Sobbing, Armstrong, Nelson & Drueke are Crowned IceBreaker Challenge Champions!
By Greg Soukup
After washing out night one of the 2017 Ice Breaker, that fickle spirit Mother Nature gave the fans and teams a beautiful race day. 141 teams towed to Eagle Raceway for the season opening event. Since the first night had to be cancelled, the winner’s share of the Modified and Sport Modified purses was increased to $3000 to win the Modifieds and $750 for the victory in the Sport Modifieds. In fact, the Modified purse was the largest in Eagle Raceway history.
16 heats, 1 C Feature and 3 B Features were run without serious incidents.
The first lap of the Hoosier Tire IMCA Sport Modified A Feature saw a big pile-up with 7 cars involved. There were no serious injuries. Once an official lap was in the books Adam Armstrong’s 6A led the field with the 76 of Lance Borgman, Arie Schouten in the 99RE and Derek Hall’s 44D rounding out the top 4. Hall and Colby Langenberg’s 1J both passed Schouten on lap 2 with Langenberg getting past Hall on lap 12. Ken Eckhoff looped the #5 shortly after that to bring out the caution flag. At that time, it was Armstrong, Borgman, Langenberg and Hall. Lap 13 saw Trent Roth put the 14T into fourth. 3 laps later Shawn Harker vaulted the #40 all of the way up to third with Roth moving back to fourth. Lap 17 saw Roth get by Harker for third. Borgman suffered mechanical difficulties on lap 22 and headed to the infield, making the running order Armstrong, Roth, Harker and Langenberg. Armstrong did not respond to a request for an interview.
The Sprint Series of Nebraska A Main was next on the card. Tyler Drueke took advantage of his front row outside starting position and passed the flag stand first in his #12. Adam Gullion’s 91, the 7KX of Toby Chapman and Jason Martin’s 36 were hot on his push bumper however. Chapman and Martin swapped the third spot the next two laps with Chapman holding on to the spot on lap 3. Lap 5 saw Ron Love spin out on the back stretch in his #5. 1 lap after the restart both Chapman and Martin passed Gullion to move to second and third. Despite a furious battle amongst the top 4 their spots remained unchanged to the checkers with Drueke, Chapman, Martin and Gullion the top 4.
“We led the whole thing, but it wasn’t really easy. The top was really fast, and Adam tried to squeeze us going into turn one. I committed to trying to beat him around the outside. When I did that, Toby Chapman was coming from third and he slid us both! Well, when he did that I pretty much had the choice made for me. I was committed to the outside because if I’d tried to brake or anything I think I would have hopped his right rear coming off of turn two. So, I squeezed around the outside of him and from what my crew guys told me, we got a pretty good lead. I knew we had a pretty good race car, thanks to Matt Zoz, Dustin Gerdes, my brother Austin and my Dad. They prepared me a heck of a race car. It sounded like I kind of checked out that first five laps, but I started catching lapped traffic. I got behind Ron Love and Trevor Grossenbacher. They ended up getting together down the back straightaway. When I went to avoid them, I squeezed between Love and the wall. I smacked it pretty hard with the right rear and I broke the top Jacobs Ladder strap. The car was really good before that, but that made it really evil. I actually thought that I’d cut down the right rear! I remember looking at the leader board and seeing there was 18 to go. I thought to myself “There is no way we’re going to make it to the end of this!!”. I had to start using a lot of brake to keep the car settled down. I know that slowed our pace down quite a bit because Toby Chapman started trying to slide us quite a bit after that, but we crossed him up and got him back. After I used up my brakes and the pedal went right to the firewall, I started cheating the cushion a little bit. The top was SO fast that it made passing lapped cars really hard. There was enough moisture on the bottom that you could pull off a big slide job, and that was about the only way that you could pass anybody. We definitely had to earn that one; it wasn’t just given to us! In my interview for the fans in the stands I said ‘How are we going to top this one the rest of the year?’. I like those ones where we just check out, take the money and go home. But, nobody pays to go watch church, so there’s no way they should have to pay to watch a boring race” stated Drueke. Tyler’s sponsors include Speedway Motors Racing Engines, Danner Spray Foam, Drueke Trucking and Ranch, Zoz Farms, Jeffres Truicking and J & J Chassis.
