DUBUQUE, Iowa — The Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway had been a source of bad luck for driver Paul Nienhiser and owner Scott Bonar in the past, but Wednesday, they put it behind them with a convincing Sprint Invaders triumph.
Nienhiser became the eighth different driver to win on the high banks of Dubuque in the nine visits the series has made. The Chapin, Illinois, driver earned $2,000 for his ninth career Sprint Invaders victory, and second of the year.
Jamie Ball, who had convincingly won the Shake-up Dash, led early in the 25-lap feature, ahead of Nienhiser, Josh Higday and Chris Martin. Martin grabbed third from Higday on lap three, but the latter battled back and pulled away in the how position.
Up front, Ball was committed to the low side, and Nienhiser, the cushion up top. On lap five, Nienhiser had a good run in turns three and four and passed Ball coming for the start/finish line. He entered lapped traffic on lap eight before a caution came out for Cam Martin, who had a flat right rear. Under caution, the third-running Higday also pulled off with a flat right rear.
Nienhiser led Ball, Chris Martin, Cody Wehrle and Dustin Clark.
Ball made a bid for the lead when the green flew that fell short. Chris Martin took advantage of Ball, and moved by into the second spot. Nienhiser was back in lapped traffic by the 17th circuit, and appeared to be cruising to a win when Devin Wignall spun. Nienhiser had lapped up to ninth place.
Nienhiser had no problem leading the rest of the way with a green-white-checker finish. Ball ducked under Martin on the last lap in turn four to claim second. Clark was fourth and Tyler Lee was fifth.
“We always love coming to Dubuque,” said Nienhiser. “There are a lot of great fans here and we appreciate the atmosphere. We were kind of good early tonight, then had to work on our stuff a bit. I felt like we were pretty killer in the feature. I feel like this place owes me a couple. Jamie is a pro and had a really good car tonight. I could tell he was asset for the bottom. We feel like the fast way around here is usually the top, even if the bottom is fast. We had a good race car and that made my job a lot easier.”
“We absolutely set up for the bottom there after how good we were all night,” said Ball. “Sixth to second in the heat and third to first in the dash. We were hoping it would hold on a little big longer…we were good but Paul was better in three and four and that showed when he passed me.”
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (4) 2. 4w, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (1) 3. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (3) 4. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (6) 5. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (10) 6. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (5) 7. 99, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (16) 8. 6R, Ryan Bunton, Morton, IL (9) 9. 28, Luke Verardi, Taylorville, IL (11) 10. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (8) 11. 21, Devin Wignall, Altoona, IA (13) 12. 83, Kurt Mueller, Reynolds, IL (12) 13. 4x, Chase Richards, Burlington, IA (14) 14. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (7) 15. 1E, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (2) 16. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (15) DNS – 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA, 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA.