Boyles Grabs first IRA Feature Win Friday at I-96 Speedway

📸 Mike Powell | Biography Photography

LAKE ODESSA, MI - The Bumper-to-Bumper Interstate Racing Association (IRA) Sprints contested its ninth event of the season at I-96 Speedway, located in Lake Odessa, MI after nearly a 30-year absence. 1997 was the last IRA Sprints event held at the track, nestled in West Michigan’s picturesque farmland,

The IRA Sprints have averaged 29-30 entries at each event. Friday’s event mirrored that trend as 28 fire-breathing 410 winged warriors tested their mettle on the 3/8-mile clay oval. After the dust settled, Logan Julien claimed top honors with a quick time of 13.624. 

In heat race action, Corbin Gurley got together with Cody Schlafer after taking the green heading towards turn one, which resulted in a violent flip by Gurley as he careened off the embankment between turns one and two resulting in a red flag. Gurley was taken to a local hospital where it was determined that he had fractured his T3, T4, and T5 vertebrae. Currently, Corbin is home recovering, and thankfully, surgery is not required. When racing action returned, Thomas Schinderle took the point and led seven laps before Julien reeled him and made a last-lap pass to claim victory. 

Heat number two saw local hero Jason Blonde jump out to an early lead from the point. He looked as if he was about to set sail when he lost control of the car rounding corner number two, Blonde slowed and pulled off the back stretch as Paul Neinhiser took the top spot. Blonde rolled around and came to rest between turns three and four, and the caution flag came out on lap three. It was determined that something had broken in his steering. The field re-racked and came down to the green. Neinhiser remained unchallenged and claimed the checkered flag. 

Heat three had an exciting finish as Travis Arenz made a bonsai move off of four that would’ve stolen a victory. Greg Wilson, who held the top spot, held off the late charge and went on to claim victory. 

Two five-car, four-lap dashes determined the first five rows for the A-Main. Dash One saw Logan Julien claim the top spot from a third-starting position. The victory earned him the pole on the A-Main starting grid. Wilson was second, followed by, Travis Arenz, Dustin Daggett, and Scotty Nietzel, who rounded out the finishing order, settling the inside. Clinton Boyles started on the pole of Dash Two and was never challenged for victory, earning him the outside pole A-Main starting spot. Danny Schafer was second, followed by Brad Lamberson, Thomas Messeraul, and Paul Neinhiser.

IRA racing officials determined that due to attrition throughout the program and the overall length of the show, they would forego the B-Main and start the remaining cars. This benefited a few competitors, particularly Jason Blonde, who was able to make repairs to the steering that broke during his heat.

25 IRA Sprint Cars roared to the start stripe as they took the green flag of the 25-lap A-Main. The fans in the grandstands roared along, proclaiming their adulation of their fearless heroes! As they neared completion of their third circuit, trouble ensued as the cars of Thomas Schinderle, Messeraul, Lamberson, and Ryan Ruhl tangled together, causing a red flag when Ruhl tumbled in turn four. Van Gurley, Jr. hit the front stretch wall at the exit of turn four hard, but was able to roll off and continue the race. Schinderle retired due to a broken shock tower, Ruhl’s night came to an end, and Lamberson only suffered a flat tire and was able to change it and return to racing action. Once the track was cleared, the field reset and came down to take the green flag. Julien set a torrid pace. Boyles gave chase and nearly ended his night when he hopped the rear tire of lapped car Jason Ferguson heading down the front stretch towards turn one. Boyles recovered and began reeling in Julien as he was heavy into lapped traffic. At the halfway point, Boyles had caught him — used a lapped car to set a pic and sailed around him to take the point. 

Boyles, now out front, ran away from all comers, cruising to victory. Boyles' victory made him the seventh different winner out of the nine contests held, proving how highly competitive the Bumber to Bumper IRA Sprint series is! Runner-up Nienhiser got around Julien near the end of the contest, settling for third. Then it was Wilson, Daggett, Neitzel, Danny McCarron, Max Stambaugh, Arenz, and Schlafer who rounded out the top 10. Cody Schlafer, who started 19^th, was named the ‘Behling Hard Charger” with a +8 position advancement.

The Great Lakes Lighting Sprints supported the night. Justin Ward was winner of heat number one and Arlie Cooper, Jr claimed heat number two honors. Jacob Sabaj was victorious in the fast and furious 15-Lap A-Main. 

