It's county fair time in Iowa and on Thursday night that also meant that it was "race night" at the Eldon Raceway "Home of the Super Half-Mile" where a large crowd gathered on a warm night to watch sixty cars race for some solid purses in four classes, highlighted by $1,000-to-win the Stock Cars. Harness racing during the day might have delayed the start of hot laps by a few minutes, but the wait was definitely worth it as this was the best track conditions that I have seen here in many years!
Nineteen Stock Cars were the headliners for the night and even though they were the last feature to be run they will get top billing in this story, especially when they had me on the edge of my seat with at least two instances where drivers were racing four-wide for position. And, in true Stock Car fashion, there was little or no contact in those instances despite the fact that this place has not been known for its wide racing surface.....well at least until perhaps last night!
Corey Strothman drew the pole for the 18-lap main event and when fellow front row starter Riley Newton sent the sparks flying as he scraped the wall in turn three it would be Strothman taking the lead. My focus was mid-pack though where consistent winners Jeff Mueller and Damon Murty were part of that first four-wide scenario racing hard off of turn four. Strothman would open up a solid advantage while drivers scrambled for position and that lead would begin to shrink once Nathan Wood and Mike Hughes settled into second and third. By lap ten Strothman's lead had disappeared and it was now Hughes who was in second and ready to challenge as the leader closed in on the slower car of Michael Brown.
With Brown riding in the favored line around the cushion entering turn three, Strothman decided to pass him low and when he slid back up the track exiting turn four Hughes made a nifty move where he kicked off the cushion to not only get by Brown, but to also drive by Strothman down the front stretch and beating him into turn one. As Hughes began to pull away the race to watch was now for fourth where Gary Harward and Andrew Hustead were doing battle, but contact between the two on lap fourteen turned Hustead head on into the retaining wall just before the flagstand ending his evening.
On the restart drivers again went four-wide, this time exiting turn two as they raced for the third spot, but there would be no catching Hughes who cruised through the final four laps for the big payday. Wood finished in second with Strothman holding on for third, Damon Murty settled into fourth while Derrick Agee held off Mueller for fifth.
The Sport Compacts opened the feature lineup with an entertaining 10-lap event that saw a late arrival drive from the back to the front to take the win. Josh Barnes had his son's t-ball game to attend first on this evening before making the trip from Keokuk to Eldon and he arrived just before intermission ready to tag the tail of the now 15-car main event. As Larry Hopkins raced to the early lead, Barnes was storming through the field coming all the way up to fourth at the completion of lap one. By lap three he was in second and challenging Hopkins for the lead, but Larry was not going to go down easily as he kept his momentum strong by riding the cushion on both ends. Barnes would take away the lead on lap seven just before the caution waved for a Bill Whalen Jr. spin in turn four to necessitate a restart.
As the green flag waved, Barnes missed a gear and dropped back to the fourth position as Hopkins reclaimed the lead and the field raced through turns one and two. Not to be denied though Barnes came charging right back and quickly went back to the front in time to take the white flag first, and then the checkers as he claimed victory. As fast as Josh was he could have went for ice cream after the game, unloaded as the field took the green and started nearly a lap behind and still take the win. Announcer Jeff Kropf then said something during the interview that I was unaware of until last night, Barnes is the grandson of the late Don White who won many a race here at the Eldon Raceway over the years.
Hopkins was very good, but he was still second best on this night, Brandon Housley passed John Whalen in the closing laps to finish third while Matt Moore completed the top five.
The 14-lap Hobby Stock feature definitely had some drama and it was fun to sit in the grandstands where it was obvious that these local drivers each had a vocal cheering section of adoring fans. "Little Daddy" Scottie Shull was as fast as I have ever seen him before, winning his heat race and then outrunning pole-sitter Nick Ulin to hold the early lead in the main event and his fans were loving every minute of it. The first caution of the event waved on lap four when the fourth running Kim Spees spun in turn two and collected three others including contenders Travis Bunnell who won here last Saturday night and former All Iowa Points champion Dustin Griffiths. All three restarted at the back and Griffiths made up several positions in the one lap completed before caution waved for a Justin Millhouse spin in turn two.
Lined up fifth for the next restart, Griffths went way up top in turn one and made a three-wide pass to move to second before the caution waved again on lap seven, this time for a Kelsie Spilman spin in turn three. As Shull brought the field back to green, Griffiths again went to the high line in turn one and as Shull went for his favored spot on the cushion the two made contact and both drivers had to scramble to keep from getting into the wall. This allowed Danny Thrasher, Nick Ulin, Bill Bonnett and Craig Brown to get by with Thrasher leading the eighth lap before Sierra Wilsey spun in turn four.
Six laps now remained and after taking second on the restart the veteran Bonnett applied the pressure to Thrasher even giving the leader a hard shot to the rear bumper entering turn three on the final lap, but "The Dude" held his ground and won for the second night in a row after also taking the checkers Wednesday night in Oskaloosa. Bonnett was second followed by Ulin, Griffiths made his way back up to fourth with Brown and Spees next in line.
The 16-lap Sport Mod feature saw a caution wave on the first try at a start when third-starting Casey Lancaster went for a spin and the second try was waved off as well when Garrett Alexander spun in turn two. After that the race went green all the way until the last hundred yards which was how far the race-long leader Carter VanDenBerg was from taking the checkers before the caution waved instead due to a spin by his cousin, Brayton Carter, in turn two. Brayton had been trying to take third away from Brandon Dale, but lost traction on the low-side of turn two and could not stay in motion as the rest of the field closed in on him.
The green, white, checkers restart proved to be no problem for the 2013 All Iowa Points Champion as VanDenBerg drove away from Jason McDaniel to close out the victory. Tony Johnson made an outside pass of Brandon Dale in turn four coming to the checkers to steal third while Brett Lowry completed the top five.
My fair food choice of the night was from Mr. Taco and I already know that I will be doing the brisket sandwich for dinner and the ice cream sandwich between two homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert when I return to Eldon tonight for the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders. And, if the track is prepared anywhere close to what it was on Thursday we are going to have a lot of fun at the fair tonight. Hope to see you there!
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