He was far enough ahead going down the back stretch on the first lap that the engraver could have started to work on the trophy plate. And when he enjoyed a full straightaway lead on lap ten of the thirty-lap distance that engraver would have already had the “R”, the “y”, the “a” and the “n” completed and it would have been pretty safe to start on the last name with a capital “G”. But a pair of drivers had other plans and the final eleven laps of Wednesday night’s USMTS Modified feature at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa will go down as one of the best we’ll probably see this season.
Ryan Gustin has been the man to beat on the series for the past year and a half and that is even more the case when “The Reaper” takes to the “Mahaska County Monster” half-mile, so when he drew the pole position for the main event it was a pretty good assumption that tonight’s race to watch would be for second. At the drop of the green on the 30-lap finale Gustin powered into turn one and as he came out of turn two and aimed the Gressel Racing #19R down the back straightaway he already enjoyed a ten car-length advantage over the talented field of eighteen. On lap ten Gustin had a full straightaway on Zack VanderBeek who was now in second, but over the next several laps that gap slowly shrank. With Gustin running the cushion and “The Z-Man” working down low, VanderBeek had closed it down to two car lengths before the caution waved on lap nineteen for Shane DeMay who had coasted to a halt in turn three.
As the cars were aligned for a double-file restart Gustin’s crew must have signaled to their driver that he was soon to be challenged on the bottom as that is where the leader headed when the green flag waved once again. With Gustin throwing the block on VanderBeek down low, Corey Dripps rode the cushion and passed both drivers to take the lead on lap twenty. From that point on the crowd was on the edge of their seats as Gustin tried to fight back on the bottom pulling even with Dripps in the corners only to have Corey pull back ahead going down the straightaways and all along you had VanderBeek riding right behind Gustin waiting for his opportunity. With three laps remaining Gustin tried a little higher line in his challenge on Dripps and VanderBeek charged past Gustin into second. Dripps was able to fight off the first charge by his new challenger on lap 28, but as the white flag waved VanderBeek pulled even with Dripps entering turn one and he took the lead in turn two. Dripps hit the cushion hard one last time in turn three and he had a great run out of turn four pulling back to within one car-length as VanderBeek scored a thriller on his home track. Gustin was not far back at the checkers in third, Colt Mather finished in the fourth spot and Kelly Shryock took fifth.
The USRA Iron Man Series for the Stock Cars and B-Mods pulled in a variety of drivers in each division, but it was two track regulars who ended up in victory lane. The Stock Cars went five-wide down the back stretch on lap one racing for the third spot as Jason Minnehan established the early pace. Justin Temeyer was part of that early shuffle and he moved from sixth to the lead on lap four, but when the steam started coming from under the hood he pulled his #56 to the infield two laps later. Mike VanGenderen who had started seventh was now in line to inherit the lead and he was solid the rest of the way to earn his second victory here in the past nine days. Minnehan was second followed by last Tuesday night’s Shootout winner Kevin Donlan in third. The next few spots were a scramble as contact on the front stretch racing for the checkers sent Matt Greiner hard into the guard rail cutting down his right rear and he dropped back to seventh behind Jeff Joldersma, Nathan Wood and Tom Schmitt. Wood had raced his way back to the front after contact with a track tire required his front end sheet metal to be removed in the work area. Schmitt raced his way up from a tenth row start.
In the B-Mod feature young Ben Kates from the Kansas City area would lead lap one, then the “Kool-Aid Kid” Andrew Schroeder would take the point on lap two only to have Cayden Carter go sweeping past him a lap later. Carter has been phenomenal this year and his drive from a fourth row start to the front in three laps is now almost expected and he went the rest of the distance unchallenged to take his 20th win overall in 2011. His cousin Carter VanDenBerg chased him in for second, Schroeder would take home the third-place check, the father of the runner-up John VanDenBerg would finish fourth and Curtis VanderWal was fifth. Despite his dominance Cayden is still chasing Jesse Sobbing who is also putting up huge numbers this year in the current All Iowa Points standings for Limited Modifieds.
Only nine Hobby Stocks started the feature race and five of them were side-by-side racing for second in turn one of the opening lap. Dustin Griffiths went from the outside of row three to the front on that first lap and he was never headed over the 7.5 mile distance taking another Southern Iowa Speedway victory. Donovan Nunnikhoven was the runner-up followed by Todd Reitzler, Steve Allen and Kris Walker.
Announcers Tony Paris and Lon Oelke kept the evening lively with their banter and as always did a great job of keeping all of the fans informed of who was driving each car, where they were from, qualifying procedures, etc. All of us at PositivelyRacing.com appreciated the mention they made of our work as well. Thanks guys!
The USMTS and USRA Iron Man action moves to Bloomfield tonight for the Davis County Fair and I hope to see you there!
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