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Gharst and Steward Grab Twin Features at Brian Hetrick Tribute!

(Bill W) August 22, 2009 – A touching tribute to the late Brian Hetrick highlighted a night that saw Kaley Gharst and Donnie Steward both take feature wins on "Night of the Twins" at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa Saturday. Gharst's win came aboard the Plath Motorsports #14P, while Steward won in the Heartland Harley Davidson #16HD.

Gharst's win came in the first feature, as he led from wire to wire in the 20-lapper. The "Four-wide Salute to the Fans" preceding the event included a moment of silence for Hetrick, and for Justin Parrish's crewmember, Pete Williams, who passed away this week.

The race was marred by several cautions, but Gharst was unaffected and undeterred in winning his fourth feature with the series in 2009. "The car felt decent," he said. "About halfway through, it started rolling up really hard. I thought I broke something, because the right rear bounced in the corners. The car didn't really feel that good the last half of the race. I had no idea how big our lead was. I knew there were some lapped cars in there though."

Austin McCarl, who also won the Shake-Up Dash started on the pole and chased Gharst for nine laps before performing a 360 spin that brought a lap nine caution and sent him to the tail. Fuel line problems would later sideline him. John Schulz assumed the second spot, and held off Jim Moughan Jr., who advanced ten spots. Race hard-charger and series' point leader, Bobby Mincer, was fourth, followed by Ben Wagoner.

Fifteen cars ended up on the lead lap in the first feature, and that would be the invert that Gharst would face in the second one. Dave Feese and CJ Houseman started up front, with CJ, who won Friday night at the Morgan County Speedway, taking the early lead. He slid into the frontstretch wall on lap seven, and the veteran Feese took the point.

Steward was ready to pounce, and on lap ten took the lead ahead of Feese, Ryan Jamison, Matt Rogerson and CJ Houseman. The West Burlington driver pulled away every time, despite four late restarts. An incident when Mincer flipped after contact with McCarl, and a five-car pileup marred the event. Ten cars finished the race.

Steward was followed to the finish by Jamison, Moughan, who finished third and charged forward ten spots in both features, Dustin Selvage and Gharst. "I knew Kaley Gharst would be coming up and Ryan Jamison was right there," said Steward. "You have to concentrate on your own race, and that's what I did. I've been in situations where I had reds and yellows before, and I just think positive. It worked out this time. It feels good to win the Brian Hetrick Tribute. I raced quite a bit with Brian in the 305s. I have a lot of respect for him."

Schulz, Matt Sutton and Gharst won heat events, while Mincer took the B main. The next race on the schedule for the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders is Saturday, August 29 at the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, Iowa.

Results

Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders 20-lap A main #1 Finish (started): 1. 14P, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (2) 2. 2, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (4) 3. 1m, Jim Moughan Jr., Springfield, IL (13) 4. 15, Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA (16) 5. 84, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (7) 6. 29, Matt Rogerson, West Burlington, IA (5) 7. 7, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (14) 8. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka, IL (18) 9. 29x, Russ Hall, Des Moines, IA (11) 10. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (12) 11. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL (3) 12. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (9) 13. 16HD, Donnie Steward, West Burlington, IA (17) 14. 80x, CJ Houseman, Norwalk, IA (10) 15. 83, Dave Feese, Saybrook, IL (6) 16. 53H, Matt Harms, Morton, IL (19) 17. Y2, Mike Houseman Jr., Des Moines, IA (15) 18. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (1) 19. 7TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (8) 20. 38, Seth Wilke, Burlington, IA (20). Lap Leader: Gharst 1-20.

Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders 20-lap A main #2 Finish (started): 1. Donnie Steward (3) 2. Ryan Jamison (6) 3. Jim Moughan Jr. (13) 4. Dustin Selvage (9) 5. Kaley Gharst (15) 6. Ben Wagoner (11) 7. Jimmy Davies (8) 8. John Schulz (14) 9. Matt Harms (16) 10. Tasker Phillips (19) 11. Matt Sutton (5) 12. Matt Rogerson (10) 13. Josh Schneiderman (4) 14. Mike Houseman Jr. (17) 15. Seth Wilke (20) 16. Bobby Mincer (12) 17. Austin McCarl (18) 18. Dave Feese (1) 19. Russ Hall (7) 20. CJ Houseman (2). Lap Leaders: CJ Houseman 1-6, Feese 7-9, Steward 10-20. Hard Charger (both features combined): Jim Moughan Jr.

