SPENCER, Iowa — He was chased and he was challenged but Dylan Thornton was never caught.
Thornton led every lap of Wednesday’s Clay County Fairgrounds Speedway Clash main event for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, keeping Tim Ward behind him the first 20 laps and holding Tom Berry Jr. at bay the last 10 times around the track.
The IMCA Speed Week win was also Thornton’s Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying third and was good for $2,500. He parried a last-turn slider from Berry, winner of Tuesday’s Harris Clash, to secure that big check.
“I saw his (Berry’s) nose so I knew he was close enough to slide me,” he said. “What you have to do coming down the backstretch is not make mistake and not stuff it into the fence or something stupid, you have to be able to turn back down.
“We actually went home after last night, woke up this morning, decided we were too dumb to quit and decided to drive four hours back up this way,” said Thornton, who’d finished 27th at Deer Creek. “We worked on this thing in the shop for a couple hours to make it better.”
Runner-up Berry had started seventh while hard charger Ethan Braaksma raced from 16th to catch Ward for third late in the race. Tripp Gaylord advanced nine spots to fifth.
Kelly Shryock, already guaranteed a starting spot in the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational, topped the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature ahead of Jake Masters and Mike Albertsen.
Ninth-starting Mike Smith edged Blake Luinenburg by eight hundredths of a second, something less than half a car length, in winning the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature. Brandon Nielsen was third.
Matthew Looft got to the front seven laps into the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature and then checked out, winning ahead of Gabriel Deschamp and Justin Klynsma.
And Gilbert Aldape became the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact winner following a post-race disqualification.
IMCA Speed Week continues Thursday with the Gene Schattschneider Memorial at Kossuth County Speedway in Algona.
All Speed Week race programs are broadcast by SPEED SPORT. TV affiliate IMCA.TV.
The finish:
Dylan Thornton, Tom Berry Jr., Ethan Braaksma, Tim Ward, Tripp Gaylord, Brandon Beckendorf, Eddie Belec, Cody Knecht, Kelly Shryock, Cod Thompson, Travis Hagen, Bryson Yeager, Joe Chisholm, Braxton Yeager, Jerry Flippo, Josh Rogotzke, Dalton Magers, Bland Bohannon, Rob Charapata, Kyler Jeffrey, John Burrow, Zach Dockter, Chris Abelson, Owen Barnhill, David Stremme, Kollin Hibdon, Jayden Schmidt.