BARROWS - Matt Halls recovered from an early caution and kept his foot on the throttle to take the win at the first ever Dean Funt Memorial Race Saturday at North Central Speedway.
Halls was one of 26 drivers who made it into the 34-lap feature race. Forty seven cars made the field for the Mod 4 class, which meant five feature races and two 15-lap B Features to set the field for the final race.
Chad Funt, son of Dean Funt, had the idea for the event after his did died earlier in the month. The response was overwhelming with 28 total prizes being donated along with the normal race payouts for the Mod 4 drivers. That brought out the largest field ever for a Mod 4 NCS race.
Halls started from the second row in the 34-lap, 26-car event and was sent to the back early after bringing out an early caution flag. He worked his to the middle of the pack.
One rule put in place was a red-flag caution at the midway point to refuel. It also allowed drivers to draw for the opportunity to invert the order of the top 10 drivers. It worked out well for Halls, who went from eighth place to third on the restart.
ADVERTISEMENT
Using that momentum, Halls stayed up front for the remaining 18 laps and overtook Mitchell Hribar and Mike Rau to get the win.
One of the prizes was the $100 Tough Luck prize, which went to driver Drue Fletcher. Fletcher walked away from a frightening crash on turn four as her car went airborne and rotated on end twice i before coming to rest on its roof. Fletcher was cleared by medical personnel.
Her father, Shawn, celebrated his birthday with a win in the 20-lap Modified race. Brendon Yamry recorded another win in the Sport Compact feature. There was a first-time winner in the Hobby Stocks as Austin Jahnz took the checkered flag.
Other winners were Chris Vanmil in the Northern Sport Modified class and Seth Kramer for the Super Stocks.
IMCA Sport Compacts:
Feature: 1-Brendon Yamry, 2-Derek Stanoch, 3-Corey Mehrwerth
Heat 1: 1-Brendon Yamry, 2-PeeWee Kuhnau, 3-Derek Stanoch
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
ADVERTISEMENT
Feature: 1-Austin Jahnz, 2-Robert Young Jr., 3-Joe Gonska
Heat 1: 1-Austin Jahnz, 2-Joe Gonska, 3-David Dosh
Heat 2: 1-Timothy Gonska, 2-Robert Young Jr., 3-Chris Seidel
NCS Mod 4s:
Feature: 1-Matt Halls, 2-Mitchell Hribar, 3-Mike Rau
B Feature 1: 1-Tommy Sabraski, 2-David Fortier, 3-Ryan Lind
B Feature 2: 1-Justin Hammann, 2-Jerry Esler, 3-Drue Fletcher
Heat 1: 1-Matt Halls, 2-Mitchell Hribar, 3-Keith Thell
ADVERTISEMENT
Heat 2: 1-Doug Frederick, 2-Chad Funt, 3-Dwight Gilyard
Heat 3: 1-Dean Larson, 2-Dustin Holtquist, 3-Justin Pogones
Heat 4: 1-Dean Blanchard Jr., 2-Adam Prieve, 3-Brennan Gave
Heat 5: 1-Bob Holtquist, 2-Justin Will, 3-Mike Rau
IMCA Northern Sport Modifieds:
Feature: 1-Chris Vanmil, 2-David Siercks, 3-Adam Bohlman
Heat 1: 1-Chris Vanmil, 2-David Siercks, 3-Adam Bohlman
Heat 2: 1-Jake Hagemann, 2-Mike Brenny, 3-Jacob Jordan
ADVERTISEMENT
NCS Super Stock:
Feature: 1-Seth Kramer, 2-Jesse Smolik, 3-Jake Goetze
Heat 1: 1-Seth Kramer, 2-Denis Czech, 3-Austin Niemeyer
Heat 2: 1-Jesse Smolik, 2-Curtis Newberg, 3-Jake Goetze
IMCA Modifieds:
Feature: 1-Shawn Fletcher, 2-Erick Thiesse, 3-Mark Prueser
Heat 1: 1-Shawn Fletcher, 2-Aaron Johnson, 3-Josh Beaulieu
Heat 2: 1-Ryan Canon, 2-Mark Prueser, 3-AJ Viehauser
