Thornton's Invasion Of Iowa Continues At Osky

There has to be some level of culture shock coming from the Phoenix metro area, where the population is 4.5 million and growing, to the small town of Harcourt, Iowa, population 289, but the opportunity to race his IMCA Modified at least four nights a week without ever having to cross a state line has to be appealing to Ricky Thornton Jr. A job at Karl's Performance and a new Victory chassis by Moyer are pretty good selling points as well and the new setting has worked out quite nicely as Thornton picked up his third feature win of the week during Wednesday night's regular season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa.

The Frostbuster winner at both Boone and Vinton last weekend, Thornton lined up seventh in the 13-car starting grid that featured plenty of talent including three other drivers who already have wins on the young season in Josh Foster, Kelly Shryock and Zack VanderBeek. It would be Foster who would set the quick early pace and when Shryock slipped past Cayden Carter for second on lap four he would already find himself a half straightaway back from the leader. Foster was the only driver working the low line in turns three and four and it was on that west end of the speedway where Shryock would gradually cut into that lead. It was down to just a couple of car lengths at the mid-point of the 20-lap distance and just after Foster put a lap on Steve Streeter on lap twelve, Streeter smacked the guardrail in turn one to produce the first caution of the race.

Ricky Thornton Jr. races to the inside of Zack VanderBeek - Barry Johnson photo

On the restart Thornton took over the second spot, but was still chasing Foster when Shryock slowed in turn three on lap fifteen while running third. For this restart it was Foster out front with Thornton choosing the outside in the first double row and as the field came to green Foster's bottom line exiting turn four was no match for Thornton who flew by him coming down the front straightaway. To make matters worse for Foster, he slipped high in turn one and that allowed both Colt Mather and VanderBeek to drive by as well changing the race from what looked like a sure win for Foster before the caution to now a struggle to hold on for fourth.

Ricky Thornton Jr. - Barry Johnson photo

The Arizona transplant would drive away over the final three laps to score the win and in victory lane he promised to be back often on Wednesday nights this season. Mather would hold off VanderBeek to finish second while Foster would take fourth ahead of Groenendyk. It was good to see the USMTS regular and now reigning "King of America" race winner VanderBeek having an IMCA legal car to race mid-week here at his home track. Jason Hall has stepped up from the Sport Mods to the Modifieds in 2016 although he struggled with a DNF on this night and Dennis LaVeine of Burlington was a surprise entrant in his first-ever appearance here in a Modified where he finished sixth. LaVeine told me before the night's action that the only other time that he raced here at Osky was in the mid-90's when he drove a Late Model in a Deery Brothers Summer Series event. The veteran driver plans to hit some more tracks for the first time this season so don't be surprised to see the red #71 at your track.

Curtis Van Der Wal - Barry Johnson photo

Curtis Van Der Wal is the defending track champion in the Sport Mods and if his performance on this night is any indication, a repeat is definitely in order. Van Der Wal started his heat race in eighth and swept through the field to take the win where he then drew the #4 pill for the main event lineup. Pole-sitter Jason McDaniel would lead the first eight laps of the 16-lap feature before Trent Brink spun in turn four. Following the restart Van Der Wal drove deep into turn three and then closed the door on McDaniel in turn four to take the lead and he never looked back cruising to the opening night win. Jake McBirnie would finish in the second spot after starting fifth, Carter VanDenBerg came from eighth to third, Logan Anderson would come home fourth while McDaniel held on for fifth at the checkers. Jared VanDeest and Thomas Egenberger were surprise entrants helping the sport Mod division to lead the way in car count on this night with sixteen.

Cayden Carter - Barry Johnson photo

The Stock Cars were on the other end of the car count standings with ten, but as usual they waged some of the best action of the night even if it was mid-pack and not up front. Cayden Carter started fourth and took the lead coming out of turn four to complete the opening lap and from there he had the Roger Kelderman owned Stock Car on cruise control. Carter would drive away from the field in the non-stop 18-lap event to score the win with Todd Reitzler a straightaway behind. Todd Inman emerged from an entertaining five-car battle to take the third-place check while Mike Hughes and the Frostbuster winner here two weeks ago, Derrick Agee completed the top five. Hughes had started tenth on the field.

Thirteen Sport Compacts signed in and twelve raced producing the largest regular season field that I have seen here in this division and hopefully the contingent of West Liberty Raceway regulars will continue to make the trip west on Wednesday nights. One of those travelers, Shane Evans of Iowa City raced to the lead at the drop of the green and he was never challenged over the ten lap distance to take the win. It was good to see John Whalen back in action as he finished second while Jake Benischek and Jason Breuklander crossed the line side-by-side in third and fourth. Benischek was the big mover in the race having started in the fifth row. Levi Heath crossed the line in fifth, but since he had flared out from his eighth starting spot and had passed row three as the green flag waved he was docked two positions at the pay window giving fifth to Marshalltown's John Gill.

Iowa City's Shane Evans went flag-to-flag to win the Sport Compact main event - Barry Johnson photo

Nick Ulin - Barry Johnson photo

The Hobby Stocks closed out the quick evening of action with a three-car break away that saw Nick Ulin, Danny Thrasher and Dustin Griffith staggered three-wide in turn two on the final lap. The race-long leader Ulin did not flinch in the preferred high line though and he would hold off both Thrasher and Griffiths to take the checkers. August Bach, who I could have sworn I once heard referred to as "Sebastian", finished in the fourth spot while Jared Stephens took fifth. The initial start of the race saw pole-sitter Christian Huffman spin in front of the field exiting turn two, but thankfully everybody missed him and all cars were able to restart. Ulin was also the winner here two weeks ago at the Frostbuster.

The weather was beautiful, the racing was good and we were on our way home by 9:25. Perhaps you should join us at Osky next week? As a race fan it truly is a privilege to have a weekly Wednesday night track and I try to enjoy that privilege as often as possible! See you on the Back Stretch.