The past couple of seasons when the Southern Iowa Speedway would hold its season championship races on a Wednesday night in late September there were some drivers making the long tow to Oskaloosa for one last opportunity to make a move in the IMCA National points race that concludes on the final weekend in September. On this night though there were no National points contenders in attendance although there were a few new names on the line-up sheet as four drivers were crowned track champions across the five divisions. And yes, that means that one driver claimed two crowns with both of his point chases going right down to the wire.
Some of the Sport Compact drivers who race regularly at the West Liberty Raceway are finally finding that the trip west on Highway 92 can be a fun one on Wednesday night and a field of eleven four cylinder cars is the most the I have ever seen here for a weekly show in the division. And with some extra competition on hand the racing on the fast half-mile was pretty darn good as well. Shaun Slaughter started sixth and Brad Havel lined up tenth as the 10-lap feature took the green, but those two quickly found their way to the front with Sluaghter leading Havel by a nose as lap one was scored. As those two eased away from the field the battle to watch was for third as Bobbie Lake challenged Ryan Havel for position with Matt Moore right there to make it a three-car battle. There would be no catching Slaughter though who would go on to post the win ahead of the Havel's, Brad and Ryan, with Lake and Moore completing the top five. One the sport's true nice guys, Bill Whalen Jr. would clinch the track championship in the division.
Curtis VanDerWal only had to start the feature to assure himself of being the 2015 IMCA Sport Mod track champion and it was a good thing that his seven feature wins on the season here had afforded him such a cushion. Charlie Weber would come from the inside of row two to lead the opening lap, but as he raced into turn two the leader spun sideways and down the track leaving VanDerWal no place to go. The two made contact nose-to-nose and then Curtis veered up the track also collecting Cory Van Zante, Casey Lancaster, Austin Paul and first time visitor Ed Hamilton from Atlantic. All drivers escaped injury, but it would be the end of the night for VanDerWal, Van Zante and Hamilton.
Trent Brink would lead the field back to green only to have Brayton Carter sweep around him off of turn two to take the lead. Carter would then go on to build more than a straightaway lead to take the win and finish as the runner-up in the title chase. Logan Anderson was a comfortable second, Weber came back after a stop in the work area to finish third while Brink and Colton Livezy completed the top five.
Five points separated cousins Carter VanDenBerg and Cayden Carter coming into the Modified feature with Tyler Groenendyk also just five points back from the leader. However, with only seven cars checked in for the night the chances were good that Cayden Carter would be able to retain his advantage. As we have seen before Scott Dickey started on the front row and was a rocket driving away from the rest of the entries at the drop of the green. Groenendyk slowed early and pulled to the infield meaning that Carter had now clinched at least a tie for the championship and Cayden would win it outright as he chased Dickey the entire 15-laps to finish second. Andrew Schroeder would take the third spot ahead of VanDenBerg while former Late Model driver Tommy Elston finished in the fifth spot.
Dustin Griffiths was another driver who only had to start his feature to earn a track championship and by taking the green flag the Ottumwa driver made it two Hobby Stock titles in a row at the Southern Iowa Speedway. The rest of the race did not go well for Griffiths though as he slipped high in turn three early and clipped the guardrail causing him to lose some spots and then a few laps later the champion slowed with a flat tire and pulled to the infield. Brandon Potts had secured the lead from his front row starting spot and with the favored groove right around the cushion on both ends Craig Brown tried to force a mistake from the young driver while running second. That miscue never came though and Potts went flag-to-flag for the win. Brown was second, Steve Allen finished third ahead of Danny Thrasher while Dale Porter recovered from a lap nine spin that saw Jared Stephens black flagged for rough driving to finish fifth.
The IMCA Stock Car feature was saved for last tonight as Mike Hughes and Cayden Carter entered the event in a tie for the points lead, so whomever finished better of the two would walk off with the 2015 track championship. Rookie driver Mike Brown and ageless veteran Jerry Pilcher would bring the field to green for 18 laps, but it would be the fourth starting Zach VanderBeek who would find his way to the front on the opening lap. Carter advanced quickly from his fourth row start and moved to second behind his Kelderman Racing teammate while Hughes found his way to fourth trying to get by Pilcher. Carter would be able to pull even with VanderBeek in the corners only to have the leader use the momentum off the top side to hold him off and that would be how they would finish with "Kelderman's Komets" one-two for one last time on a Wednesday night. Hughes was able to pass Pilcher coming off of turn four to the checkers, but his third-place finsh would leave him one point shy of Cayden Carter who carded two track titles in one night. Nathan Wood rounded out the top five.
With the regular season now in the books the Southern Iowa Speedway will now prepare for the annual Musco Lighting Fall Challenge here next Friday and Saturday October 2nd & 3rd.
Five Late Model drivers, Billy Moyer, Billy Moyer Jr., Ryan Gustin, Matt Furman and Paul Glendenning used the night to get some hot laps in before the three night run of the Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals and during one of his last runs Furman hit the wall hard in turn one. His crew will have some work to do if he is to be one of more than 60 drivers who will take to the legendary Knoxville Raceway tonight and you can check back into the Back Stretch tomorrow for a report.
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