The IMCA Stock Cars A Main saw Preston Janzing spin his #20J out in turn 4 on the first lap, causing a complete restart. The first lap saw Doug Adamy’s 93, the 1 of Shawn Primrose, the 94 of Dan Nelson and Shane Stutzman in the 22S out front. Nelson moved up to second on lap 2 but lost the spot to Primrose 2 laps later. Allyn Shively’s 01 spun out in turn 4 and the yellow lights were lit. Nelson moved back to second on lap 6. 5 laps later Stutzman advanced to third. Tyler Jackson’s 13T spun coming out of turn 4 on lap 13 for another caution. Lap 15 saw Eric Rempel put the #21 into fourth with Nelson taking the lead the next time around. Stutzman moved up to second on lap 17. Shortly after that 3 cars got together in turns 3 and 4 for yet another caution. Primrose passed Rempel on lap 18, but lost the fourth spot back to him the next lap. At the finish it was Nelson, Stutzman, Adamy and Rempel. Nelson did not respond to a request for an interview.
The finale for the evening was the A Main for the Kaplan University Modifieds. Jesse Sobbing, who started on the front row, put the #99 out front of lap 1 followed by Chevy Hadan’s #4, the 27 of Clint Homan and Shane Hiatt in the 21H. Hiatt moved past Homan for third on lap 4. Dylan Smith also got past Homan 2 laps later to put the 95 into fourth. The final position change in the top 4 came on lap 26 when Smith passed Hiatt for third, making the final top 4 Sobbing, Hadan, Smith and Hiatt. Sobbing did not respond to a request for an interview.
Next Saturday at Eagle Raceway is the season opener as the Nebraska Lottery presents Get Fired Up Night featuring the Racesaver IMCA Sprints, Kaplan University IMCA Modifieds, Hoosier Tire IMCA Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Mountainn Dew Kickstart IMCA Sport Compacts.
Happy D Klown will be there from 5:30 to 7:30. Also, the Nebraska Lottery will be on site with their trailer.
Front gates open at 5:15 with hot laps starting at 5:30 and racing at 6:30. Adult admission is $10, youths 6-12 are just $5 and children 5 and under are free.
Pit gates open at 4:00 and pit passes are $25.
FULL RESULTS:
IceBreaker Modified A-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jesse Sobbing 99
- Chevy Hadan 4
- Dylan Smith 95
- Shane Hiatt 21H
- Jordan123 Grabouski 30
- Clint Homan 27
- Jeremy Payne 96JP
- Josh Blumer 21
- Anthony Roth 60IV
- Trevor Baker 25!
- Johnny Saathoff 96J
- Chad Andersen 8C
- Aaron Pella 3A
- Rik Gropp V45
- Brandon Spanjer 19XX
- Cale Carder 77R
- Bob Ruisinger 7
- Bob Zoubek 5S
- Colton Osborn 50C
- Jay Noteboom 7N
IceBreaker Modified B-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jay Noteboom 7N
- Brandon Spanjer 19XX
- Colton Osborn 50C
- Bob Ruisinger 7
- Justin Wulf 86
- Brian Cudly 4S
- Matt Boucher 5B
- Dave Pedersen 4P
- Bob Fleshman 7J
- Jeff Schroyer 007
- Jared Deterding 13J
- Pat Wheeler 22
- Terry Fletcher 67
- Tracy Harr 5T
- Jim Mathieson M80
- Peter Shoup 79
- Jaxon Saathoff 96
- Jordy Nelson 4J
- Nate Thompson 3T
IceBreaker Modified Heat 1
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Dylan Smith 95
- Josh Blumer 21
- Trevor Baker 25!