Golden Eagle Distributors/Budweiser Heat Race #1 (started, Top Five to the A, Top Two to the Shake-Up Dash): 1. John Schulz (2) 2. Austin McCarl (1) 3. Ben Wagoner (4) 4. CJ Houseman (3) 5. Jim Moughan Jr. (5) / 6. Bobby Mincer (8) 7. Donnie Steward (7) 8. 40, Andy Huston, Roseville, IL (6) DNS – 8H, Joey Moughan, Springfield, IL

Cole Implement Heat Race #2 (started, Top Five to the A, Top Two to Shake-Up Dash): 1. Matt Sutton (3) 2. Dave Feese (2) 3. Tasker Phillips (6) 4. Russ Hall (4) 5. Dustin Selvage (5) / 6. Jimmy Davies (1) 7. Seth Wilke (8) 8. Matt Harms (7)

Huston Land Improvement Heat Race #3 (started, Top Five to the A, Top Two to Shake-Up Dash): 1. Kaley Gharst (3) 2. Matt Rogerson (5) 3. Josh Schneiderman (1) 4. Ryan Jamison (4) 5. Mike Houseman Jr. (8) / 6. 4J, Justin Parrish, Oquawka, IL (7) 7. 31P, Travis Porter, Rock Island, IL (2) 8. 23, Kevin Hetrick, Gladstone, IL (6)

Fastway Fabrication/Jamison Rubber Shake-Up Dash: 1. Austin McCarl (1) 2. Kaley Gharst (4) 3. Matt Sutton (2) 4. John Schulz (3) 5. Matt Rogerson (5) 6. Dave Feese (6)

Holtkamp's Trailer Repair B main (started, Top Five to the A): 1. Bobby Mincer (1) 2. Donnie Steward (4) 3. Jimmy Davies (2) 4. Matt Harms (8) 5. Seth Wilke (5) / 6. Andy Huston (7) 7. Justin Parrish (3) 8. Travis Porter (6) 9. Kevin Hetrick (9) DNS – Joey Moughan

Contingency Awards

Rod End Supply – Mike Houseman Jr., Jimmy Davies
Saldana Racing Products – CJ Houseman

Diversified Machine, Inc. – Seth Wilke

Hepfner Racing Products – Josh Schneiderman

Brake Man – Matt Sutton

If this post isn't results, stories or something c
constructive, it isn't me! 
@BillWMedia
www.OpenWheel101.com

Boy it sure looked like you lapped more than three cars in the first feature. Still a great job. Did you have a new paint scheme. Looked better all red. jmo!

It looks like Mincer was on a roll coming from the back to 4th. Good job Bobby.

You aren't kidding Xena, it was the second time I have came to watch the invaders, the first was at Donnelson, Mincer pounced em there. So I make the trek to 34 Raceway "awesome facility" and im telling you Mincer was on a tear. Looks as theyre drawing could use some luck as he started last in a pretty stout heat, was able to finish 6 or 7. Ripped up the cushion for a B main win, started in the back and was heading for a podium finish if not a win. He got locked behind the 29 car of Ball I think for like 6 laps, once past him he was setting sail and ran out of laps. And if he wouldn't of flipped in the 2nd feature with 2 to go he would of got 4 also. Looks like he jumped the wheel of mcarl who I was very impressed by since the last time I seen him race.

It was an awesome show, fast and furious it was. It was definately a great night to start up front unless you were Mincer or Moughan. Im for sure coming to the rest of these Sprint Invader Shows as Im just pumped at the show that some of these guys put on. Cant say enough about this organization and especially my new favorite driver of the 15- Bobby Mincer. Can anyone tell me if they have any T-Shirts I can order, I went to the pits afterwards but they were pretty busy putting the car back together.

West Liberty Saturday

Husets Sunday

Way to bring it to the front Mincer!

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A healthy diet of dirt in my nachos and beer.

So How did this shake the Points Up???????? They Were VERY close before Saturday

The Invaders are a great group of guys to become fans of. With most of them you can quickly turn from fan to friend as I can't think of any of them that don't spend quality time signing auto's and talking to fans. Mincer certainly is one of those guys.

If you are familiar with Facebook, Bobby does have a fan page on there that you can easily ask questions and get a good response. As far as the T-shirts, I am not sure this year but if you "join" the fan club on Facebook, either Bobby or his wife will respond to you in short order.

Mincer, along with many other Invaders, are low-budget teams with a lot of talent. I point to the Brodix Tournament of Champions a few years ago where Team SIA scored 3 of the top 5 spots (Terry McCarl 1st, Ryan Jamison 4th, Jerrod Hull 5th) on the final night, with Jerrod Hull winning the Night Before the Brodix. If some of these guys could (1) find the funding and (2) be able to take of work more, I feel as if some of these drivers that I have been watching for years could get more national attention, (JMO).

I know that Mincer's team is a real family affair. I love to see a good woman help with the car.