More From Beatrice And Other Racing News From The Weekend

After the long drive home on Saturday I wanted to get my blog post from Friday's show in Beatrice up before Saturday's show started so I didn't include my "Notes" section like I usually do. And even with that abbreviated effort I still posted shortly after the action got underway for night number two at Beatrice that saw an amazing 273 cars in five divisions in action in front of another packed grandstand. But for now, let's go back to Friday's notebook.....

Beatrice Spring Nats Notes......With such a large field of cars on hand and using a draw/redraw format those who start at the back of their heats really have to work to get qualified for the A-Main, or at best earn themselves a good starting spot for one of the B-Mains or Last Chance races. With only the top two advancing out of each of the eight Sport Mod heats this urgency was illustrated on the very first race of the evening when local favorite Benji Legg started sixth and needed to make one last pass to get into the show. On the final lap Legg charged to the inside of the second-place car of Matt Haase going into turn three, but he clipped the infield tire and spun dropping him back to sixth at the checkers. Legg could then only muster an eighth-place finish in his B-Main and one of the best in the division in this area was a spectator for the rest of the night.....2014 All Iowa Points Limited Modified champion Clint Luellen raced his way up from seventh to second in the third heat. Luellen later started the A-Main from 14th and he inched his way up three spots to 11th at the checkers......I was surprised when the lineup for the fourth Sport Mod heat was announced to hear that Delbert Smith was driving the car starting on the outside of row two. The 54-year-old from Wichita has been one of the best Late Model drivers for three decades in the Sunflower region......Rick Rohr held off Todd Boulware by inches for the final transfer from heat five. Boulware, a Sioux City area based driver would come back to transfer from his B-Main and then would advance from 21st to 12th in the main event......Cameron Meyer had to pass Arie Schouten on the final lap for the final transfer in heat seven and then of course Meyer played a significant role in the A-Main. Schouten regularly makes the trip over from Blair, Nebraska, to compete at the Clarke County Speedway in Osceola on Saturday nights.....Shawn Cooney came up one spot short of transferring out of the second B-Main when defending IMCA National Champion Matthew Looft held off the third generation driver from Des Moines......With the rules package in the Sport Mod division I have noticed that at big shows you often get a feature race where there is not much movement since the difference in driver talent is not as pronounced among the field that qualified for the feature. This was the case on Friday night as the top seven finishers started the race from the top seven positions and it wasn't because the track didn't offer up multiple grooves. I attribute it to very talented drivers racing very similar cars. Eighth-place finisher Jake Krone was the only top ten finisher who started outside of the top ten and he came from 13th.......The 46 Hobby Stocks on hand ran four heats with the top four transferring from each and the action was wild from the start with the field going four-wide in the first heat. Jeremy Purdy made a big run up from 11th to finish behind North Dakota's Brock Beeter in that one and then later came from 12th to fifth in the feature......Along with Drew Barglof in eighth, Iowans finished 11th through 14th in the main event with Eric Stanton, Austin Luellen, John Watson and Jamie Songer. Watson had been up into the top five mid-race before fading......Bill Bonnett was 20th after surviving his first corner spin........As always the IMCA Stock Cars provided plenty of action with 54 drivers trying to finish in the top three of six heats to make the main event. Ryan Fullenkamp who is now from St. Louis by way of Eldon, Iowa, has switched from a Sport Mod to a Stock Car this year and his first night out in the division was one to forget as he got caught up in other people's incidents in both his heat and his B-Main......Minnesota's Andy Altenburg who already ranks seventh in the IMCA National point standings after spending some winter time in the southwest had a tough evening as well with a DNF in his heat and a seventh-place finish in his B-Main. His teammate Chris Adams, in a nearly identically painted car, fared better by winning the third B-Main and then advancing from 21st to eighth in the feature.....The big crowd got fired up when local drivers Lance Borgman and Kyle Vanover tangled in the fourth heat. Vanover spun into the inside wall at the beginning of the front stretch to bring out the yellow and Borgman was sent to the pits along with him for rough driving. Both drivers then started from the back of the field in the first B-Main and while Vanover was able to move from tenth to second and make the transfer, Borgman's twelfth to fourth-place run left his Stock Car on the trailer for the feature. Of course Borgman did salvage the night with a fourth-place finish in his Sport Mod......Southeast Iowa drivers Nathan Wood, Jason See and Michael McClure finished 14th, 16th and 17th respectively in the main event......There was definitely a buzz in the crowd when the first of eight Modified heat races came to the track as a very stout field of seventy drivers needed to be in the top two of either their heat or the B-Main just to make the show. Jesse Sobbing who has been running with the USMTS down south early in 2015 started ninth in the fourth heat race and quickly moved up to second. But he couldn't chase down Ronn Lauritzen who is sporting a graphics scheme from the movie Frozen this season......One of the top rookies in the division in 2014, Nick Roberts of Des Moines was poised to make the main event in heat five before he spun in turn three on the final lap handing the position over to Colorado's Eddie Belec......Jordan Grabouski gave a sign of things to come when he marched from sixth to first in the sixth heat race......Hawkeye Dirt Tour champion and race promoter extraordinaire Mike Van Genderen came up one spot short of a transfer in a B-Main. Former National Champion and local legend Johnny Saathoff also came up one position short of a transfer in the third B-Main and, after a first-lap altercation in his heat race, Hunter Marriott raced from 12th to second in the final B-Main to make the feature. The young star from north central Missouri then advanced from 24th to 13th to earn the Hard Charger honors in the feature........The action was being shown live on SpeedShiftTV and those of us in the stands were well aware of that as I stopped counting after hearing it mentioned for the 40th time. Fans in the stands, if they were paying attention, now know the broadcast dates for several future events on SpeedShiftTV, some of which will likely be on the same night of an actual race at Beatrice. However, and I just may have missed it if it was said once, I would have had no idea that the regular season opener at the Beatrice Speedway will be on May 1st unless I went to the website to find it......I was very much impressed with the entire facility, from the expansive parking opportunities on the Gage County fairgrounds all the way to the good old fashioned covered grandstands. This is definitely a track that I will look for an opportunity to return to at a later date!