- Rik Gropp V45
- Colton Osborn 50C
- Peter Shoup 79
- Jordy Nelson 4J
- Jaxon Saathoff 96
- Jim Mathieson M80
IceBreaker Modified Heat 2
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jordan123 Grabouski 30
- Jesse Sobbing 99
- Clint Homan 27
- Johnny Saathoff 96J
- Brandon Spanjer 19XX
- Bob Ruisinger 7
- Jared Deterding 13J
- Justin Wulf 86
- Terry Fletcher 67
IceBreaker Modified Heat 3
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jeremy Payne 96JP
- Bob Zoubek 5S
- Aaron Pella 3A
- Cale Carder 77R
- Jeff Schroyer 007
- Dave Pedersen 4P
- Nate Thompson 3T
- Tracy Harr 5T
IceBreaker Modified Heat 4
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Shane Hiatt 21H
- Chevy Hadan 4
- Anthony Roth 60IV
- Chad Andersen 8C
- Jay Noteboom 7N
- Brian Cudly 4S
- Matt Boucher 5B
- Bob Fleshman 7J
- Pat Wheeler 22
IceBreaker SportMod A-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Adam Armstong 6A
- Trent Roth 14T
- Shawn Harker 40
- Colby Langenberg 1J
- Derek Hall 44D
- Dillon Schultz 55D
- Josh Pfeifer 33J
- Benji Legg 2X
- Gunnar Pike 25
- Joe Schidler K00
- Arie Schouten 99RE
- Logan Thompsen 9T
- Mary Lenz 17
- Ken Eckhoff 5
- Lance Borgman 76
- Jesse Skalicky 3S
- Joe Feyen 25X
- James Robuck 75
- Gary Saathoff 96
- Adam Vrbka 7V
IceBreaker SportMod B-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Benji Legg 2X
- Gunnar Pike 25
- Dillon Schultz 55D
- Ken Eckhoff 5
- Josh Pfeifer 33J
- Dion Kovar 18
- Cole Wayman 18T
- Scott Bivens S56
- Roger Sluka 5S
- Kyle Flodman 7K
- Paul Donovan 1
- Jason Harms 6H
- Robert Draper 62
- James Hines 31R
- Bruce Lang 10L
- Chad Kohl 77
- Brian Osantowski 999
- Travis Patterson 17K
- Kevin Kloke 35
- Jeremy Baker 3J
IceBreaker SportMod C-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Chad Kohl 77
- Kyle Flodman 7K
- Jason Harms 6H
- Robert Draper 62
- Jeremy Baker 3J
- Terry Callender 5T
- Rick Barton 62B
- Braydon Latture 14
- Brad Perkons 57T
- Rich Flock 88F
- Hunter Weber 99W
- Troy Sanford 12
- Nick Beckman 22
DNS Jake Kubik 93S
DNS Nick Morris 24H
DNS Thomas Powell 18R
DNS Jeremy Down 4D
DNS Derick Noonan 21G
IceBreaker SportMod Heat 1
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Shawn Harker 40
- Derek Hall 44D
- Joe Feyen 25X
- Benji Legg 2X
- Travis Patterson 17K
- Josh Pfeifer 33J
- Jake Kubik 93S
- Brad Perkons 57T
- Thomas Powell 18R
- Jason Harms 6H
IceBreaker SportMod Heat 2
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Trent Roth 14T
- James Robuck 75
- Adam Vrbka 7V
- Cole Wayman 18T
- Roger Sluka 5S
- James Hines 31R
- Robert Draper 62
- Terry Callender 5T
- Jeremy Down 4D
IceBreaker SportMod Heat 3
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Adam Armstong 6A
- Lance Borgman 76
- Mary Lenz 17
- Gunnar Pike 25
- Paul Donovan 1
- Dion Kovar 18
- Chad Kohl 77
- Troy Sanford 12
- Kyle Flodman 7K
- Hunter Weber 99W
IceBreaker SportMod Heat 4
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Arie Schouten 99RE
- Logan Thompsen 9T
- Gary Saathoff 96
- Ken Eckhoff 5
- Scott Bivens S56
- Bruce Lang 10L
- Nick Beckman 22
- Nick Morris 24H
- Rich Flock 88F
DNS Derick Noonan 21G
IceBreaker SportMod Heat 5
