It was a
cool and breezy night at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday and
a late afternoon shower put even more speed than usual into the big half-mile
oval as the IMCA Late Models made their second of five appearances for the
season. Yes, it was a little on the chilly side, and the threatening weather along
with the running of a rescheduled Deery series show in Farley the night before
likely held down the car count, but it was twenty degrees warmer than the last
time that the Late Models were here three weeks ago. And even better, there is
no snow falling the day after!
The IMCA
Sport Mods drew a nice field of nineteen tonight as they prepped for their
$1,000-to-win show that will take place here next week and it was young Brayton
Carter who bolted to the early lead. A three car tangle on the frontstretch as
the first lap was being scored eliminated the cars of Levi Laymon, Chris Larson
and two-time winner this season here Curtis VanDerWal. On the restart Carter
again tried to pull away with A.J. Johnson giving chase. Johnson slowed
suddenly on lap four and pulled to the infield leaving veteran driver Bill
Livezy Jr. in second with Brett Lowry closing fast after having started in the
sixth row. Lowry slipped by Livezy for second mid-race and then closed in on
Carter getting within striking distance with four laps to go. The challenger
was able to get his nose under the leader on a couple of occasions, but Carter
held tough and had actually opened back up a four car-length advantage as he
took the white flag. And that is when the young driver made a mistake as he
entered turn one too high and slapped the guardrail allowing Lowry to drive by
and take the win. To his credit Carter regained control and was able to hold
back a fast closing Tyler Gross to finish second as Tyler Heckart and Eric
Flander completed the top five. Last week’s winner in the Sport Mod division,
Ryan Fullenkamp spent a long time in the tech area following his heat race
tonight and was eventually disqualified for the evening due to an illegal crate
engine.
Eric
Knutsen put the Southern Iowa Chassis house car out front for the first three
laps of the Hobby Stock feature only to have Dale Porter go storming by on lap
four. The track was lightning fast and the rev limiters were popping tonight as
Bill Bonnett moved into challenge Porter for the lead. Bonnett was able to pull
ahead for a moment down the back stretch as the race wound down only to have
Porter fight back to regain the lead and earn his first career win in the Hobby
Stock division. A regular visitor to victory lane in the four cylinder class a
few years back, Porter thanked Dustin Griffiths in victory lane for giving him
the opportunity to drive this Team 10 car in 2013. Bonnett was the runner-up
with Knutsen taking third. Griffiths finished in fourth with Donovan
Nunnikhoven in fifth and Mike Hughes saw his three-race win streak here snapped
as he finished in the sixth position.
The
Stock Car division has a reputation for providing the best racing action at
Osky and they lived up to it tonight with two very entertaining heat races plus
a non-stop 18-lap feature that saw plenty of two and three-wide “pack” racing
on the smooth and fast half-mile. Brad Pinkerton would pace the tightly bunched
field for the first two laps before a three-wheeling Jeff Joldersma eased by on
lap three. Zack Vanderbeek was able to pull alongside Joldersma on several
occasions, but the driver who had pulled 177-miles from his western Iowa home
of McClelland was not to be denied as he found victory lane for the first time
at Oskaloosa. Vanderbeek would take second just ahead of the current All Iowa
Points leader in the Stock Cars Damon Murty. Fifth row starters Nathan Wood and
Jason Cook would complete the top five finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Rudy Brunkhorst made it an eighteen-car field tonight as he made the long trip
over from Columbus, Nebraska.
The
track was still scary fast when the Modifieds took the green for their main
event and Brandon Banks can be hard to beat on this type of surface. Cautions
on lap four and lap eight kept the field bunched together and Bill Gibson
applied the pressure to Banks pulling even for the lead on lap ten. Banks was
able to fight off that effort and two laps later Gibson’s night would come to a
disappointing end as his motor let go on the front straightaway. Adam Larson
looked to be the new threat to Banks, but after a couple of laps under caution
Larson ducked into the pit area with problems of his own. This one looked like
it would be a win for Banks until Jacob Murray spun with a flat tire with just
two laps remaining. On the restart Tyler Groenendyk applied his sprint car
driving skills as he drove hard into turn one, cleared the leader and then slid
up to the cushion in two to slam the door on Banks and take the lead. Brandon
would try to mount a challenge over the final mile but he could not get around
Groenendyk who earned his first career victory in an IMCA Modified. Second
would go to Banks, Bill Davis Jr. would finish third with Cayden Carter fourth
and fifth would go to Todd Hansen who made the trip over from Muscatine for the
first time this season.
Groenendyk
also wheeled the Pella Motors Company two-seat sprint car for three five-lap
rides that were auctioned off for $355 and will benefit injured Modified driver
Mark Widmar. For the second week in a row Richie Gustin suffered mechanical
woes and did not run the feature, so next week, if he is able to shake the
gremlins, Gustin will be a pre-race favorite starting up front in the inverts.
The nine
car field of Late Models had Nick Marolf and Spencer Diercks starting on the
front row for their twenty-lap finale and while Marolf grabbed the lead at the
drop of the green, Diercks sped right back around him in turns three and four
to be the official leader on lap one. There was no stopping the 16-year-old
driver from there as he drove away to make it two-for-two here at Osky in 2013.
Todd Cooney was the runner-up here for the second time, Marolf finished in the
third spot, Darrel DeFrance took fourth and Kurt Kile got by Chad Cooney in the
final laps to take fifth.
The
Chandler/Whalen division almost had to be renamed the Sport Compacts again as
young Shawn Cooney’s continued improvement had him out front for the first half
of the five-car ten-lap feature. One slight bobble exiting turn four by Cooney
though was all that John Whalen needed to pick up the lead from there and
cruise on to the eventual victory. Contact from behind by Merv Chandler in turn
two put Cooney sideways late dropping him to fourth at the checkers. Chandler
finished second and Bill Whalen Jr. still found his way into victory lane for
pictures and an interview after taking third. Trent Orwig was credited with
fifth.
It was
another well-run Wednesday night of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway with
final checkers waving at 10:10 p.m. and don’t forget that the Sport Mods will
be racing for extra cash next week. Hope to see you there!
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