In a season that has been plagued by weather thus far, it was nice to make a two hour drive to a race without having to study future radar. Plus, it was nice to have to put on a jacket Monday as the sun went down behind the grandstands of the Independence Motor Speedway as the forecast definitely looks plenty hot in the days ahead. While the PRO Late Models joined the five weekly divisions on the card, a check of the Tour's 2024 schedule would indicate that this was not a PRO Tour points event and that might explain why the car count was a bit lower than expected at sixteen for the $1,000-to-win purse.
Bobby Hansen and Jeff Aikey would start from the front row for the twenty-five lap headliner and it would be Hansen with the advantage as the field entered turn three for the first time. Things got a bit wild for a few seconds at that point as Aikey would miss the cushion and drive over the top of the banking while second row starters Logan Duffy and Sean Johnson would both charge under Hansen exiting turn four.
It would be Duffy that would have a slight advantage at the stripe to lead lap one, but Johnson would then sail by him in turns one and two to take the point. With Johnson now opening up his lead, Duffy also put some distance on an entertaining race for third as Matt Ryan and Nick Marolf applied the pressure to Hansen. The first caution would wave when Marolf slipped over the top of turn three and on the restart both Johnson and Duffy would again put some distance on everybody else.
Two more laps would be scored before Aikey dropped off the track entering turn one and in the final nine circuits there would be no touching Johnson who would take the convincing win. Duffy would take the runner-up honors as Ryan settled for third. Hansen would get hung out on the high side on that final restart and he would fade to tenth at the checkers as Greg Kastli advanced from ninth to fourth and Andy Nezworski started eighth and finished fifth.
The Late Models were second on the order of six feature events on the night and it was the Sport Compacts leading things off for fifteen laps on a freshly manicured surface. Just one caution for a car that had stalled just a bit too close to the racing surface slowed the event that started out with a great two car battle between front row starters Lucas Rick and Jaice Tuttle. The high line was preferred and Tuttle would have the bumper out front at the line for the first two laps, but Rick was persistent working the bottom and once he cleared Tuttle he would drive up and close the door on Tuttle. That would take place on lap three and while Tuttle kept the leader in his sights, he could not build a challenge as Rick cruised to his third win of the season. The battle for third was a good one throughout with Robert Rundle prevailing to join the podium as Jake Anderson and Tyler Mannion completed the top five.
The IMCA Stock Cars would follow up the Late Model feature with an entertaining twenty laps that went non-stop without a caution. With talented veterans Tom Schmitt and Dustin Vis starting on the front row, both of them would look to a lower line to try to take the lead. From this writer's viewpoint it was a virtual dead heat as lap one was scored and on lap two it would be Vis that would have the slight edge. As they exited turn two though on lap three, young Rowdee Van Genderen got a big run off the cushion and made it three wide going down the back stretch.
They would continue to race three-wide through turns three and four and down the front stretch with Schmitt having a slight edge at the stripe, but when Van Genderen again rocketed off of the turn two cushion, he would take the lead officially on lap four. Schmitt and Vis would soon move to the top side as well and the chase was on even as Rowdee had opened up about an eight car length advantage.
As the laps clicked away, that lead would shrink and after watching the young driver give up a lead late in the race at Memphis on Friday night, I found myself getting nervous each time that he came within inches of jumping the cushion that was now at the rim of the speedway. With the white flag waving I anticipated an attempted slide job from either Schmitt or Vis who were now right behind the leader, but both drivers stayed in line and the high school senior-to-be parked it in victory lane in front of his proud father Mike who, along with Dana Benning, promotes the action here at Independence.
A bit behind the top three there was definitely some late race position changes as Damon Murty worked his way up to fourth after starting ninth while Jarod Weepie drove his sharp looking new race car to fifth after starting eighth.
A check of the time showed that it was just shy of 9:30 at this point and I was feeling good about getting the final three races completed in a timely manner. However, the IMCA Modifieds had something else in mind.
Bret Ramsey would lead the opening lap before the first of seven cautions waved on lap one of the twenty that were scheduled. During that caution, Ramsey had to go to the work area with a flat tire and that would turn the lead over to Dallon Murty who had charged from fifth to second on that first circuit.
Dallon would go on to lead through all of the remaining restarts to take the win while my attention was on a couple of drivers and their progress. One was Owen Barnhill who has made the trip up from Milton, Florida, to race his IMCA Modified here in Iowa for a few nights. Owen is the current point leader at the Northwest Florida Speedway, but it is not possible to get his actual race results from there since they do not use MyRacePass and they take the attitude that if you want to know the race results, you have to attend the races. Coincidentally I had actually asked them about their results on the trac's Facebook page, and that was the response that was given. Kind of a stupid attitude if you ask me, especially if you want your drivers to be recognized for their accomplishments, something that they could then use to secure and satisfy sponsors, but hey, good for you NWFS, keep on being one of only two or three tracks across the entire United States that refuses to publish your results.
Anyway, after not showing much speed in his heat race, Barnhill definitely found the racing surface at feature time more to his liking and he was soon gaining positions in his sharp looking #B24. On lap five Barnhill got a big run off the top of turn two and made it three-wide going down the back stretch while racing for fourth. However, he soon ran out of room and had to bail out going off the top of the track entering turn three. The Florida visitor would then race his way back up to a seventh-place finish at the checkers and I hope that he is sticking around for Wednesday's Bill Davis Memorial at Stuart.
The other driver that I was watching was Jeff Aikey who was looking for redemption after the disappointing performance in his Late Model. The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer who has also had significant success in a Modified had started ninth and he was steadily making his way to the front through the many stops and starts. At the checkers Aikey would finish in second ahead of Troy Cordes, pole-sitter Adam Shelman would hold down fourth and Patrick Flannagan finished fifth.
With the Modified marathon now pushing us near ten o'clock we decided to hit the road for home knowing that I will be making another road trip on Wednesday when I have been given the opportunity fill in for Tony Paris on the microphone at Stuart for the Bill Davis Memorial.
A check of the results today shows that Bradly Graham used his pole position start to win the Hobby Stock main event and, after being penalized three times for jumping the start of his heat race, Cole Suckow not only behaved, but also raced his way up from a sixth row starting spot to take the victory over Matt Avila in the Sport Mod feature.
A big thank you to the nice young lady at the pit gate as well as to promoters Dana Benning and Mike Van Genderen for their hospitality. Next up at Independence will be the return of the World of Outlaws Late Models on Monday June 24th.
Not only do I look forward to being at Stuart on Wednesday, I am also considering a visit to the Wapello County Fair in Eldon for night one of two events on the Super Half-Mile at the Eldon Raceway this week. Perhaps we will see you on the Back Stretch.
No comments:
Post a Comment