Wow, that was a long notebook! Well, when you have 234 cars for one night of racing one can find several noteworthy items. So what else happened this weekend?

Back at Beatrice on Saturday, Jordan Grabouski started from the pole, gave up the lead to first Jesse Sobbing and then Clayton Christensen before coming back to make it a clean sweep for the weekend in the Modified division. Tyler Frye again drew the front row of the Sport Mod feature and he would win this one ahead of Jake Krone, Steve Swarthout and Iowa's Colby Heishman. In the Stock Cars northwest Iowa driver Elijah Zevenbergen would wheel his beautiful #66Z from the pole position to the win as Jason Rogers settled for the runner-up position once again. Jesse Vanlaningham improved one spot to win the Hobby Stock main event over Russ Specht and Bill Bonnett while thirty-seven Sport Compacts signed in for their one night of action with Sioux City's Cody Thompson taking the top prize.

Open Wheel phenom Christopher Bell is adapting to the pavement nicely as he won the Rattler 250 Late Model event at the South Alabama Speedway on Sunday. And while Bell honed his skills on the blacktop another driver who has started to make that transition, Rico Abreu, stuck to his roots and won the Saturday night program with the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars in Tulare, California. Tim Kaeding was the Friday night winner with the Outlaws at Thunderbowl Raceway and "TK" will make the trip to the Midwest soon as he pursues the triple crown with the Lunstra Motorsports team. Championships at Knoxville, Husets and with the National Sprint League are the goal for the San Jose native.

Speaking of the Outlaws in Tulare, this announcement was made late on Friday afternoon. "After much effort by the DIRTVision crew today, we are disappointed to let you know the Internet connection at Thunderbowl Raceway will not support a quality broadcast of this weekend’s World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event. Rather than put our customers through an evening of a buffering broadcast at best we made the decision now to refund the purchases of those who already signed up for the broadcast. Everyone will automatically receive a full refund of the purchase price."

Glad I made the decision to actually go to the races rather than sit in my den and watch one on a computer!

Late Model racing was all but wiped out by the weather this past weekend. Jason Hiett went flag-to-flag to win a $5,000 show at Dixie Speedway just north of Atlanta, John Kellum scored his first career UDLMCS victory at the North Florida Speedway and Kyle Hardy swapped slidejobs with Walker Arthur on the final lap to win at Hagerstown yesterday afternoon. Arthur expressed his displeasure with Hardy on the cool down lap and was bumped from his second-place finish on the track to 20th at the pay window.

