It was cold, it was windy, it was even a little wet around the edges, but that did not stop the season opener at the Southern Iowa Speedway Wednesday night. While a light rain fell during hot laps, only a few sprinkles would dot the rest of the show even though a more steady rain was falling within miles both east and west of the track. Despite these less than ideal conditions a fair number of fans showed up to watch a field of cars that exceeded my expectations and the action definitely kept my mind off of the weather for most of the two hour and forty minute show.
The class without a home, the Dirt Trucks were on hand tonight with a respectable field of thirteen and they would be the first feature to hit the track. It looked as though they were racing for big money though as they flared out four-wide at the start with contact sending Brett Moyer for spin in turn two on the opening lap. On the restart the mad scramble resumed and this time it got ugly as contact with Eric Lundstrom turned Tony Moro nose first into the guardrail at the flagstand and, with Lundstrom still digging, Moro's truck went for a wild set of barrel rolls sending parts and pieces flying everywhere. When it finally ended there was a hush over the crowd as Moro, now in full view, sat motionless for a few seconds as the safety crew arrived, but there was soon a great sense of relief as the veteran driver and former promoter of the Iowa State Fair Speedway climbed out of the mangled mess under his own power.
As the track was cleared it was the only time that I felt really cold on the night, especially since the wind seemed to pick up at about the same time. Once back to racing the drivers settled in and it would be long-time Stock Car driver Steve Jackson wheeling one of Lou Sipolt's Mediacom Xtream sponsored trucks to a flag-to-flag victory. Brad Moyer would chase him the distance in second, Sipolt was third, Anthony Moro, the grandson of Tony finished fourth and Andrew Clark picked up the fifth spot when Corey Stout suffered a flat tire on the final lap.
It took several years to catch on, but now with groups of drivers traveling in from more than seventy miles away the IMCA Sport Compact class had a field of sixteen sign in, the most that I can ever remember for a weekly show here and the field was stout with several drivers who have proven that they can find their way to victory lane. There seems to be a new sheriff in town though and his name is Daniel Fellows as the rookie driver started in the third spot, went to the lead off turn two in the opening lap and then maintained a comfortable advantage through the entire five mile distance to win his third feature over the past five nights after also taking the checkers in Eldon and Quincy. Fellow Keokuk drivers Jake Dietrich and Josh Barnes finished second and third with Barnes, the defending IMCA Super Nationals champion, driving Barry Taft's #57 this night. Ottumwa's Brandon Housley was fourth while West Liberty Raceway regular Cody Van Dusen completed the top five. Another Liberty regular, Levi Heath was racing in third at the mid-race point when he pulled to the infield with mechanical issues.
The Stock Car field was a bit light with twelve, but as regular fans of the Southern Iowa Speedway know, eight, twelve, eighteen or a full field of twenty-four, you are always going to get your money's worth when the division is on the track and once again the Stock Cars delivered the race of the night with a thrilling three-car battle that wasn't decided until the final lap. Defending track champion Louis Lynch would lead the first of 18-laps before division rookie Dustin Griffiths powered by on lap two. Griffiths had started seventh so his early charge was impressive, but so too was the run by Mike Hughes who had come from tenth to second in just a couple of laps around the fast and smooth half-mile. Derrick Agee would lock in as well and the three leaders would break away from the rest of the field that was having their own battles all the way to the back with no drivers lagging behind.
With Griffiths hugging the bottom Hughes showed patience waiting for a mistake, but when the rookie did not make one Hughes made a couple of tries at the next groove up. The challenger had to be careful though because Agee was there to steal the second spot if the new groove was not successful and after a couple of tries Hughes settled back in on the leader's rear bumper. Entering turn one with just three laps to go, Griffiths pushed just a bit in turn one and that was the opening that Hughes was looking for as he stuck a nose under the leader and pulled even going down the back stretch. Griffiths held his ground though and they would continue to run wheel-to-wheel through three and four and down the front chute with Dustin still scored the leader by a nose on lap sixteen.
With Agee waiting to pounce just behind the lead duo, Hughes nosed ahead going down the back stretch and Agee followed him into second as the white flag waved. When Hughes left the bottom open entering turn one on that final lap, Agee dove for the opening and he would pull even with the new leader, but only momentarily as Hughes fought him off and then finished off a thriller in victory lane. Agee finished second, Griffiths will win here this year, but not tonight as he was third, Todd Reitzler had caught the front three and would have been in the mix had there been a few more laps while Jason See filled out the top five.
Jason McDaniel snared the lead from the outside of the front row on the opening lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature and the chase was on as Curtis Van Der Wal settled into second. A caution on lap eleven when division rookie Matt Beal slowed on the back stretch bunched the field once again and when McDaniel blocked Van Der Wal's charge on the restart, Carter VanDenBerg used the high line to drive into second. There would be no keeping up with McDaniel on this night though as "Mighty Mouse" would drive away once again over the final five laps to take the win. It looked like something went amiss on VanDenBerg's car in the final three laps as he would fade to fourth behind Van Der Wal and Logan Anderson while Austin Paul edged out Colton Livezy for fifth at the checkers.
Todd Inman scratched after hot laps and Shawn Ritter dropped a motor in his heat race leaving a nine car field to start the IMCA Modified feature with eight of the drivers more than capable of taking the win. Hunter Marriott and Colt Mather would complete the opening lap side-by-side before Mather would get the advantage on lap two. It would be a high speed chase from there as Todd Shute was also in contention before a caution for debris waved with just two laps remaining. Both Marriott and Shute would have hopes of challenging the leader on the restart, but Mather was just too strong as he drove away for the opening night win at his home track. Marriott went second, Shute third, Cayden Carter started ninth and finished fourth ahead of Andrew Schroeder and Kelly Shryock who was behind the wheel of a yellow #21 car for the night.
Only the die hard fans stuck around for the final feature of the night as the temperature was now 44 and the wind was whistling from the north, straight into the grandstand. With both Dustin Griffiths and Danny Thrasher moving up to the Stock Cars, the Hobby Stock field at Osky could be wide open this year, that is unless many-time IMCA National Champion Shannon Anderson decides to make it his Wednesday night home once again in 2017. Anderson started third, drove under pole-sitter Steve Allen exiting turn two to take the lead on the opening lap and then drove away to win the 15-lap finale unchallenged. Two other drivers who have not been regulars here for the past few years, Eric Stanton and Bill Bonnett finished second and third while Aaron Martin and Scott Shull completed the top five.
Even with the long red flag the six division show wrapped up by 10:10 p.m. and while the car count tonight was nothing to brag about, I do think that it was encouraging to see just how many drivers did come to compete on a night when it would have been real easy to say, "no, I'm staying home." It also appears that Osky will pick up a few more drivers on at least a semi-regular basis as half-milers who no longer have the state fairgrounds to race at look for another venue. Racing action continues next Wednesday night May 3rd and announcer Tony Paris guarantees that it will be warmer. Then, on Wednesday May 10th, the Shottenkirk.com Sprint Invaders will join the program at the Southern Iowa Speedway.
Knowing that I cannot attend any races this weekend anyway I told my friends and colleagues Dick and Joyce Eisele that this would be the LAST race that I would sit at in cold and windy weather this Spring. It was a safe declaration because the weather just has to improve as we head into May, but let me tell you this. If your local track is able to beat the weather this weekend, take the chance, bundle up and head on out because you just might be rewarded with a good night of action like we were Wednesday night.
Always know that you can gets wrap ups from Osky, Marshalltown and Boone in Dick and Joyce's 4dFan Report at Positively Racing! And thank you for reading the 1,000th post of the Back Stretch.
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