The United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) rolled into the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night and at the end of the night they sent a large crowd home buzzing about a tremendous thirty-lap feature race. Five different drivers held the lead at some point during the event and for a five-lap span late in the race there were four challengers within two car-lengths of each other racing for the lead. In the end it was Al Hejna who picked up his second straight series victory following up to his flag-to-flag win the night before in Cresco.
Sixteen-year-old Kansas driver Chase Junghans jumped from the pole and settled into the lead for the first three laps before a caution involving Michael Long and Steve Blattler in turn three. On the restart, series and track regular Zack VanderBeek used the bottom line to swipe the lead away from Junghans while many-time USMTS champion Kelly Shryock picked up the chase in second. Working a higher line around the sweeping half-mile oval Shryock was able to move past VanderBeek on lap six, but only by the slightest of margins as VanderBeek would pull alongside the leader regularly while continuing to work the low groove. The winner from Monday’s show in Fort Dodge, Ryan Gustin was closing quickly on the lead pair and with Gustin running the very top of the racetrack we now had a three-way battle for the lead. You could hear the large crowd cheering over the roar of the motors as Gustin pulled even with Shryock at the line on lap seventeen and when Al Hejna moved in to make it a four-car battle the atmosphere was electric.
Gustin finally cleared Shryock for the lead on lap nineteen and began to put some distance on the battle for second, that is until Hejna cleared that pack and picked up the chase. As the laps wound down it was clear that Hejna was closing in on Gustin and with just five laps remaining Hejna had closed to within a car-length of the youngster from Marshalltown. The two-car showdown was halted a lap later when the caution waved for Brad Pinkerton who had stopped in turn three, so now instead of just two cars squaring off for the win over the final four laps, we now had the entire field bunched back up for a restart. Hejna drove past Gustin in turn one to take the lead, but Ryan fought back in turn four and looked as though he might have a run on the new leader coming off turn two only to have the caution fly once again for Jake Neal.
With just three laps remaining the field thundered to the green once again and the big move was made by Tommy Myer going from fifth to second in turns one and two. As Hejna put some room between he and Myer, Gustin faded and fell out of the top five eventually finishing seventh. For Hejna it was his second win in as many nights while Myer would have to settle for second after starting fifteenth. Shryock would nail down the third spot with VanderBeek fourth and track regular Colt Mather completed an impressive drive in fifth.
Racing in the other three divisions set the stage nicely for the USMTS thriller. The B-Mods were up first with young Carter VanDenBerg pacing the field for the first six laps before Andrew Schroeder took over the point. Point leader Tyler Groendendyk then made it a three-wide race for the lead moving to the front on lap nine, but he slowed while heading down the back stretch two laps later bringing out the caution. For much of the race it looked like Bryon Weyer had the fastest car especially coming off the topside of four, but every time that it looked like he had a shot at leading something would happen to halt his run. On the lap eleven restart that “something” was VanDenBerg as he got the jump and moved up to Weyer’s line over the final four laps to finish second behind the winner Andrew Schroeder. Mike Shelton slipped by Weyer to finish in the third spot while Cayden Carter completed the top five.
Shane Weller started on the outside of row one and dominated the Stock Car main event going wire-to-wire for the victory. Brian Mitrisin was doing his best to hold off the challenges of Mike VanGenderen for second until his tire blew on lap twelve sending him pitside. Mike Greiner was able to slip past VenGenderen in the final three laps to take a distant second to Weller while Nathan Wood and Chase Mitrisin were fourth and fifth at the finish.
It was all Danny Thrasher in the Hobby Stock headliner as he took off from the pole and then kept Dustin Griffith at a consistent distance throughout the fifteen-lap run. In victory lane Thrasher credited one of his sponsors Scharky Frame for making some recent adjustments to his car and turning it into a rocket as he also won last Friday night in Bloomfield. Nathan Wood came from twelfth to finish third with Kris Walker fourth and Missouri driver Andrew Hustead in fifth.
Osky Notes…..It was NASCAR night at the speedway with Kenny Wallace competing with the Modifieds (he finished 16th) and Michael Waltrip on hand visiting with the fans. I got a kick out of watching Waltrip wave the green flag to start the Modified feature as his grin was ear-to-ear when he handed it back over to starter Ryne Staley…..Ryan Cook was back from his time in Iraq with the military and ran his #27R Stock Car…..Travelers in the support divisions included Kurt Krauskopf down from Decorah with his Stock Car and Austin Wolfgram from Webster City with the #24 Hobby Stock……While the first three heat race winners Gustin, Shryock and Mather, started from the front row, Brad Diercks showed that it could be done from the back as well coming from row four to win the fourth and final heat race in the Modifieds…..Adam Bell edged out series regular Grant Junghans by inches for the final transfer in the first Modified B-Main and that had to sting as Junghans missed out on a provisional as well. Corey Dripps, who lost a left rear wheel in his heat, and Derek Ramirez earned those USMTS provisional starts while track provisionals went to Brandon Banks and John Fellman…..I have to say “hi” and “thanks” to Michelle at the pit gate as she always greets me with a smile when I come to the Southern Iowa Speedway…..I think I heard Tony Paris mention that Todd Staley will promote a two-day show in Memphis MO on October 16th and 17th, so stay tuned for more details…..No weekly Wednesday night racing at Osky next week, but the place will be busy on Monday night with the Front Row Challenge featuring the All-Star Sprints and on Tuesday night with the non-winged USAC Sprints running The Ultimate Challenge. Hope to see you there!
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