During the offseason when Stuart Speedway promoter Mike Van Genderen scheduled the 2nd Annual Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel for June 1st, 2nd and 3rd little did he know that it would be the first opportunity for race fans in Iowa to be back in the stands. In fact it would have been beyond anybody's wildest dreams, but as it turned out this three day event showcasing the IMCA Northern Sport Mods and the IMCA Stock Cars each racing for $3,000 to win was perfectly timed and then throw in the IMCA Modifieds on Wednesday night looking for a $1,000 top prize in the Bill Davis Sr. Memorial and you had the perfect way to say "Welcome Back Race Fans!"
Qualifying action from Monday and Tuesday had set the first four rows in both the Sport Mods and Stock Cars with sixteen more drivers completing the field from Wednesday's heat races and Last Chance events. Both divisions would race for fifty laps on the quarter-mile that was groomed to perfection before each main event yielding plenty of three and four wide action along with the occasional slide jobs that would bring the crowd to their feet.
The Sport Mods were the first Duel to take the green with defending champion Brayton Carter racing to the early lead from his outside front row starting spot. After staring third, Cody Thompson was on the hunt and his low line would prove to be the best as he took the lead from Carter on lap seven, one lap before the first caution of the raced waved for Brandon Patava's spin in turn two. One the restart Carter's high line picked up speed and he would sail past Thompson to lead again on lap ten with a second caution waving on lap fourteen when Hunter Longnecker sat sideways in turn three.
On the restart Jonathan Logue who had started eighth, and Josh Most who had come from ninth joined the battle for the lead as Carter continued to set the pace until lap twenty-seven when Patava slowed with suspension issues in turn three. On this restart the first slider of the race was thrown by Thompson as they entered turn one, but as he drifted to the cushion Carter drove back under him to maintain the lead. The action at the front was tight and with traffic getting involved as the laps clicked away something must have happened to Carter as something broke on the left front of his car allowing Thompson to go back to the point as lap forty-one was scored. As he tried to steer his damaged mount into turn three, perhaps a tap from Most as he darted to the cushion sent Carter for a spin and the caution waved as the defending champion retired to the pit area.
Logue and Most were now poised to challenge Thompson for the win and when Logue attempted a slide job in turns three and four with seven laps remaining he lost momentum allowing Thompson to pull away. But the caution would wave again with four laps to run when Adam Bohlman spun in turn two and that brought Thompson back to his challengers for the restart. Again Cody started to pull away and he had victory in his grasp racing through turns three and four for the final time when the caution had to wave for a three car stack up in in turn one. It would have been too risky to have drivers racing hard for position to the checkers in this high paying event with cars sitting on the track just beyond the finish line, so now Thompson would have to withstand a green, white checkered restart.
Logue was now up to the challenge though and instead of using the slide job to make his move, the second generation driver stuck it on the bottom and kept it there pulling even with Thompson as the two took the white flag. Both drivers did their best to hit their marks on two separate grooves over that final trip around the quarter-mile and the crowd came to their feet as they exited turn four with Logue winning by no more than a foot at the checkers. Thompson had to be a dejected runner-up after having the race well in hand not once, but twice during final ten laps. Most would finish in the third position with Colby Fett taking fourth. Nebraska's Colby Langenberg made a late charge on the cushion to complete the top five after starting from the tenth row.
It would be a tough act to follow, but you knew that the Stock Cars would be up to the challenge with a stout field of twenty-four going for fifty laps. Monday night's winner Elijah Zevenbergen would start from the pole and after the first start produced an accordion effect stack up that sent Jay Schmidt for a spin in turn three, Zevenbergen would set a quick early pace. The battle for position behind him was intense with young Dallon Murty making his way up from sixth to second and his father, Damon also quickly moved into the top five after starting twelfth.
Wisconsin visitor Luke Lemmens was racing in the fourth position on lap twenty-one when he went for a spin in turn three and after the caution he found his way up to the side of Wisconsin native Troy Jerovetz, perhaps to exchange pleasantries or disdain for possible contact leading to the spin. When the lineup was reset Zevenbergen now had both of the Murtys and their #99 cars behind him and after a few laps back to green another #99, this one driven by Jesse Sobbing who had started thirteenth, was now racing in fourth and looking to advance further.
