Graduation parties and racing at 34 Raceway kept my weekend hopping before this Memorial Day when we honor the men and women who have served our country with some giving the ultimate sacrifice.
Saturday night I made it to the track just in time for the feature races and the IMCA Stock Cars were the first of six. Shane Watts inherited the pole position when Dean Kratzer dropped to the back after the parade lap and Watts made the most of the gift by going flag to flag to score the win. John Oliver Jr. was a distant second, Jake Wenig finished third, Tom Bowling Jr. recovered from a lap two pit stop to finish fourth and John Brockway completed the top five.
The 305 Sprints had their twenty lap feature slowed by three cautions, plus a red flag when Andy Krieger went for a tumble in turn two. Even with all the restarts nobody could match the pace of Dillan Roth though as the young driver scored his first career feature win. Jarrod Schneiderman ran second early, faded a bit mid-race, and then battled his way back to second at the checkers just ahead of his uncle John Schulz who had started eighth. Daniel Bergquist and Brandyn Martin filled out the top five. Damian Getchell had a nice run going coming from eleventh up to fourth charging to the high side in turns three and four, but on lap eleven he pushed it just beyond the limit and spun sending him to the back of the field.
Veteran drivers Rich Smith and Dean McGee paced the IMCA Modified main event for the first half of the 20-lap race before Brandon Rothzen took the lead on lap thirteen and walked away for his second straight win. Rothzen is definitely fun to watch here as he uses every inch of the racetrack never content to just ride behind somebody in a favored groove. McGee and Smith ran second and third followed by Jeff Waterman and Dennis LaVeine. With several tracks in the region rained out I thought that I might see some visitors and two in the Modified class were Tim Hamburg of Dixon, Illinois, and Matt Webb of Des Moines. They finished tenth and eleventh respectively.
Some visitors in the Sport Mod division swelled the field to twenty-two and unfortunately this race was marred by seven cautions. There was definitely some good racing when the green flag could stay on display and after the pole-sitter Creston Williams led lap one, his fellow front row starter Dan Keltner took over on lap two and held off Brandon Lennox late to take the win. Lennox had started the race from the sixth row. Williams finished third just ahead of last week's winner Sean Wyett while Austen Becerra was fifth. Defending All Iowa Points champion Tony Olson made the trip to 34 after the Independence Motor Speedway rained out and he charged up from the tenth row to finish seventh. Aaron Mitchell was also impressive in his first trip to the track moving from 15th to 8th at the checkers.
The IMRA Midgets pulled a solid field of fourteen with Andy Baugh passing Jeff Mallonee mid-race to take the win. Gedd Ross dropped Brent Burgus to fourth late in the race and Ryan Jamison was fifth. Burgus was also a first-time entrant in the winged 305 Sprints, but suffered mechanical problems mid-race.
The Four Cylinders rounded out the evening and as Kimberly Abbott raced away to the easy win the three car battle for second was intense with plenty of bumping, grinding and paint swapping along the way. Jerrod Nichols prevailed as the runner-up ahead of Brandon Lambert and Ron Kibbe while Ottumwa's Kyle Bond was fifth in his first appearance here.
With a couple more parties to attend on Sunday afternoon I ended up driving nearly over 160 miles to get to the track that is just 20 miles from my doorstep as the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders were the top draw for Sunday's show along with the Crate Late Models and three groups of Vintage Cars. There was a lot of Sprint Car racing going on in the region on this Sunday night with MOWA at Quincy, the NSL at Des Moines and the ASCS Warrior Region at Double X Speedway in Missouri so I was pleased to see the Invaders have the best car count of the bunch with twenty-five in attendance.
Mechanical issues made it an early night though for J.C. Bland, Ryan Jamison and Andy Krieger so with twenty-two cars remaining it was decided to skip the B-Main and start everybody instead of the normal twenty-car A-Main for the series. Lapped cars definitely played a major role in the 25-lap feature as leader Jon Agan was already in traffic on lap four and slower traffic was involved in two of the three red flag incidents. Fourth-running Harold Pohren hopped the wheel of a lapper and went for a hard ride in turn three and later in the race Donnie Steward and Jerrod Schneiderman were racing hard for a top five spot when they split a lapped car and then ran into each other. Bad luck also struck Dustin Clark who had an impressive top-five run going before he tumbled on the turn four cushion collecting Damian Getchell along the way.
It was a tough night for several drivers, but for one driver it was perhaps his first good night of the year as Jon Agan completed the clean sweep just one night after being involved in a red-flag incident of his own at the Knoxville Raceway. Agan had to fight of a stiff challenge from young Chris Martin on the second restart to preserve the lead and the two-time defending champion completed the sweep by winning his heat, the Budweiser Shake Up Dash and the feature in convincing fashion. Definitely a good way to start a week where he will put racing on the back burner and take his family on a fun Florida vacation.
Martin continues to impress and after this strong runner-up showing and he might just be the man to beat for this year's title. Josh Schneiderman returned to form tonight as well coming from fourteenth at the start to third at the checkers. The next event for the Sprint Invaders will be on Friday June 17th during the Wapello County Fair in Eldon.
Jeff Guengerich was the best of the ten car Late Model field driving the Lynn Richard owned car #15R to a convincing win. With Guengerich in control the race was for second as Sam Halstead held off Colby Springsteen and Tommy Elston for the position. Wisconsin transplant Todd Frank was fifth.
I would love to be in Vinton tonight for the double Modified features including the opener for the Hawkeye Dirt Tour, however a four state business trip that begins tomorrow will keep me home instead. If the timing works out and the weather cooperates though I might just be able to slip in a couple of races along the way before returning to the MLRA doubleheader at Osky on Thursday and Donnellson on Friday.
Check back into the Back Stretch and see where I end up!
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