After three straight cancellations due to our Arctic-like Spring, the Southern Iowa Speedway was finally able to drop the green flag on its 2013 season Wednesday night and despite cool and breezy conditions a solid crowd was on hand to watch a nice field of cars do battle. With the cold and wet weather there was some concern that the racing surface might rut out, especially with the new dirt that had been added since the end of last season, but only a ripple or two appeared as the half-mile stayed fast and multi-grooved all night.
The Sport Compact feature was the first of five weekly divisions to take to the track with the Whalen brothers, Bill Jr. and John, leading the seven-car field to the green. John Whalen would open up the early lead as Merv Chandler muscled his way past Bill for second, a move that included some contact entering turn one. On lap four Chandler would take over the lead with Bill Whalen Jr. hot on his heels moving past John for second. Chandler left the inside line open and on lap seven Bill pulled even with leader on the front stretch. They ran side-by-side like that, and even banged doors one or twice over the next two laps until Whalen edged ahead by a car-length as the white flag waved. Chandler made one more run at him in both sets of turns on that final lap, but came up short as Bill Whalen Jr. took the win in an entertaining ten-lapper. John Whalen chased that duo in for third, Matt Moore was just behind him in fourth and Alex Sampson came over from Iowa City to finish fifth.
Team Griffiths made up the front row for the 14-lap Hobby Stock main event with Dustin Griffiths outrunning Dale Porter to the point into turn one. An early caution for debris is all that slowed Griffiths in this one as he was never challenged on his way to victory. Bill Bonnett was a distant second while Porter held off the charges of Danny Thrasher and Craig Brown to finish third.
Ryan Fullenkamp blasted to a big lead on the opening lap of the Sport Mod headliner as Curtis VanDerWal made a big move himself from sixth to second. VanDerWal quickly reeled in the youngster and on lap four he made the pass for the lead going down the back stretch. Trying to maintain the pace, Fullenkamp drove too deep into turn three, got up into the crumbs and spun down the race track causing the first caution period of the event. A spin by Tyler Gross two laps later was the only thing that would slow down VanDerWal as he would cruise the rest of the way to secure the opening night win here in his hometown of Oskaloosa. Brett Lowry was impressive advancing from row five to finish in the runner-up position, suburban Kansas City based teenager Ben Kates took third, current All Iowa Points leader Carter VanDenBerg finished fourth after starting next to Lowry and pole-sitter Jason Hall completed the top five.
There is nobody in any division as hot as Damon Murty is right now and when he drew the pole position for the IMCA Stock Car feature the odds were pretty good that he would win this one. However it was his fellow front row starter Nathan Wood who raced to the early advantage before a caution for a five-car pileup in turn two slowed the field. On the restart Murty went to work on Wood and on lap four "The Chelsea Charger" took over the lead. Jason Minnehan had made the trip down from Churdan and was on the move coming from eighth up to third, but his run ended on lap six when it appeared that something broke in the steering on his ride. There was no touching Murty from there as the field got spread out over the final laps and Damon told announcer Tony Paris in victory lane that he was now eight for nine on the early season. Wood would finish well back in second, Corey Stout used the outside line to pass Alan VanGorp in turn four on the final lap for third and Tommie Killen filled out the top five.
An impressive field of eighteen IMCA Modifieds was on hand for the lid-lifter and all but one of them would take the green flag for the 18-lap finale. Southwest Iowa driver Jesse Dennis would lead the field on the opening lap before Cayden Carter flew by him on the outside in turn four on lap number two. As Carter started to build his lead Todd Shute moved into the second spot and tried to keep pace. Carter's advantage stayed consistent until the closing laps when he started to reel in the back of the field and as the white flag waved it was now clear that lapped traffic just might play a role in this one. Carter stayed patient on that final lap, but in doing so it allowed Shute to close quickly and in turn four Todd was able to get to the inside of Cayden. There may have even been a little contact between the two talented drivers as they raced for the first checkers of the year here and with the crowd coming to their feet Cayden Carter prevailed by a bit more than a car-length over Shute. Jesse Sobbing was not far behind them in third, Kyle Wahlert drove one of Jacob Murray's Modifieds from the sixth row to finish fourth while Murray himself came from fifteenth to fifth. Dennis would come home in the sixth position, Tyler Groenendyk returned to Modified action at Osky in seventh, and Andrew Schroeder was eighth ahead of Tim Murty and Colt Mather.
Dick and Joyce Eisele have a full listing of the results and will also have their thoughts on the event posted soon on the 4dFan Report at Positively Racing.
The final checkered flag for the weekly show waved at 9:47 p.m. and I headed for the warmth of my car rather than watching the 30-lap main event for the small field of Iowa Sportsman Series cars on hand. Thanks to Mike VanGenderen and his entire crew for their hospitality and their usual crisp program. Don't forget race fans that the IMCA Late Models will join the Southern Iowa Speedway program for their first of five appearances here next Wednesday night May 1st.
Another commitment will keep me away from the race tracks on Friday and Saturday this weekend, but I am definitely looking forward to seventy degree temperatures for the second annual Shootout at Knoxville on Sunday night. Drivers, there are still opening in each of the four divisions so if you are interested in competing on the famed half-mile, contact the speedway and get your entry in now!
No comments:
Post a Comment