FULL IRA RESULTS:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 51-Clinton Boyles[2]; 2. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[4]; 3. 85J-Logan Julien[1]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson[3]; 5. 85-Dustin Daggett[7]; 6. 2W-Scott Neitzel[9]; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron[13]; 8. 71H-Max Stambaugh[15]; 9. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]; 10. 25-Danny Schlafer[6]; 11. 10RR-Brad Lamberson[8]; 12. 26-Cody Schlafer[20]; 13. 13-Van Gurley Jr[14]; 14. 21H-TJ Haddy[17]; 15. 09-Clayton Rossmann[18]; 16. 23-Charlie Baur[24]; 17. 4K-Kris Spitz[16]; 18. 22-Aaron Shaffer[21]; 19. 24-Scott Conger[25]; 20. 33F-Jason Ferguson[22]; 21. (DNF) 10BR-Jason Blonde[19]; 22. (DNF) 16-Ryan Ruhl[12]; 23. (DNF) 41-Thomas Schinderle[11]; 24. (DNF) 00-Thomas Meseraull[10]; 25. (DNF) 45-Rob Pribnow[23]

Dash 1 (4 Laps): 1. 85J-Logan Julien[3]; 2. W20-Greg Wilson[1]; 3. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]; 4. 85-Dustin Daggett[4]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]

Dash 2 (4 Laps): 1. 51-Clinton Boyles[1]; 2. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[5]; 3. 25-Danny Schlafer[2]; 4. 10RR-Brad Lamberson[3]; 5. 00-Thomas Meseraull[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 85J-Logan Julien[4]; 2. 41-Thomas Schinderle[1]; 3. 85-Dustin Daggett[2]; 4. 10RR-Brad Lamberson[3]; 5. 71H-Max Stambaugh[7]; 6. 09-Clayton Rossmann[8]; 7. 22-Aaron Shaffer[9]; 8. 26-Cody Schlafer[6]; 9. 24-Scott Conger[10]; 10. (DNF) 12-Corbin Gurley[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[3]; 2. 51-Clinton Boyles[4]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron[6]; 5. 13-Van Gurley Jr[5]; 6. 21H-TJ Haddy[7]; 7. 33F-Jason Ferguson[9]; 8. 99-Tyler Brabant[8]; 9. (DNF) 10BR-Jason Blonde[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. W20-Greg Wilson[1]; 2. 00-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 3. 25T-Travis Arenz[2]; 4. 16-Ryan Ruhl[5]; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz[8]; 6. 25-Danny Schlafer[4]; 7. 45-Rob Pribnow[9]; 8. 23-Charlie Baur[7]; 9. (DNF) 7A-Will Armitage[6]

Qualifying: 1. 85J-Logan Julien, 13.624[15]; 2. 51-Clinton Boyles, 13.631[8]; 3. 25-Danny Schlafer, 13.744[2]; 4. 10RR-Brad Lamberson, 13.763[27]; 5. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 13.813[17]; 6. 00-Thomas Meseraull, 13.820[11]; 7. 85-Dustin Daggett, 13.829[20]; 8. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 13.898[7]; 9. 25T-Travis Arenz, 13.901[10]; 10. 41-Thomas Schinderle, 13.913[4]; 11. 10BR-Jason Blonde, 13.913[14]; 12. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.935[19]; 13. 12-Corbin Gurley, 13.941[9]; 14. 13-Van Gurley Jr, 13.956[26]; 15. 16-Ryan Ruhl, 13.980[24]; 16. 26-Cody Schlafer, 14.087[5]; 17. 22M-Dan McCarron, 14.092[16]; 18. 7A-Will Armitage, 14.113[18]; 19. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 14.159[28]; 20. 21H-TJ Haddy, 14.179[22]; 21. 23-Charlie Baur, 14.331[3]; 22. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 14.429[23]; 23. 99-Tyler Brabant, 14.461[1]; 24. 4K-Kris Spitz, 14.483[6]; 25. 22-Aaron Shaffer, 14.553[21]; 26. 33F-Jason Ferguson, 14.560[12]; 27. 45-Rob Pribnow, 14.848[25]; 28. 24-Scott Conger, 15.048[13]

Hot Laps: 1. 16-Ryan Ruhl, 13.717[24]; 2. 51-Clinton Boyles, 13.754[8]; 3. 71H-Max Stambaugh, 13.912[28]; 4. 7A-Will Armitage, 13.920[18]; 5. 25T-Travis Arenz, 13.924[10]; 6. 13-Van Gurley Jr, 13.989[26]; 7. 85J-Logan Julien, 14.032[15]; 8. 12-Corbin Gurley, 14.044[9]; 9. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 14.063[23]; 10. 10RR-Brad Lamberson, 14.113[27]; 11. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 14.114[7]; 12. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 14.127[17]; 13. 00-Thomas Meseraull, 14.156[11]; 14. 21H-TJ Haddy, 14.181[22]; 15. 22M-Dan McCarron, 14.200[16]; 16. 25-Danny Schlafer, 14.254[2]; 17. W20-Greg Wilson, 14.327[19]; 18. 33F-Jason Ferguson, 14.510[12]; 19. 10BR-Jason Blonde, 14.525[14]; 20. 41-Thomas Schinderle, 14.549[4]; 21. 22-Aaron Shaffer, 14.594[21]; 22. 26-Cody Schlafer, 14.615[5]; 23. 99-Tyler Brabant, 14.663[1]; 24. 4K-Kris Spitz, 14.889[6]; 25. 45-Rob Pribnow, 14.977[25]; 26. 23-Charlie Baur, 15.278[3]; 27. 24-Scott Conger, 15.368[13]; 28. (DNS) 85-Dustin Daggett, 15.368