BOONE, Iowa — Cody Thompson secured the pole for Saturday’s Northern sportmod finale at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s with a victory in Monday’s qualifier at Boone Speedway.
Monday’s qualifier for the Northern sportmods set the first eight starters on the inside row for Saturday’s feature, with the race winner earning the pole.
Thompson started fourth in the 25-lap feature, but it was polesitter Colby Fett who led the early laps. The first 10 laps were plagued by caution flags, with the racing being halted due to crashes or spins five times before 10 laps could be completed.
When things finally got moving after the fifth caution flag, Thompson went to work on the top, rocketing up to second as he pursued Fett for the lead. Fett did his best to hold off Thompson by running the top in turns one and two, but he stuck to the bottom in turns three and four and Thompson took full advantage.
With 13 laps left, Thompson took the lead from Fett, but Fett didn’t give up and tried to hang with Thompson on the bottom. Fett’s luck ran out, however, as he spun in the middle of turns three and four while trying to pass Thompson, dropping him out of contention for the victory.
Fett managed to keep his car rolling so the caution flag didn’t wave, which was music to the ears of Thompson as he pulled out to a massive lead. Thompson led the rest of the way unchallenged to punch his ticket to Saturday’s main event, where he’ll start from the pole.
Thompson said he noticed early in the feature that the top side had grip.
“I felt it up there early and I was just hoping nobody else saw that. Wow, that thing was a rocket,” Thompson said. “It’s pretty cool. We put this car together in three days.”
Trevor Baker finished a distant second, but it was more than enough to earn a spot in Saturday’s feature along with Brayton Carter and Doug Smith. Fett recovered to finish fifth, which also guarantees him a spot in Saturday’s finale. Ben Stockton, Tyler Inman and Garrett Nelson were the final drivers to advance to Saturday’s feature via Monday’s qualifier.
The finish:
Cody Thompson, Trevor Baker, Brayton Carter, Colby Fett, Ben Stockton, Tyler Inman, Garrett Nelson, Austin Schrage, Dallas Nutt, Jesse Levin, Jason Roth, Colby Langenberg, Dusty Masolini, Curtis Veber, Brett Berry, Jayden Schmidt, Tyler Watts, Brent Curran, Doug Cook, Vern Jackson, Tim Eaton, Chad Ryerson, Nate Whitehurst, Shane Paris, Adam Armstrong, Colton Nelson, Austin Price, Adam Birck, Brian Osantowski.
All six nights of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s on Sept. 7-12 will be broadcast live via SPEED SPORT TV affiliate IMCA.TV.