Twenty-five of those Stock Cars would take the green for the 18-lap main event and when they exited turn two for the first time the drivers starting in the first two rows, Shane Weller, Todd Reitzler, Mike Hughes and Damon Murty were four-wide looking for the lead down the back stretch. Murty, who had started fourth, would have the advantage as lap one was scored and he started to ease away from the field that was still racing two and three wide for position behind him. A caution for Mike Brown who was making his Stock Car debut tonight in a car #54 reminiscent of both his grandfather Jim and his father Aaron bunched the field up again on lap three and on the restart Zack VanderBeek emerged from the pack as the primary challenger to Murty's lead.
Zack would first try low for a couple of laps only to have Murty squeeze him down and maintain the lead, and then he took a peek on the high side only to again have Murty shut the door coming off of turn four on lap seven. On the following lap though VanderBeek again went to the high line and pulled even with Murty down the front stretch and then finally wrestled the lead away from Damon in turn one. The most successful Stock Car driver in the state of Iowa over the past three seasons, Murty was not about to give in and he went right back to work trying to edge under the new leader. By lap ten as Cayden Carter was looking to make it a three way battle for the lead, announcer Tony Paris noted that there was now a three-wide race for seventh down the back stretch.
I glanced back at the battle for a second, but had to quickly return my attention to turn four as once again Murty had nearly pulled even with VanderBeek for the lead as Carter looked for racing room around both of them. One of those three-wide contenders for seventh, Derrick Agee had moved up to fifth before he slowed with mechanical issues bringing out the caution one last time with four laps remaining. On the restart Carter was able to shuffle Murty back to third, but he was never able to mount a serious challenge on VanderBeek in the closing laps as "Kelderman's Komets" once again swept the top two positions with "The Z-Man" in victory lane. Murty would have to settle for the third spot, Nathan Wood raced his way up from eleventh to fourth and Mike Hughes who has returned to the Stock Car division for 2015 finished in fifth.
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| VanderBeek (33z) shown during Frostbuster action at Osky - Barry Johnson photo |
Twelve of the thirteen IMCA Modifieds in attendance would start the 18-lap feature race and after dominating in his heat race Jacob Murray seemed to be a lock to runaway with this one as well starting from the outside of the front row. Jimmy Gustin tried to keep up with Murray, but was starting to lose touch with him when the red flag waved on lap number five. Young Cole Ferguson who had posted a fifth-place finish here two weeks ago against a big field of Modifieds in the Frostbuster was racing down the back stretch and went over the ridge between the track and the access road. As he tried to return to the track at full speed he turned sideways and slid into the stack of tractor tires that protect the start of the guardrail entering three. Those tires did their job and absorbed the impact that was so great that Ferguson's car was launched straight up perhaps about ten feet into the air. The car landed behind the guardrail, out of sight from us in the grandstand, and everybody was very relieved when it was soon announced that Cole was getting out of the car under his own power with no serious injuries. It was definitely a scary incident to see!
Once back to racing Murray again pulled away putting himself about a half a straightaway ahead by the time that Carter Vandenberg slipped past Gustin for second. In his rookie season in the Modifieds, Vandenberg was making up ground lap by lap and as the white flag waved he was within two car lengths. Murray stayed smooth though and maintained the advantage over the final half-mile to make it a one-two sweep for his own Murray built race cars. Gustin trailed the lead duo in third, Tyler Groenendyk fresh off a win last Friday in Donnellson finished fourth while Kyle Brown came from the fifth row to take fifth.
The IMCA Sport Mod feature saw a three-wide race for the lead on the opening lap as Curtis Van Der Wal moved quickly from his fifth starting spot to pull even with front row starters Jake McBirnie and Brandon Dale entering turn three. Van Der Wal would take the lead bringing the fourth starting Brett Lowry right with him up to second and those two drivers would then pull away from the field. Fifteen more laps later and Curtis would park his sharp looking #1V in victory lane once again here at Osky with Lowry running second, Brayton Carter in third, McBirnie held on for fourth and Jason McDaniel finish fifth. After having mechanical issues in his heat race Logan Anderson started from fifteenth and finished sixth in the non-stop event.
After winning the Frostbuster event here two weeks ago Danny Thrasher made it two for two going flag-to-flag in the Hobby stock feature. Thrasher started on the outside of row one and while he had company just behind him the entire distance "The Dude" was never seriously challenged. Bill Bonnet completed a final lap pass of Jamie Songer to be the runner-up while Dustin Griffiths and Derek Hodges completed the top five.
The Sport Compacts started the evening's feature races in fine fashion as Bill Whalen Jr. and Trent Orwig had a great battle for the lead throughout the entire twelve-lap distance. Orwig led early, but when he got too high entering turn one on lap four Whalen took advantage. Orwig came right back though and tried to find his way back to the lead for several laps until he was able to do so on lap ten. Whalen stayed close looking for one more mistake that never came as Orwig scored the victory and he was later congratulated during the victory lane interview by Whalen who, win or lose, is usually involved in the celebration one way or another. Matt Moore finished third, John Whalen was fourth and Seith Woodruff made the long tow in from Carthage, Illinois, to finish fifth.
Even with the red flag downtime the final checkered flag waved at ten o'clock on another fine night of racing presented by Mike VanGenderen and his crew proving once again that there is no better way to spend a Wednesday night! At first glance giving away a free pit pass to the drivers might not seem like a big deal, but if you do the math you will find that this was $2,125 that was not taken in at the pit gate. The crowd was solid in the stands and the hope is that the difference was made up both there and in the concessions. However you look at it, this was definitely a successful regular season opener for the Southern Iowa Speedway.
A change of plans will now keep me away from the races on Friday night and I am not happy about the change in the weather forecast for Saturday. My primary destination is still the Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway in Burlington, however with the help of of both the Specials and Weekly dates on the Calendar page at Positively Racing I have identified fourteen other possibilities should rain threaten or cancel my main target. Always good to be prepared and I hope to see you again soon on the Back Stretch!
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