The West Liberty Raceway would come back to life for one night only in 2024 as the Wednesday night grandstand entertainment during the annual Muscatine County Fair. Thankfully the temperatures had settled down a bit after a streak of scorching weather and the fair was bustling with people enjoying a variety of carnival rides and games, something you don't see at most county fairs in this day and age. With a six dollar gate admission to the fair, and then another $15 to see the races, I knew that this was not going to be a "twenty-one dollar show" so I made sure to get out and enjoy some fair food with an gyro and a Yotty Bar as my dinner of choice. That way, in my mind, I moved that six dollars to my enjoyment of the fair and now I was ready to enjoy a fifteen dollar night of racing. See? That's what Positively Racing is all about!
The Darkside Promotions team of Timmy Current and Ryan Duhme were in charge and I knew that this would bring in a few more cars than what may have been there otherwise, and I knew that they would run the show off in quick order not only because they do that regularly, but you figured that the fair board wanted as many people back out on the midway as soon as they could have them. The car count ended up being about what I had expected and it was great to see the old grandstand nearly full of people and it is safe to say that most went home happy with their night at the races as five familiar faces visited victory lane.
After dominating his heat race, Tim Plummer started from the outside of row one in the Sport Mod feature and after slipping back to third on the opening lap, he would come charging to the front to pass Shaun Slaughter on lap four and the cruise to victory. The former pavement racer noted that the track condition was to his liking tonight and Slaughter was far behind him at the checkers as the runner-up. Tony Olson, Ryan Walker and Justin Schroeder completed the top five.
In the fifteen lap Stock Car headliner, three of the best in eastern Iowa would slug it out as John Oliver Jr. raced to the early lead from the pole position. David Brandies started eighth and Kaden Reynolds from tenth, but both were on the charge through the field and after stalking Oliver for a couple of laps, Brandies used the outside line to take the lead on lap six. As he then pulled away to victory, the race was now for second and that would go to Reynolds in the closing laps as the current All Iowa Points leader Oliver slipped to third. Keagan Wells and Dustin Vis battled back and forth in the second half of the race with Wells prevailing for fourth.
Ethan Braaksma started sixth and quickly moved to second in the Modified feature, but even after a caution with seven laps remaining erased Jeff Larson's big lead, Braaksma was not able to get to the front as Larson scored the flag-to-flag victory. Denny Eckrich finished third, Chris Zogg was fourth and Dylan Thornton completed the top five.
If I was a Four Cylinder driver that drew the pole position for the feature race, I would want to set a fast pace coming to the green so that it doesn't turn into a shifting contest and I could at least still be in front when I cross under that green flag. That wasn't the case on this night as the front row eased through turns three and four only to be swallowed up in five wide fashion at the drop of the green. Jake Benischek who had been on the inside of the third row already had the lead when he passed my vantage point and that was still before Doug Haack's waving green.
As so often is the case with the Compacts, the positions were set once the shifting contest ended and they then chased each other for ten laps with Benischek taking the win over Josh Starr, Cyle Hawkins, Alex Hayes and Trent Labarge.
The Late Models would close out the evening and that would be another chase of a dominant driver as Andy Eckrich was never challenged despite a mid-race restart. Not even Nick Marolf, who has been fast all season, could keep up with Eckrich as he drove on to victory followed at the checkers by Marolf, Chad Holladay, Jesse Bodin and "the world's fastest Art teacher" Matt Ryan. (I love that line Big Boy!)
The final checkers waved shortly after nine o'clock and we were able to listen to the radio broadcast of the features at Oskaloosa on KBOE before pulling into the garage around 10:30.
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| The best sign ever at the entrance to the CJ Speedway |
Last night it was up to Columbus Junction where the annual "Battle On The Levee" would take place during the Louisa County fair and after chowing down on BBQ and some fantastic DeLovely Donuts I was ready to join another big crowd for a fun night of racing. If you haven't been to the CJ Speedway, you need to check it out as the levee for the Iowa River runs all the way down the back stretch and around turns one and two creating the biggest and baddest "cushion" that you will find in dirt track racing. Watching how different drivers either used it, or stayed away from it made for some great action and while turns three and four did not deliver the intrigue, there was still plenty of different lines to use on that end as well.
The Sport Mods would be the first of four main events to come to the track after a short intermission with John Oliver Jr. putting the Goble Racing #55 on the point after drawing the pole position. Dylan Van Wyk who was driving the Will Wolf #7 (formerly #68) on this night was trying to use the levee to propel himself around Oliver, but John was too steady on the bottom to let him go by. Just behind them the race for third was spectacular with Cayden Carter, Logan Cumby and Logan Anderson going at it, stacking up three wide on several occasions.
A mid-race restart would add Ryan Walker to the mix and it was now a six car battle for the lead until the pack bunched up in turn two with three laps to go sending Carter sideways and into the infield. Brayton kept it going and the race stayed under green, but that allowed Oliver and Van Wyk to again put some distance on the others and on the final lap Van Wyk was able to pull nearly even with the leader down the back stretch. The veteran driver was once again perfect through turns three and four though and it would be John Oliver Jr. taking the thrilling victory over Van Wyk, Anderson, Walker and Cumby.