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jesse Skalicky 3S
- Colby Langenberg 1J
- Joe Schidler K00
- Brian Osantowski 999
- Kevin Kloke 35
- Dillon Schultz 55D
- Braydon Latture 14
- Jeremy Baker 3J
- Rick Barton 62B
IceBreaker Stock Car A-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Dan Nelson 94
- Shane Stutzman 22S
- Doug Adamy 93
- Eric Rempel 21
- Ron Pettitt 12
- John Meyer 29
- Jason Kreft 28
- Bob Chalupa 24
- Chad Bruns 11
- Hans Houfek 59X
- Marty Steinbach 5ELI
- Rudy Brunkhorst 57J
- Jed Williams 77
- Tanner Pettitt 12T
- Allen Zimmerman 90
- Shawn Primrose 1
- Allyn Shiveley 01
- Mikey Dancer 45
- Tyler Easterday 31
- Tyler Jackson 13T
- Jake McCloud 40
- Eric Bartels 25B
- Preston Janzing 20J
DNS Tyler Phelps 6
IceBreaker Stock Car Heat 1
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Dan Nelson 94
- Eric Rempel 21
- Eric Bartels 25B
- Jed Williams 77
- John Meyer 29
- Rudy Brunkhorst 57J
- Allen Zimmerman 90
DNS Tyler Phelps 6
IceBreaker Stock Car Heat 2
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jason Kreft 28
- Doug Adamy 93
- Preston Janzing 20J
- Mikey Dancer 45
- Bob Chalupa 24
- Tyler Jackson 13T
- Ron Pettitt 12
- Tanner Pettitt 12T
IceBreaker Stock Car Heat 3
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Shane Stutzman 22S
- Chad Bruns 11
- Shawn Primrose 1
- Marty Steinbach 5ELI
- Allyn Shiveley 01
- Tyler Easterday 31
- Jake McCloud 40
- Hans Houfek 59X
SSN Sprint A-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Tyler Drueke 12
- Toby Chapman 7KX
- Jason123 Martin 36
- Adam Gullion 91
- Jason Danley 4X
- Joey Danley 14
- Jack Dover 84
- Shayle Bade 03
- Matt Richards 1R
- Stu Snyder 23S
- Ryan King 93
- Gene Ackland 14G
- Terry Richards 18
- Trevor Grossenbacher 35
- Clint Benson 100
- Dan Satriano 17
- Zach Blurton 2J
- Kaleb Johnson 22
- Nathan Weiler 4W
- Ron Love 5
SSN Sprint B-Feature
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Trevor Grossenbacher 35
- Zach Blurton 2J
- Nathan Weiler 4W
- Kaleb Johnson 22
- Tim Fricke 62
- Doug Lovegrove 44
- Austin McLean 83
- Mike Johnston 14J
- Chase Weiler 0
- Boyd Peterson 57B
- Jimmy Grasso 8G
- Kayla Stoops 18K
- Neil Nickolite 12N
- Chevy Hadan 4
- Mike Boston 51
- Cody Ledger 47
- Jason Miller 77
DNS Danny Nekolite 22D
DNS Shon Pointer 20P
SSN Sprint Heat 1
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Tyler Drueke 12
- Dan Satriano 17
- Ron Love 5
- Shayle Bade 03
- Mike Johnston 14J
- Tim Fricke 62
- Boyd Peterson 57B
- Chevy Hadan 4
- Shon Pointer 20P
SSN Sprint Heat 2
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Stu Snyder 23S
- Gene Ackland 14G
- Adam Gullion 91
- Clint Benson 100
- Nathan Weiler 4W
- Chase Weiler 0
- Doug Lovegrove 44
- Jimmy Grasso 8G
- Neil Nickolite 12N
SSN Sprint Heat 3
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Toby Chapman 7KX
- Matt Richards 1R
- Joey Danley 14
- Jack Dover 84
- Kaleb Johnson 22
- Austin McLean 83
- Mike Boston 51
- Trevor Grossenbacher 35
- Jason Miller 77
SSN Sprint Heat 4
Driver Nbr
—————————— —–
- Jason Danley 4X
- Terry Richards 18
- Jason123 Martin 36
- Ryan King 93
- Zach Blurton 2J
- Cody Ledger 47
- Kayla Stoops 18K
- Danny Nekolite 22D
