The Sport Compacts were the first of six features on the card with Adam Gates driving to a big lead following the drop of the green. A pair of cautions just past the mid-point of this 15-lapper brought the field back to Gates and even though Merv Chandler had moved up from eighth to second he was still no match for Gates. The Cedar Rapids driver won the season finale at Lee County last year during Shiverfest and there was no touching Gates tonight as he cruised to the $400 victory ahead of Chandler, Skip Dunker, John Whalen and Josh Barnes who came from a seventh row starting spot.
The "Outlaw" Hobby Stock main was next with twelve cars making the start for the 16-lap event. Last night's winner Dan Wenig started from the pole, but it was Brandon Symmonds who would move to the lead at the start. Wenig gave chase and even challenged Symmonds on a couple of occasions before he spun in turn two with five laps remaining. On the restart Dan's son Jake Wening was now in a position to challenge after problems in his heat race landed him on row six for the feature. Symmonds maintained his lead with the younger Wenig just behind and on the final lap Jake drove hard into turn three and was able to make it stick to steal the win away from Symmonds at the checkers. Brian Hoener would take the third spot, John Oliver Jr. recovered from an early spin to place fourth while Jeff DeLonjay completed the top five.
The Sport Mod feature was up next and with a hefty $1,200 top prize on the line Cayden Carter took over the #01 normally driven by his younger brother Brayton for the weekend and dominated this 25-lap event. Nobody could keep pace with "The Gasman" as he flew to the win, but the race for second was definitely entertaining with Tony Dunker and Derek St. Clair swapping the position back and forth over the final five laps. St. Clair would prevail for the runner-up money, Dunker finished in the third spot, Eric Flander was fourth and Tom Elsen filled out the top five.
The 9:1 Hobby Stocks were a late addition to the weekend and eleven cars were on hand. The track actually started the season running the IMCA Hobby Stocks only to scrap them after the first week and it was the same driver who won on opening night that closed out the season with a win as well. Dustin Griffiths was never challenged throughout the 16-lap distance as he picked up the $500 victory. Bill Bonnett started seventh and was up to second on the first lap, but that would be where he would stay finishing ahead of Jacob Keiser, Tim Pettibone and Dane Blozovich. It will be interesting to see what new promoter Mike VanGenderen will do with the Hobby Stock division at Lee County in 2013, but if I were a betting man I would say that the IMCA class will be the one that he goes with.
The Stock Cars lived up to their reputation by running an entertaining 30-laps featuring plenty of side-by-side racing action even though the lead never changed hands. Pole-sitter Jason Cook would pace the field with most of the drivers choosing to run the bottom two grooves around the speedway. Andy Altenburg had made the trip down from Minnesota and, after spinning in his heat race, found himself starting from row ten in the main event. Instead of joining "the pack" running down low, Altenburg went up top and steadily picked his way toward the front and when the caution waved on lap 17 he found himself restarting in the seventh psoition. Cook had plenty of pressure coming from Nathan Wood, Abe Huls and John Oliver Jr., but it was Altenburg who showed him a nose with just six laps to go. After seeing the competition up top, Cook appeared to pick up the pace a bit holding back the visitor's run and when Altenburg caught the turn three guardrail on lap 26 that broke his momentum just enough to allow Wood and Oliver to get back by him. Cook did not falter over the final laps and would go on to cash in the $1,200 winner's check ahead of Oliver Jr. and Wood while Altenburg nipped Huls at the line by inches to take fourth.
The 30-lap Modified feature would close out the night with Josh Foster starting from the pole and establishing himself as the man to beat from the drop of the green. Kurt Kile made a challenge early before Bruce Hanford found the middle groove to his liking. Hanford was able to pull even with Foster on two occasions, but Josh was able to maintain the lead each time and when Hanford dropped out with mechanical issues on lap 24 this one was all over. Foster would take the $1,500 win by nearly half a lap over Steven DeLonjay, Brandon Banks made a late race charge to finish third with Kurt Kile and Tyler Cale next in line.
It was an entertaining and efficient program on a track that had slicked off due to the warm October sunshine combined with a steady breeze and temperatures above the 70 degree mark. Thanks to announcer Tony Paris for inviting me up to talk a bit about Positively Racing and to Speedway owner Dave Sapp and his entire staff for their hospitality.
Promoter Mike VanGenderen will partner with the Scotland County Fair board for another two-day show next Friday and Saturday night as the annual Fall Nationals runs at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, on October 26th and 27th.
Finally it was another big weekend for our family as, for the second time in two weeks, a beautiful young lady said "yes" when proposed to by one of our sons. Pictured below is Morgan, who also does some Sprint Car and Midget blogging on Positively Racing when he has the time, along with his fiance' Shelbi Pitcher who is from Monument, Colorado, and plays volleyball at the University of Tulsa. Two proposals in two weeks, and this father could not be happier!
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