STEPHENS OVERPOWERS A TOUGH FIELD OF MODIFIEDS IN THE TINY LUND MEMORIAL NATIONALS
by Bonnie Errett

HARLAN, IA. (Sept. 24, 2006) – Dewayne “Tiny” Lund, who got his start racing at Shelby County Speedway, is remembered as a generous, colorful driver whose list of accomplishments includes winning the 1963 Daytona 500. Lund was killed on the track in 1975 at Talladega, and Shelby County Speedway was proud to hold the 15th annual Tiny Lund Memorial in his honor. The first part of the show was held Friday, September 22 with Saturday night’s races postponed due to rain. Sunshine was found over the Speedway Sunday afternoon for last chance races and the A-main events.

The thirty lap IMCA Modified feature took off with Jeff Stephens leading the pack ahead of Mike Albertsen and Jeff James. On the second lap of the race, James got turned sideways and unfortunately did not escape a few hits. Jeff Anderson and Jay Noteboom progressed up to third and fourth, and the race continued. Six laps in, Noteboom took the high route and Craig Reetz the low groove around Anderson to steal third and fourth. Noteboom advanced one more position to second following a caution at the twenty to go marker. Reetz followed into third three laps later with Tim Plowman right behind him, but it was Reese Coffee beating out Plowman for the fourth spot at thirteen to go. With eight laps remaining, Coffee, who started the feature in 20th, took third, and he made it up to second before the indication of two to go. Leading every lap of the race, Stephens received the checkered flags to become the 2006 Tiny Lund Modified Champion.

Following a restart in the ProAm feature, Matt McAtee assumed command of the front position and held tight. Mike Brown and Denny Berghahn filled in behind McAtee before Galen Grabill took the high side into fourth. As McAtee stretched his advantage, Galen moved up to third ahead of his son, Charles Grabill, who grabbed fourth. The Grabill pair continued forward into second and third just five laps into the race. Two laps later, Brown stole third from Charles, and Tony Hardisty was right behind in fourth. Hardisty pushed up to second before Charles regained fourth and eventually third. McAtee had maintained a dominating lead thus far, but a caution with two laps left brought the cars back together. Kerry Kierscht swept up the fourth spot at the next start, but in turn four heading to the checkered flag, Charles shot by Hardisty into second just before Galen took back fourth. Also leading his entire feature, McAtee collected the ProAm win.

Mike Nichols escorted the IMCA Stock Cars into turn one of their feature, as Brian Blessington secured second down the backstretch of the first lap. Making his way up to third was Clay Christian, ahead of Tim Bengard in fourth. The caution was thrown at fourteen to go, after which Chris Ullrich blew by Christian and Blessington to claim the second spot. Ryan Webb was close behind, seizing the opportunity to take third. Halfway through the twenty lap feature, Blessington was back up to the front to capture third for himself. With six laps to go, Ullrich made his move on Nichols to take over the front position, just before Webb overcame fourth. Going into the final lap, Christian dove low into fourth place, and sailing to the victory was Ullrich, with Nichols and Blessington right behind.

An additional class added to this year’s Tiny Lund line-up was the IMCA Sport Mods whose twelve lap feature began with Darin Tool out front. Chris Abelson quickly gained control of second, and Auston Kaplan had third by the backstretch, after the drop of the green flag. At six to go Abelson was putting pressure on the leader, and one lap later he passed Tool to move into first. Jacob Murray left the race that same lap, leaving fourth to Keith Williams. Williams unfortunately dropped out of the race as well with two laps remaining, and Keith Sanders filled in the position. With a strong hold on the lead, Abelson attained the win.

The IMCA Hobby Stock feature was led into action by Dustin Smith, coming from the pole, with Kevin Sather in second. Donovan Smith powered forward to take second three laps into the race, but suddenly drifted to the back two laps later. With Eric Chap now in third, the caution was thrown at ten to go. Luke Wanninger slid by Chap to take hold of third at the next start and advanced to second with eight laps remaining. As the laps wore down, Dustin increased his lead, and Chap recovered third. Leading the race the whole way through, Dustin took home the Hobby Stock feature win.

Terry Romick came from the outside pole to set the pace of the Hornet feature with Daniel Mefferd and Cody Klein right behind. In turn two of the first lap, Joseph Mefferd jumped from fourth to second on the low side of the track. The second lap saw a battle four-wide for fourth through which Willy Muhr came out with the position after starting the race in eleventh. Muhr ran out of luck on the next lap, colliding with others in turn three. Chris Shanno filled in the fourth position, and when the race resumed, he moved up to third. With three to go, Romick took turn two too high, leaving room for Joseph to slip underneath and take the lead. Shanno fell to the back with two laps left, bumping up Corey Madden and Cody Klein. Romick gave his all to take back the lead on the final lap, but again went high in turn two where Joseph snuck by and Madden and Klein followed. Joseph led to the finish line to pick up the Tiny Lund feature win.



