Iowa State Fair Speedway

Des Moines, Iowa

JJAM Racing Promotions

Mick Trier

(515) 201-JJAM

For questions on this story, contact

David Wilkinson

(515) 265-9983 home

(515) 229-7929 cell

dwilkinson45@mchsi.com

For Immediate Release

by David Wilkinson

(Des Moines, Iowa) (June 3, 2005) Mid-Season Championships at the Iowa State Fair Speedway on Friday provided the point leaders the advantage of starting upfront. Three point leaders were able to convert that starting position to a victory: Steve Jackson, IMCA stock cars; Bret Moyer, Karl Chevrolet dirt trucks; and Bill Bonnett, IMCA hobby stocks. Other winners were Rob Toland in an exciting IMCA late model race, Todd Inman in the IMCA feature, Kyle Wahlert with a last-lap pass in the IMCA SportMods, Mike Morrill in the dwarf cars, and Bob Thompson in the 305 Sprint cars

For the mid-season championships, promoter Mick Trier offers the drivers in the top two rows the opportunity to start from the back of the pack and collect double the purse if they win. In the IMCA late model race, point’s leader Mike Smith had problems with his car after hot laps, changed cars, and had to start from the rear with no chance to collect twofold the prize. Darrell DeFrance moved into the pole position beside Rob Toland and what a race they had. Toland shot into the lead at the drop of the green with DeFrance nearby. By lap seven of the 18-lap race, DeFrance moved under Toland in turns one and two and for next ten laps, they ran side-by-side, exchanging the lead several times. Finally on lap 17, Toland moved ahead of DeFrance and beat him to the checkered. Todd Cooney finished third and Mike Smith worked his way into fourth.

In the IMCA modified championship, Richie Gustin, fourth-place in points, elected to accept the JJAM challenge. Dave Farren Jr. jumped into the lead followed closely by Todd Inman and Pat Graham. On lap seven, Inman raced to the front, where he was challenged by Graham a few laps later. After a couple of laps racing door-to-door, Graham had difficulty in turn four and left the race. Inman won with Farren Jr second, Russ Gladson third, and Bill Davis Jr. in fourth. After the race, Gustin claimed Gladson’s engine.

On the first lap of the IMCA stock car race, Steve Campbell, Mike Todd and Steve Jackson ran three-wide along the backstretch. Todd led that first lap crossing the finish line with others right behind. On the third lap, Todd ran high in turn four, and Jackson was able to pass him. After a couple of restarts, they ran the last eight laps of the race with Jackson leading and Todd on Jackson’s rear bumper. The top finishers were Jackson first, Todd second, Campbell third, and Travis Hansaker fourth.

In the Karl Chevrolet dirt truck race, Ben Nading accepted the JJAM Challenge and relinquished his front row, outside spot to start at the rear. Bret Moyer vaulted into the lead from the pole and was first chased by Matt Waugh. By halfway in the race, Moyer’s father Carl had moved into second and was chasing Bret. Meanwhile, Nading who started 17^th was working his way through the field. On lap 16, Nading moved into third and had his sights on the Moyers. He was able to get near Carl Moyer; in fact they touched in turns three and four of the last lap. But the order remained with Brett Moyer winning, Carl Moyer running second, Nading finishing third, with Bill Davis Jr. collecting fourth place.

The top 12 IMCA hobby stocks in points automatically qualified for the championship race and the others had to qualify by finishing in the top six of one of the two B-features. Bill Bonnett, the point’s leader, led every lap of the championship race, finishing far ahead of the field. Doug Seidl ran second, Don Wear was third, and Jacob Murray was fourth.

Both Tim Gannon and Kyle Wahlert accepted the JJAM Challenge and relinquished their front row spots to see if they could win. Bugs Vincent led the race, until the last lap when Wahlert passed him to take the checkered first. Vincent finished second, Keith Williamson third and Gannon fourth. The win capped off a big day for Wahlert as he came to the track after graduating from high school earlier in the evening.

For the third time this year, the dwarf cars competed at the Speedway and for the third time, Mike Morrill won. Fred Schimmels was second with Shane Hunter third and Jimmy May fourth.

The 305 non-wing sprints made their second appearance of the season and Bob Thompson claimed his second victory. Dave Farren was second, Lyle Sylvester third, and Bob Lamb forth. In a heat event, Kevin Tanner rolled end-to-end down the backstretch and went off the track over the third corner wall. His heavily damaged car was upside down caught between two protective fences. He was conscious as he was transported to hospital.

No racing next Friday as the fairgrounds will be occupied by the Pork Expo. Racing continues on Friday, June 17th in the divisions of IMCA late models, modifieds, stock cars, hobby stocks, and sport mods as well as Karl Chevrolet dirt trucks. Hot laps are at 6:00 PM with racing following around 7:00 PM.

IMCA Late Models

Mid-Season Championship

IMCA Modifieds

Mid-Season Championship

Mid-Season Championship

IMCA Hobby Stock

B-Feature Winners

1. Adam Hagen, West Des Moines

2. Rob Allison, Des Moines

Mid-Season Championship

Mid-Season Championship

Karl Chevrolet Dirt Trucks

Mid-Season Championship

Dwarf Cars

Heat Winners

1. Fred Schimmels, Van Meter

2. Mike Morrill, Altoona

Feature

305 Sprints

Heat Winners

1. Dave Farren, Des Moines

2. Nate Van Haaften, Otley

Feature