VanderBeek Doubles Up at Osky Opener

I wish I would have started counting a couple of years ago just how many times that Zack VanderBeek wins both the Stock Car and the Modified features on the same night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. I'm pretty sure that I have been there to witness it at least three times now and I only make it up to Osky four a five times a season. Apparently Zack has accomplished this feat enough now that it doesn't even really get much of a response like I'm sure that it did the first time that it happened. On this night it almost seemed like a double feature win was expected.

Delayed one night by rain, the 2009 season opener at the fast half-mile featured a nice field of cars in the four divisions and a solid crowd for a Thursday night. The B-Mod division had the highest car count with nineteen and their feature was up first with Kevin Fee and Jason McDaniel starting on the front row. McDaniel, the 2008 track champion and USRA National Champion in the Hobby Stocks, put his new B-Mod ride out front and looked like he just might run away from the rest of the field. On lap seven though, the race changed quickly as the right front tire went down on McDaniel's ride going into turn one causing him to slide off the track, bounce off the guardrail and sit precariously in the middle of the racing groove. Luckily everybody was able to miss him and on the restart the lead was handed over to Andrew Schroeder. That did not last long though as Schroeder slowed with mechanical problems two laps later giving the lead back to the original pole-sitter Kevin Fee. Josh Modde, who has also jumped from the Hobby Stock ranks into the B-Mods, stayed close but could not mount a challenge and settled for second as Fee closed out the opening night victory. Cayden Carter finished in the third spot, but was later disqualified in the tech area as he did not have a working rev limiter box. This moved Tyler Groenendyk to third and Mike Shelton to fourth in the final rundown.

VanderBeek drew the pole for the Stock Car main and from the drop of the green there was no doubt who was going to win this one. The race for second was intense though as Matt Greiner and Mike VanGenderen swapped the spot back and forth several times over the fifteen-lap distance with VanGenderen taking the runner-up spot at the checkers. Greiner was third with Brian Mitrisin and Nathan Wood next in line.

Rookie driver Dan Dyer paced the first lap of the Hobby Stock main before Dale Porter took control. Two years ago Porter was unstoppable in the area winning sixteen features in the four cylinder division and for the next eight laps it looked like he was ready to start adding Hobby Stock trophies to his mantle, but Bobby Greene had a different plan. Starting from the inside of row four Greene gradually made his way to the front and with four laps remaining he completed the pass for the lead. Porter fought back and was able to stick his nose back under the new leader a lap later, but Greene pulled away over the final three laps for the win. Porter held on for second ahead of a fast closing T.J. Henderson who started the race from row five. Andy Coleman and Kris Walker completed the top five.

The USRA Modifieds closed out the evening with their lightning quick twenty-lap finale. Brad Pinkerton started from the pole and rocketed to the lead only to have second row starter Zack VanderBeek right on his tail. On lap five "the Z-man" slid by Pinkerton on the inside to take the lead and he opened up a straightaway advantage before the caution flag appeared with just four laps remaining. Despite the fact that the field was bunched up two-wide behind him, nobody had anything for VanderBeek as he pulled away for his second feature win of the night. On that late restart drivers raced three-wide into turn one for the second spot as Pinkerton fought back Richie Gustin and Scott Dickey over the final laps to finish second and Missouri's David Holder passed Steve Stewart late to round out the top five.

Osky Notes.....Promoter Todd Staley and his crew are well known for their ability to run off an efficient race program and tonight, along with full cooperation from the sixty-eight drivers on hand, they outdid themselves. Racing started right on time at 7:30, the heat races were completed at 8:10 and, even with about a fifteen minute intermission, the final checkers waved at 9:27. Now if that doesn't bring you back for another weeknight show here, I don't know what will.....Bobby Greene executed a perfect backflip (Carl Edwards style) in victory lane after his Hobby Stock win, but then told track announcer Tony Paris that he was getting too old for that.....Speaking of Mr. Paris, he did a great job as usual entertaining and informing the crowd as you always now who every driver is and what their hometown is when Tony is on the mic. Plus we want to thank him for giving PositivelyRacing.com a nice plug......The pit gate for the speedway has been moved from its traditional position outside of turn two to a new location just outside of turn four and for one driver the change has doubled the distance of his tow for each and every race night. Corey Stout lives right across the street from the race track just outside of turn one, so he now must tow his Stock Car twice as far to get into the pits. Good thing for Corey that the price of gas is traditionally low in Oskaloosa!.....For a rookie Hobby Stock driver I was impressed with Dan Dyer who kept his cool while running at the front of the feature early on. Dyer was racing in the third spot late in the race only to spin out in turn two. He kept the car fired up and recovered to finish in the tenth spot. Look for him to start posting some top five finishes very soon.....Nathan Wood, who was also competing in the Stock Car division tonight, showed up in staging for the first Hobby Stock heat race only to find that it had already completed a lap under green so he was sent back to the pits. This put him in the seventeenth starting position for the Hobby Stock main event and after just three laps he had advanced to the seventh spot. His charge to the front ended there though as he shucked the driveshaft heading into turn one on lap number four......Race night will be on Tuesday night (May 19th) next week at Oskaloosa as the USMTS Modifieds, including NASCAR drivers Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace, will be in action along with the Stock Cars, B-Mods and Hobby Stocks.