Michael Long was in a class of his own Tuesday night as the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds visited the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Long established his dominance early by walking away from the field to win the first heat race by a full straightaway over Darin Duffy and, when he drew the number four starting spot for the twenty-five-lap main event, the smart money was all placed upon the Quincy, Illinois, driver.
Mike VanGenderen and Greg Cox were the front row starters, but they were no match for Long and current Tour point leader Richie Gustin who moved past them to run one-two on the opening lap. The first caution waved following the completion of the second lap when Fort Morgan, Colorado, driver Jeremy Fernier clipped the guardrail in turn two. The Delaware double-file restart produced two more cautions before the race could resume and on lap five the yellow flew again as Wade Francis stopped on the back stretch. Three laps later Jacob Murray stopped in turn four and on lap nine the sixth caution of the race waved due to debris on the track.
I had arranged to have a kid go up and steal the yellow one from Ryan Bergeson’s set by that point, but such a drastic move was not required as the race went back to green and stayed that way the rest of the distance. Luke Wanninger made a bid for the lead on the restart, but Long shook him off and then drove away to nearly a half of a lap advantage in what was nothing short of a good ol’ fashioned butt whipping. Wanninger would finish in the second spot ahead of Gustin in third, Jay Noteboom drove Joel Bushore’s #87 to fourth after starting 15th and VanGenderen rounded out the top five.
Wanninger was driving the 604 Crate engine that IMCA is experimenting with under live conditions. His #20 car included a 5-inch rear spoiler and had to meet a minimum weight of 2,350 pounds. Brett Root of IMCA told the drivers before the event that Wanninger would be competing as if he were any other entry, but that if he finished near the top the Tour Points would be adjusted and that IMCA would take care of the difference in purse. The sanctioning body is trying to determine the best rules package that would put the crate on an even playing field with others in an effort to reduce the cost to compete in the division going forward. When asked what this motor would sell for, Root responded with $5,300.
Mike VanGenderen did it all tonight. As I arrived he was putting one more load of water on the track. As the regular promoter here at Osky he then conducted the drivers meeting and directed the rest of the program for the four weekly divisions in action. And, as a regular competitor on the Hawkeye Dirt Tour, he raced his own #57V to a fourth-place finish in his heat and a fifth-place run in the feature. Then after all of that he went right back to work to prepare the track for another night of action tonight (Wednesday) where he will go back to “just” being the hard working first-year promoter here.
Along with the Colorado driver Fernier, North Carolina’s Kyle Strickler was in action and was on the fly in his heat race before the motor appeared to let go a lap after he took the lead. The crew had time to make changes and Strickler was able to run the feature event where he made his way up to tenth at the finish. Two large enclosed haulers who I was not able to identify parked out beyond the back stretch apparently content to just be spectators tonight.
The Sport Mod feature was the first of the five main events to be run with 14-year-old Sam Wieben pacing the first lap before yielding to Curtis VanDerWal. Even though he has led the points for much of the season here, VanDerWal had not yet won a feature and he obviously wanted to change that opening up a sizeable advantage over the rest of the field. As the leader passed by the flagstand on lap six, the stud broke and sent his air cleaner sailing through the air. As the caution flew for the debris another car also lost a wheel in turn four and VanderWal now had a decision to make. Continue on and risk damage to the motor by sucking dirt down into it, or pull off and call it a night? He chose to continue and on the restart VanDerWal fought off a charge from Jesse Sobbing and then pulled away to the victory. Sobbing would chase him home for second, although he would have been done if the race was one lap longer as his right rear tire blew while taking the checkers. Brett Lowry took third, Wieben was fourth and Carter VanDenBerg came from the seventh row to finish fifth.
Dustin Griffiths charged from his third starting spot to the lead on the opening lap and then went unchallenged in a Hobby Stock feature that ran flag-to-flag. Mike Hughes started eighth and finished second, pole-starter Craig Brown was third, outside front row starter Bobby Greene was fourth and Nick Ulin completed the top five.
One week ago on Tuesday I watched Zack Vanderbeek win the Open Modified feature in West Liberty. On this night Vanderbeek wheeled Roger Kelderman’s Stock Car to a wire-to-wire win after starting from the pole position. Damon Murty was impressive coming to the second spot from tenth, but by the time he got there Vanderbeek was in a different zip code. Corey Stout took third ahead of Jay Schmidt and Alex Buffington.
Whalen Racing and Autocrafters are the sponsors of the Sport Compact division here at the speedway and their drivers make up the bulk of the field each week. Tonight the Chandlers and Whalens swept the top five as Dallas Chandler took the win ahead of Bill Whalen Jr., Tyler Whalen, Merv Chandler and John Whalen.
Racing action continues tonight during the Southern Iowa Fair in Oskaloosa with Modifieds racing for $1,000-to-win and there will be extra money on the line as well for the Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. Hope to see you there!
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