Josh Meyer and Austin Wolf started the IMCA modified feature on the front row at Algona Raceway and it was Meyer who took command of the event on the first lap. Meyer stretched his lead out to three car lengths in the early laps; however, as the race neared the mid-point, Wolf began closing in. With the racing groove on the bottom of the speedway, Wolf pulled in tight and applied the pressure. Wolf made his move for the top spot by slipping underneath the leader Meyer in the third turn. The top two raced wheel-to-wheel in four, but Wolf blasted down the straightaway and was never challenged the rest of the way.
It was Wolf's third feature win of the year. Meyer faded back to seventh as the handling on his car went away. Ryan Watnem finished second, holding off Jeremy Mills. Jeff Nielsen and Rob Hughes completed the top five.
Aaron Haggerty had hoped to make it two feature wins in a row at Algona Raceway on Saturday as he jumped into the early lead in the IMCA stock cars. With Haggerty leading, Josh Hohensee was hot on his heals in second. Chad Palmer though had other ideas and joined the race for the top spot in the closing laps of the race. With five laps to go, Palmer dove underneath of Hohensee and took the second spot away coming out of turn four. Palmer then set out to pressure the leader. On the last lap, Haggerty and Palmer raced into the third turn. Palmer was able to make the same move for the lead and powered out in front of Haggerty for a close win at the finish line. Haggerty finished second, ahead of Hohensee and David Smith.
For the second week in a row, Bruce Wickman had the magic formula to push his 360 modified to the front early and make the balance of the competitors spend the rest of the event playing catch up. Wickman got out front quickly and was comfortably pacing the field until a restart with four laps remaining. On the restart, Wickman had Jake Simpson, who had raced up from tenth, behind him. With the green back in the air, Simpson ran one lap on the bottom with the leader before trying the top side. This proved to be the difference as Wickman built his advantage and powered away for his second win in a row at Algona. Simpson held on to second, ahead of Jesse Rentz and Gerald Curry.
In the hobby stocks, Drew Barglof had been close to victory lane at least twice before, however, either circumstance or another driver stood in his way. On this night he put it all together as he shot into the lead from his third row starting spot and held off all challengers to post his first win of the year at Algona. Barglof held on for the win over Josh Peters in second, Cory Weishaar third and point leader Chad Gentz rounding out the top four.
Dustin Smith and Kenny O'Leary were the cruiser drivers to beat once again, as they won their second in a row. They bested Heather Pesicka and Peg Lewis for the win. In the pro hornets, Matt Baker continued his hot hand by putting Zack Divis' car back into victory lane. Baker beat Tim Doocy and Jay DeVries to the finish line. Joe DeVries started the junior hornet feature deep in the field but wasted little time in reaching the front. He won over Ross Hingson and Sean Peterson.
Exciting racing action continues at Algona Raceway Saturday night with hot laps beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Chad Meyer is host of race programming on Algona's KLGA 92.7 FM. He also covers racing action across the Midwest on www.DirtTrackRadio.com.