The Ironman Challenge ended here after a marathon of short track racing.

Fallon (July 4) – The Ironman Challenge finished here on the track’s traditional 4th of July race. After 10-days of racing the surviving IMCA teams as well as Hobby Stock racers and two supporting classes were set to go.

The Evenson Law Office Ironman Challenge used five tracks over a 10-day period to set the stage for one driver to score a special victory while two others celebrated their separate championships.

“That was a fun race, when you can pass a two time national champion (Zane DeVilbiss) on the outside like that,” Cory Sample said after winning the final IMCA race of the series. “You know Zane was there, he had the line, you couldn’t take it away from him so there was one shot to go around on the outside and make it work.”

For Sample the victory was even sweeter as it was his 100th IMCA win.

“I saw his (Jeff Olschowka) nose and wondered what he was out there fishing for,” Sample said. “He ran a good race and tip of my hat for him, he ran the 10-days but had a lot of bad luck.”

Then he thanked his father, girl friend and Sample’s whole family as they were all present.

Asked if it has sunk in that he’s won 100 IMCA races Sample said, “Not yet. When you pass him (DeVilbiss) to get your 100th win that feels really good.”

After the attrition over the past three nights only 10 IMCA drivers answered the green to start their main. Up front Vincent Evenson, fresh off his very first heat race win, was on point for a brief time until DeVilbiss took the lead.

Behind the leaders Jeff Olschowka and Sample were making their way to the front. Soon Sample would be in third then take over second while Olschowka had moved into fourth.

After that the chase was on as DeVilbiss had a pretty significant lead. And soon both leaders began to pass lap traffic.

Probably the pivotal point in the race was when a caution came out due to debris in Turn 1. That’s when the leader’s advantage disappeared.

While DeVilbiss was on point right behind him was Sample, Malen Gonzalez and Olschowka. On the green everyone took off and Sample began his challenge to DeVillbiss.

After a caution allowed him to close on the leader Cory Sample (00) chases then leader Zane DeVilbiss.

Soon they were nose-to-tail then Sample swung to the high line and exiting Turn 2 swept into the lead. But DeVillbiss wasn’t about to give up and began a challenge of his own.

Roaring into Turn 3 DeVillbiss dove to the inside but Sample didn’t realize he was there. The resulting contact spun DeVillbiss and dropped him out of contention.

With only a few laps to go Sample wasn’t out of the woods as Olschowka had moved into second and started mounting a challenge of his own.

In the final lap Sample held the low line while Olschowka would almost get beside him but in the end the victory went to Sample with Olschowka settling for the runner up spot.

Winning his 100th IMCA victory Cory Sample (00) takes the checkered flag just ahead of Jeff Olschowka (121).

After the dust settled Olschowka said, “The track is different it’s tacky, slippery got some moisture on top and slick in the middle. It’s pretty racy tonight probably the best track the whole 10-days. I was using the car for everything it had and he would have had to make a mistake and he don’t make those so its all she had.”

There was a huge celebration for Sample not only to celebrate his championship but also his milestone of 100 IMCA victories.

After winning his 100th IMCA victory Cory Sample celebrated with his crew, family and Paul Vetter from IMCA as well as announcer Davey Munoz (cowboy hat).

Although the Hobby Stock field was a bit smaller than Sunday night, 16 drives took the green when their main began. And waving the green flag was a special guest starter, Senator Dean Heller.

The Hobby Stocks had a guest flagman to start their main. It was Senator Dean Heller shown here with the regular flagman.

Up front Davis Ausano was on point with Mickey Beuchat and Cody Morris right behind him. Back in the pack Bob Vaden was being chased by Shayna Hartman as they both were running for the overall points championship.

Only two Hobby Stock drivers competed in all 10 Ironman races. Here points leader Bob Vaden (00) is chased by Shayna (Robertson) Hartman.

The first caution came on lap 9 when Jeff tuttle and Dan Diez spun in Turn 4 after contact. On the restart Ausano took off again with Morris right behind him.