The Tuckasee Toilet Bowl Classic at the Clarksville Speedway in Tennessee was once again postponed due to the recent snowstorm in the mid-south and the two-day event will now try again for next weekend. However, it will now run without the MARS Late Model sanction as that series is scheduled for this Saturday night at the Springfield Raceway in Missouri.

Now that I have that first race of 2015 in the books I am anxious to get back to the track soon and when I woke up this morning I was already thinking about the decision that I would have to make for Friday night. I have a business meeting in St. Louis that afternoon and it would be just about an equal distance to go from there either southeast to the World of Outlaws Late Model show at the Kentucky Lake Speedway or back towards home for the Bottom Heavy Nationals at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri. Several items that would factor into my decision were flying through my head including whether or not I would get to see the Outlaw Late Models again later this season, the fact that I could always watch a replay from Memphis later on XSAN, spending the night in a hotel or my own bed, etc., etc.

Well, no need to make a decision now as the show at Kentucky Lake has been cancelled due to the wet grounds from the snowstorm so I will be making the long drive to Memphis via St. Louis this Friday. At least it will only be just a little more than an hour drive home after the races!

I am still considering a road trip on Sunday as the USMTS Modifieds as well as the USRA Iron Man Stock Cars and B-Mods will be at the I-35 Speedway in Winston, Missouri. The track held a practice day this past weekend and drew more than 100 cars, just for practice!!

The extended forecast held up for my Beatrice trip so let's see how it continues to evolve for the two later dates.

Donnellson, Iowa, Saturday March 28th - Sunny and 59

Burlington, Iowa, Saturday April 11th - A little morning rain and 54

And now for the up-to-date Back Stretch National Points.....

		The "Back Stretch"
		Dirt Late Model Points	Through 3/15
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Shane Clanton	Locust Grove GA	42
2	.	Billy Moyer	Batesville AR	29
3	.	Darrell Lanigan	Union KY	27
4	.	Josh Richards	Shinnston WV	24
5	.	Jimmy Owens	Newport TN	22
6	.	Scott Bloomquist	Mooresburg TN	20
7	.	Earl Pearson Jr.	Jacksonville FL	16
8	.	Jonathan Davenport	Blairsville GA	16
9	.	Steve Casebolt	Richmond IN	15
10	.	Donald McIntosh	Dawsonville GA	14
11	.	Frank Heckenast Jr.	Orland Park IL	13
12	.	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin IL	12
13	.	Dale McDowell	Chickamauga GA	11
14	.	Don O'Neal	Martinsville IN	11
15	.	Jared Landers	Batesville AR	11
16	.	Mark Whitener	Middleburg FL	11
17	.	Brandon Overton	Appling GA	10
18	.	Eddie Carrier Jr.	Salt Rock WV	10
19	.	Morgan Bagley	Longview TX	10
20	.	Riley Hickman	Ooletwah TN	9
21	.	Casey Roberts	Toccoa GA	8
22	.	Chub Frank	Sugar Grove PA	8
23	.	Tim McCreadie	Watertown NY	8
24	.	Stormy Scott	Las Cruces NM	7
25	.	Jimmy Mars	Elk Mound WI	6
26	.	Rodney Sanders	Happy TX	6
27	.	Tony Jackson Jr.	Lebanon MO	6
28	.	Dennis Erb Jr.	Carpentersville IL	5
29	.	Devin Moran	Dresden OH	5
30	.	Randy Weaver	Crossville TN	5
31	.	Steve Francis	Ashland KY	5
32	.	Tim Roszell	Coldwater AL	5
33	.	William Thomas	Phenix City AL	5
34	.	Chris Simpson	Marion IA	4
35	.	Don Shaw	Ham Lake MN	4
36	.	Jason Hiett	Lincoln AL	4
37	.	Jason Papich	Santa Maria CA	4
38	.	Mike Benedum	Bristol WV	4

