Cayden Carter scored two feature wins on the opening night of the Fall Nationals at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Friday night and the racing was amazing even though this was the 2013 "season opener" for the facility. Drivers ran up to five-wide at times around the spacious 3/8th-mile oval as 111 cars packed the pits on a chilly, but very tolerable evening.
Carter's first win of the night came behind the wheel of Roger Kelderman's #10CC Stock Car as he took the lead at the midway point and then fought off the challenges of Jason Cook, Nathan Wood and finally Louis Lynch to secure the victory. Lynch would lead the race early and survive a pair of restarts, but following a Jay Hayes spin in turn tow on lap seven Lynch slipped high coming to the green out of turn four and both Cook and Carter shuffled him back to third. Those two would then go side-by-side for a full lap before Carter nosed ahead and Cook would stay with two car lengths of the new leader until Hayes spun again with four laps to go. On this restart Lynch would come back strong and move to second with Wood in hot pursuit, but they could not get around Carter as the young speedster from Oskaloosa earned his first ever feature win in a Stock Car.
Cayden would get some rest during the Hobby Stock main before climbing back aboard his Modified for the final feature of the evening and in that 20-lap affair it was Dakota Hayden who opened a big early lead. A caution for a spinning Brian Troxel on lap eight brought the field back to Hayden though and on the restart Carter drove deep into turn one and then shut the door on Hayden at the exit of turn two to take the lead. Three cautions in the final seven laps chopped up the action and on the final restart with four laps to go Kyle Brown pulled off the same move on Carter as Cayden had executed earlier on Hayden to take the lead. Carter stayed with his high line though and was able to regain the lead as the white flag waved pulling Hayden, who had earlier faded as far back as sixth, along with him to second and that is the way they finished a lap later. Brown held off Ronn Lauritzen by a nose for third while Jerry Pilcher completed the top five.
The Hobby Stock main was simply amazing as a pack of drivers raced in a tight bunch at the front of the pack throughout the race even going four-wide with just four laps remaining as southwest Iowa driver Jason Fusselman moved to the lead. A lap later though he was passed by fellow Shelby County Speedway regular Corey Madden who then held off that pack to score the victory. Jacob Keiser nipped Dustin Griffiths by a nose to finish second as Griffiths came to third from an eighth row starting spot. Early leader Mike Hughes took fourth while Fusselman was shuffled back to fifth at the checkers.
Merv Chandler and Adam Gates warmed the crowd with a thrilling late race battle in the Sport Compact main event. Gates raced out to a sizeable early lead only to have the veteran driver chase him down and throw a slidejob at him with three laps to go. Gates was able to re-pass Chandler before they crossed the stripe for that lap, but Merv came right back and drove under Gates in turn three to take the lead with two to go. 007 was not to be denied though as Gates returned the favor on the following lap and then pulled away by five car lengths on the final circuit to take the victory as Chandler had to settle for second. Josh Modde driving the #30 usually pedaled by Shawn Cooney was third, Chuck Fullenkamp was fourth and John Whalen rounded out the top five. I do have to mention the long pull down from Storm Lake by Cory Flanigan who ran in the top five early before he faded to eleventh.
The Sport Mods were the first feature of the night and they struggled mightily in the early laps as four multi-car spins occurred before three laps could be scored. It was just delaying the inevitable though as the hottest driver in the division Curtis VanDerWal was quickly coming to the front from his twelfth starting position and he drove around David Wietholder on the outside of turn four to take the lead on the fourth lap. From there VanDerWal was all but gone as only one more caution slowed his charge to the checkers for the third week in a row. Wietholder, driving the #20 normally wheeled by Bobby Anders was second, Jim Gillenwater started tenth and finished third, Scott VanBuskirk finished fourth and early leader Logan Anderson held on for fifth.
It was definitely an impressive Season Opener for the Scotland County Speedway and don't forget that the season finale is tonight (Saturday) as night number two of the Memphis Fall Nationals gets underway with hot laps at 6 p.m.
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