Chad Simpson Dominates Corn Belt Clash At CJ

A large crowd turned out on a beautiful Thursday evening in Columbus Junction to witness another dominating performance by Chad Simpson on the Dart Corn Belt Clash Late Model series. Nathan Wood, Paul Hallett and Wayne Noble also visited victory lane during the night’s main attraction at the annual Louisa County Fair.

There was a collective groan that you could hear from the Late Model fans who were sprinkled among the many fairgoers as series announcer Ryan Clark introduced the front row of Justin Mitchell and Chad Simpson for the thirty-lap Late Model feature. After all, Simpson had already won seven of the ten CBC races so far this season and he proved he was fast again tonight by coming from sixth to pass Ron Boyse on the final lap to win his heat race. Sure it would be a lot more fun if he started further back, but the luck of the draw is just that. And besides, the result might likely be the same anyway!

Simpson already had a ten car-length lead as he rocketed off of turn two on the opening lap only to have the caution wave soon for Boyse who had broken something in the front end of his #74. The caution waved again on lap four when Denny Eckrich spun off turn four, but once back to green the car to watch was the 21H of Brian Harris. Harris, sporting the spec engine rules configuration with extra sideboards and no roof, had started ninth and was now driving by people in the corners like they were standing still. Harris moved into second on lap number six and he then went to work on cutting in to the straightaway lead that Simpson was enjoying. The gap between the two was shrinking lap-by-lap until it was down to two car-lengths, but all of a sudden Harris slowed in turn two on lap fourteen and the caution waved.

With Harris gone the crowd now wondered if anybody could even keep pace with the leader and the two drivers starting side-by-side behind him, Jason Rauen and Justin Kay were going to give it their best shot. As the field throttled up off turn four though Rauen spun his car all the way around and was hit in the rear by Mick Wiele. It was a tough way to end the night for Wiele as he was very impressive in winning his heat race in front of his hometown fans. Rauen was sent to the rear and later retired with a flat tire. When back to action it was Justin Kay who picked up the chase on Simpson and for a few laps it looked as though he might be able to keep the leader within striking distance. But Simpson would have none of that as he again pulled away and cruised to his eighth victory in eleven starts on the Clash schedule. Kay, who came into the night ninth in the point standings, was impressive finishing second, hometown hero Jason Utter was third, Chris Simpson picked up fourth-place money and Dave Eckrich finished fifth.

Three of CJ Speedway’s weekly Friday night divisions set the stage for the Late Models. The IMCA Stock Cars started out the night by putting on two exciting heat races that saw plenty of two and even three-wide action and they did the same thing later in the evening. Unfortunately though, that action was interrupted often during their main event as drivers spun and sat waiting for a yellow, and there was even an intentional “take out” or two resulting in a race that seemed to take forever to complete. When the green flag was out, the battle up front was a good one as Nathan Wood moved quickly from row four to take the lead from Jim Redmann after a lap two restart, but then had to hold off continued challenges from Redmann the rest of the way to take the win. Wood is having a productive 2010 season as he guns for the IMCA Stock Car National Rookie-of-the-Year title and he currently ranks second in the All Iowa Points. Redmann settled for second and was quick to congratulate Wood on his win, Dave Hemsted took the third spot, Blaine Dopler was fourth and Kirk Kinsley rounded out the top five.

The Four Cylinders ran their main event caution free and it was a good one with Bill Whalen Jr. holding the early lead. Nathan Chandler move past him on lap five, but Whalen fought back and he was joined by Wayne Noble to go three-wide for the lead the following lap out of turn four. Noble emerged from the middle of that formation to takeover the lead and he held off Whalen the remaining distance to take the win. In victory lane Noble told track announcer Gene Arnold that he had just told his grandchildren that it was about fifty-one years ago this week that he won his first-ever feature event. Hopefully the personable veteran will be winning for several years to come! Whalen was the runner-up, Brad Chandler moved up to third after his brother Nathan climbed the front stretch wall with two laps to go, but he still held on for fourth and Ricky Kay completed the top five.

Twenty Mod Lites buzzed to action for their main event with Paul Hallett moving quickly to the lead. Joel Huggins was running second and Troy Philpott was challenging him when Philpott spun in turn three. Justin Bucholz, who won one of the three heat races, had no place to go and collided with Philpott sending the Bucholz #69 ride over onto its roof. Both drivers emerged unscathed, but both of these top contenders were now through for the evening. Once back to action there was nobody that could challenge Hallett as he cruised to his third straight feature win at CJ. Mike Morrill passed Huggins late for second, Mike Kennedy was fourth and Late Model driver Kurt Kile improved steadily throughout the evening in this division coming home fifth.

CJ Notes…..Andy Eckrich had a tough night as he appeared to have problems with the driveline while crossing the finish line in his heat race. After making repairs Eckrich started the feature but did not last long before dropping out…..Jake Meier rolled the #5M car that was owned at one time by Bill Moyer out his trailer tonight. This ride saw several drivers behind the wheel in the past including Todd Shute and Mike Marlar. Meier, who normally campaigns a #20 car, was never a factor on the night….The next event for the Corn Belt Clash will be on August 13th at Chateau Raceway in Lansing, Minnesota…..I enjoyed talking with Elmer Arnold and Sam Simpson in the pit area before the night’s action. Elmer has a Modified in his garage that he is looking forward to putting back into action soon and Simpson, who we nicknamed “Sam The Sewer Man” when he was racing Hobby Stocks at 34 Raceway in the 80’s now lives in Tennessee, but came back to help out at the Fair and catch some racing. He told me that his new “home track” is Duck River Speedway, the same place that we kicked off our season at this year. I also had a chance for a quick “hi” to former drivers Steve Watts, Dan Thomas and Mark Kemper…..Look for another write up on the night’s events soon from Danny Rosencrans in Racin’ Down The Road…..The track is selling t-shirts this season with all proceeds going to the drivers’ point fund and the shirts have a catchy motto for a track that has a levee for a back stretch “wall”. CJ Speedway, Flooded With Excitement!…..A big thanks to the promotional team of Don and Sharon Wood, and Brian and Amanda Tipps for their hospitality. I always enjoy returning to one of the facilities where I was introduced to the sport some forty years ago!

One event that we do not have on our Specials schedule at PR.com is this Sunday’s POWRi Midget show at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Missouri. If you are thinking about attending click here to see my report on last year’s event.

This is a bit of a milestone as it it blog post #200 for the Back Stretch. How many have you read?

Have a great racing weekend, be Positive and Support the Sport!