Johnson followed. Luloff, who started the event inside of the sixth row, rocketed his way into fourth by the second lap.

Johnson made his bid for the lead on lap four and Luloff followed him to the front just one lap later. By the time Luloff moved into second, Johnson put a few car-lengths on the field.

Luloff went to work on tracking down the leader and positioned himself into a battle for the lead running the high groove when a tire on his No. 18 started losing air. Luloff was forced to the pits when his shredded tire brought out the caution flag on lap 12.

On the ensuing restart, Johnson pulled away from the field and led the remaining eight laps to score the victory, the first of his career in the division. Max Corporon and Scott Hogan followed Johnson to the checkers.

In the I.M.C.A. stock car division, Brian Irvine picked up his second win of the season. From a third row start, Irvine quickly worked his way through traffic to capture the lead on the second lap. He survived a mid-race caution to take the win by five car-lengths ahead of Justin Temeyer. Richard Quail finished third.

After picking up his first career win less than a week ago at Benton County Speedway in Vinton, I.M.C.A. hobby stock driver Josh Irvine got his second taste of victory. After starting the event from the eighth row, Irvine worked through the pack and took command at the midway point of the 15-lap feature to take the victory ahead of Bill Meyer and Jamie Whitaker.

Joe Docekal wowed the crowd as he picked up his third straight B modified feature win to start the season. Docekal remained perfect on the year as he passed Alan Wessels on the eighth lap of the 15-lapper to drive to victory. Wessels ran second ahead of Kyle Bentley.

Prior to the night’s racing action, a number of Boy Scouts were on-hand to take part in the pinewood derby held in the 4-H Building on the fairgrounds. The Winnebago Council, based in Waterloo, organized the event. Ryan Peyton of Independence held the fast time of all cars at 4.11 seconds.



RESULTS

I.M.C.A. LATE MODEL

First heat – 1. 145 Dale Hackwell Jr., Washburn; 2. 0 Jeff Bair, Solon; 3. 17A Jamie Aikey, Cedar Falls; 4. 44 Luke Goedert, Holy Cross; 5. 77 Jeff Aikey, Waterloo; 6. 80 Jerry Dedrick, Vinton; 7. 68 Tysus Pattee, Vinton; 8. 4B Brian Lillie, Independence.

Second heat – 1. 53 Darren Ackerman, Waterloo; 2. 45 Curt Martin, Independence; 3. 88 Drew Johnson, Belle Plaine; 4. 70 Dirk Hamilton, Jesup; 5. 7 Greg Hunter, Independence; 6. 27B Travis Smock, Independence; 7. Z1 Rick McGill, Independence; 8. 4 Leon Thomsen, Waverly.

Third heat – 1. 16 Tyler Bruening, Decorah; 2. 4D Rick Dralle, Waterloo; 3. 9 Bobby Hansen, Center Point; 4. 14B Levi Benn, Dyersville; 5. 27 Darin Burco, Independence; 6. 21B Joel Brasch, Dunkerton; 7. 2P Jon Passick, Waterloo.

B feature – 1. Jeff Aikey; 2. Burco; 3. Hunter; 4. Smock; 5. Brasch; 6. Passick; 7. Dedrick; 8. Pattee; 9. McGill; 10. Lillie; 11. Thomsen.

A feature – 1. Goedert; 2. Martin; 3. Jeff Aikey; 4. Ackerman; 5. Bruening; 6. Hackwell; 7. Burco; 8. Smock; 9. Benn; 10. Dedrick; 11. Johnson; 12. Hansen; 13. Pattee; 14. Brasch; 15. Passick; 16. Hunter; 17. Hamilton; 18. Dralle; 19. Bair; DQ Jamie Aikey.



I.M.C.A. MODIFIED

First heat – 1. 83C Todd Conrad, Cedar Rapids; 2. 02 Mike Gill, La Porte City; 3. 64 Vern Jackson, Waterloo; 4. 18 Jerry Luloff, Independence; 5. 33D Scott Hogan, Vinton; 6. 6E Don Erger, Brandon; 7. 01K Ronn Lauritzen, Jesup; 8. 98 Jason Snyder, Dunkerton.

Second heat – 1. 57B Dennis Betzer, Central City; 2. 01 Ed Thomas, Waterloo; 3. F7 Patrick Flannagan, Cedar Rapids; 4. 71 Troy Cordes, Raymond; 5. 11 Timm Jensen, Dunkerton; 6. 93K Jeff Kriz, Waterloo; 7. 8G George Cunha, Evansdale; 8. 78 Adam Bolin, Waterloo.

Third heat – 1. 24R Adam Johnson, Independence; 2. 3 Max Corporon, Marion; 3. 14 Randy Trefz, Vinton; 4. 123 Rob Rose, Center Point; 5. 00 J.D. Auringer, Waterloo; 6. 111 Buster Pate, Hiawatha; 7.85 Johnathan Thimmesch, Aurora; 8. 8 Tony Snyder, Sumner.

B feature – 1. Hogan; 2. Auringer; 3. Erger; 4. Jensen; 5. Kriz; 6. Thimmesch; 7. Lauritzen; 8. Pate; 9. Cunha; 10. Snyder (DNS); 11. Bolin (DNS); 12. Snyder (DNS).

A feature – 1. Johnson; 2. Corporon; 3. Hogan; 4. Auringer; 5. Thimmesch; 6. Luloff; 7. Cordes; 8. Trefz; 9. Conrad; 10. Thomas; 11. Erger; 12. Kriz; 13. Jensen; 14. Pate; 15. Lauritzen; 16. Flannagan; 17. Rose; 18. Jackson; 19. Gill; 20. Betzer (DNS).



