If the Southern Iowa Speedway had one of those "Pick 'Em" contests where fans had to guess the four feature winners as they passed through the ticket gate there would have been several winners splitting the pot on Wednesday night as drivers who have won many times before here at the Speedway celebrated opening night wins. The weather was near perfect for a late April opener and a solid field of sixty-one cars in four divisions were in action. And, if you ever wondered if going to a race on a Wednesday night is a good idea or not with work or school the next day, keep in mind that this show was scored and in the books at 9:12 p.m. and that included a delay for a red flag incident.
The Sport Compacts were up first come feature time with Bill Whalen Jr. and Nathan Moody bringing the twelve car field to green. Coming down the front stretch Moody got crossed up, made hard contact with the third starting Brandon Housley and then rolled his car one and a half times just before the flagstand. All drivers were okay and while there was no serious damage in the melee it did eliminate Moody, Housley, Ryan Havel and Bryan Clausson for the evening. On the second try at a start Whalen, who ranks second on the all-time list for Four Cylinders in the All Iowa Points, raced out the the lead with Jason Breuklander in hot pursuit. Meanwhile behind them Cody Phillips was making his way toward the front after starting eighth, but when he got to third at the mid-point of the ten lap race he was a full straightaway behind the leaders.
Whalen kept Breuklander a couple of car lengths back, but Phillips was closing quickly and as the leader crossed the stripe on lap eight the right front tire blew out on Breuklander's car nearly sending him into the turn one guardrail. The caution waved and while it looked like we would have a two lap shootout between Whalen and Phillips that went to the wayside when Phillips pulled into the infield during the caution. Jimmy Haring did keep Whalen within his sights over the final laps but there would be no denying the veteran from doing his traditional "Happy Feet" dance in victory lane on opening night. Jimmy Haring was second followed by Tyler Haring with Kyle Boyd and Billy Cain completing the top five.
The Stock Cars had a first lap skirmish of their own as four cars tangled on the back stretch including Mike Harward, Danny Thrasher, Carl Yaw and Howard Gordon Jr. who has returned to racing after taking the past few years off. On the second start Nathan Wood grabbed the lead from the front row and paced the tightly bunched field for the first five laps. Cayden Carter was on the move from sixth and he went from third to first on laps five and six driving under Wood coming off of turn four. Nathan tried to return the favor down the back stretch, but Carter fought him off and then gradually opened up a big lead. The caution waved with two laps remaining when Derrick Agee tried to squeeze back under Ricky Thornton Jr. in turn four with contact turning Agee around and knocking down the left year tire on Thornton's car. The two drivers were racing for third and Thornton had just used the lapped car of Harward to his advantage in turns one and two to take the position away from Agee.
Wood tried to stay with Carter on the restart, but there would be no stopping "The Gasman" who drove away to victory. It should be noted that Cayden helped his cause earlier in the night using the outside line to pass two drivers in the final lap of his heat race just to put himself into the final redraw position. Wood finished second, Mike Hughes came from eleventh to third, Brett Lowry was fourth and Dustin Griffiths finished fifth.
Sixteen laps was the distance for the Sport Mod feature and Curtis Van Der Wal remains the man to beat in this division at his hometown track. Jason Hall was impressive leading the opening laps until Jason McDaniel slipped by him on lap four. Van Der Wal who started sixth followed McDaniel into second and chased the leader for several laps sizing him up for a challenge. On lap nine Curtis powered to the high side in turn one and drove around McDaniel for the lead and while Jason was able to keep pace for a few laps he soon lost touch as Van Der Wal cruised to another convincing victory. McDaniel finished second ahead of Brayton Carter who came from seventh. Cory Van Zante took the fourth position while young Blaine Webster was fifth.
The twenty car field of Hobby Stocks would close out the evening with fifteen laps of action with the front row of Mike Kincaid and Aaron Martin running lap one side-by-side. Kincaid had the edge at the stripe on lap one, but it would be Martin taking the lead from there. The caution waved on lap six when Derek Kirkland reportedly had the steering wheel come off his car before he was able to stop in turn three and on the restart Dustin Griffiths would power to the lead. With the track no longer being IMCA sanctioned the 2014 All Iowa Points Hobby Stock champion can now bring both cars to the track and he would go on to take the win after starting from the fourth row. Scottie Shull proved that not only does a he drive a "car show worthy" Hobby Stock, it is fast as well as he moved from tenth to second. Early All Iowa Points leader Eric Stanton charged from eleventh to third, Martin held on for fourth and Brandon Cox completed the top five.
In some other notes from opening night it was great to see a nice crowd fill in by race time with the first green flag actually waving five minutes before the advertised starting time of 7:30.......I counted fifty-two brightly painted sponsor signs in the infield along the front stretch and both drivers and fans need to take notice of those as they are the primary reason why there is still racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in 2018. Support those who support the sport!......What a thrill it had to be for third-generation driver Michael Brown as he held off a stout field of drivers to win the second Stock Car heat of the night. Brown has shown slow, but steady improvement the past two years and this win had to be a big boost to his confidence......Rookie driver Jarrett Vandenberg, a high school student from Oskaloosa, showed some good speed on opening night and once he figures out a consistent entry point to the turns the "Young Gun" will be a force to be reckoned with in the Sport Mod division. Jarrett finished ninth on opening night.
Racing returns to the Southern Iowa Speedway next Wednesday night May 2nd when all college students with their school ID will be admitted to the grandstands for free, a perfect way to take a break from studying for finals and have some fun. And let's just say that you don't have to be a college kid to have some fun on Wednesdays in Oskaloosa!
Tonight I plan on making the trip up to Marshalltown for night one of their Highbanks Hustle doubleheader. Hope to see you there!
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