7/31/2020
RacinBoys
Seth Bergman Snares $2,000 Sprint Invaders Feature in Dubuque
By Bill Wright (Dubuque, IA) -- When the sprint cars hit the Dubuque Speedway bullring, it’s always “edge of your seat action,” and Thursday’s 30-lapper was no different. Seth Bergman rode the cushion and the wall to record the $2,000 feature win over an impressive 22-car field that featured drivers from four states, as well as Australia and Canada. It was the third career Sprint Invaders win for the Snohomish, Washington native.
Bergman shot out from the pole to lead early in the main event ahead of Paul Nienhiser and Kyle Offill. Lynton Jeffrey gained third from Offill on lap two, before Cody Wehrle spun, bringing caution. The early yellow flag was the first of several.
Offill gained third on the restart, before Dustin Selvage spun four laps in, and Carson McCarl did the same after contact. McCarl spun again on the restart and retired. Dylan Westbrook, shot around Offill to take over third, but flipped hard in turn four on lap seven. He climbed out under his own power.
Bergman led Nienhiser, Offill, Jeffrey and JJ Hickle, who was moving up through the field from row five. On lap eleven, Jeffrey took back third, with Hickle in tow, and by lap twelve young Colton Fisher had advanced into the top five from row eight.
Bergman was in lapped traffic by lap 13, and Chris Martin had moved by Fisher into the top five after starting 19th. Hickle worked by Jeffrey for third on lap 16. Bergman was dicing through traffic and lengthening his advantage on Nienhiser. With just two laps to go, he had lapped up to sixth place, when Hickle’s good run came to a close with a throttle spring issue.
Bergman would not be deterred the final two laps, winning ahead of Nienhiser, who was second for the second straight year at Dubuque, Fisher, Jeffrey and hard-charger Martin. Alex Hill, Selvage, John Schulz, Tanner Gebhardt and Offill rounded out the top ten. Bergman, Westbrook and McCarl won heats, and Jeffrey won the Dash.
“When there’s a curb up on the wall, I feel comfortable,” said Bergman in Victory Lane. “I was kind of waiting for it to get there all night. Since we rolled in the gates, I thought it was an awesome shape for a racetrack, and if they did a good job of prepping it, it was going to be a hell of a race. They did a good job all night. We had to fight a little adversity in the dash, and we got through that. Once we got out front, I knew the deal for me was not stuffing it in the fence and giving it away. I felt when I needed to push it I could to make speed. I went into cruise mode for a while to make sure I didn’t wreck it. The last restart had me worried. I didn’t get off of four as well as I would have liked. I anticipated a slide, but it never came. I was counting on traffic a little bit. I knew a lot of these guys wouldn’t be leaning on the wall the way they needed to. I came through there, and the ones who were up top were making mistakes so I could get runs to slide them. It was a good run, and I’m glad we came. It was about a ten hour drive for us, but winning tonight made it well worth it.”
“Another second with Scott Bonar, but we’re knocking on the door,” said Nienhiser. “Seth had the better car tonight. There through the middle of the race, I made some mistakes that might have cost us some ground. I didn’t get through traffic well in the middle stages either. All in all, we were happy. We were terrible, and salvaged a good heat race. We were better in the dash and tweaked a couple things, and were solid in the feature.”
“We set the car up to run the bottom,” said Fisher of his career-best Sprint Invaders run. “Early on, I wanted to run the top before the A started. After talking to a few guys we decided the bottom was the place to be for a 30-lap A main. It ended up working out. The lapped traffic makes it difficult. You have to keep your momentum and still hit your marks. When you’re passing lapped cars, you have to move around. Luckily, the red and the couple cautions helped bunch us back up. This feels great. We’ve worked really hard for this. We’ve had a lot of bad luck lately, and I feel we have a car and a team to run in the top three consistently. Tonight we did.”
The Sprint Invaders next action will be a doubleheader August 21 and 22 at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa and 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. For more information on the Sprint Invaders, visit www.SprintInvaders.com or look us up on Facebook.
Sprint Invaders A main (started), 30 laps: 1. 23, Seth Bergman, Snohomish, WA (1) 2. 50, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (3) 3. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (15) 4. 83, Lynton Jeffrey, Sydney, NSW, Aust. (5) 5. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (19) 6. 77x, Alex Hill, Six Nations, ONT, Can. (8) 7. 88, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (10) 8. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (7) 9. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (14) 10. 88w, Kyle Offill, Tracy, CA (2) 11. 51J, Blaine Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (20) 12. 11c, Mason Campbell, New Berlin, IL (11) 13. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (21) 14. 69 Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (16) 15. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (18) 16. 4, Bailey Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (13) 17. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (12) 18. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (17) 19. 63, JJ Hickle, Quilcene, WA (9) 20. 47x, Dylan Westbrook, Scotland, ONT, Can. (6) 21. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (4) 22. 22, Riley Goodno, Knoxville, IA (22). Lap Leader: Bergman 1-30. KSE Hard-charger: Martin.
Randall’s Performance Heat one (started), 8 laps: 1. Seth Bergman (4) 2. Lynton Jeffrey (2) 3. Paul Nienhiser (5) 4. John Schulz (6) 5. Wyatt Wilkerson (3) 6. Daniel Bergquist (1) DNS – Brayden Gaylord, Riley Goodno
CenPenCo Lubricants Heat two (started), 8 laps: 1. Dylan Westbrook (4) 2. JJ Hickle (1) 3. Kyle Offill (6) 4. Cody Wehrle (3) 5. Tanner Gebhardt (5) 6. Colton Fisher (7) 7. Blaine Jamison (2)
Paisano’s Ristorante of Preston, Illinois Heat three (started), 8 laps: 1. Carson McCarl (1) 2. Alex Hill (2) 3. Dustin Selvage (3) 4. Mason Campbell (4) 5. Bailey Goldesberry (6) 6. Justin Buchholz (7) 7. Chris Martin (5)
Budweiser King of Beers – Golden Eagle Distributors Shake-up Dash (started), 6 laps: 1. Lynton Jeffrey (3) 2. Dylan Westbrook (2) 3. Seth Bergman (1) 4. Kyle Offill (4) 5. Paul Nienhiser (6) 6. Carson McCarl (5)
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
