WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa — Josh Schneiderman staged a dramatic win worth $5,000 Saturday night at 34 Raceway during the Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders “Fall Haul” event.
Tasker Phillips edged brother Sawyer Phillips by just six points to win his second consecutive Sprint Invaders title. As always, countless sponsors provided extra purse and contingencies throughout.
A cool night welcomed 36 sprint cars to the season finale for both the Sprint Invaders and 34 Raceway. Coming in, Tasker Phillips led brother Sawyer by just 17 markers in a quest to win his second title. In the end, Tasker would do what he had to do, while up front, there was plenty of drama and action to befit the final race of the season.
Entering the night, Paul Nienhiser, Schneiderman and Dustin Selvage were tied atop the all-time win list at 34 Raceway with five Sprint Invaders wins apiece. All started the main event in the first four rows.
Nienhiser, who had won his heat and the Dash, led lap one of the 30-lap main event from the pole after a caution for a spun Nate Parks. Jamie Ball used the low side of turn two to jet into the lead on lap two and was into traffic by the sixth circuit. On lap ten, Selvage entered the top five.
On the 12th lap, Nienhiser reeled in the leader and passed him low in turn four to take the back the point. Alex Vande Voort followed him into second three laps later. Colton Fisher, who started in row five was threatening to enter the top five on lap 18 when he pulled to the infield with mechanical difficulties.
Meanwhile, Schneiderman was on a roll, and got by Vande Voort for the runner-up spot. On lap 22, Selvage got by Ball for fourth.
On lap 23, Jake Bubak flipped high atop the turn three wall and crashed hard. He walked away. When the red was thrown, Nienhiser, who had built over a three-second lead, was hit from behind when he slowed, rupturing his fuel tank and ending his run for the win.
Schneiderman inherited the lead on the restart ahead of Vande Voort, Selvage, Ball and Evan Semerad. A lap later, Dustin Clark stopped, bringing another caution. On that restart, Selvage shot by Vande Voort, and Sawyer Phillips entered the top five.
One more yellow flew with two laps to go, when the eighth place machine of Jack Wagner came to a stop in turn four.
Schneiderman pulled away for the popular hometown win, his sixth with the Sprint Invaders at 34 Raceway, tops all-time. It was his twelfth overall with he series, seventh all-time.
Selvage was second, ahead of Vande Voort, and hard-charger Cam Martin, who banked a $600 bonus for coming from 24th. Ball, Sawyer Phillips, Riley Goodno, Cam Sorrels, Tasker Phillips and Semerad rounded out the top ten. Tasker had to make a late charge to gain enough positions to secure the championship.
“We’ve been working so hard (in the fields),” said Schneiderman. “We got here at 4:45 or 5, and barely made hot laps. I’ve got to give it to (brother) Jarrod. He works his (tail) off on this stuff. I’ve just very fortunate and very lucky to be here with these people. We’re tough on each other, because we want to be up here. We want to win. We feel we’re good enough to be up here and win. I really wanted to race with (Nienhiser) in lapped traffic. Hat’s off to Paul and Scotty (Bonar). I wanted to see what I had for them. I felt good in the Dash. Once I got going in the feature, I knew we were pretty good. I hated that for Paul, but we’re going to take $5,000 any way we can get it.”
The Phillips brothers took a brief break from a harvest they are barely halfway though to race at Burlington.
Said Tasker, “We weren’t shooting for it (the championship), but about mid-season we were put in a spot to do it. It represents the team and how hard they work. I hate racing like that (for points), but at a certain point it becomes more than what I want. I’m glad to get it done. If it wasn’t for the points racing, we wouldn’t have been here tonight. We brought in some old P-ville Posse boys (for the harvest) tonight to keep it running so we could come down here.”
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (6); 2. 7X, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (8); 3. 5A, Alex Vande Voort, Knoxville, IA (3); 4. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (24); 5. 4W, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (2); 6. 3P, Sawyer Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (4); 7. 22X, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (14); 8. 57, Cam Sorrels, Hallsville, MO (16); 9. 1TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (7); 10. 59, Evan Semerad, Malcolm, NE (5); 11. 99, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL (19); 12. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (22); 13. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (21); 14. 31, McCain Richards, Burlington, IA (25, prov.); 15. 9M, Laney Moore, Des Moines, IA (11); 16. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (23); 17. 77, Jack Wagner, Lone Jack, MO (13); 18. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (1); 19. 9B, Jake Bubak, Arvada, CO (20); 20. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (15); 21. 11, Colton Fisher, Danville, IA (10); 22. 11X, Jaden Alexander, Knoxville, IA (12); 23. 73, Samuel Wagner, Lone Jack, MO (17); 24. 40C, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (18); 25. 17, Nate Parks, Burlington, IA (9)
