WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa — On a night of attrition, Chris Martin drove unscathed in notching his seventh career Sprint Invaders feature and second at the 34 Raceway Saturday night.
The win for the Ankeny, Iowa, native came aboard the Chris Martin Racing No. 44 and was worth $2,000.
Single car accidents in the heat races brought both Cody Wehrle and Jaslyn Jones’ nights to an end. That left 22 cars to do battle. It wouldn’t last a half lap. At the end of the front straight after taking the green, the “big one” happened, claiming seven cars.
Colton Fisher, Paul Nienhiser, John Schulz and Rob Kubli suffered serious damage after getting upside down. Josh Schneiderman, Kaley Gharst and Nick Guernsey were also caught in the fray and suffered enough damage to send them pitside.
Once underway, Martin led Tanner Gebhardt, J.J. Hickle, Ryan Jamison and Josh Higday in the early going. Travis Porter brought out the caution flag with a spin three laps in. Higday had been working on Hickle for the third spot and shot under him on the sixth lap. Martin hit lapped traffic on lap nine.
As Martin sliced through traffic, Gebhardt stayed on his tail. Back in the pack, Hickle was getting stronger, and took third from Higday on lap 16. Martin kept cruising, extending his lead on Gebhardt. Hickle rode the high groove to reel in the second-place car. He would take the runner-up position with just five laps to go.
Hickle closed the gap, but had to settle for second at the checkers. Following Martin and Hickle across the line were Gebhardt, Higday and Jonathan Cornell.
“I knew that may happen,” said Martin. “The track was a little hooked up, and with the heavy fuel loads, it was almost unavoidable. I’m very happy with the win tonight, after last night (he had to change motors after the Dash).Thank goodness, we had Dennis (Moore Jr.) and Anthony Miller to get it changed. Tonight definitely made up for that.”
“It was a real sticky, hooked up track,” said Hickle. “I got a little tight early. I just put the car where it wasn’t supposed to be. I lost a couple of spots and had to work really hard to get back to second. I could see we were running (Martin) down, and I could see the laps winding down. We just came up a little short. I’m happy with our team, and happy with our run. We really enjoyed racing with the Sprint Invaders.”
The finish:
Feature (20 laps): 1. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (2) 2. 63, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (3) 3. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (1) 4. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (9) 5. 26, Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, MO (17) 6. 99, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (22) 7. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (7) 8. 2, Chase Porter, St. Joseph, MO (15) 9. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (10) 10. 14J, Mike Johnston, Des Moines, IA (21) 11. 41, Noah Samuel, Burlington, IA (20) 12. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (11) 13. 31P, Rock Island, IL (18) 14. 83, Kurt Mueller, Reynolds, IL (16) 15. 8L, Tom Lenz, Marion, IA (19) 16. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (4) 17. 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (5) 18. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (6) 19. 23K, Rob Kubli, Milo, IA (8) 20. 7B, Nick Guernsey, West Burlington, IA (12) 21. 88, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (13) 22. 13, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (14) DNS – 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA, 43J, Jaslyn Jones, Monroe, IA. Lap Leader: Martin 1-25. KSE/$75 Christine Wahl-Levitt Hard-charger: McCarl.