Alvarado aces Spring Nationals IMCA Modified field

[rebelracewriter]

Alvarado aces Spring Nationals IMCA Modified field

 

By Dusty Wiegert

 

BEATRICE, Neb. (March 26) – With half a lap left, Ricky Alvarado had to be asking himself what he’d have to do to get from fourth to the front of the Friday night Spring Nationals IMCA Modified feature field.

 

When the checkers flew and the excitement had died down, he was celebrating a victory at Beatrice’s season opener for the second straight year.

 

Alvarado prevailed after Jay Noteboom and Johnny Saathoff spun out while fighting for the lead. David Murray Jr. couldn’t keep the handle dueling with Alvarado on the last turn, and the Colorado flyer sped to the $1,500 top prize.

 

Noteboom started on the pole, with defending national champion Dylan Smith to his outside, and quickly pulled away while Smith tussled with Murray, Alvarado, and Jeff Jones.

 

The first lap led to a yellow flag after a pileup starting just past the top five that collected nearly half the pack. Another yellow came a lap after the re-start, but once underway the race went the rest of the 30 laps without interruption.

 

Noteboom had no problem most of the race, but seven-time Spring Nationals winner Saathoff slowly snuck into the top five and started reeling in Noteboom with five laps to go.

 

On the white flag lap entering turn three, Saathoff went for the win and made contact with Noteboom, knocking both sideways. Murray and Alvarado dodged the two leaders and each went for the victory.

 

Exiting turn four, Alvarado missed the errant Murray and motored to the win. Smith, Jones and Darrick Klima completed the top four in the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot qualifier.

 

Defending national champion Jesse Sobbing and 2009 runner-up Tyler Frye ran 1-2 in another Beatrice barnburner.

 

Mike Tanner led the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod feature early before Frye worked his way to the front.

 

Sobbing had started further back in the pack but made his way into second with just a few laps remaining. He took the lead from Frye with two to go but Frye didn't give up.

 

Entering turn three on the white flag lap, Frye went for the win and got into Sobbing a little bit but couldn't get past him. Tanner and Max Harder were third and fourth, respectively.

 

Brandon Johnson held off Blain Petersen and avoided lapped traffic in winning the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature. Hans Houfek and Roy Armstrong followed.

 

Ole Olsen dominated the Mach-1 Sport Compact main, winning ahead of Nicholas Lindblad, Mike Simpson and Neal Reynolds.

 

Saturday’s Spring Nationals program was lost to inclement weather and could not be rescheduled. The program had been postponed a week because of rain, cold and resulting track conditions.

 

Feature Results

 

Modifieds – 1. Ricky Alvarado; 2. Dylan Smith; 3. Jeff Jones; 4. Darrick Klima; 5. Terry Phillips; 6. Chad Andersen; 7. Brian Foote; 8. Johnny Saathoff; 9. Jordy Nelson; 10. Brandon Blochlinger; 11. Rodger Peck; 12. Josh Gilman; 13. Joel Cleveland; 14. Mike Albertsen; 15. Mike O’Patik; 16. Tyler Iverson; 17. Jordan Grabouski; 18. Jay Noteboom; 19. David Murray Jr.; 20. Ronnie Wallace; 21. Corey Lagroon; 22. Dan Nelson; 23. Davin Emmel; 24. Matt Bonine; 25. Chris Abelson.

 

Hobby Stocks – 1. Brandon Johnson; 2. Blain Petersen; 3. Hans Houfek; 4. Roy Armstrong; 5. R.J. Macku; 6. Shane Slezak; 7. Jesse Vanlaningham; 8. Josh Kennell; 9. Ryan Roschewski; 10. Leland Stute; 11. Litton Stute; 12. Brandon Wergin; 13. James Pittman; 14. Eric Chab; 15. Eric Stanton; 16. Jason Kohl; 17. Lonnie Greuter.

 

Northern SportMods – 1. Jesse Sobbing; 2. Tyler Frye; 3. Mike Tanner; 4. Max Harder; 5. Greg Metz; 6. Dusty Leonard; 7. Gary Saathoff; 8. Kyle Olberding; 9. Scott Davis; 10. Chad Louk; 11. Kyle Prauner; 12. Nathan Kobes; 13. Jason Nelssen; 14. Nelson Vollbrecht; 15. Chad Borgman; 16. Dustin Rohr; 17. Anthony Asher; 18. Adam Armstrong; 19. Brian Kosiski; 20. Kurt Moeding; 21. Trevor Kopp; 22. Josh Rice; 23. Nicholas Topil; 24. Jerry Hinton.

 

Sport Compacts – 1. Ole Olsen; 2. Nicholas Lindblad; 3. Mike Simpson; 4. Neal Reynolds; 5. Jamie Rice; 6. John Sedlachek; 7. Brock McDougall; 8. Justice Colson; 9. Mary Lenz; 10. Jessie Fuller; 11. Allen Rice; 12. Travis Clark; 13. Trace Ayers; 14. Brandon Lobdell; 15. Kaylee Diekman; 16. Taylor Griffin; 17. Shelby Barnard; 18. Kevin Cather.

 

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