With the sun shining bright, a thermometer pushing eighty and a warm, stiff wind from the southwest it certainly did not feel like the first of April in Southern Iowa Wednesday night, but that suited drivers and fans just fine as the four race IMCA Frostbuster series kicked off at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Unlike the other three that will be contested on quarter-mile short tracks, this one tests the drivers mettle on the half-mile "Mahaska Monster" and while usually the regulars dominate here, tonight there were two out-of-towners who walked away with the hardware in the four division program.
With only one long distance traveler in the 17-car IMCA Hobby Stock field, Dave Schmidt of Casco, Wisconsin, it was a pretty good bet that a driver familiar with the fast half-mile would score the win in the first feature race of the night. The warm, windy and dry conditions had its effect on the racing surface as while it definitely wasn't a one-grooved rubbered-up track, it also wasn't the typical "choose your line from top to bottom" four-wide type of track that we normally see on Wednesday nights and the Hobby Stock division was the class where this was most evident. Dustin Griffiths would take the point at the drop of the green and by lap two the field had settled into what was similar to a single line draft at Daytona circling around the lop line in both sets of turns. Coming to score lap three though the leader of that draft, Griffiths went too high entering turn three and slid in the crumbs just long enough for Danny Thrasher to get under him for the lead.
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| Danny Thrasher heads towards victory - Barry Johnson photo |
Griffiths then spent the remaining thirteen laps trying to drive under Thrasher to get back to where he started all the while having to be careful not to let the third-running Jamie Songer fill his spot on the back bumper of Thrasher. Dustin was able to nose ahead of Thrasher entering the turns on at least three different occasions, but each time Thrasher kept his cool and used his momentum off the favored groove to regain the lead down the straightaways. And that would be how it would finish with Thrasher taking the win over Griffiths and Songer who did work his way forward after starting in eighth. Austin Luellen continued his solid start to the 2015 season with a fourth-place run while Adam Bonnett picked his way forward from eleventh to fifth.
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| Lucas Lamberies took top honors in the Sport Mod division - Barry Johnson photo |
Four heats and two B-Mains determined the field of twenty-four for the 18-lap IMCA Sport Mod feature that saw a mad scramble at the drop of the green. Pole-sitter Keagan Scott spun in front the field exiting turn four with twelve cars becoming involved. Amazingly only one, his teammate Logan Scott who started two rows behind him in fifth, was unable to restart. Once racing it was young Lucas Lamberies out of Wisconsin who would lead lap one before local phenom Brayton Carter powered by him on the outside. Carter then drove away from the field putting a full straightaway between himself and Lamberies when the checkered flag waved. However, during post-race technical inspection it was determined that Carter's #01 had an illegal distributor and Lamberies was credited with the victory. Jenae Gustin passed Curtis Van Der Wal in the closing laps to claim second, Kip Siems was fourth and Jonathan Logue was fifth. Wisconsin's Tracy Wassenburg made a big run coming from a ninth row starting spot to take sixth at the pay window.
The race of the night was in the Stock Car division and as I type this line I wonder just how many times over the years I have thought this, if not said it! Jay Schmidt blasted to the lead from his outside row one starting spot and Damon Murty made a big move early going from fifth to second on the opening lap. Cayden Carter tucked into third and the race was on with again the top line around the speedway being the favored groove. Murty nosed under Schmidt on several occasions with Carter right there trying to fill a gap as well and each time Schmidt was able to fight back the challenge. On lap ten the large crowd cheered in delight as the leaders went three-wide with Carter now exploring the extreme bottom groove, Murty in the middle and Schmidt up high in turns three and four and, just to keep the excitement level high they did it again going through turns one and two. When Schmidt missed his mark by just the slightest entering turn three the next lap Murty was able to drive by and take the lead with Carter coming right along with him.
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| Damon Murty (99D) and Cayden Carter battle for the lead - Barry Johnson photo |
The caution waved with five laps remaining when Robbie Merkle and Ryan Fullenkamp collided in turn four and on the restart Carter went right back to work on that low line trying to overtake the leader. Murty was up for the challenge though and even though there was a bit of contact between the two over the final laps (what good Stock Car race wouldn't have some?) the "Chelsea Charger" would hold on to take the win over Carter. Schmidt would hold on for third ahead of Justin Temeyer and Shane Weller.
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| Jason Wolla - Barry Johnson photo |
The IMCA Modified 22-lap headliner would close out the evening with Jimmy Gustin and Jason Wolla bringing the field to green. Wolla who is from Ray, North Dakota, would lead Gustin and the two of them would quickly open a gap on the remainder of the field. Wolla's lead would grow to more than a straightaway as Gustin appeared to drop off the pace and soon after he was passed by Hunter Marriott on lap eighteen, Gustin would retire to the pit area. Lapped traffic allowed Marriott to quickly cut into that gap between himself and the leader, but when Wolla split two lapped cars on the back stretch before taking the white flag that removed all doubt who tonight's winner would be. Marriott would finish in the second spot with Todd Shute third, Scott Dickey fourth and Cole Ferguson in fifth.
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| Jason Wolla on cruise control at Oskaloosa - Barry Johnson photo |
A full night of racing presented in an efficient manner, something that you can expect from Mike Van Genderen and his crew at the Southern Iowa Speedway, had the final checkered flag wave around 10:15 and I was home and in bed before midnight so that I can be rested up for tonight's trip to the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. And oh yes, at next week's regular season opnere at Oskaloosa, all drivers will be admitted FREE!
Night number two of the Frostbusters will be at the birth place of the IMCA Modifieds tonight! Hope to see you there.
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