After a few laps Ausano opened up a small gap but it wasn’t much breathing room. Morris also had Beuchat right behind him.

The next caution came when Beuchat had to pit and on the green Ausano was still on point followed by Morris and not Vaden in third place. Hartman seemed to have a harder time getting through lap traffic so she would slip back to fifth behind Chris Christiano at the end.

The last caution came when Jeff Tuttle got sideways and collected Tami Buehn. Fortunately both were able to continue to the end.

At the checkered Ausano claimed the victory with Morris not far behind. Vaden ended up third and clinched the northern and overall championship for the series.

David Ausano celebrates winning the Hobby Stock main at Rattlesnake Raceway.

At the awards ceremony Ausano, after congratulating Morris, said, “Kind of took off at the get go, seen Cody make a run on me on the inside, wasn’t going to let that happen twice. Trying to protect the bottom groove, hoping for the best and we had some good tacky on exit and here we are. Never saw him on the outside.”

Then he thanked his girlfriend Tori Edgington, who races the 2X car, Adam Gilmore since he works on the cars of Ausano, Edgington and Morris. He also gave special thanks to Gilmore’s wife as she watches Ausano and Edgington’s son while they race.

For Vaden his third place finish was plenty to clinch both the northern and overall Hobby Stock championship. Shayna (Robertson) Hartman won the southern title.

There were two Hobby Stock champions. Shayna (Robertson) Hartman was the Southern Division champion while Bob Vaden won the Northern and Overall Championship. They were the only two drivers to compete in all 10 races.

“I had a really long way to go, started third row outside, as soon as we off loaded the trailer I put a hole in the power steering resovious. I ran all my races today with no power steering, my arms are wore out. Seriously calling this an Ironman Challenge, wheeling this car on a dirt track with no power steering is ironman and my arms are killing me. I can’t thank my fans, my family and my sponsors enough.”

Then he thanked Dave, Ben, Judy Vaden, John and Todd because he credited their work on the car as the reason he made the full 10-days.

The Super Stock 4 class ran in support of the night’s races and when their main began there was a small duel between Stephen Crook Sr. and Rich Innis. In the end Crook Sr. briefly had the point until his son Dennis zoomed past on the outside.

There was a caution when Aaron McIlvain’s car wound up with broken steering then a race stopping red flag after a few cars tangled.

Dennis Crook on his way to winning the second Super Stock 4 main in as many days.

On the restart the younger Crook took off but now Galen Reese was in second but unable to catch him. Innis wound up third ahead of Susie Schmitt and Crook Sr.

The Dwarf Cars were also on hand and when their feature began it took attempts to get things rolling. Once they were off Joe Frock came ripping up from the back and took the lead.

Soon after that, around Lap 5, Kenny Martin car clipped the back stretch wall and then cart wheeled all the way to the entrance to Turn 3.

The officials stopped the race as the EMT and others headed to Martin’s car. An ambulance was called but he got a private transport to the near by hospital for a check up.

Joe Frock wins his second Dwarf Car main in as many days at Rattlesnake Raceway.

Once things were cleared racing resumed. For the second time in as many days, Frock scored another victory followed by Tim Fitzpatrick and Glen Sciarani.

Steve Evenson, the driving force behind this tour calls himself the Co-Ordinator although he works more like the do-everything promoter. We had a chance to sit down with him before the racing began and gather some of his thoughts.

“Obviously a tour like this is going to have a lot of ups and downs. Probably the biggest down has been the car count on the Hobby Stocks,” he said. “You can only run people that come and we didn’t have as many that said they were going to show up. I’m not upset about it but it’s just disappointing.

However he added the Modified division has been one of the ups for the tour.

“I’m thrilled with the cars we’ve had, you know with the commitments we had from the drivers we were going to be at the 25 to 30 number. And you lose a car here because of a wreck, you lose a car here because of a motor being blown, you lose a car here or there, something comes up in the family and all of a sudden you’re down to 20. That and then you had a bunch of cars wrecked last night, guys get hurt and all of a sudden you’re down to 10 for the final night.”

