MATHER, WOOD AND NOBLE TAKE FIRST SOUTHERN IOWA SPEEDWAY CHECKERS
By: Tony Paris

Oskaloosa, Iowa (April 8, 2006) - The racing season kickoff at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on a Saturday night for the 3rd Annual O`Reilly Auto Parts Spring Classic with three classes in action with the USRA hobby stocks along with the USRA stock car division running as support classes along with the cars and stars of the United States Modified Touring Series. The hobby stocks and stock car drivers competing for Casey General Store national points.

The first feature of the night was the USRA hobby stock feature rolling onto the speedway for twelve laps of action with Green City, MO driver Matt Snyder taking the race lead and paced the field till the final lap before crashing into the outside wall just off turn four coming down for the checkers. Snyder`s car darted hard right looking like something broke on the right front suspension ending his run to the checkers. Nathan Wood who was running second crossed the line for the win with Jimmy Hayes of Moravia taking second along with Jared Sanders of New Sharon taking third and Jason McDaniel of Eldon in fourth.

In the USRA stock car feature event Bobby Greiner Jr. of Ottumwa took the early race lead with rookie driver Colt Mather of Webster running second. Greiner would lead the first seven laps of the sixteen lap feature befor hooking a rut and losing a left rear tire. Mather would take the lead and lead the final nine laps and picking up his first ever feature win in the stock car division after moving into the class after capturing the hobby stock track championship in 2005. Brad Pinkerton took home the second spot with Matt Greiner of Washington in third and Agency driver Shane Weller taking fourth.

The third and final feature of the night was the twenty-five lap feature event for the O`Reilly Auto Parts United States Modified Touring Series with Mark Noble of Blooming Prairie, Minn., coming out on top in a race of survival Saturday as he captured the 3rd Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Iowa Spring Classic main event at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
The win was Noble's second on the season, and cemented his place at the top of the O’Reilly Auto Parts United States Modified Touring Series national points standings. Noble, who started 16th on the grid, methodically picked off cars throughout the first half of the race while Dean Mahlstedt of Clear Lake, Iowa, set a torrid pace at the front of the field. Cautions erased Mahlstedt's big lead on several occasions before Noble became a factor for the lead. Taking the lead near the halfway point of the race, Noble was unable to shake Mahlstedt as he stayed glued to Noble's bumper while seven-time defending O’Reilly USMTS national champion Kelly Shryock of Fertile, Iowa, joined in to make it a three-way battle for the lead. With eight laps to go, Mahlstedt and Shryock made contact exiting turn 2, which resulted in a caution flag for Shryock who stopped at the end of the backstretch with a flat tire. During the caution period, Mahlstedt also entered the pits to change a flat tire, ending both drivers' chance for a victory.

Noble went unchallenged the rest of the way while Brad Pinkerton of New Sharon, Iowa, made his 2006 O’Reilly USMTS debut with a runner-up finish. Pinkerton edged Al Hejna of Clear Lake, Iowa, at the finish line while Brad McEwan of Storm Lake, Iowa, finished fourth. Jon Tesch of Watertown, S.D., rounded out the top-5 finishers.

USRA HOBBY STOCKS
Heat#1-1.Nathan Wood,Sigourney 2.Bill Gibson,Knoxville 3.Steve Allen,Oskaloosa 4.Matt Snyder,Green City,MO 5.Travis Sherwood,Ottumwa 6.Jason VanZomeren,Oskalooa 7.Mike Shelton,Ottumwa 8.Danny Thrasher,Agency 9.Todd Reitzler,Grinnell

Heat#2-1.Jason McDaniel,Eldon 2.Rocky Fosdyck,Selma 3.Kevin Cook,Ottumwa 4.Shannon Sherwood,Oskaloosa 5.Jared Sanders,New Sharon 6.Jimmy Hayes,Moravia 7.Joe Ferguson,Tracy 8.Tyler Ford,Lovilia

