4/17/2017
Eagle Raceway
Sobbing, Armstrong, Nelson & Drueke are Crowned IceBreaker Challenge Champions!
By Greg Soukup
After washing out night one of the 2017 Ice Breaker, that fickle spirit Mother Nature gave the fans and teams a beautiful race day. 141 teams towed to Eagle Raceway for the season opening event. Since the first night had to be cancelled, the winner’s share of the Modified and Sport Modified purses was increased to $3000 to win the Modifieds and $750 for the victory in the Sport Modifieds. In fact, the Modified purse was the largest in Eagle Raceway history.
16 heats, 1 C Feature and 3 B Features were run without serious incidents.
The first lap of the Hoosier Tire IMCA Sport Modified A Feature saw a big pile-up with 7 cars involved. There were no serious injuries. Once an official lap was in the books Adam Armstrong’s 6A led the field with the 76 of Lance Borgman, Arie Schouten in the 99RE and Derek Hall’s 44D rounding out the top 4. Hall and Colby Langenberg’s 1J both passed Schouten on lap 2 with Langenberg getting past Hall on lap 12. Ken Eckhoff looped the #5 shortly after that to bring out the caution flag. At that time, it was Armstrong, Borgman, Langenberg and Hall. Lap 13 saw Trent Roth put the 14T into fourth. 3 laps later Shawn Harker vaulted the #40 all of the way up to third with Roth moving back to fourth. Lap 17 saw Roth get by Harker for third. Borgman suffered mechanical difficulties on lap 22 and headed to the infield, making the running order Armstrong, Roth, Harker and Langenberg. Armstrong did not respond to a request for an interview.
The Sprint Series of Nebraska A Main was next on the card. Tyler Drueke took advantage of his front row outside starting position and passed the flag stand first in his #12. Adam Gullion’s 91, the 7KX of Toby Chapman and Jason Martin’s 36 were hot on his push bumper however. Chapman and Martin swapped the third spot the next two laps with Chapman holding on to the spot on lap 3. Lap 5 saw Ron Love spin out on the back stretch in his #5. 1 lap after the restart both Chapman and Martin passed Gullion to move to second and third. Despite a furious battle amongst the top 4 their spots remained unchanged to the checkers with Drueke, Chapman, Martin and Gullion the top 4.
“We led the whole thing, but it wasn’t really easy. The top was really fast, and Adam tried to squeeze us going into turn one. I committed to trying to beat him around the outside. When I did that, Toby Chapman was coming from third and he slid us both! Well, when he did that I pretty much had the choice made for me. I was committed to the outside because if I’d tried to brake or anything I think I would have hopped his right rear coming off of turn two. So, I squeezed around the outside of him and from what my crew guys told me, we got a pretty good lead. I knew we had a pretty good race car, thanks to Matt Zoz, Dustin Gerdes, my brother Austin and my Dad. They prepared me a heck of a race car. It sounded like I kind of checked out that first five laps, but I started catching lapped traffic. I got behind Ron Love and Trevor Grossenbacher. They ended up getting together down the back straightaway. When I went to avoid them, I squeezed between Love and the wall. I smacked it pretty hard with the right rear and I broke the top Jacobs Ladder strap. The car was really good before that, but that made it really evil. I actually thought that I’d cut down the right rear! I remember looking at the leader board and seeing there was 18 to go. I thought to myself “There is no way we’re going to make it to the end of this!!”. I had to start using a lot of brake to keep the car settled down. I know that slowed our pace down quite a bit because Toby Chapman started trying to slide us quite a bit after that, but we crossed him up and got him back. After I used up my brakes and the pedal went right to the firewall, I started cheating the cushion a little bit. The top was SO fast that it made passing lapped cars really hard. There was enough moisture on the bottom that you could pull off a big slide job, and that was about the only way that you could pass anybody. We definitely had to earn that one; it wasn’t just given to us! In my interview for the fans in the stands I said ‘How are we going to top this one the rest of the year?’. I like those ones where we just check out, take the money and go home. But, nobody pays to go watch church, so there’s no way they should have to pay to watch a boring race” stated Drueke. Tyler’s sponsors include Speedway Motors Racing Engines, Danner Spray Foam, Drueke Trucking and Ranch, Zoz Farms, Jeffres Truicking and J & J Chassis.
The IMCA Stock Cars A Main saw Preston Janzing spin his #20J out in turn 4 on the first lap, causing a complete restart. The first lap saw Doug Adamy’s 93, the 1 of Shawn Primrose, the 94 of Dan Nelson and Shane Stutzman in the 22S out front. Nelson moved up to second on lap 2 but lost the spot to Primrose 2 laps later. Allyn Shively’s 01 spun out in turn 4 and the yellow lights were lit. Nelson moved back to second on lap 6. 5 laps later Stutzman advanced to third. Tyler Jackson’s 13T spun coming out of turn 4 on lap 13 for another caution. Lap 15 saw Eric Rempel put the #21 into fourth with Nelson taking the lead the next time around. Stutzman moved up to second on lap 17. Shortly after that 3 cars got together in turns 3 and 4 for yet another caution. Primrose passed Rempel on lap 18, but lost the fourth spot back to him the next lap. At the finish it was Nelson, Stutzman, Adamy and Rempel. Nelson did not respond to a request for an interview.
