BRITT, IA (Aug. 18, 2000) — Kevin Stoa, of Austin, MN. took the challenge last Friday night (August 18) at the Hancock County Speedway and went home with an extra $1700 on top of his feature win and dash pay. Stoa won the dash, which put him in the back row beside Ron Pope of Mason City in the A feature. Pope had won last weeks feature and accepted the challenge at the pit meeting. Both Stoa and Pope had each won the Challenge twice going into the fray.

A combination of good driving skills and several yellows in the early laps of the contest put Stoa in sixth spot by the third lap. Pope had a mighty machine and looked awesome in the early going, but left the contest early with suspension problems. He was not the only driver to suffer mechanical misfortune. Al Hejna was running second, when he suddenly lost power and went to the pits. Keith Schmitz led for half the race and had a nice lead when suddenly he lost his transmission ending his bid to hold off the charging Stoa.

At this point Stoa was in second spot ready to take over first and go for the gold. Joe Schmit of Britt was not going to let him do that easily. Schmit did a fantastic job of sticking with Stoa, putting pressure on him in each corner, Stoa would gain the advantage on the stretch. But in the end, Stoa had just a little more and took the win with Schmit in second, Mike Hejna third, and Rob Rose fourth. Mike Hejna has a commanding lead in the mod point standings with brother Al in second spot for the Season Championship contest this Friday (August 25).

The stock car feature was an awesome battle between Travis Hoeft of Forest City and Scott Bloemke of Belmond. Travis started front row and led for the majority of the feature. Bloemke started mid-pack and worked his way to the front. On the fourteenth lap he overtook Hoeft, but Travis was not ready to say okay you can have it. Travis stayed with Bloemke applying the pressure, but Bloemke would not rattle. Bloemke wins another feature, and controls the Stock car point lead. Kevin Opheim moved into second in the points battle, sneaking a couple points ahead of Craig Berhow, who was involved in an incident early in the event that ended his night.

Scott Anderson of Mason City picked up a feature win in the hobby stock class. He came from mid pack to gain the advantage with four laps to go. Tony Schmit of Britt had a good run going and grabbed the lead about half way through and held on for several laps when he developed some car problems and left the track. Anderson rode to victory with Dan Haugland of Forest City in second. Point leader Earl Webner of Garner, also had problems and ended his night before the checkered flag flew. Earl leads the hobby stock point standings by a mere point over Jason Daniels of Britt going into the Season Championship. Scott Anderson is four points behind Daniels and Randy Hadacek of Britt could still move up some positions since he is only 20 points out of first.

Chuck Gatewood of Eagle Grove drove to his first feature win in the Limited 360 Modified class. He started front row and led flag to flag holding off first Ed Green of Ellsworth, then Alex Webner of Garner, and with two laps to go, Larry Cook of Ft Dodge was knocking at his back door. This night belong to Gatewood, and Cook settled for second with Josh Omans of Garner in third and Webner in fourth. Cook has a commanding lead in the point standings, but second place is up for grabs. Steve Inman of Mason City in his rookie year in this class leads Josh Omans by four points going into Season Championship night.

Season Championship night, this Friday August 25, will be sponsored by Stellar Industries of Garner. Hot laps start at 7:00 Races 7:30. This will end the regular track and IMCA point season. After a couple weeks off for the Britt Draft Horse show and then the IMCA Supernationals, the action will be back at Hancock County Speedway for the two day Minneapolis Auto Auction Fall Challenge on Friday and Saturday September 15 & 16. This event will feature all four classes in a non-sanctioned event with the Modified class going for $2000 to win, plus an $8,000 challenge for a possible $10,000 to win purse. Stock car is $1000 to win, Hobby $500, and Limited Mods have an incentive to bring in the cars, going for $500 with 20 or more cars, $400 with 15-19 cars and $300 with 14 or fewer cars. More information is available at www.hcspeed.com.

RESULTS

IMCA MODIFIED

Heat 1 - Ron Pope, Keith Schmitz, Scott Olson, Brad Bakken, Todd Suhr, Todd Stinehart, Rick Schuller, Jeff Metli, Mike Hejna, Tommy Belmer

Heat 2 - Al Hejna, Kevin Stoa, Jon Wood, Scott Badker, Joe Schmitt, Ross Wyatt, Ryan Hiscocks, Chris Adams, Rob Rose, Bill Cook

Dash - Kevin Stoa, Scott Olson, Al Hejna, Keith Schmitz, Todd Suhr, Ron Pope

A Feature - Kevin Stoa, Joe Schmitt, Mike Hejna, Rob Rose, Scott Olson, Todd Stinehart, Todd Suhr, Bill Cook, Ryan Hiscocks, Jon Wood, Ross Wyatt, Brad Bakken, Rick Schuller, Keith Schmitz, Scott Badker, Al Hejna, Ron Pope, Tommy Belmer, Jeff Metli, Chris Adams

IMCA STOCK CAR

Heat 1 - Brent Powers, Joe Hiscocks, Curt Moore, Kevin Opheim, Scott Bloemke, John Pletcher, Russell Trulson, Amy Woodward

Heat 2 - Travis Hoeft, Todd Wendel, Darin Toot, Kim Schleuger, Craig Berhow, Jeff Dolphin, Jim Mitchell, Cory Oftendahl

Dash - Joe Hiscocks, Kevin Opheim, Travis Hoeft, Todd Wendel, Darin Toot, Brent Powers

A Feature - Scott Bloemke, Travis Hoeft, Kevin Opheim, Joe Hiscocks, John Pletcher, Curt Moore, Brent Powers, Kim Schleuger, Jeff Dolphin, Todd Wendel, Russell Trulson, Craig Berhow, Darin Toot, Jim Mitchell, Amy Woodward, Cory Oftendahl

IMCA HOBBY STOCK

Heat 1 - Jeff Lodin, Dan Hanselman, Jared Dirks, Scott Anderson, Chad Doyle, Karol Moore, Rob Hughes

Heat 2 - Dan Haugland, Shane Monson, Dan Stromer, Tim Tickal, Jason Daniels, Mike Myers, Brent Hanson

Heat 3 - Randy Hadacek, Tony Smidt, Jim Smith, Earl Webner, Tim Gebel, John Madson, Ryan Lund

Dash - Shane Monson, Dan Haugland, Tony Smidt, Scott Anderson, Randy Hadacek, Jeff Lodin

A Feature - Scott Anderson, Dan Haugland, Jared Dirks, Jason Daniels, Jeff Lodin, Randy Hadacek, John Madson, Tim Tickal, Mike Myers, Rob Hughes, Brent Hanson, Chad Doyle, Ryan Lund, Earl Webner, Jim Smith, Tony Smidt, Dan Stromer, Shane Monson, Tim Gebel, Dan Hanselman, Karol Moore

LIMITED 360 MODIFIED

Heat 1 - Josh Omans, Ed Green, Jared Boumaster, Curt Badker, Alex Webner, Steven Inman, Scott Sheehan

Heat 2 - Brad Willier, Larry Cook, Lance Gardner, Ryan Ruter, Chuck Gatewood, Ben Holt

Dash - Lance Gardner, Ed Green, Brad Willier, Jared Boumaster, Josh Omans, Larry Cook

A Feature - Chuck Gatewood, Larry Cook, Josh Omans, Alex Webner, Ryan Ruter, Curt Badker, Ed Green, Steven Inman, Jared Boumaster, Scott Sheehan, Ben Holt, Brad Willier, Lance Gardner