Massey Picks Up the IMCA Style Stock Car Win at Limaland

January 21st 2024, words by AJ Hunsinger; images by Aidan Schulte

35 drivers registered for the AS Photography 30 for the LoO IMCA Style Stock Cars at Limaland. Several new faces again as well as a handful of very fast drivers. Jamie Massey was amongst those very fast drivers and zoomed to a victory after leading all 30 laps in a race where sliders and hay makers were being thrown every corner of every lap. The aggressive driving led to some upset drivers after the race and it put on another great showing for our LoO IMCA Style Stock Cars.

This used to be the James Murphy show as we were accustomed to seeing James put a whipping on the field each and every week. But with the new talent coming into the league, many are left wondering when James will get back to victory lane. James had a good start to his heat race after his 4th place qualifying effort, with a lap that was less than two hundredths of a second slower than the quick time.

James’ 4th best qualifying time put him on the outside of row number 1 for his heat race. After a good start, James just barely got into the race leader Lane Phillips as they were racing into turn 3. The shot to the back bumper caused Lane to get a little more sideways than he wanted and both cars checked up in the middle of turns 3 and 4. By corner exit, Carson Cherry was coming up quick with a lot of momentum from P4 on the outside and hit Murphy pretty hard in the right rear. The contact would send Murphy into a slow spin to the infield and a caution flag would come out. Murphy was set to restart in the rear of the field and even with 7 of the 8 laps left to run, he would only make it up to position 8, shockingly sending James Murphy to the B- Main as only the top 4 in each heat were transferred into the A.

Pole winner and winner of heat race 1 would be Jamie Massey with Jared Murphy in 2nd, Chat Puterbaugh 3rd, newest League Admin Trevor Doyle 4th, and John Nolan rounding out the top 5. Lane Phillips would hang onto first and win heat race number 2 with Matt Pridgen 2nd, Carson Cherry 3rd, Jason Gunnells 4th, and OG Brayden Avila finishing in the 5th position.

The top 10 finishers of the B- Main would transfer into the A. James Murphy started in 8th place. The B- Main was intense and action packed as drivers were trying desperately to finish in a transfer spot. James Murphy sent the fans into a panic as he got into the wall late in the race battling behind AJ Hunsinger for 6th place causing James to fall back to 8th place, with 9th and 10th place drivers on his inside. Murphy was able to rally back and finish in 6th position.

A few guys starting deep in the field and outside of the transfer spots were able to rally through the 15 car B- Main field and race into a transfer spot. AJ Hunsinger started 11th and finished 5th, Bryce Dickenson was the biggest mover and went from 15th to 8th, and Christian White started 14th and finished 10th. John Nolan would pick up the B- Main win. Matt Taghon, Jackson Johnstone, Robert Floyd, John Quill Jr., and League Admin Aidan Schulte would not be fortunate enough to make it to the A- Main.

Come feature time, James Murphy and AJ Hunsinger had some work to do as they were starting in the back after transferring out of the B- Main. Murphy starting in 14th with Hunsinger starting to his inside in 13th. The first 20 laps of the race was action packed but went green until the first caution flew. All through the field, cars were 2, 3, 4, and even 5 wide at times. Drivers up front were ripping around the cushion on the top while others were using the bottom, middle, top, wherever they could go to try and make their way to the front.

Drivers were throwing sliders left and right, beating and banging, rubbing, and having a good ol’ time while some left the track unhappy with one another. Jamie Massey on the other hand had a much smoother race as he led all 30 laps, cruising his NRL House of Speed #19 ride all the way to victory lane. Lane Phillips was runner up in 2nd, 3rd was Trever Doyle after throwing a slide job on 4th place finisher Jared Murphy, and James Murphy coming from 14th to finish in 5th.

The AS Photography 30 was the second and final race of the season and in two weeks, drivers will be heading into race number one of the upcoming season. Jared Murphy, claims the 2023 LoO IMCA Style Stock Car Series Champion, as he finished just 2 points ahead of his brother, James Murphy. The upcoming season for both the LoO IMCA Style Stock Cars and Modifieds, is set to be released soon so stay tuned for updates.

