BOONE, Iowa – Cody Laney secured his maiden IMCA Super Nationals championship in the modified division in dominant fashion Saturday night at Boone Speedway.
Dallon Murty (stock cars), Austen Becerra (northern sportmod) and Mike Smith (hobby stock) also secured IMCA Super Nationals championships Saturday night.
Laney started from the pole during the 40-lap finale that closed the week-long event at Boone Speedway and was never seriously challenged, though he did have to survive multiple restarts that allowed the field to close in on him.
The last such restart came with 13 laps left, but like he did during all the other restarts Laney comfortably pulled away as Tim Ward gave chase.
Laney ended up crossing the finish line more than three seconds ahead of Ward as he laid claim to the Super Nationals crown.
“At the beginning there I didn’t feel that great on the bottom. I was waiting for the top to roll in. I was waiting for my dad and them to start moving me up because I just didn’t feel very good down there,” said Laney, who earned $7,000 for his victory. “Once they moved me up I felt really good up top there. They just kept telling me I had a good lead.”
Murty started on the inside of row two for the 30-lap IMCA stock car feature and ran in fourth early while Derek Green held the early lead. A caution with nine laps complete reset the field, which allowed Devin Smith to snatch the lead away from Green.
Murty was able to follow Devin Smith around Green to take second. However, Green tossed a big slide in turns one and two on lap 12 and made contact with Devin Smith, allowing Murty to blow by both of them to take the race lead.
Three caution periods slowed the field during the second half of the race, but Murty masterfully controlled the field and drove away from Dillon Thornton to join his father, Damon Murty, as a Super Nationals stock car champion. The triumph also earned him $5,000.
“I don’t have much experience running those three-wide starts, so I just kind of was riding around there,” said Murty, who became the youngest driver in history to win the Super Nationals stock car finale at the age of 16. “There was a little misfortune down there the 32 (Green) and 81 (Smith), but I was able to watch that and get around them.”
Becerra, who won the northern sportmod portion of the Prelude to the Super Nationals last Sunday as well as a qualifier on Monday, marched his way to his first Super Nationals crown from the fourth starting spot.
He was able to run down early leader Brayton Carter, taking the lead with a slide job through turns three and four on lap 11 of the 30-lap feature. He survived four restarts in the second half of the race to best Carter to take home the northern sportmod victory.
“Draw’s a lot of it and we drew good all week,” said Becerra. “There early I was just biding my time. I saw the track start to change a little bit and I gained a little something down here in the middle of three and four. I just kept chomping at the bit. I got a good run on Carter off of two there and I just kind of tucked in and dove underneath him. The yellow came out at the right time after I got the lead.”
Mike Smith, 17, started on the inside of row three for the hobby stock feature, the deepest any of the four champions started Saturday night. He wasted little time, getting up to second by the time one lap was complete.
He eventually took the lead and led the last 10 circuits to lay claim to the hobby stock crown.
“I looked ahead of me and knew it was time to go,” Smith said after capturing the $2,000-to-win event.
Todd Shute was the Harris Auto Racing Race of Champions for Modifieds winner and Kelly Shryock repeated in the Sunoco Race Fuels Race of Champions for Stock Cars. Tony Olson topped the BSB Manufacturing Race of Champions for SportMods and Zach Olmstead won the Stephenville Starter Race of Champions for Hobby Stocks.
This story is part of the LIVE From the IMCA Super Nationals Presented by MyRacePass.com.
