The XSAN Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds added to the food and fun at the Southern Iowa Fair Tuesday night and when the checkered flag waved it was a driver who races every week here at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa taking the $1,000 to prize.
The field of Modified drivers was quite diverse including the defending National Champion William Gould from Oklahoma, Jason Schoenberger from Kansas, Bill Petteway from Corpus Christi, Texas, and Elvis impersonator Joey Franklin from Las Vegas by way of Kentucky, but tonight's twenty-five lap main event would come down to an entertaining battle between three gentlemen that you will find here in Osky nearly every Wednesday night during the summer.
Todd Shute drew the pole position and had Mike VanGenderen and Andrew Schroeder lined up directly behind him on the inside of rows two and three. Both Shute and Schroeder are weekly regulars here while VanGenderen is in his third season of promoting races for the Southern Iowa Fair board. But since this was a Hawkeye Dirt Tour event where he is the current point leader "The Gambler" did a very unique form of double duty tonight changing back and forth from his track official uniform to his driver's suit. Shute would lead as the trio pulled away from the rest of the talented field and first it was VanGenderen who would challenge for the lead off the high side of the fast half-mile. Shute, the 2008 All Iowa Points Modified Champion, would repel the promoter only to then have Schroeder digging at him from the inside.
Again Shute was up to the challenge and looked like he was going to drive away as he moved up the track to use the cushion over the final ten laps. The top side was treacherous though and when the leader bobbled just a bit on lap twenty Schroeder closed back in quickly and then as Shute entered turn one on lap twenty-two he hopped the cushion just enough to allow Schroeder to power past him on the inside. Shute would do everything he could over the final three laps to make up for the mistake, but he could not catch the youngster Schroeder who would go on to post the win. Shute was second and VanGenderen took third in the non-stop event and you then had to wait a moment for Luke Wanninger and Jacob Murray to cross the finish line in fourth and fifth. It was a nice run for Murray who drew the dreaded twelfth position in the re-draw of the heat race qualifiers. Jeremy Mills would finish in the sixth spot followed by Colt Mather, Jesse Sobbing advanced from sixteenth to eighth. Kurt Kile took ninth while another long distance traveler, Aaron Turnbull from Estevan, Saskatchewan completed the top ten.
SIS HDT Notes.....Contact on the opening lap of the first heat race knocked the rear end loose on Cayden Carter's car and another one of the local favorites was fighting from behind the rest of the night. "The Gasman" did salvage a win in the Stock Cars though, more on that later......Jacob Murray showed that he might be a contender tonight by winning the first heat by more than a straightaway over Colt Mather. A better draw or a caution in the feature would have given Murray the opportunity he needed......The second heat race was stacked with talent and when Jesse Sobbing, Jim Lynch, Jeff Joldersma and Jeff Waterman tangled in turn three on the opening lap that separated the field into racers and chasers as the green light continued to shine. Sobbing and Joldersma would come back to qualify out of a B-Main while Waterman used a provisional to start the feature......Scott Dickey broke while running in the third and final transfer spot during the third heat, but he would come back to go from ninth to the win in the first B-Main. The gremlins must have returned though to the #40 as Dickey dropped out of the feature fairly early......Joey Franklin's night, and likely the rest of his racing vacation came to an end when his motor let go during the third heat. Earlier on KBOE's Checkered Flag radio show Franklin had indicated that he was looking forward to racing at Knoxville on Thursday before returning to his home state of Kentucky to race at a track that he used to attend when he was younger. Does anybody have a motor that Elvis can borrow/rent for Thursday at least?......Schroeder would give an indication of things to come by winning that third heat while William Gould fought off Kyle Brown for the final transfer position.....Kurt Kile bounced back from a heat race crash at Donnellson the night before to win the fourth heat that was also stacked in talent. Luke Wanninger and Todd Shute finished second and third to transfer, but check out this list of drivers who would later have to run a B-Main; Richie Gustin, Tim Ward, Hunter Marriott and defending HDT champion Ronn Lauritzen.....The first B-Main got off to a tough start when Dustin Brown spun in front of the field entering turn one on the opening lap. With no place to go Kyle Brown got into the guardrail and flattened his right front tire ending his night early, not long after he had just came up a car-length short from transferring out of his heat race.......Just my opinion, but I feel that the Tour would be better off by just holding the re-draw in the pits while the other classes were racing. They currently try to use the same format as the Deery Brothers Summer Series and while that process does a nice job highlighting an important sponsor, Casey's General Stores for the Late Models, with the Mods it adds twenty minutes to the show on a weeknight and does not serve a sponsor. On both Monday and Tuesday it would have been the difference in completing a show before ten o'clock, something that is not only important to the fans in attendance but to those who are also viewing on XSAN.
While Cayden Carter had to work his tail off to finish eleventh in the Modified feature, he found his night behind the wheel of Roger Kelderman's IMCA Stock Car to be much easier. Carter drew the outside front row starting position and was never challenged in the 18-lap main event. There was some great racing behind him though as five drivers battled hard for the second position, but that battle would get a little too tight on lap six. Damon Murty and Brad Pinkerton were racing side-by-side down the front stretch when contact between the two saw Pinkerton turn to the right and into the guardrail at the entrance of turn one. When his car then turned sideways he collected both Nathan Wood and Kris Walker with Walker nearly getting upside down. Pinkerton and Walker were done for the night while Wood would limp back to the work area for repairs while the track was cleared.
Once back to green Carter again drove away while Murty, Todd Reitzler and Justin Temeyer resumed the race for second and they were soon joined by Modified driver Scott Drake who was wheeling Perry Misner's Stock Car for the evening. With Carter on cruise control to the win, that battle for second kept the Fair crowd entertained and at the checkers it was Drake who would be the runner-up ahead of Temeyer, Murty and Reitzler while Nathan Wood came back to finish sixth.
Randy Embrey and Mike Hughes chased leader Dustin Griffiths for the first seven laps of the Hobby Stock feature before the red flag waved when Gina Greubel went for a tumble in turn four. On the restart the leaders went three-wide in turn two as Embrey took over the lead, but he would only hold it for two laps before Hughes powered past and went on to yet another victory here at Oskaloosa. Embrey and Griffiths were next in line while Derek Hodges and Danny Thrasher completed the top five.
After drawing the second starting spot Brett Lowry appeared to be a pretty good bet to win the Sport Mod main event, but when young Brayton Carter blew past him on lap two I was impressed. The youngest of Jimmy's three racing grandsons has picked up a lot of confidence and speed by running and winning on Saturday nights in West Liberty and for a moment it looked like he would add a victory on his hometown track tonight. But Lowry is one of the best in the area on a half-mile and after sizing up his young competitor for a few laps, he regained the lead on lap six and went on to take the win. Curtis VanDerWal made his way up to second at the checkers while current All Iowa Points championship contender Clint Luellen finished third. Carter would hold on to the fourth position and Ryan Fullenkamp edged out Jason McDaniel for fifth.
The IMCA Late Models were also on the card with nine drivers in attendance and their feature wrapped up the night of racing. Todd Cooney applied the pressure to leader Nick Marolf for the first half of the race before making the pass on the inside and he would then go on to take the win. Marolf was second followed by Tommy Elston, Kevin Kile and Colby Springsteen.
Racing continues tonight in Oskaloosa during the Southern Iowa Fair as the five weekly divisions Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts will again be joined by the IMCA Late Models. And, as a part of the Hawkeye State IMCA Modified Speed Week the Modified feature winner will earn $1,000. Hope to see you there!
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