Race Report

Lap 16, heading into turns 3 and 4, the #428 of Matt Pridgen entered hard on the bottom, went up the track and made pretty good contact with the #226 of Carson Cherry.

Lap 18 coming across the start/finish line, the #7 of John Nolan to the inside of the #428 of Matt Pridgen. As they went into turn one, the #7 went for a slider and completed it. As the cars were exiting turn 2, the #428 ran into the back of the #7. The #7 made some contact with the wall prior to the #428 making contact with the #7 and scrubbed speed from the #7 car which allowed a notable discrepancy in speeds.

Still lap 18, the #7, ahead of the #428, was running the high line through turns 3 and 4. The #428 ran the middle line and by corner exits, washed up and into the #7.

Coming down the straightaway for lap 19, the two drivers were door to door (#428 on the inside) and were banging doors several times down the straight. Both drivers entered turn one in the middle lane and both washed up. The #428, still on the inside, washed all the way up while the #7 was to his outside and did not show any regard and put the #7 into the wall.

Lap 20, the #428 ahead of the #7, both single file on the high line, the #7 made slight contact with the LR of the #428. A caution flag would fly after this as the cars were coming down the back stretch and it almost looked like the #428 brake-checked the #7 and contact was made, but was hard to tell with the caution coming out. I can say at the time this possible brake-check that the #428 car was the only car at the time that I could see slowing down.

Once the yellow flag came out after the possible brake-check, the #7 came over the radio and said “Yo, what’s your problem 428?”

After the restart on lap 21, the #7 and the #428 were side by side going the backstretch with the #7 down low. The two cars made contact down the straight and got hooked together all through turns 3 and 4 which caused both cars to be slow and several other cars closing in quickly and trying to make a pass on them, eventually caused a wad of cars making contact all through turns 3 and 4 and down the front stretch for lap 22. Cars were 2-3-4-5 wide during this gaggle.

Heading into turns 1 and 2, the #07 of Christian White hit the infield tire and the front of his car bouced up in the air, then his car spun to the right, up the track and collected the #20P of Chat Puterbaugh, the #428 of Matt Pridgen, and the #23 of Glenn Townsend.

Under this yellow flag, the #428 passed the #22 of Trevor Doyle to get to the #7 and very slightly if at all, graze doors. The #7 then swerved left into the #428. The #428 then fell back to his respective position.

Lap 26 heading into turn 1, the #33A of AJ Hunsinger and the #226 of Carson Cherry were both running the high line and the front bumper of the #226 made contact with the rear bumper of the #33A. The contact caused the #33A to get sideways and the #84 of Bryce Dickenson had nowhere to go and hit the sideways #33A in the LF. Similtaniously, the #226 hit hit sideways #33A in the LR. The contact corrected the #33A and pointed the #33A back into the right position and the #33A was able to continue on. Several other cars were involved. Those cars being; the #33A, #226, #84, #20P, #22, #515, #7, and the #2.

During this yellow flag, the #7 was trying to get by the #428 as instructed by iRacing and the two cars made contact. The #7 came across the radio and said “I am trying to go around you and you block me dude?”. As he said this, he spun the #428 under yellow. Once the #428 got up to speed again, he pulled up alongside the #7 and the #7 swerved into the #428.

On lap 29 in turns 3 and 4, the #428 was trying to make a pass on the #84 of Bryce Dickenson. The #428 ran a slider line and was nowhere near being clear. As the #428 washed up the track, his RR made contact with the LF of the #84. Bryce Dickenson of the #84 came over the radio and said “seriously?” The contact caused the #84 to get up in the wall coming off of corner 4.

On lap 30 and the final lap, the #515 of Chris R. Cox was trying to make a pass on the #428 down low and clipped the infield tire. The #515 bounced up in the air and the #515 spun. The spin collected the #428 and the #84.

After cars took the checkered flag, some cars stopped up high in turns 1 and 2 before towing to the pits. The #2 of Jason Gunnels drove straight up into the #20P. The contact caused the #20P to spin out. Then the #428 gassed it up and hit the #20P head on.