I.M.C.A. STOCK CAR

First heat – 1. 4Q Richard Quail, Waterloo; 2. K38 Kenny Taylor, Strawberry Point; 3. 26 Brian Irvine, Oelwein; 4. 8R Sean Johnson, Independence; 5. 56T Justin Temeyer, Independence; 6. 15 Norman Chesmore, Quasqueton; 7. 6X Bob Ahrendsen, Cedar Rapids; 8. 9 Dallas Morin, Marion; DQ Steve Meyer, Grundy Center.

Second heat – 1. 17 Jason Niedert, Fairbank; 2. 28X Chip Kohl, Marion; 3. 3 Jarod Weepie, Dunkerton; 4. 21 Shane Manson, Manchester; 5. 00 Tony Schimmels, Readlyn; 6. 58I Eric Weber, Evansdale; 7. JR 3 Jason Hocken, Independence; DNS 8B Scott Beauregard, Center Point.

Feature – 1. Irvine; 2. Temeyer; 3. Quail; 4. Weepie; 5. Meyer; 6. Hocken; 7. Ahrendsen; 8. Manson; 9. Weber; 10. Chesmore; 11. Niedert; 12. Schimmels; 13. Taylor; 14. Morin; 15. Kohl; 16. Johnson; DNS Beauregard.



I.M.C.A. HOBBY STOCK

First heat – 1. 88S Joe Sprague, Independence; 2. 20 Wes Stanek Jr., Cedar Falls; 3. 09 Brad Forbes, Waterloo; 4. 22H Curt Hilmer, Dysart; 5. 20W Bruce Fraser, Manchester; 6. 8T Perry Thomsen, Cedar Rapids; 7. 2 Robert Quail, Waterloo; 8. 73 Quinton Miller, Independence; 9. 25 Jamie Whitaker, Nevada.

Second heat – 1. 77 Rod Grother, Cedar Rapids; 2. 48 Travis Michels, Hazleton; 3. 78 Matt Brown, Dysart; 4. 7B Jim Ball, Independence; 5. 62G Adam Gebel, Dysart; 6. 24R Kevin Robinson, Dewar; 7. 20B Matt Burmeister, Waterloo; 8. 12oz Gary Gates, Waterloo.

Third heat – 1. 18 Chris Luloff, Independence; 2. 64JR Jeremiah Wilson, Waterloo; 3. 1S Greg Sweerin, Evansdale; 4. 8 Bill Meyer, Sumner; 5. B62 Brandon Davis, Cedar Rapids; 6. 12J Jeremy Floyd, Cedar Rapids; 7. 35 Josh Irvine, Oelwein; 8. 55 Vince Buchholz, Cedar Falls.

First B feature – 1. Davis; 2. Irvine; 3. Whitaker; 4. Quail; 5. Fraser; 6. Gates; 7. Robinson (DNS).

Second B feature – 1. Gebel; 2. Thomsen; 3. Burmeister; 4. Miller; 5. Floyd; 6. Buchholz (DNS).

A feature – 1. Irvine; 2. Meyer; 3. Whitaker; 4. Michels; 5. Wilson; 6. Miller; 7. Hilmer; 8. Gebel; 9. Ball; 10. Forbes; 11. Thomsen; 12. Sweerin; 13. Sprague; 14. Grother; 15. Brown; 16. Burmeister; 17. Stanek; 18. Luloff; 19. Davis; 20. Quail.



B MODIFIED

First heat – 1. 24 Travis Brown, Cedar Rapids; 2. 25 Alan Wessels, Strawberry Point; 3. 00 Jim Buhlman, Cedar Falls; 4. 92 Craig Cordes, Cedar Falls; 5. 86 Rod McDonald, Manchester; 6. 32 Chris Snyder, Evansdale; 7. 17 Dawn Krall, Waterloo; 8. T23 Tony Olson, Cedar Rapids; DNS 49 Brandon Smith, Cedar Falls.

Second heat – 1. 35 Kyle Bentley, Fairbank; 2. 12D Joe Docekal, Dysart; 3. 95H Mary Handberg, Waterloo; 4. 83 Russell Hesse, Waterloo; 5. 52R Marty Rouse, Grundy Center; 6. 2 Jamie Huff, Center Point; 7. 26 Joel Cox, Waterloo; 8. 75 Josh Sherbon, Cedar Falls; 9. 7 Tim Swope, Waterloo.

Feature – 1. Docekal; 2. Wessels; 3. Bentley; 4. Buhlman; 5. Rouse; 6. Huff; 7. Cordes; 8. Olson; 9. Hesse; 10. Cox; 11. Handberg; 12. McDonald; 13. Snyder; 14. Krall; 15. Brown; 16. Smith; 17. Sherbon; 18. Swope (DNS).



PINEWOOD DERBY

Fast times – Ryan Peyton, Independence, 4.11 seconds; Luke Loughren, Waterloo, 4.16; Tom Finnegan, Independence, 4.21; Devin Sargent, Independence, 4.22; T.J. Lenaerts, Cedar Falls, 4.22; Tyler Vanthauer, Denver, 4.23; Zachery Harris, Independence, 4.23; Ryan Ritter, Cedar Falls, 4.23; Brian Smith, Independence, 4.23; Jay Wieland, Independence, 4.23; Michael Nelson, Cedar Falls, 4.23; Chaz Stempien, Quasqueton, 4.24; Alex Bussan, Independence, 4.26; Kaleb Bathen, La Porte City, 4.28; Scott Bullerman, Winthrop, 4.29; Nile White, Winthrop, 4.31; Adam Manahl, Dunkerton, 4.32; Trey Redman, La Porte City, 4.40; Colin Butzlaff, Independence, 4.42.