DAVENPORT, Iowa — Open Wheel Madness lived up to its billing Friday night at the Davenport Speedway. A last lap thriller, a couple of hard knocks, and a great night of racing was had.
The most exciting race of the evening was the Interstate Racing Association winged sprint car feature. Joel Myers Jr. jumped out to the lead on the opening lap after starting outside second row. Myers, who had also set fast time in qualifying, looked as if he was headed to victory lane. At least until the last two laps.
Austin McCarl started the 25-lap main in 13th position. McCarl was mired in the pack and did not crack the top five until lap 12. His late race charge saw him pass Ayrton Gennetten for second with four laps to go.
Myers still held the lead at the white flag but was caught behind a back marker in turn one, allowing McCarl to take the lead on the high side. Myers tried to regain the lead in three and four with a slide job. McCarl crossed him over coming out of turn four and took the checkers with a 0.173-second margin of victory.
Gennetten finished third followed by Landon Crawley and Chris Martin. In victory lane McCarl’s right rear looked like a NASCAR tire that was starting to show cord.
McCarl and Gennetten both have family ties to Davenport Speedway’s past. Gene Gennetten, Ayrton’s grandfather, won three midget races here in the 1980s and Austin McCarl’s father Terry won an IRA Sprint Car race at Davenport in 1993.
The midget portion of Open Wheel Madness was a completely different story. Brandon Waelti of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin started second, took the lead on lap two, and never looked back.
Behind the leader, there was a lot of shuffling for position. Jake Neuman started eighth but quickly moved up to second place, where he would finish. Zach Boden started third and would finish in the same position. Tyler Roth was fourth, while Jacob Sollenberger drove from 14th to fifth.
The Freds Towing / Cantrell Towing / QC Towing – IMCA SportMods were also on the program. Their fifteen lap feature saw Jordan Hicks race out to an early lead, but a lap nine caution brought the field to his rear bumper.
On the restart, Brayton Carter went from third to first. Once in front, Carter would stretch out his lead for the victory. Hicks would hold on for second. Tony Olson, Ben Chapman, and Levi Gaunt rounded out the top five.
Mike Morrow beat Nolan Morrow and Dustin Munn in the IMCA Mod Lite feature. The top three finished in that order.
Midwest Jalopies rounded out the racing card. Norm Haines edged out Tanner Gerrard for the win in the final laps. Tom Honts, Austin Honts, and Jayson Blunt finished third through fifth, respectively.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88-Austin McCarl[13]; 2. 19-Joel Myers Jr[4]; 3. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[1]; 4. 12X-Landon Crawley[2]; 5. 44-Chris Martin[8]; 6. 15K-Creed Kemenah[3]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[5]; 8. 37-Bryce Norris[22]; 9. 25T-Travis Arenz[6]; 10. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[10]; 11. 3N-Jake Neuman[18]; 12. 7A-Will Armitage[9]; 13. 11-Colton Fisher[7]; 14. 6-JJ Hickle[19]; 15. 85J-Logan Julien[21]; 16. 2W-Scott Neitzel[17]; 17. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[15]; 18. 25-Danny Schlafer[20]; 19. 99D-Zach Daum[14]; 20. 9K-Kyle Schuett[23]; 21. 10V-Matt VanderVere[11]; 22. 29L-Brayton Lynch[24]; 23. 12-Corbin Gurley[12]; 24. (DNF) 87A-Austin Hartmann[16]
