Monday, February 23, 2009

PR.com Area Drivers Getting a Jump On The Season Down South

I have a love/hate relationship with racing this time of year. I love to check out the results from Speedweeks and the early season special events down south, but I hate that it still seems like so far off to the time when we will first get out to the tracks in Missouri, Iowa and the other nearby states. The good news is that we are now less than three weeks away from the March 14th event at Springfield Raceway and the Missouri and "All Iowa" season will just gain momentum from there......as long as Mother Nature cooperates! Race fans also have the opportunity to catch the USMTS opener at McCool Junction Nebraska the first weekend in March and the following week Staley's Mods will be at Caney Valley and Humboldt in Kansas. I'm actually hoping to make the trip to Caney prior to checking out the track in Springfield for my first time.

Back to the results from this weekend, I saw that Mike VanGenderen of Newton picked up an IMCA Stock Car win at the Icebreaker in Abilene Texas. There were more drivers from our area down there as well and I am looking forward to the next installment of TapFan's Tours (found on the home page of PositivelyRacing.com) for the full report. The Green Valley Speedway in Gadsden, Alabama, held its annual Bama Bash this weekend on the high-speed 3/8th-mile red clay oval. Ray Cook continued his domination of early season events in Dixie as he picked up the Super Late Model main ahead of Randy Weaver, Dale McDowell, Clint Smith and Tony Knowles. Eric Turner of Hermitage, Missouri, was impressive once again coming home in the sixth spot as he seems well prepared for a breakout rookie season in the Late Models. Story City Iowa's Jeremy Grady finished 18th in the main event.

The Crate Late Model feature was captured by veteran driver Ronnie Johnson ahead of Jason Hiett and Billy Mayo. Dustin Griffin is listed in the 14th spot and I am going to assume that this is the young driver out of Camp Point, Illinois, who runs weekly in the IMCA Late Model division at Quincy. Bobby Dauderman, the 2008 Crate LM track champion at Tri-City Speedway finished 19th.

If you are interested in what is going on at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson go to their website at http://www.leecountyspeedway.com/ and take a listen to their podcast. Promoter Terry Hoenig and announcer Dewain Hulett are calling me tonight for an interview to talk about PositivelyRacing.com, Shiverfest and other items......it is the "other items" that has me a bit worried! :)

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