Speed Bowl: Murray, Hudson, Shriver win Thunder Series opener

By Mike Hughes
RED CLOUD, NE (July 27)-The Speed Bowl in Red Cloud, NE, hosted the first
night of
the 3-night 'Thunder Series' Friday evening, July 27.
In the IMCA Modified A-feature, David Murray Jr. of Oberlin led
all 20 laps to cash
in the $1,000 winner's check. A late race caution on lap 14 when Robby
Haines
slowed let the field catch up as Lonnie Schriner, Corey Lagroon, Jason
Schoenberger
and Brandon Blochlinger lined up behind Murray on the restart. Schriner
tried to
make the winning move with 2 laps to go, but Murray moved up and took
Schriner's
line away and held on for the win. Lagroon finished third, followed by
Schoenberger and Mark Zorn. Heat race winners were Tim Watts, Murray, Jordan
Grabouski, and Lagroon. Lance Borgman topped the B-feature.
Josh 'The Hammer' Hudson of Kensington, KS, led all 20 laps of the
IMCA Stock Car
feature for his third win of the year at the 3/8-mile oval. Hudson was
chased all
the way to the checkers by point leader Brett Behrends. Cory Struckhoff
finished
third, followed by Doug Adamy and Jason McCartney. Behrends and Wayne
Walker were
victorious in the two heat races.
The IMCA Hobby Stock feature turned into a rollover contest as 3
drivers rolled
their cars in separate incidents. No one was injured. The caution flag
also flew
numerous times but it did not keep Mike Shriver of Hastings from leading
all 16
laps to score his 4th win of the season. The top six cars were close
throughout
the race but Shriver was up to the task. Jim Buss finished second, with
Jared
Lewis, Joe McDole and B.J. Dauer rounding out the top five. Heat race
winners
included McDole, Lewis and Buss.
Adam Sidlo & E.J. Kothe of Hastings took the lead on lap 4 of the
10-lap Cruiser
feature from Brandon Naasz & Colton Claussen to drive on for their 7th win
of the
season at Red Cloud. Naasz & Claussen finished second, followed by Drew
Barry &
Ethan Vogler. Heat race winners Joe & Jim Carter finished fourth.
Heat race winner Matthew Ford of Juniata made his way to the
winner's circle in the
4-cylinder 'Young Gun' main event. Ford took the lead from Alex Loveless
on lap 4
of the 8-lap main for the win. Loveless finished second, followed by
Monte Benson.

The second and third night of the Thunder Series takes place at
Elmwood Park
Speedway in Norton, KS, Saturday and Sunday, July 28-29.
Racing returns to The Speed Bowl on Friday evening, August 3. The
regular five
divisions return, along with another appearance of the GOTRA cars.

RESULTS

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1: 1. Joe McDole, 2. Jeromy Wagner, 3. Greg Hoing, 4. Pat Hersh.
Heat 2: 1. Jared Lewis, 2. Rocky Zimmerman, 3. Jerry Hudson, 4. Chuck
Ledbetter.
Heat 3: 1. Jim Buss, 2. Mike Shriver, 3. Delbert Selvage, 4. Brian Hilbert.
Feature: 1. Shriver, 2. Buss, 3. Lewis, 4. McDole, 5. B.J. Dauer, 6.
Hudson, 7.
Selvage, 8. Hilbert, 9. Hoing, 10. Cole Emerson, 11. Ledbetter, 12. Ricky
Runnion
(DNF), 13. Kaid Calhoon (DNF), 14. Corey Cruzen (DNF), 15. Wagner (DNF),
16. Hersh
(DNF), 17. Zimmerman (DNF), 18. Kyle Bond (DNS).

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1: 1. Brett Behrends, 2. Matt Streit, 3. Josh Hudson, 4. Jason Smidt.
Heat 2: 1. Wayne Walker, 2. Doug Adamy, 3. Brant Beam, 4. Jason McCartney.
Feature: 1. Hudson, 2. Behrends, 3. Cory Struckhoff, 4. Adamy, 5.
McCartney, 6.
Nathan Glendening, 7. Jared Remus, 8. Walker, 9. Jason Davis, 10. Shane
Stout, 11.
Beam, 12. Streit, 13. Smidt (DNF), 14. Dan Lauer (DNS), 15. Chad Wulf (DNS).

IMCA Modified
Heat 1: 1. Tim Watts, 2. Brandon Blochlinger, 3. Jerry Phillips, 4. Jason
Schoenberger.
Heat 2: 1. David Murray Jr., 2. Dave Hardesty, 3. Mark Zorn, 4. Marty Clark.
Heat 3: 1. Jordan Grabouski, 2. Brian Calhoon, 3. Lonnie Schriner, 4. Troy
Johnson.
Heat 4: 1. Corey Lagroon, 2. Robby Haines, 3. Randy Wilson, 4. Ed Putman.
B-Feature (top 4 advance): 1. Lance Borgman, 2. Dusty Blake, 3. Larry
Sutton, 4.
Micaah Johnson, 5. Scott Smith, 6. Devon Housh, 7. Caesare Linner, 8.
Chris Avery,
9. Jeff Linner (DNS), 10. Randy Fogo (DNS), 11. Dwight Housh (DNS).
A-Feature: 1. Murray, 2. Schriner, 3. Lagroon, 4. Schoenberger, 5. Zorn, 6.
Blochlinger, 7. Blake, 8. Phillips, 9. Clark, 10. M. Johnson, 11. Borgman,
12.
Calhoon, 13. Wilson, 14. T. Johnson, 15. Sutton, 16. Haines, 17. Hardesty,
18.
Putman, 19. Watts (DNF), 20. Grabouski (DNF).

4-cylinder Young Gun
Heat: 1. Matthew Ford, 2. Alex Loveless, 3. Monte Benson, 4. Joshua Bodenus.
Feature: 1. Ford, 2. Loveless, 3. Benson, 4. Robert McAfee, 5. Bodenus.

Cruiser
Heat: 1. Joe Carter/Jim Carter, 2. Adam Sidlo/E.J. Kothe, 3. Terry
Gradig/Jeremy
Teselle, 4. Drew Barry/Ethan Vogler.
Feature: 1. Sidlo/Kothe, 2. Brandon Naasz/Colton Claussen, 3.
Barry/Vogler, 4.
Carter/Carter, 5. Josh Graczyk/Chris Graczyk, 6. Gradig/Teselle.