Thursday night reminded me of how much I love living in small town Iowa.
As we approached the Davis County Fairgrounds in Bloomfield it was obvious that this was the place to be tonight. The midway was active, there was a smell of corn dogs and funnel cakes in the air, and parking was at a premium as we were forced to find a spot about a half-mile down the road. During the walk back to the track we could hear the first set of hot laps take the green at the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway and that prompted many of the fair goers to head to the ticket booth so that they too could take in tonight's grandstand entertainment, a full six division program of racing featuring a total of 104 cars!
While waiting in line for tickets I noted that the seats in the nearby shelter house were full with people ready for the bingo games to start. To my right I could see children of all ages enjoying the carnival rides and games, and there was a long line formed up at the Cattlemen's building waiting to enjoy a juicy ribeye sandwich. I have been to some county fairs around the area the past few years that almost seemed like ghost towns, but that was far from the case tonight. On this night the Davis County Fair was the place to be, and deep down that made me proud to be an Iowan.
The auto races drew a large crowd as well and they were treated to a great night of action on a perfectly prepared racing surface. Kudos to Ron Potts and his crew for doing such a great job on a night that is so important when it comes to capturing the "general fans", those who might otherwise only come out to the Speedway during the fair. I am going to bet that many of those people will be back to buy a ticket again later this season as well.
The Hobby Stock feature was up first tonight and this division boasted the top car count of the night with twenty-four. Derek Kirkland has won four main events at Bloomfield this year and he jumped to the lead from the pole position. He soon had company though with Don Nunnikhoven and Nathan Wood working their way to the front from the sixth and tenth starting spots respectively. The trio went three-wide down the backstretch on lap seven and Kirkland maintained his lead before the caution waved for Louis Lynch who had spun in turn three. On the restart Jason McDaniel made it a four-car battle for the point as Wood took the lead on lap eight. Kirkland's night ended a lap later when his motor sputtered and he retired to the infield, so that left us with only three cars running two and three wide for the win. This battle kept us on the edge of our seat for the final five laps as Wood fought off McDaniel by a car length to snare the victory with Nunnikhoven right there as well in third. T.J. Henderson, who owns the Hobby Stock that Wood drives, finished in the fourth spot while Craig Brown completed the top five. Lynch made an impressive run back through the field after his spin to finish in the sixth position.
A solid field of thirteen 305 c.i. Sprints took the green next for their main event with 63-year-old Bob Lamb pacing the field for lap number one. Kevin Hetrick slipped by Lamb on the second circuit and then held off Jayson Ditsworth over the remaining laps to have the 34 Raceway regulars finish one-two. Young Tasker Phillips came from row four to pick up the third spot with current Mid-America 305 Sprint point leader Dustin Clark taking fourth ahead of former All Iowa Points champion Matt Stephenson. One bit of info that I picked up tonight is that the young driver who started from the pole position, Brandyn Martin, is the grandson of longtime Sprint car competitor Galen Martin from Fairfield.
Seventeen A Mods checked in tonight, but we lost a couple to mechanical gremlins during hot laps. Mount Ayr's Dennis Elliott looked strong leading the first eight laps of the main event before Colt Mather made his move to become the new leader. A caution on lap eleven bunched the field and even though the now second-place driver Zack VanderBeek selected the inside position for the Delaware-style restart, he rocketed to the cushion in turn one and hooked it just right to fly past Mather in turn two. There was no catching the "Z-Man" over the final laps as he sped to victory with Mather and local favorite Jim Lynch next in line. Mark VanWinkle made the trip up from Hannibal Missouri to claim the fourth spot with Scott Dickey close behind him.
B-Mods were up next and Jason McDaniel made sure that he didn't come home the bridesmaid in this one as he passed Mike Shelton on lap six on his way to victory. McDaniel is quickly becoming one of the top drivers in the area in this division as tonight he started from eighth and methodically made his way through the field. Andrew Schroeder finished second with Shelton coming in for third. Mike Wanders and Bill Gibson rounded out the top five.
Sixteen four-cylinder "Mini Stocks" buzzed the crowd next with David Probasco setting the early pace before his right front tire blew out on him. Macon Missouri driver Andrew Hurley picked up the point from there and the driver who regularly competes at 24 Raceway in Moberly dominated for the win. A driver that you just might see anywhere in the state that is running the four cylinders, Bill Whalen Jr. took home the second spot while Mike Fisher, who has been dominant at Bloomfield this season settled for third. Jim Garrett and Larry Hopkins were next in line.
The Stock Cars were set to close out the night and while there were a couple of lengthy delays, one for a big wreck in turn one on a restart and another for a driver who got out of his car for a bit while it was still parked on the backstretch (thank goodness my view of this was blocked by the judges stand, otherwise I might have a more colorful description of this delay), the fans who stuck around were treated to a fantastic finish. Starting from the pole position the chances were pretty good that Nathan Wood would pick up his second win of the night even though he had Ben Jones starting right beside him. Jones, from Williamsburg, was making his first appearance of the season and has always been tough to beat at Bloomfield in first the Hobby Stocks and more recently the Stock Cars. The two raced side-by-side the first lap before a hard charging Mike VanGenderen who started sixth moved past Jones for second on lap number two. Wood and VenGenderen were putting on quite a show with both of them running up high and as the laps ticked away it became obvious that the low groove was coming around as both Kyle Harwood and Jason Cook were closing fast. With two laps to go you could have thrown a blanket over these four as they raced through turns three and four and they entered turn one running four different lines (remember when I said that Potts and his crew had prepped the track perfectly?). Cook, who had started from row five, edged ahead down the backstretch and held the lead by a nose as the leaders took the white flag. Harwood tried to stick a nose underneath the new leader in turn one, Wood was still digging on the cushion and VanGenderen was looking for racing room on the final trip around the 3/8th-mile oval, but there was no stopping "Big Daddy" as Jason Cook earned the victory in his first appearance for 2009 at Bloomfield. Wood would be the runner-up with Harwood edging out VanGenderen for third. Abe Huls, who raced near the front early, completed the top five in a race that sent the large crowd home in style.
One of the twenty-two Stock Cars on hand tonight was Adam Soltis from Ladysmith, Wisconsin. His car #9 is actually a WISSOTA Street Stock, a division that rules would put him at a bit of a disadvantage to the Stock Cars, but he raced hard all night and ended up mid-pack at the finish. A little research when I got home showed that Adam is currently ranked seventh in the Street Stock point standings at Eagle Valley Raceway in Jim Falls, Wisconsin, a track that races on Sunday nights and he was a feature winner last September at the new track in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. I wanted to go to the pits afterwards to find out what the heck he was doing in Bloomfield, Iowa, on a Thursday night, but I decided to head for home making the bold assumption that he too just wanted to experience what everybody in this country should at least once in their life; a hustling, bustling evening at a County Fair in Iowa!
A big thanks to the voice of the speedway Tony Paris for the plug and I enjoyed my brief visit with "the traveling flagman" Jeff Kropf. If you are in the Oskaloosa area on a Tuesday night make sure to tune in to their weekly radio show on 104.9 KBOE.
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