There has been a lot of hand wringing and despair lately over the dwindling car counts at several tracks in the Midwest with the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa being one of them. And, if you are the type who stays home and checks the results on SpeedNet the next morning after seeing a total of 50 cars in five classes your assumption would likely be that it was not a good show and that there was nobody there to watch it.
Be careful with what you assume!
The IMCA Sport Compacts were the first of five features to take to the track on this beuatiful night for racing with Brad Havel coming from the third starting spot to take the lead on the opening lap. Cody Van Dusen who started directly behind Havel in fifth soon moved in to challenge and the two leaders ran laps three and four in side-by-side fashion with Havel gaining an edge in turns one and two only to have Van Dusen pull back to even in three and four. With the crossed flags signalling the midway point at lap five, Van Dusen edged ahead at the stripe only to have Havel come charging back on the inside of turn two to regain the lead and he then put a couple of car-lengths between the two before the caution waved on lap eight.
Defending track champion Bill Whalen Jr. had popped a motor entering turn one and the track crew had to take some time to pick up parts and to try to soak up the oil right in the middle of what was Havel's favored groove. On the restart Havel got a bit sideways as he powered through the oil dry and that was the opening that Van Dusen needed as he drove past Havel and closed out the final two laps for his second straight win here in Oskaloosa. Point leader Shane Evans came from eighth to finish third, Ryan Havel was fourth and James Roose completed the top five.
The Hobby Stock feature definitely had the crowd involved as August Bach established the pace after starting the 15-lap event on the front row. Former All Iowa Points Champion Dustin Griffiths picked his way up to second after starting in row three and he would then go to work on the leader with the vocal crowd seemingly an even split between who they were pulling for. Griffiths would stick a nose under Bach a couple of times only to be turned away and Bach seemed to have the race in hand before the caution waved with just two laps remaining for a Kirk Puttmann spin on the back stretch.
The restart allowed Griffiths to get back on the rear bumper of Bach and when the white flag waved Griffiths dove into turn one and slid up in front of Bach even making a bit of contact with the former leader as he closed the door. Not to be denied Bach returned the favor in turns three and four completing the perfect slide job and much to the crowd's delight he would take the checkered flag by a car-length over Griffiths. It was a thrilling finish, but the shine came off of it just a bit when several minutes later it was announced that Bach had been disqualified during post-race tech for a rev limiter infraction. This would make Griffiths the official winner with Travis Bunnell in second, Danny Thrasher thord, Nick Ulin fourth and Bobby Greene picking up the fifth-place check at the end of the night.
Just six IMCA Modifieds would take the green for 16-laps, but when four of those six run the entire distance within about eight total car lengths of each other you tend to forget about that count for the moment. Scott Dickey would set a blistering pace that was being matched by Colt Mather, Andrew Schroeder and Ricky Thornton Jr. with Mather making a couple of unsuccessful runs at the leader over the first ten laps. With Schroeder pulling even with Mather for second it looked like Dickey might slip away, but a caution waved on lap eleven when Greg Cox dropped a motor.
Mather was able to ward off Schroeder on the restart allowing him to set his focus on the leader once again and on lap fifteen when Dickey slid a bit high exiting turn two Mather made his move and took the lead down the back straightaway. Dickey was able to stay close over the closing laps, but could not mount a challenge as the current track point leader Mather took the win over Dickey, Schroeder, Thornton and Jason Hall.
The IMCA Stock Cars were up next for 18-laps and while there was a $200 bounty on the head of Cayden Carter tonight, that will have to wait for a later date as the driver who has won every weekly show here in 2016 decided to race for the big money at the Stock Car Shootout in Mason City on this night instead. Louis Lynch, Mike Hughes and Todd Reitzler would power down the back stretch three-wide for the lead on the opening lap with Hughes establishing himself as the leader as they returned to the stripe. Lynch settled into second and with Hughes hugging the bottom in one and two and riding the top in three and four Lynch tried several different lines to try to make the pass. Damon Murty soon made it a three car battle for the lead and when Lynch got a bit wide while searching for a path around the leader, Murty moved to second with three laps remaining.
Now it would be Murty's turn to try to get by Hughes and while the three-time defending All Iowa Points champion gave it his best try, Mike Hughes would not flinch as he scored the victory. Murty and Lynch were next in line with Derrick Agee and Jason See completing the top five.
The 16-lap Sport Mod feature would close out the night with Scott Brau leading the opening lap before Eric Flander made a rousing fourth-to-first move in turn four on lap two. Flander would stretch his lead out to just more than half a straightaway before Curtis Van Der Wal made his way into second on lap eight, but that lead would then be totally erased when Cory Van Zante spun in turn two. Flander did his best to fight off the challenges from Van Der Wal after the restart, but there is no doubt who the man to beat is here in this division now as Curtis powered past with five to go and he then stretched it out to the victory. Flander has regained his form after sitting out for a couple of seasons and was strong in second while Austin Paul, Matthew Van Gelder and Jason McDaniel filled out the top five.
The racing action was complete before 9:30 and one of the largest crowds that I have seen here on a regular Wednesday night filed out still abuzz over the action that they had witnessed. And, as I walked out with them, I couldn't help but smile knowing that these people were not the type who would be bitching about car counts on social media the next day.
Don't forget that the Southern Iowa Speedway will host two nights of racing action next week with the annual Stock Car Shootout on Tuesday and Wednesday nights before the action moves to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on Thursday. Some big money on the line for the Stock Cars so it should be interesting to see who comes looking for it!
And, if you read my entry from yesterday, here is what I told you that I would be watching the first thing this morning.
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