They had to fight the weather every step of the way but with the long-term legwork of Kenny Dobson and partners Joey Moughan and Jeremy Standridge, and the short-term persistence of Jeff and Amy Laue and their crew, the inaugural event for the Monster Energy Drink Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) 410 Sprint series at 34 Raceway was a big success Saturday night. The pre-race promotion and recruitment of the drivers by the series resulted in a potential entrants list that had everyone excited and it was likely due to that pre-race anticipation that the folks at 34 Raceway decided to put in the yeoman effort to fight off another full week of rain just to get the facility ready to race. And, after all that work, with a full pit area and a darn near full grandstand, they sure weren’t going to let a series of random sprinkles during the actual races wash away their efforts.
MOWA had estimated around thirty-five entrants for the event, but with a few surprises such as Danny Lasoski, Kerry Madsen and Craig Dollansky following an early morning rainout of the World of Outlaws in Oklahoma, the count ended up at thirty-nine. And with this also being the opening night for track points in the Late Model and Stock Car division, there were twenty-six cars in each partially due to the fact Boone was the only other track in the region able to race tonight.
Lasoski drew the outside pole for the MOWA thirty-lap main event and darted to the early lead. Dollansky moved quickly from sixth up to second and when the leader started to deal with lapped traffic on lap four the gap closed quickly. Third-starting Kerry Madsen was also on the charge and when Dollansky was held up by a slower car on the low side of turn four on lap six Madsen made his move to the outside. Dollansky moved up the track on the front stretch and the space between the car he was passing and the wall closed quickly for Madsen. The two contenders made contact breaking the front end on Dollansky’s #7 and causing Madsen’s #92 to smack the wall with his right rear tire. As Dollansky helplessly turned down the track Robbie Standridge had nowhere to go and tipped his car over bringing out the red. The Big Game Treestands crew tried to make repairs to the #7 car during the break, but they were not able to restart.
Once back to green, Lasoski again opened up a large lead only to have Madsen reel him in quickly and pass him on lap eleven. The time at the front for Madsen was short though as a lap later his right rear tire went flat, likely from damage during his earlier incident with Dollansky. With his two primary challengers now on the shelf it looked as though Lasoski would have an easy drive for the win. Joey Moughan and Kaley Gharst had a different plan though. Moughan had held off Lasoski earlier in a heat race and he was closing in on Lasoski as the laps wound down and just behind him you had Gharst who had started from row nine after winning the second B-Main. When Moughan nearly drove off the top side of turn two with five laps to go, Gharst drove under him for second and he now had to make up a full straightaway to catch “The Dude”.
Much of the crowd were on their feet and waving their arms trying to give the chaser any help that they could and when the white flag flew Kaley was within striking distance. He drove hard to the inside of turn one pulling almost even with the rim-riding Lasoski, but when he could not hold his line and drifted up the track in turn two the wily veteran pulled away down the backstretch and negotiated turns three and four flawlessly to claim the $2,500 victory. Lasoski was the winner, but Gharst was the “hero” on this night coming from eighteenth to second. Moughan was impressive in the third spot, Brandon Wimmer finished fourth and Jerrod Hull completed the top five.
This was an impressive debut for the MOWA organization as not only did they prove that they could get drivers (Hurley, Faucon, Bruns, Charron, Vandervere, etc.) who in the past never would have even thought of pulling over to Burlington for a 410 show, but they showed that they have the respect of the Knoxville regulars and even the Outlaws to compete with them when they are given the opportunity. The next event on the MOWA schedule is Friday May 13th at Jacksonville, Illinois, and they return to 34 Raceway on September 24th. You can find both of these events and much more on the Specials calendar at Positively Racing.com.
The IMCA Late Model feature had a bit of drama mid-race involving Rob Toland and Tom Darbyshire. Keith Pratt was the early leader on a track that was lightning fast, but had the drivers looking for a smooth line due to the week-long precipitation. Toland had started sixth and moved into challenge Pratt taking the point on lap eight. Darbyshire was keeping pace with the new leader and on lap fourteen when Toland quickly closed on a slower car entering turn one on the high line he turned hard left looking for the bottom groove. Darbyshire was already there and was not about to lift so the two cars slapped doors hard with Darbyshire holding the advantage off of turn two. Toland was right on his bumper though, literally, and from the contact both cars got sideways down the back stretch. Darbyshire slid to the infield but kept going driving back onto the track in turn three while Toland slid sideways to a halt just before entering turn three bringing out the caution. Rather than starting at the rear Toland headed to the pits while Darbyshire would restart from the front having crossed the line in second on the last fully completed lap. Denny Woodworth kept the pressure on over the final laps, but would have to settle for second as Darbyshire held on for the victory. Tom Goble moved from a fifth row start to finish third, Jason Frankel came from the seventh row to take fourth and Jason Perry rounded out the top five.
The IMCA Stock Car feature was the first of the night and the large field ran a clean and entertaining twenty laps that saw just one caution period. Jeff Mueller passed John Oliver Jr. on lap seven and drove on to the win with Oliver taking second. Corey Strothman came from ninth to finish third, Matt Greiner moved from row eight up to fourth and Derek St. Clair was fifth after starting in the seventh row. Two drivers saw top-five runs come to an end late as Abe Huls dropped out while running fourth with four laps remaining and Brett Timmerman went by the wayside while third with just two laps to go.
A big thumbs up to everybody at 34 Raceway for putting in the extra effort to make this show even happen as it was exactly what the doctor ordered for a lot of race-starved fans and drivers. Despite at least three rain delays the final checkered flag still waved at 11:35 p.m. My night started off on a yummy note on the way to the track as I stopped in for a double cheeseburger and fries at the Finish Line restaurant in New London. You can find their ad on the homepage of Positively Racing so stop in sometime whether you are on your way to race or just traveling through southeast Iowa.
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