He explained a tour like this is not a sprint but a marathon.

Commenting on how its gone he said, “I was very optimistic, I thought the crowd count in Hawthorne, Lovelock was spectacular for weeknight shows and I thought the racing at both of those shows was spectacular. What has really made me happy is the driving, the racing in the top 10 each night. The drivers that have been regularly and consistently at the front have really put on a really good driving show each night. That kind of stuff is good for the tour as we’ve had five different states represented for the Modified Class.

Looking ahead Evenson is already talking about, and maybe with a few other Northern Nevada Tracks. So the schedule might be changed.

“You know we might be looking at a different time of year. It’s awfully hot now and I think that contributes to some of the temperament on the part of some of the drivers,” he said.

Now he’s going to get back to work, enjoy his birthday and start planning for the next Ironman Challenge tour for next year.

Here the final IMCA Modified points.

Ironman Challenge IMCA points.

And here are the final Hobby Stock points for the tour.

Ironman Hobby Stock points.

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RESULTS

Evenson Law Office Ironman Challenge

Rattlesnake Raceway – July 4th.

IMCA:

+ Heat #1: 1. Zane DeVillbiss, 2. Cory Sample, 3. Jeff Olschowka, 4. Joel Myers, 5. Mike Martin.

+ Heat #2: 1. Vincent Evenson, 2. Malen Gozalez, 3. Andy Strait, 4. James Thiboudeaux, 5. Carl Barlow.

+ Main (30-Laps): 1. Cory Sample, 2. Jeff Olschowka, 3. Malen Gonzalez, 4. Joel Myers, 5. Zane DeVillbiss, 6. Mike Martin, 7. Andy Strait, 8. Carl      Barlow, 9. Vincent Evenson, 10. James Thiboudeaux.

Hobby Stocks:

+ Heat #1: 1. David Ausano, 2. Bob Vaden, 3. Tori Edgington, 4. Paul Shamlin, 5. Tami Buehn.

DNF: Alex Kniestedt.

+ Heat #2: 1. Cody Morris, 2. Jeff Tuttle, 3. Raymond Davis, 4. Dan Diez, 5. Chris Christiano.

+ Heat #3: 1. Mickey Beuchat, 2. Shane Cazel, 3. Shayna Hartman, 4. Robert Weaver.

DNF: Dan Edgington.

DNS: Jimmy Berhorst.

+ Main (25-Laps): 1. David Ausano, 2. Cody Morris, 3. Bob Vaden, 4. Chris Christiano, 5. Shayna Hartman, 6. Shane Cazel, 7. Raymond Davis, 8. Mikey Beuchat, 9. Jeff Tuttle, 10. Paul Shamlin, 11. Tori Edgington, 12. Tami Buehn, 13. Alex Kniestedt, 14. Dan Diez, 15. Jimmy Berhorst, 16. Robert Weaver.

Dwarf Cars:

+ Heat: 1. Joe Frock, 2. Glen Sciarani, 3. Kenny Martin, 4. Roy Petersen, 5. Timothy Fitzpatrick, 6. Kyle Jones, 7. Gene Winter, 9. Kyle Winters.

+ Main (15-Laps): 1. Joe Frock, 2. Timothy Fitzpatrick, 3. Glen Sciarani, 4. Kyle Jones, 5. Kyle Winters, 6. Kenny Martin, 7. Roy Petersen, 8. Gene Winter.

Super Stock 4:

+ Heat: 1. Dennis Crook, 2. Galen Reese, 3. Rich Innis, 4. Aaron McIlvain, 5. Janet Lyford, 6. Kenny Martin, 7. Stephen Crook Sr.

+ Main (13-Laps): 1. Dennis Crook, 2. Galen Reese, 3. Rich Innis, 4. Susie Schmitt, 5. Stephen Crook Sr., 6. Janey Lyford, 7. Aaron McIlvain.