		The "Back Stretch"
		Winged 410 Sprint Points	Through 3/15
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Danny Lasoski	Dover MO	27
2	.	Paul McMahan	Nashville TN	24
3	.	Joey Saldana	Brownsburg IN	23
4	.	Shane Stewart	Bixby OK	22
5	.	Donny Schatz	Minot ND	20
6	.	Brian Brown	Grain Valley MO	16
7	.	Brad Sweet	Grass Valley CA	14
8	.	Daryn Pittman	Owasso OK	13
9	.	Greg Hodnett	Thomasville PA	13
10	.	Kerry Madsen	Knoxville IA	13
11	.	Steve Kinser	Bloomington IN	12
12	.	Terry McCarl	Altoona IA	10
13	.	Aaron Reutzel	Clute TX	8
14	.	Rico Abreu	Rutherford CA	8
15	.	Stevie Smith	Broken Arrow OK	8
16	.	Dale Blaney	Fowler OH	7
17	.	David Gravel	Watertown CT	7
18	.	Kyle Larson	Elk Grove CA	6
19	.	Tim Kaeding	San Jose CA	6
20	.	Roger Crockett	Medford OR	5
21	.	Craig Dollansky	Elk River MN	4
22	.	Logan Schuchart	Hanover PA	3
23	.	Sam Hafertepe Jr.	Sunnyvale TX	3
24	.	Chad Kemenah	Findlay OH	2
25	.	Henry Van Dam	Enumclaw WA	2
26	.	Jason Sides	Bartlett TN	2
27	.	Kasey Kahne	Enumclaw WA	2
28	.	Kraig Kinser	Bloomington IN	2
29	.	Kyle Moody	Lewisberry PA	2
30	.	Christopher Bell	Norman OK	1
31	.	Ryan Smith	Kunkletown PA	1
32	.	Tim Shaffer	Aliquippa PA	1
33	.	Robbie Kendall	Catonsville MD	1

		The "Back Stretch"
		Winged 360 Sprint Points	Through 3/14
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Aaron Reutzel	Clute TX	11
2	.	Mark Smith	Tower City PA	8
3	.	Johnny Herrera	Albuquerque NM	6
4	.	Andy Forsberg	Auburn CA	3
5	.	Brad Loyet	Sunset Hills MO	3
6	.	Jason Sides	Bartlett TN	3
7	.	Matt Kurtz	Jacksonville Beach FL	3
8	.	Seth Bergman	Snohomish WA	3
9	.	Terry McCarl	Altoona IA	3
10	.	Dusty Zomer	Brandon SD	2
11	.	Rick Ziehl	Las Cruces NM	2
12	.	Sean Becker	Roseville CA	2
13	.	Tim Kaeding	San Jose CA	2
14	.	A.J. Maddox	Tampa FL	1
15	.	Art McCarthy Jr.	San Jose CA	1
16	.	Danny Martin Jr.	Sarasota FL	1
17	.	Justin Sanders	Watsonville CA	1
18	.	Mark Ruel Jr.	Jacksonville FL	1

		The "Back Stretch"
		Non Wing Sprint Points	Through 3/14
Pos.		Driver	Hometown	Points
1	.	Dave Darland	Lincoln IN	10
2	.	Brady Bacon	Broken Arrow OK	7
3	.	Ryan Bernal	Hollister CA	7
4	.	Robert Ballou	Rocklin CA	6
5	.	Chase Stockon	Elizabethtown IN	4
6	.	Kevin Thomas Jr.	Cullman AL	4
7	.	Chris Windom	Canton IL	3
8	.	Bud Kaeding	Campbell CA	2
9	.	Richard VanderWeerd	Visalia CA	2
10	.	Austin Williams	Yorba Linda CA	1
11	.	Charles Davis Jr.	Buckeye AZ	1
12	.	Colby Copeland	Roseville CA	1
13	.	Danny Faria Jr.	Tipton CA	1
14	.	Jeff Lee	Richmond CA	1
15	.	Joe Stometta	Napa CA	1
16	.	Jon Stanbrough	Avon IN	1
17	.	Patrick Stasa	Kingman KS	1
18	.	R.J. Johnson	Phoenix AZ	1
19	.	Shane Mhyre	Tuolumne CA	1
20	.	Stevie Sussex III	Laveen AZ	1
21	.	Troy Rutherford	Ojai CA	1
22	.	Roy Fisher	Antioch CA	1