OSKALOOSA, Iowa — Chris Martin’s great runs as of late kept coming Thursday as he notched his fourth win of the year with the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders.
This time came at the Southern Iowa Speedway on a night that drew a stout field of 30 sprint cars. The Ankeny, Iowa native swept the night, winning his heat, the dash and the feature aboard his CMR No. 44.
Martin earned the pole for the 25-lap main event after winning the Agriland FS Dash. He led early over Austin McCarl, Austin Wood, Riley Goodno and Tasker Phillips. Phillips moved by Goodno for third on lap three, but both Goodno and Cam Martin moved back by Phillips and into the top five a lap later.
Chris Martin was already entering traffic on lap six. His brother Cam was on the move as well, taking fourth from Goodno on lap 10, and third from Wood on lap 11. The battle between Cam and Wood was a good one, as the two exchanged that spot three times in four laps.
By lap 15, Martin’s lead over the field was 3.5 seconds, and he stretched it to over six seconds with five to go. A lap later, Sawyer Phillips, who led the series’ points coming into the night, went up in smoke.
Martin led McCarl, Cam Martin, Tasker Phillips and Wood back to green. Ball came to a stop on the first try at a restart, surrendering his sixth-place run. On the second try, A.J. Johnson spun out of his 12th-place run.
The last four laps was anti-climactic. Because Chris Martin pulled away again and won his 13th career feature with the Sprint Invaders over McCarl, Cam Martin, Tasker Phillips and Ayrton Gennetten.
“The team gave me a great car to drive all night,” said Martin. “I definitely knew we had a good car when we unloaded. I had a lot of confidence in myself and the car. The car was good through all the different changes in the racetrack. From having to run the high side, to banging the boards, to trying to cut it off some, to keeping the car straight when it rubbered up. (Crew chief) Danny (Lasoski) said, ‘Don’t hesitate in lapped traffic. Don’t mess around. If you do, you might as well walk back to Ankney. I’m just really thankful to work with this great group of guys.”
“Oskaloosa always changes,” said McCarl. “I wished we raced here more. We just got out-motored to be honest. That’s what it came down to. We were probably a little free in traffic and not stuck enough. It’s my job to get around them, and I didn’t do a good enough job. We’ll just move ahead to Saturday.”
“We started sixth, and got past a few decent cars,” said Cam Martin. “Riley and Tasker and (Austin Wood). We found some rubber there a bit. We really weren’t able to do anything with the cautions. We had a nice third place finish. We can’t complain about that. The only thing I can complain about is washing Chris’s car tomorrow. We were able to get by Austin there on a restart that got called back, and that would have been my best chance at getting (Chris)l.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (1) 2. 88W, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (2) 3. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (6) 4. 1TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (4) 5. 50, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (11) 6. 83v, Austin Wood, Sacramento, CA (3) 7. 11T, Trey Meredith, Dade City, FL (9) 8. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (5) 9. 11, Colton Fisher, Danville, IA (14) 10. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (8) 11. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (15) 12. 3, Cole Schroeder, Bozeman, MT (13) 13. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (23) 14. 5A, Alex Vande Voort, Knoxville, IA (17) 15. 99, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL (25, prov.) 16. T4, Tyler Graves, Chariton, IA (21) 17. 9L, Lincoln Martin, Monmouth, IL (19) 18. 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA (22) 19. 4w, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (7) 20. 11J, Wyatt Miller, Statesville, NC (20) 21. 6B, AJ Johnson, Oskaloosa, IA (10) 22. 7s, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (12) 23. 17, Nate Parks, Burlington, IA (16) 24. 16G, Austyn Gossel, Fort Collins, CO (18) 25. 7c, Devin Kline, Knoxville, IA (24).
