I didn't realize last year when I went to the second night of the Fall Nationals at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, that it would be my final race of the 2010 season as rainy weather the following week wiped out Shiverfest. Last night, as I made the relatively short trip to the south and west, I did know that it would be my final racing adventure for 2011 and that made a quality night of action even sweeter under perfect October weather conditions.
As track announcer Andy Middleton said at one point during the evening, this season has been a weird one in Memphis as the weekly Saturday night program, like so many other tracks in this region, fought Mother Nature to even get a show in the books during the spring and by late summer the racing faded away as track promoter Rick Girard and the fairboard here went different ways. The annual Fall Nationals looked like they would not happen this year until Keokuk IMCA Modified driver Brandon Savage decided to take on the role of promoter for the first time and, with the support of the local Pepsi bottling company and many other fine sponsors, the show went on.
Friday night's action would set the first three rows in each feature event while heat races, plus a B-Main in the Stock Cars, would set the field for each of five divisions for the Pepsi Doc360 Fall Nationals at the Scotland County Speedway.
SportMods would be first up with twenty-five cars taking the track for an 18-lap distance. Outside front row starter Scott VanBuskirk would take the lead at the drop of the green with Friday's winner Chris Larson in hot pursuit. Jim Gillenwater moved up quickly from his fourth row start to make it a three-car race for the point before the red flag waved on the fourth circuit. Tommy Lathrop and Rick Paulson had tangled on the back stretch with Paulson reportedly rolling his car three times before coming to rest on his top. The large crowd on hand waited in silence until the report came from Middleton a few moments later that the driver had emerged from the wreckage without injury.
On the restart Gillenwater got sideways in turn one and ended up driving through the infield to recover, but he had dropped to the back of the field before returning to the track on the back straightaway. Local favorite Brandon Dale slipped by Larson into second and started to give VanBuskirk some heat for the lead before the caution waved again at the mid-race point for a spinout in turn four. On this double-file restart Gillenwater had a much better outcome as he passed several cars and quickly found himself in the top six and looking for more. Dale kept the pressure on the leader the remainder of the race, but could not make the pass as Scott VanBuskirk picked up the first trophy of the night. Dale got a nice round of applause for his runner-up finish with Larson taking third. Gillenwater had actually passed Larson for that position late in the race, but when he got a bit loose in turn three with two laps remaining he faded to fifth behind Curtis VanDerWal.
The Four Cylinders were up next for 12-laps with Friday's feature winner Nick Wilkerson grabbing the lead at the drop of the green. With Wilkerson building an advantage the race for second was a good one between a pack of five cars before the caution waved for a car that had broken down in turn two on lap six. On the restart Michael Grossman went to work on Wilkerson pulling alongside the leader on two occasions while the third-place car of Adam Gates searched for racing room. What looked like would be a thrilling three-car battle to the checkers came to a spectacular end though as, while racing down the front stretch to the white flag, Gates" #007 car burst into flames at full speed giving all of us in the grandstand a bit of warmth before the fire blew out as he coasted into the infield. Following a lengthy cleanup of the fluids on the track Grossman made one last run at Wilkerson, but he couldn't make it stick and Nick settled into victory lane for the second night in a row. Craig Bangert was third behind Grossman while Kimberly Abbott and William Michel rounded out the top five.
With the first two features each only having two interruptions I was excited to see if the Stock Car division, that at least in my experience has the knack for being the "cleanest" division around, could go twenty laps non-stop around this perfectly prepared (great job guys!) race track. The opening lap saw the twenty-four-car field go five-wide through turns one and two with Todd Reitzler coming from his third starting spot to take the lead by a nose at the stripe, but the first caution waved just after the rest of the field cleared the scoring tower as Derek Kirkland spun in turn one. A six-car pile up in turn four was the result of the first restart and on the second try to get back to action Lonnie Greiner and Kirkland spun in turn one. The third restart did give us a couple of racing laps before Aaron Brocksieck stopped on the front stretch in turn four with a flat tire and once back to green, the battle up front was good before the fourth-place car of Abe Huls spun on lap seven. Come on Stock Cars, don't let me down like this!!
The caution for Huls would be the final one of the event and thank goodness for that as the race for the lead in this one will go down in memory as one of the best that I have seen. Todd Reitzler and Matt Greiner were never separated by more than a car-length over the final thirteen laps as they jockeyed back in forth for position. And this wasn't a case where one guy was running the cushion and the other was working way down low so there was always a lot of room between them. No, they were both working the lower line of the speedway and even though they were often looking for the same piece of real estate, I don't recall them ever even making contact once! Unofficially I had Greiner leading by the flagstand on laps twelve and thirteen with Reitzler back out front on lap fourteen. Greiner had the edge again the following two laps before Reitzler nosed ahead on lap seventeen. It was a virtual dead heat with two laps remaining while Greiner had the edge at the white flag and as they raced side-by-side into turn three for one last time, Greiner found the bite that he needed to win it by a car-length over Reitzler. In this day and age where it seems like some will do whatever it takes in order to get that win, both drivers should get a big pat on the back for racing hard and clean all the way to the checkers. Terry Houston had to be entertained with the show as well as he was close enough to pounce on a mistake in third while Beau Taylor and Mike Harward completed the top five. Harward had started the race from outside of row ten.
That was an impossible act to follow, but the Hobby Stocks put on a nice show as well after getting past a couple of early cautions. Clayton Crump had the early lead before third-starting Bobby Anders made the move on lap seven to take the lead and the eventual victory. Crump would hold on for the second spot ahead of Friday's winner Brandon Symmonds. Andrew Hustead took fourth and Council Bluffs traveler David Orr finished fifth.
A solid field of Modifieds would close out the evening with a 25-lap finale and it was pole-sitter J.D. Auringer who took the lead at the drop of the green. Steven DeLonjay was the primary challenger while many in the crowd watched the progress of Michael Long who had started ninth. Running way up high in turn one and then shooting low off turn two, Long moved steadily toward the front passing DeLonjay for second on lap nine, but Steven fought back regaining the position on lap thirteen. A caution for Robert Thompson with nine laps remaining slowed the field and during that break DeLonjay pulled to the infield with an apparent flat tire. Once back to green Auringer surprised the crowd a bit by pulling away from Long, but the many-time feature winner here searched for the best line around the speedway and reeled in the leader as the laps wound down. With a lap and a half to go Long had a big run going down the back stretch and drove hard into turn three, but Auringer's car was in the same groove and the two collided with Long's right front tire going up and over Auringer's left rear. The two cars were stuck together briefly before Long broke loose and spun to the infield. Despite the damage Auringer was able to race on and with Long now out of it the question was whether or not Auringer's left rear tire would hold up for the final circuit. It did and the checkered flag waved for the final time in 2011 here with J.D. Auringer taking the win ahead of Bruce Hanford, David Wietholder, Steve Stewart and Jeff Waterman.
Congratulations and a big thanks to Brandon Savage for stepping up and putting on a great show here this weekend. A successful Fall Nationals last year lead to Girard signing on as the weekly promoter in 2011. Will we see the same situation with Savage for 2012? That remains to be seen. If not, I have a suggestion for Memphis and a couple of other area tracks that I will share in a blog entry here soon.
My 2011 season is over, but there is still some racing to be found here in the upper Midwest so hopefully you can get out and enjoy some more late season action.
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