Loverude wins 3rd straight feature at Arlington Raceway
Submitted by Arlington Raceway
ARLINGTON — A quick race night was had due to an almost flawless night and great track conditions Saturday at Arlington Raceway.
New Ulm’s Trent Loverude won his third consecutive feature race in the Ottomotive Tire & Repair IMCA Modified race. Clint Hatlestad was the early leader, but half way through Loverude got by him as he drove around lapped traffic to gain distance and go on to win. Hatlestad took second and Todd Stinehart took third ahead of Chad Porter.
The only mishap all night occurred in the Jack Pines Resort IMCA Hobby feature when a collision happened in turn one between the cars of Jeremy Ziemke and Taylor Manderfield ending both of their race nights in the pit area. Ziemke had been the early leader in the race and after a restart, Cory Probst got by him to take over the lead and win again. Brad Becker moved up with Probst to take second ahead of Chad Volk.
A short field of cars in the Coors Light IMCA Sport Compact saw Dale Gatton take the lead on Lap 2 and remain the leader in the green to checkered flag race. Gary Schumacher took second ahead of Alan Lahr.
The eXmark Outlaw feature saw veteran driver Rod Manthey take the lead, but Mark Oestreich was on his tail the entire distance and was able to get by him after newcomer Payten Wilson got a flat tire and brought out a yellow flag. After the restart, Oestreich took over the lead as Fred Heidecker, who started last, moved up. Heidecker challenged the last two laps but settled for second as Oestreich won. Manthey held on for third.
The Rice Companies IMCA RaceSaver Sprint feature saw two different leaders with Bill Johsnon leading the first five laps, but he had misfortunes with the cam going out on his engine and stopped on the track. That gave the lead to the 1300 Brett Allen ,who had been running in second. For the remaining nine laps, Allen led while Matt Johnson and Mike Stien exchanged positions a few times on the track. In the end, Allen won with Stien taking second and Matt finishing third ahead of Andrew Allen.
There were four different leaders in the Arlington State Bank IMCA Northern Sport Modified feature as Ben Reierson led the first six laps from his pole position start with Jeff Lloyd following him. A yellow came out when Jeff Lloyd hit a tire on the infield. On the restart, Jeff Carter, who had started sixth, capitalized on the yellow as he took over the lead but only for one lap as Broddy Enter got by him in turn two and was the new leader. The cars were racing three wide for five laps when both Eric Larson and Matt Looft were in the mix. With only two laps to go, Looft hit his turbo power and took the high side in turn two to get around all of them to gain the lead and win. Larson took second and Carter held on for third ahead of Enter.
Dave Moriarty had control of the B&B Racing Chassis IMCA Stock Car feature for 14 laps from his front row start as Josh Larson and Kevin Latour both tried to gain distance on him. The race went green to checkered and with only five laps to go, Moriarty who had a 1/4 of a lap on the rest of the field, Dan Mackenthun, Larson and Matt Looft were racing 4 wide and it was Mackenthun who came out the leader and went on to win. Larson maintained second with Looft finishing inches ahead of Moriarty at the finish line to make for an exciting race.