County fair races are commonplace here in the upper Midwest this time of year and while most fairs will feature one or two nights of action, the Dubuque County Fair schedules three nights of racing during its six-night run and they put up some pretty good money as well. Tuesday night was the opener with an interesting doubleheader featuring the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders and the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA Modifieds and a great crowd rolled in on a beautiful evening.
The Hawkeye Dirt Tour produced a strong field of forty Modifieds with five heat races and three B-Mains needed to determine the 24-car starting field for a 30-lap $1,200-to-win main event. Late Model ace Justin Kay has been running his Modified more recently, especially when there are four digits in front of the decimal on the winner's check and let's just say that the guy has the magic touch when it comes to drawing for position. With only two cars advancing out of the heat races tonight it was a big help to start up front, which Kay did allowing him to walk away with the win in the fifth heat and then for the second HDT event in a row Justin pulled out the #1 pill during the redraw to start the feature from the pole position.
That combination of luck, skill and a well prepared race car produced a feature win last Thursday night in Knoxville after a late race slidejob from Chris Abelson and there was a bit of deja vu in this one as it was Ableson who once again tried that maneuver here in Dubuque following a restart. As Kay drove away from the field in the early laps, the racing for second was intense with Abelson using a slidejob in turns one and two to help him move from his sixth starting spot up to second by lap four. A caution on lap six for a turn two tangle between Jeff Larson and Brian Irvine brought the field back to Kay, but even Abelson who for the third year in a row is the best in the state could not stay with the leader once the green flag reappeared.
The caution waved again on lap seventeen after Bryce Garnhart clipped the track tire and spun in turn four and it would be on this restart where the action for the lead would pick up considerably. Well, at least for a lap or two.
With Abelson choosing the outside of the double row behind the leader, Darin Duffy lined up to his inside and using the momentum off of turn four at the drop of the green Abelson charged to the inside in turn one and slid up the track in front of Kay. Justin calmly kicked off the cushion to drive back under Abelson in turn two, but with both drivers not using their "best line" it allowed the low riding Duffy to actually have the lead off of turn two and down the back straightaway. With Kay now back ahead of Abelson, he drove past Duffy in three and four to retain the lead in the score book and the battle was now on for second as Kay once again drove away from his competition. Duffy would hold off Abelson for a couple of laps until the Sioux City driver used a slider to shut the door on Duffy in turn four and return to the second spot.
As the laps counted down it was Kay once again driving away to a feature win, his fifth this season in a Modified to go along with eight wins in a Late Model, while Abelson who has already tallied twenty-two Modified wins on the season, had to settle for second on this night. Duffy held down the third spot with Ryan DeShaw in fourth and Kelly Shryock made the drive of the night coming from the twelfth row after using a Dirt Tour provisional to finish in fifth.
After watching Abelson use the slidejob on more than one occasion, fans had to be anticipating the final event of the evening as the Sprint Invaders lined up for 25-laps of feature racing on a track that was very wide, but still sported a heavy cushion on both ends. The brothers Schneiderman, Josh and Jarrod would start from the front row and as Josh grabbed the lead it would be their uncle, John Schulz who would apply the pressure throwing sliders at his nephew on both ends during the first two laps. With Josh fighting him off, Schulz then settled into second as the leaders rode the cushion until lap seven when Rob Weuve spun in turn four.
On the restart Schulz again tried to slide the leader in one and two with no success, but in turn three he went in a bit deeper and the two drivers raced side-by-side off of turn four with Schulz holding a slight edge as the lap was scored. Josh Schneiderman would take back the lead in turns one and two, but when the caution flag waved for a slowing Ryan Jamison it would be Schulz who would be out front for the restart. It was a tough break for the three-time Sprint Invader champion Jamison who was making the low groove work coming from seventh to fourth before his mechanical issues.
With the restart it was now the nephew's turn to toss out the sliders as both drivers treated each other with respect, something that these two would have done even if it wasn't a family member that they were racing against, and just like earlier the leader was able to turn back under the challenger to hold the lead down the straightaways. Weuve spun again in the same spot on lap fifteen and the sliders came back again following the restart until Schulz was able to pull away. Schneiderman was making up ground as the white flag waved, but with a lapped car on the bottom he could not make one last bid as Schulz scored the win, his second of the season. Josh Schneiderman finished second with current point leader Chris Martin third, Jarrod Schneiderman was fourth and Cody Wehrle came from tenth to finish fifth. Wehrle had to fight off the late challenges from Damian Getchell who had found the middle line around the track to his liking as he advanced from twelfth to sixth with Harold Pohren, Jacob Glasgow, Tim Moore and Bob Weuve completing the top ten.
The Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders next action will be a weekend doubleheader on Friday August 19th at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and Saturday August 20th at 34 Raceway near Burlington.
Sport Mods were also in action Tuesday night with eighteen cars signed in and 15-laps of racing action to determine who would collect the $450 winner's check. Jeff Gear would lead the opening lap before Tyler Soppe stormed by, but when Soppe spun at the exit of turn four on lap eight that would allow Troy Bauer to assume the lead. "King Kong" was not about to let that gift slip away as he held off Austin Schrage to take the win and Bauer celebrated by pounding his chest in victory lane. Timmy Current recovered from a lap three spin to race his way up to third. Mark Maas was fourth by inches over Tony Olson while Soppe charged back up to sixth at the checkers.
Racing action at the Dubuque County Fair continues tonight with the Julien Dubuque Classic featuring the Late Models and Modifieds and the fair will close out its run on Sunday with another night of IMCA racing action.
Christine told me that I could go racing again tonight, but I might just take care of some chores around the house in hope that the weather cooperates for Thursday's World of Outlaws Late Model and MOWA Sprints twinbill at Quincy. Hope to see you there!
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