Dallon was riding the leader's bumper around the top, but when the youngster bobbled slightly in turn two that allowed Damon to move to second on lap thirty-seven. Dad would start to search for a different line than Zevenbergen's and when he tried to go low with six laps remaining that allowed his son to sail back around him and into second just before the caution waved for Chance Hollatz who had slowed entering turn three.
We were now set up for six laps of action as Zevenbergen would try to ward off the trio of 99's and it would be Dallon once again right on his bumper waiting for a mistake. When the white flag waved Murty kicked it off the cushion in turn two and then drove to the bottom in turn three again bringing the crowd to their feet. As he slid up to the cushion in turn four though, Zevenbergen calmly turned down the track and used his momentum to win the race by a full car length at the checkers. Dallon would settle for second ahead of his father Damon as Sobbing finished fourth, and fifth went to Abe Huls who spent most of the race digging around the bottom.
If one hundred laps of exciting racing wasn't already enough, the Modifieds would come to the track to run twenty-five plus one in honor of Bill Davis Sr. and it would be Todd Shute leading the way with Joel Rust and Cayden Carter in hot pursuit. It would take until lap fifteen before the leaders were in traffic and to show how strong of a field this was one of the first cars to go a lap down was Anthony Roth, the driver from Columbus, Nebraska, who won eleven feature races in 2019. Shute had cleared him but as they raced into turn three on lap seventeen, contact from the second place car of Carter would send Roth for a spin bringing out the first caution of the event.
On the restart Shute maintained the lead for another lap before the caution flew again when Jesse Dennis smacked the outside barrier in turn two and it would be this next restart that would decide the race. As Shute brought the field through turns three and four, Carter timed it perfectly going to the top to get a run off the cushion. He would then drive to the bottom of Shute entering turn one and complete the pass by shutting the door on him in two. There would be no catching "The Gasman" from there as he would pull away over the closing laps to collect $1,000. Eighth starting Tim Ward and ninth starting Tom Berry Jr. both slipped by Shute over the closing laps to finish second and third respectively while Shute and Rust completed the top five.
IMCA Hobby Stocks were also in action tonight for a track points race and their sixteen lap main event was the first of the night. Dylan Nelson would come from fourth to take the lead on the opening lap, but when he pushed up the track on the second circuit that allowed pole-sitter Brandon Long to get to the point. Brandon Cox was on the move from fifth taking the lead from Long on lap four and he would maintain the advantage through two restarts for spins by opening night winner Chuck Madden Jr.
On lap ten Nelson would battle back on the inside of turn four to regain the advantage, but when he again pushed up the track in turn four a lap later that allowed Cox to return to the lead and the eventual victory. Solomon Bennett would be the runner-up with Nelson in third, Miciah Hidelbaugh was the hard charger coming from thirteenth to fourth and Travis Fenton edged out Jason Kohl by a bumper to take fifth.
There is one thing that I want to point out, because I know that some Race Directors actually do read and listen to things like this. In the 36 car field for the Modifieds there were four heat races with the top five advancing to the main event and one B-Main where four cars completed the twenty-four car feature field. Read that again, just ONE B-Main is needed in this format, not two where you run the risk of unbalanced counts due to scratches and,or unbalanced fields from a quality standpoint. In this writer's opinion, two B-Mains in a field of up to forty cars is the equivalent of giving participation trophies to everybody so that they can all go home happy.
With 142 laps of exciting feature racing this show still wrapped up by around 10:30 and it was a happy drive home thinking about how I could give my best effort at describing the great action. A big thank you to Mike Van Genderen and his entire staff for the hospitality and I am hoping that I can return again next Wednesday night June 10th when the Malvern Bank SLMR Late Models will be in action!
My attention now turns to some traditional non-wing Sprint Car racing close to home this weekend with the POWRi WAR and Iowa Sprint League cars at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson on Friday night and the USAC National Sprint Cars at 34 Raceway west of Burlington on Saturday. Hope to see you on the Back Stretch!
No comments:
Post a Comment