Race Results



I.M.C.A. Modifieds
A-Feature: 1. 92 Jeff Stephens, Arion; 2. 16 Reese Coffee, Hinton; 3. 7N Jay Noteboom, Hinton; 4. 4X Kevin Larkin, Greenwood, NE; 5. 1R Craig Reetz, Dunlap; 6. 17P Tim Plowman, Woodbine; 7. 96J Johnny Saathoff, Beatrice; 8. 3X Chris Alcorn, Lincoln; 9. 02 John Davis, Altoona; 10. 25 Ricky Stephan, S. Sioux City, NE; 11. 62 Greg Cox, Altoona; 12. 2K Chad Preul, Westside; 13. 11 Chad Dills, Shelby; 14. 78 Jeff Anderson, Atlantic; 15. 14 Matt Bonine, Onawa; 16. 3 Mike Albertsen, Audubon; 17. 127 Randy Brands, Boyden; 18. 12 Bill Osbahr, Avoca; 19. 91B B.J. Bruck, Westphalia; 20. 88X Sean Barragan, Defiance; 21. 71J Jeff James, Stanton; 22. 43 Brian Foote, Essex; 23. 28 Chase Mewhirter, Atlantic; 24. 4H Chevy Hadan, Waterloo

ProAms
A-Feature: 1. 6M Matt McAtee, Crescent; 2. 40 Charles Grabill, Harlan; 3. 2X Tony Hardisty, Corning; 4. 4 Galen Grabill, Harlan; 5. 11K Kerry Kierscht, Denison; 6. 2 Mike Brown, Glenwood; 7. T72 Thad Thomson, Bennet, NE; 8. 26X Marty Steinbach, Fremont, NE; 9. 64 Nick Hermsen, Omaha; 10. 49 Jeff Atkins, Omaha; 11. 55 Ray Dessel, Omaha; 12. 85 John Riggleman, Omaha; 13. 96 Matt Smith; 14. 4U Randy Preul, Glenwood; 15. 13 Louie Ring, Shelby; 16. 4L Luke LeRette, C.B.; 17. 6X Denny Berghahn, Omaha; 18. 49X Chad Sannders; 19. 10x Timothy Berghahn, Omaha; 20. 3T Tim Podraza; 21. 71 Bill Hargens, Omaha; 22. 72 Rick Negrete; 23. 6 Denny Berghahn, Jr., Omaha

I.M.C.A. Stock Cars
A-Feature: 1. 01U Chirs Ullrich, Kiron; 2. 63 Mike Nichols, Harlan; 3. 92B Brian Blessington, Breda; 4. 7 Clay Christian, Avoca; 5. ZR1 Ryan Webb, Denison; 6. 8 David Smith, Lake City; 7. 10X Keith Knop, Avoca; 8. 93 Doug Adamy, Columbus, NE; 9. 19B Tim Bengard, Exira; 10. 90 Andy Miller, Carson; 11. 3 Matt Scharn, Newell; 12. 76L Lance Borgman, Beatrice; 13. 76 Trent Partridge, Elk Horn; 14. 24B Randy Biederman, Dallas Center; 15. 92 Darrin Adamy, Columbus, NE; 16. 26 Bill Reetz, Carroll; 17. 93T Ron Thorckmorten, Carroll; 18. 29 Tanner Partridge, Walnut; 19. 5S Shane Stout, North Platte, NE; 20. P42 Dave Plowman, Gretna; 21. 37X Rick Christensen, Audubon; 22. 96 Jason Rold, Hancock; 23. 4K Mick King, C.B.; 24. 23HR Rod Richards, Madrid; 25. B1 Russ Byriel, Ankeny

I.M.C.A. Sport Mods
A-Feature: 1. 1X Chris Abelson, Sioux City; 2. 14T Darin Tool, Albert Lea, MN; 3. 1 Auston Kaplan, Ankeny; 4. 2 Keith Sanders, N. Sioux City, SD; 5. 31B Jacob Brown, Sioux City; 6. 48 Kyle Harpster, Omaha; 7. 01 Kevin Bruck; 8. 33 Jim Hendricks, Council Bluffs; 9. 07 Brandon Jessen; 10. 20W Keith Williamson; 11. 00X Jeff Brenssen, Le Mars; 12. 15M Jacob Murray, Hartford; 13. 34 Jerry Hinton, Clive; 14. 8 Brad Iverson, Grinnell

I.M.C.A. Hobby Stocks
A-Feature: 1. 85 Dustin Smith, Lake City; 2. 20 Luke Wanninger, Jefferson; 3. 11 Eric Chab, De Witt, NE; 4. 11K Kevin Sather, Ankeny; 5. 15 Dale Towne, Avoca; 6. 3S Brian Snell, Coon Rapids; 7. 60 Tanner Powers, Exira; 8. 20X Chad Bergman, Beatrice; 9. 83 Mike Harris, Avoca; 10. 14K Kenny Hansen; 11. 5G Tyler Griffen; 12. 17W Tim Wilcox, Ida Grove; 13. 35 Donovan Smith, Lake City; 14. 75 Kurt Hansen; 15. 99XX Jerod Weston, Red Oak; 16. 2X Chuck Madden Jr., Avoca; 17. 99 Jesse Sobbing, Glenwood; 18. 6A Jeremy Auten, Clarinda; 19. 98 Derrick Rohe; 20. 25M Michael Murphy, Jefferson; 21. 01 Kent Husted II, Sioux City; 22. 74N Jason Nielsen, Underwood; 23. 55 Jason Fusselman, Shelby; 24. 1F Marcus Fagan, Casey

Hornets
A-Feature: 1. 3 Joseph Mefferd, Dunlap; 2. 2 Corey Madden, Avoca; 3. 3C Cody Klein, Harlan; 4. 6R Terry Romick, Exira; 5. 0K Jeff Goodier, S. Sioux City, NE; 6. 01XX Shane Jorgensen, Brayton; 7. 38S Chris Shanno, Council Bluffs; 8. 35 Daniel Smith, Lake City; 9. 84 Willy Muhr, Exira; 10. 1A Andy Androy, Dunlap; 11. 68 Daniel Mefferd, Dunlap; 12. 00 Bayley Nicholl, Audubon