WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa — Paul Nienhiser dominated Saturday’s Mohrfeld Solar Sprint Invaders event at 34 Raceway.
It was the second year in a row that Nienhiser has won the opener for the series. In addition, he tied Matt Rogerson and Jerrod Hull with his fifth career Sprint Invaders win at 34 Raceway for the most all time. It was also career win No. 13 for Nienhiser, tying him with Terry McCarl for fourth all-time with the series. His $2,000 win came aboard Scott Bonar’s No. 50.
Nienhiser started on the pole after winning the Agriland FS Dash, and took the lead immediately in the 25-lapper, ahead of defending series champ, Ryan Bunton, Kaleb Johnson, Sterling Cling and Miles Paulus. The third running Johnson blew his left rear tire four laps in, bringing the first caution. He restarted at the tail. Carson McCarl moved into the top five on the restart before Chris Martin took the spot on lap seven.
Though Nienhiser went relatively unchallenged, the battle behind him was intense. Martin took fourth from Paulus on lap eight. The leaders entered lapped traffic on lap 12. Bunton, Cling and Martin were all within two car lengths, when the yellow flew again for debris on lap 13. Cody Wehrle was running 12th on the restart when he got over the top of turn one, bringing another caution. He would restart at the tail and join Johnson by surging into the top 10.
Nienhiser took off again. A battle between Martin and Paulus for fourth ensued. With ten laps to go, Paulus got sideways in turn two. Martin had nowhere to go, slammed into Paulus, righted that car and flipped his own. The red flag set up a restart with Nienhiser leading Bunton, Cling, Paulus and Carson McCarl.
Cling shot by Bunton to take over second. Tasker Phillips spun with five to go, bringing out the final caution. The late stages saw Paulus move up to third, followed by McCarl and Chase Porter. Josh Schneiderman, Bunton, Johnson, hard-charger Wehrle and Cam Martin rounded out the top ten. Paulus, Cling, Dustin Clark and Cam Martin won heats. Phillips claimed the B.
“Sometimes having traffic when the track is really wide like this…I can gauge what lane I need to be running,” said Nienhiser in victory lane. “(Without traffic) we couldn’t do that. Hopefully, we made enough of the right moves…obviously, we did when we’re standing on the front stretch. I about took the wall out in turn four there a couple laps in. That developed a bit of a vibration in the right rear. I stuck to the low side of one and two as the top became a long way around. There was moisture on the bottom.
“Cautions fell the right way, but I would have liked to see it go green. It’s just a pleasure every time I get in this car. I know it’s going to be prepared impeccably. I just have to do my job.”
“I really didn’t know what to expect showing up here,” said Cling, who was making his first career start with the Sprint Invaders. “It’s my first year running a wing car. I’ve been here once with USAC without the wing. I was happy with our speed all night. I lean on my crew chief, Mikey Kuemper a lot. He has experience with the wing (Kraig Kinser) everywhere in this country. It’s nice to roll out there with confidence. It helps a lot. We didn’t quite have the speed Paul did in one and two.”
“It was a good night for us, a great night to start out the year,” said Paulus. “Our motor and car are in one piece. I had one major mistake there, and I feel bad for Chris Martin. I really ruined his night. It was more my fault than his. I apologize for that. I don’t like doing that to anybody. We can’t complain about the results. We hope we can keep this momentum and carry it to the rest of the year.”
Feature Finish (25 Laps)
1. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (1) 2. 34, Sterling Cling, Tempe, AZ (4) 3. 98P, Miles Paulus, Marshall, MO (6) 4. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (9) 5. 2, Chase Porter, St. Joseph, MO (10) 6. 49, Josh Schneiderman, West Burlington, IA (12) 7. 6R, Ryan Bunton, Morton, IL (2) 8. 22K, Kaleb Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD (5) 9. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (19) 10. 4, Cam Martin, Ankeny, IA (3) 11. 7, Tyler Lee, Cedar Rapids, IA (15) 12. 51J, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (16) 13. 40, Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD (18) 14. 1K, Kelby Watt, Adel, IA (11) 15. 99, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (13) 16. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (8) 17. 99D, Tucker Daly, Hallsville, MO (20) 18. 1TAZ, Tasker Phillips, Pleasantville, IA (17) 19. 3A, Aaron Rixmann, Coulterville, IL (14) 20. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (7). Lap Leader: Nienhiser 1-25. $75 Christine Wahl-Levitt/KSE Hard-charger: Wehrle.