The finale for the evening was the A Main for the Kaplan University Modifieds. Jesse Sobbing, who started on the front row, put the #99 out front of lap 1 followed by Chevy Hadan’s #4, the 27 of Clint Homan and Shane Hiatt in the 21H. Hiatt moved past Homan for third on lap 4. Dylan Smith also got past Homan 2 laps later to put the 95 into fourth. The final position change in the top 4 came on lap 26 when Smith passed Hiatt for third, making the final top 4 Sobbing, Hadan, Smith and Hiatt. Sobbing did not respond to a request for an interview.
Next Saturday at Eagle Raceway is the season opener as the Nebraska Lottery presents Get Fired Up Night featuring the Racesaver IMCA Sprints, Kaplan University IMCA Modifieds, Hoosier Tire IMCA Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Mountainn Dew Kickstart IMCA Sport Compacts.
Happy D Klown will be there from 5:30 to 7:30. Also, the Nebraska Lottery will be on site with their trailer.
Front gates open at 5:15 with hot laps starting at 5:30 and racing at 6:30. Adult admission is $10, youths 6-12 are just $5 and children 5 and under are free.
Pit gates open at 4:00 and pit passes are $25.
FULL RESULTS:
IceBreaker Modified A-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Jesse Sobbing 99
Chevy Hadan 4
Dylan Smith 95
Shane Hiatt 21H
Jordan123 Grabouski 30
Clint Homan 27
Jeremy Payne 96JP
Josh Blumer 21
Anthony Roth 60IV
Trevor Baker 25!
Johnny Saathoff 96J
Chad Andersen 8C
Aaron Pella 3A
Rik Gropp V45
Brandon Spanjer 19XX
Cale Carder 77R
Bob Ruisinger 7
Bob Zoubek 5S
Colton Osborn 50C
Jay Noteboom 7N
IceBreaker Modified B-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Jay Noteboom 7N
Brandon Spanjer 19XX
Colton Osborn 50C
Bob Ruisinger 7
Justin Wulf 86
Brian Cudly 4S
Matt Boucher 5B
Dave Pedersen 4P
Bob Fleshman 7J
Jeff Schroyer 007
Jared Deterding 13J
Pat Wheeler 22
Terry Fletcher 67
Tracy Harr 5T
Jim Mathieson M80
Peter Shoup 79
Jaxon Saathoff 96
Jordy Nelson 4J
Nate Thompson 3T
IceBreaker Modified Heat 1
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Dylan Smith 95
Josh Blumer 21
Trevor Baker 25!
Rik Gropp V45
Colton Osborn 50C
Peter Shoup 79
Jordy Nelson 4J
Jaxon Saathoff 96
Jim Mathieson M80
IceBreaker Modified Heat 2
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Jordan123 Grabouski 30
Jesse Sobbing 99
Clint Homan 27
Johnny Saathoff 96J
Brandon Spanjer 19XX
Bob Ruisinger 7
Jared Deterding 13J
Justin Wulf 86
Terry Fletcher 67
IceBreaker Modified Heat 3
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Jeremy Payne 96JP
Bob Zoubek 5S
Aaron Pella 3A
Cale Carder 77R
Jeff Schroyer 007
Dave Pedersen 4P
Nate Thompson 3T
Tracy Harr 5T
IceBreaker Modified Heat 4
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Shane Hiatt 21H
Chevy Hadan 4
Anthony Roth 60IV
Chad Andersen 8C
Jay Noteboom 7N
Brian Cudly 4S
Matt Boucher 5B
Bob Fleshman 7J
Pat Wheeler 22
IceBreaker SportMod A-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Adam Armstong 6A
Trent Roth 14T
Shawn Harker 40
Colby Langenberg 1J
Derek Hall 44D
Dillon Schultz 55D
Josh Pfeifer 33J
Benji Legg 2X
Gunnar Pike 25
Joe Schidler K00
Arie Schouten 99RE
Logan Thompsen 9T
Mary Lenz 17
Ken Eckhoff 5
Lance Borgman 76
Jesse Skalicky 3S
Joe Feyen 25X
James Robuck 75
Gary Saathoff 96
Adam Vrbka 7V
IceBreaker SportMod B-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Benji Legg 2X
Gunnar Pike 25
Dillon Schultz 55D
Ken Eckhoff 5
Josh Pfeifer 33J
Dion Kovar 18
Cole Wayman 18T
Scott Bivens S56
Roger Sluka 5S
Kyle Flodman 7K
Paul Donovan 1
Jason Harms 6H
Robert Draper 62
James Hines 31R
Bruce Lang 10L
Chad Kohl 77
Brian Osantowski 999
Travis Patterson 17K
Kevin Kloke 35
Jeremy Baker 3J
IceBreaker SportMod C-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Chad Kohl 77
Kyle Flodman 7K
Jason Harms 6H
Robert Draper 62
Jeremy Baker 3J
Terry Callender 5T
Rick Barton 62B
Braydon Latture 14
Brad Perkons 57T
Rich Flock 88F
Hunter Weber 99W
Troy Sanford 12
Nick Beckman 22
DNS Jake Kubik 93S
DNS Nick Morris 24H
DNS Thomas Powell 18R
DNS Jeremy Down 4D
DNS Derick Noonan 21G
IceBreaker SportMod Heat 1
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
Shawn Harker 40
Derek Hall 44D
Joe Feyen 25X
Benji Legg 2X
Travis Patterson 17K
Josh Pfeifer 33J
Jake Kubik 93S
Brad Perkons 57T
Thomas Powell &