A-Feature 1.Wood 2.Hayes 3.Sanders 4.McDaniel 5.Shelton 6.Ferguson 7.Gibson 8.T.Sherwood 9.Van Zomeren 10.Thrasher 11.Snyder 12.Reitzler 13.Cook 14.Fosdyck 15.Allen 16.S.Sherwood 17.Ford

USRA STOCK CARS
Heat#1-1.Colt Mather,Webster 2.Shane Weller,Agency 3.Eric Flander,What Cheer 4.Matt Greiner,Washington 5.Brian Jackson,Moravia 6.Brian Edel,Oskaloosa 7.Ryan Cook,Westpoint 8.Les Blakely,Fairfield

Heat#2-1.Bobby Greiner Jr.,Ottumwa 2.Brad Pinkerton,New Sharon 3.Brain Mitrisin,Oskaloosa 4.Josh Newell,Oskaloosa 5.Nathan Wood,Sigourney 6.Darren Thompson,New Sharon 7.Chris Wibble,Hamilton,IL 8.Zack Vanderbeek,New Sharon 9.Jason Cook,Mt. Pleasent

A-Feature 1.Mather 2.Pinkerton 3.M.Greiner 4.Weller 5.Flander 6.Newell 7.Mitrisin 8.Jackson 9.Wibble 10.Wood 11.B.Greiner 12.Edel 13.Thompson 14.Criss 15.R.Cook16.Vanderbeek 17.Blakley 18.J.Cook

O`REILLY AUTO PART UNITED STATES MODIFIED TOURING SERIES

Heat#1 1.Al Hejna,Clear Lake 2.Mike Steensma,Luverne,MN 3.Tommy
Myer,Blooming Prairie,MN 4.Rick Gustin,Marshalltown 5.Chuck Stanton,New Hampton 6.Jim Brown,Altoona 7.Jerry Pilcher,Bloomfield
8.Mike Lineberry,Fontanelle,NE 9.Tim Sands,Conesville 10.Scott Dickey,Packwood

Heat#2 1.Mike Hejna,Clear Lake 2.Dean Mahlstedt,Garner 3.Kelly Shryock,Fertile 4.Jon Tesch Watertown,SD 5.Brad Pinkerton,New Sharon 6.Mark Noble,Blooming Prairie,MN 7.Benji LaCrosse, Luxenburg,WI 8.Zack VanderBeek,New Sharon 9.Ryan Meyer,Liberty,IL 10.Joshua Vinnedge,Forreston,IL

Heat#3-1.Jason Friesen,Sutton,NE 2.Dan Chapman,Clarence 3.Ryan York,Racine,MN 4.Jay Poidinger,Somerset,WI 5.Michael Darnall,West Union 6.Jake Neal,Omaha,NE 7.Mark Dotson,Cameron,MO 8.Mike Wedelstadt,Hortonville,WI 9.Mike Long,Quincy,IL 10.Mel Saffran,Farley

Heat#4-1.Brad McEwan,Storm Lake 2.Jeff Schluetter,New Hampton 3.Ron VerBeek,Oskaloosa 4.Tony Fraise,Donnellson 5.Matt Gilbertson,Montevideo MN 6.Alan Mondus,Lakeville,MN 7.Ryan Ruter,Forest City 8.Mike Thomas,West Branch 9.Steve Stewart,Washington

B-Main#1-1.Pinkerton 2.York 3.Gilbertson 4.Pilcher 5.Wedelstadt

B-Main#2-1.Tesch 2.Noble 3.Verbeek 4.Ruter 5.Vanderbeek

A-Main 1.Noble 2.Pinkerton 3.A.Hejna 4.McEwan 5.Tesch 6.Gustin 7.Verbeek 8.Steensma 9.Shryock 10.York 11.Schluetter 12.Fraise 13.Chapman 14.Wedelstadt 15.Mahlstedt 16.Vanderbeek 17.Poidinger 18.Gilbertson 19.Pilcher 20.Friesen 21.Myer 22.Ruter 23.Hejna 24.Mondus