BLOOMFIELD, Iowa — Paul Nienhiser has had a habit of finishing second with the Sprint Invaders this season, and he broke that nuisance with a victory Thursday at Bloomfield Speedway on the Davis County Fairgrounds.
The win paid the Chapin, Ill., driver and Midland Performance No. 50 car owner Scott Bonar $2,000.
Nienhiser broke out to an early advantage in the 25-lap main event from his starting spot outside of row one, ahead of Riley Goodno, Great Williamson and Chase Randall. Williamson used a low move in turn two to take second from Goodno on lap two. Randall followed him into third with a slider on lap three.
Chase Richards spun to bring a caution three laps in. Randall shot by Williamson on lap five for second. Matt Allen spun a lap later to bring another caution. Williamson saw Allen’s car sitting in turn four, and in quick evasive action, got into the wall and upside down.
Nienhiser led Randall, Goodno, who inherited third, Chris Martin and Cody Wehrle back to green. Randall made a bid at the leader, momentarily sliding in front in turn two. Nienhiser was able to turn back under him, however, retaining his lead.
Martin passed Goodno for third on lap ten, and the leaders were into traffic by lap 14. With about ten laps to go, rubber appeared on the low side of the speedway, and Martin was one of the first to find it. He flew by Randall for the second spot with eight to go.
Nienhiser found the groove just in time, blocking Martin’s advance. Disaster struck for Martin with two to go, when his right rear tire blew.
Nienhiser led the rest of the way in the green-white-checkered finish, winning ahead of Randall, Goodno, Wehrle and hard-charger J.J. Hickle
“I think the way the whole night played out, getting the lead early is what I wanted to do,” said Nienhiser. “Sometimes I’d say I’d rather be running second, but not tonight. Every time we unloaded tonight we were pretty close to phenomenal, and getting closer to that. In the past weeks, we’ve been salvaging seconds, so tonight felt really good.”
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (2) 2. 9, Chase Randall, Waco, TX (3) 3. 22x, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (1) 4. 40, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (7) 5. 78, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (12) 6. 14m, Randy Martin, California, MO (11) 7. 99, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (14) 8. 11T, Dugan Thye, Burlington, IA (8) 9. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (6) 10. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (16) 11. 35, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (17) 12. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (9) 13. 4x, Chase Richards, Burlington, IA (20) 14. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (15) 15. 0, Jake Griffin, Quincy, IL (10) 16. 25, Kelly Graham, Hedrick, IA (13) 17. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (5) 18. 4, Evan Martin, Lohman, MO (18) 19. 24, Garet Williamson, Kingdom City, MO (4) 20. 17, Matt Allen, Adel, IA (19)