BOONE, Iowa – Ethan Dotson and Tom Berry Jr. collected victories in the final modified qualifiers early Sunday morning during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s at Boone Speedway.
The qualifiers won by Dotson and Berry were originally scheduled for Friday, but were postponed due to poor weather conditions. The top-four finishers in each qualifiers advanced to Sunday afternoon’s championship feature at the third-mile oval.
With fog rolling in, the first went green with Dotson stormed into the lead in the opening corners, only for the start to get called back for a caution before the lap was complete. When the green waved for the second attempt Dotson again rolled into the lead.
Caution would wave after one lap was complete for a car around in turn two. When racing resumed Dotson rocketed away again, but a chain reaction incident led to the car of Jeff Bodendorfer coming to rest on the nose of Todd Stinehart’s car for another caution. It would take two wreckers to remove Bodendorfer’s car from atop Stinehart’s machine.
Dotson continued to lead on the ensuing restart, but racing was stopped again with four complete for a car stopped in turn two. The next time the green waved Dotson continued his form at the front, pulling away from the battle for second.
A multi-car incident in turn two brought the caution back out with 17 laps left. During the restart Dotson again slipped away from the field, comfortably leading the way until three cars came together to bring the caution out with nine laps left.
During the restart Dotson got his stiffest challenge as runner-up Chris Elliott stuck his nose under Dotson in the corners for two laps. However, Dotson would not be denied as he slowly pulled away and until another caution for the stopped car of Jesse Sobbing in turn four.
Dotson continued his strong form during the restart, holding serve to win the first qualifier. Elliott took second, with Troy Cordes and Skalicky finishing third and fourth to also earn berths into Sunday’s championship feature.
The opening corners of the second qualifier saw polesitter Berry rocket off into turn one, only to slide up the track and get a bump from outside polesitter A.J. Ward to move him out of the way.
As a result, Ward moved into the lead with Berry falling to third behind Ward and Anthony Roth after the lap. The caution would wave on the next lap for two cars stopped in the bottom of turns one and two.
Ward held serve on the restart, but Berry went around Roth to take second. The field only completed one lap before a multi-car incident in turn one, which included Tim Ward’s car coming to rest on the nose of Ricky Stephan’s car, brought out another caution flag.
A.J. Ward held serve in the first two corners during the restart, but in turns three and four he slid up the track. That allowed Berry to pull a hard left turn to drive under him and take the lead at the start/finish line.
Racing continued until the next caution for a car backwards on the front stretch with 19 laps left. The field got one lap in when racing resumed before the caution waved again, this time for a stopped car on the backstretch. It was the same song on the next restart, with the field getting another lap in before a car spun in turn two to bring the caution back out.
The next attempt saw the field stay clean, with Berry continuing to hold the top spot. With 10 laps left Roth was more than three seconds back in the runner-up position as the field battled behind them for the final transfer position.
Berry would lead the remainder of the distance unchallenged, with Darron Fuqua slipping by Roth late to finish second. Zachary Madrid finished fourth to take the final transfer position to Sunday’s championship feature.
The finishes:
First Qualifier: Ethan Dotson, Chris Elliott, Troy Cordes, Jesse Skalicky, Randy Brown, Josh Long, Scott Simatovich, Paul Nagle, Jay Noteboom, Scott Olson, Ashton Wilkey, Cory Sauerman, Matt Bonine, Jon White, Kelsie Foley, Bob Moore, Wade Lumsden, Nicholas Carpenter, Dennis Betzer, Mark Griffin, Jesse Sobbing, Mike Van Genderen, Tim Watts, Cory Sample, Jesse Rogotzke, Chris Abelson, Todd Stinehart, Jeff Bodendorfer.
Second Qualifier: Tom Berry Jr., Darron Fuqua, Anthony Roth, Zachary Madrid, Jimmy Gustin, Collen Winebarger, A.J. Ward, Kelly Shryock, Clay Money, Nick Roberts, Jake McBirnie, Jordy Nelson, Chris Palsrok, Jayden Bears, John Parmeley, Dustin Kroening, John Webb, Ronn Lauritzen, Jeff Taylor, Michael Thing, Mitchell Hunt, Ed Thomas, Peyton Taylor, Ricky Stephan, Dan Menk, David Goode Jr., Jeff Schroyer, Clay Sellard, Joel Bushore, Tim Ward.
Every night of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s on Sept. 7-13 will be broadcast live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV. Check out all of our coverage of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals on our coverage index page!