T-Mac Dominates Sprints, Weekly Classes Shine at Oskaloosa

Terry McCarl left little doubt as to who would win the special appearance of the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night, while in the track's five regular weekly divisions there were plenty of lead changes to keep a nice-sized crowd warm on a brisk May evening.

Twenty-one winged 360 c.i. Sprint Invaders signed in for action and the talented veteran McCarl drew the front row of the opening heat race where he established his dominance with an easy victory. The promoter of the annual Front Row Challenge event here at the Southern Iowa Speedway, this year to be held on Monday August 8th, "T-Mac" had to start in the third row of the Budweiser Shake Up Dash where he came up just short of catching winner Jamie Ball. With Ball drawing a two for the "shake up" that put John Schulz on the pole of the 25-lap main event, but with the West Burlington driver feeling a bit under the weather on this night, Schulz chose to start from the rear instead to make a few laps and that moved McCarl up from third to first on the starting grid.


McCarl quickly opened a sizable lead on Ball and had five lapped cars between the two by lap eleven when Ricky Montgomery slammed the turn one guardrail and then rode out a scary looking series of helicopter spins before his car came to rest in turn two. Montgomery emerged from the wreckage under his own power although action was delayed for nearly twenty minutes as track crews worked to remove a piece of the car from the guardrail and to make sure that the barrier was safe to continue racing.

Ball was able to stay within sight of the leader following the restart, but just as heavier traffic loomed ahead on lap seventeen the caution waved as Chris Martin slowed with a shredded left rear tire. The 18-year-old Martin was the winner of the season opener and came into the night as the early point leader. He was running fourth at the time.

Terry McCarl on the fly - Barry Johnson photo

McCarl again drove away from Ball on the restart and the lead increased when Ball had to deal with a challenge from Wayne Johnson in the closing laps. McCarl would go on to record his tenth career win with the Sprint Invaders earning the $1,500 top prize while Johnson slipped by Ball on the final lap to finish in second. The winner here last year, Ball would take third on this night with Jarrod Schneiderman fourth and two-time defending series champion passed Nate Van Haaften on the final lap to finish fifth. Josh Schneiderman, who was unable to make the start in his heat race due to mechanical issues, started 21st and finished eighth.

The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders return to action on Wednesday May 18th at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines.

Car counts were up in all five classes from the last race held here a couple of weeks ago and with the standard IMCA method of lining up by average points inverted the racing action was crisp throughout the night.

Thirteen Sport Compacts would start off the feature races with a 10-lap event where Durant's Jake Benischek moved quickly to the front after starting on the outside of the third row. Benischek appeared to have this one in grasp even though Cody Van Dusen was picking his through the field coming from ninth to second. As Benischek took the white flag he had a lapped car to deal with entering turn one and, when the leader gave the lapper plenty of room, Van Dusen filled the gap and drove under Benischek to take the lead and the apparent victory. Later though I learned that Van Dusen had been disqualified in tech for an "illegal throttle body" and the win was officially given to Jake Benischek. Levi Heath would take second, Shane Evans third and Brad Havel was fourth.

Jake Benischek inherited the Sport Compact win - Barry Johnson photo

The Hobby Stock count swelled to 20 this week and it was Brad Stephens who moved from his second starting spot into the lead at the drop of the green in this 15-lap affair. Dustin Griffiths moved into challenge and pulled even with Stephens at one point as they raced down the back stretch. Stephens was able to fend off that challenge and continued to hold off Griffiths until the caution waved for a Jamie Songer spin with four laps remaining. Stephens would hold the lead for one lap after the restart as Griffiths drove to the bottom of turn one and then closed the door in two to take the lead on lap thirteen. The former leader took one look at the bottom coming to the white flag but the former track champion and 2014 All Iowa Points Champion Griffiths would close out the victory with Stephens in second. Danny Thrasher and Nick Ulin came from a fourth row start to finish in third and fourth respectively while Craig Brown moved from tenth at the start to fifth at the checkers.

The Stock Cars are still a bit short on counts with twelve tonight, but it shouldn't have mattered to anybody who witnessed this thriller as the division once again lived up to its Southern Iowa Speedway reputation. Nathan Wood would take the lead from the pole in this 18-lap event with the winner of the Frostbuster here in late March, Derrick Agee providing the challenge. Agee would drive under Wood to take the lead on lap four. Nathan would fight back though and get to the inside of Agee as the two completed lap seven in door-to-door formation. Wood would regain the lead as lap nine was scored only to have Agee move back to the front on lap ten. Laps eleven and twelve would see Wood in the lead before Agee regained the advantage with five laps to go.

Obviously the race for the lead was very entertaining, but the action behind them might have been even more intense as drivers raced two and three-wide for position. Cayden Carter had started eighth on the grid and he had now emerged into third and he was now set to make it a three-wide battle for the lead in the closing laps. Carter pulled to the inside of Agee on lap fourteen, but when the leader pinched him down Cayden faded back to fourth before storming back once again. With just two laps remaining Carter completed the pass on Agee, the sixth and final official lead change in the non-stop event as he claimed the checkers. Wood slipped by Agee on the final turn to take second while Mike Hughes and Jason See filled out the top five.

Derrick Agee (top), Nathan Wood (52) and Cayden Carter race three-wide for the lead - Barry Johnson photo

Austin Paul started from the front row of the 16-lap Sport Mod main event and did everything he could to open up a big enough lead before defending track champion Curtis Van Der Wal emerged from the pack. Coming from eighth, Van Der Wal tracked down the leader and passed Paul on lap nine on his way to yet another convincing win at his hometown track. Paul finished in second followed by Carter VanDenBerg, Brett Lowry and Logan Anderson. Matthew Van Gelder continues to show improvement by winning his heat race and running in the top five until the final laps.

Richie Gustin drove Shawn Ritter's car to victory - Barry Johnson photo

The 17-car field of IMCA Modifieds was loaded with talent and their 20-lap feature event would close out the evening. Cayden Carter and Kelly Shryock made up a stout front row and as the field took the green contact between the third row starters Dennis LaVeine and Tyler Groenendyk sent the field scrambling with LaVeine and previous winner Ricky Thornton Jr. having to go to the rear for the restart. On the next start, as the field completed the first lap, Oregon native Tom Berry Jr. would get clipped in the right rear sending him hard nose first into the front stretch guardrail. Once underway, Carter would hold the lead until lap six when Shryock drove under him in turn four. Cayden though would come right back on the following lap to regain the lead holding back Shryock until the caution waved for a Jason Hall spin on lap eleven. Richie Gustin, driving Shawn Ritter's #7SR had come from ninth to third and when Shryock chose the outside of the first row for the restart, Gustin powered to the inside of turn one to take the lead away from Carter. Gustin would then drive away in the closing laps to take the win ahead of Carter and Shryock. Colt Mather finished in fourth while Thornton rallied from the rear of the field to finish in fifth.

Even with the delay for the fence repair, promoter Mike VanGenderen and his crew pulled off a six division show (including Sprint Cars!) in three and a half hours. Weekly racing action continues next Wednesday night in Oskaloosa while tonight (Thursday) MVG and the gang will present another big show at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson. The MLRA Late Models will headline joined by the "Lee County" Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Sport Mods and Sport Compacts. Hope to see you there!