The Hobby Stocks were up next for twelve non-stop laps of racing with track point leader Luke Phillips trying to hold off the hottest driver of the division in Eastern Iowa, Nathan Ballard. Racing here every Friday night, Phillips knew where he wanted to be and at the mid-race point Ballard made a bid to the inside of turns one and two. The challenger quickly found out that this was not the way to get to the front as he lost several car lengths on the leader that took him two or three laps to recover.
This time Ballard would try to make his move to the bottom in turns three and four and while it forced Phillips out of his normal line, he grabbed a bit of the cushion at the exit to maintain the lead as the white flag waved. They would then ride the levee bumper to bumper through one and two with Ballard looking for the mistake that would never come as Luke Phillips scored the win. Cody Staley was the best of the rest in third followed by Shane Richardson and Ryan Havel.
The IMCA Modifieds would be up next and this one would belong to Jarret Brown. The former track champion started from the outside of row one and other than a challenge from runner-up Denny Eckrich on the restarts, he would be in control throughout the sixteen laps to take the win. Las Vegas driver Jonathan Mawhinney would post his best finish during his visit to Iowa this summer thus far taking third, Brandon Banks was fourth and North Dakota visitor Zach Dockter was fifth.
A stout field of twenty IMCA Stock Cars would close out the evening with pole-sitter Dustin Vis powering to the early lead. Cayden Carter was on the move from sixth though and he would use the low groove in turn two to take the lead on lap three just before the caution waved when a slowing Kirk Kinsley laid down some fluid n the back stretch. Once back to green, Logan Anderson behind the wheel of Trenton Witt's #33 would be the first to challenge before Damon Murty moved to second late in the race. As that exchange took place, Carter was driving away to the $1,000 victory with Murty, who had started seventh, coming home second. Anderson finished third, but I see that he did not make it through post-race tech apparently so that slid Vis up to third at the pay window. Keagan Wells who was celebrating his eighteenth birthday on this night was impressive again coming from the ninth starting spot while having to battle a broken left front tie rod in the closing laps. Keep your eye on this young driver as it won't be long before he finds his way to victory lane.
The final checkers waved at 9:41 and again I was back home by 10:30 on a weeknight! It was just like the 1970's again going to West Liberty one week and then to Columbus Junction the next as the two tracks that are within 32 miles of each other alternated Saturday nights. As I recall they each had their own track point standings that were independent of the other and the pits and grandstands were full each race night as they were not splitting the fans and the drivers. Seems like this concept could be a winner for a couple of tracks that I know of here in the present. Now if they could just stop the pissing match and come together to get it done? Remains to be seen.
While the racing at CJ last night was very good, it couldn't quite live up to the "wow" factor that I saw on Monday night at the Davenport Speedway. I will admit that I have been openly skeptical of these "made for streaming" events, but when you buy a ticket and sit in the stands for one of them, you quickly realize that it is a pretty good situation having many of the top drivers in the country on hand in both the Late Models and the Modifieds racing for some big money on a Monday night.
This would be a $2,000-to-win "qualifying night" event for the ONUM (One Nation Under Modifieds) Davenport Deal with half of the 61 pre-entries racing for points to determine their starting positions in what was supposed to have been Wednesday's $20,000-to-win finale. More on that in a moment. Plus, as an added attraction, the XR Super Series Late Models would be racing for $15,000-to-win and the rosters were packed with talent in both divisions.
Pop up thunderstorms in the area would threaten Monday's show with a pretty good rain falling around 6:30 delaying the start of the racing by nearly an hour and a half. That gave us a lightning fast racing surface with plenty of character and, man, it was fun to watch starting with Late Model qualifying all the way through the final checkered flag that still waved not long after 10:30. I am going to refer you to my Positively Racing colleague Danny Rosencrans' details of the night's action, but I can tell you that it was the most entertained that I have been at a dirt track thus far in 2024.
Will Krup, who had won sixteen of his eighteen starts this season, appeared to be in control of the Modified feature, but when he slipped off the top of turn one on lap eleven it looked like the lip of the track stripped off his left rear wheel when he tried to recover. How the tight pack of drivers racing for second missed him as he came back onto the speedway is still a mystery. On the restart Cade Dillard passed the two cars in front of him and then went on to take the win after starting eleventh. Michigan's Brian Ruhlman finished second, USMTS regular Jim Chisholm came from seventh to third, Austen Becerra started fifteenth and finished fourth while Rodney Sanders moved from thirteenth to fifth.
In the Late Model headliner the stats will show that Tyler Erb started on the pole and would lead all forty laps for the win, but it was anything but easy for Erb. His biggest challenge came on a restart just past the mid-race point when Max Blair pulled even with him using a higher line entering turn one. Erb would then drift up the track in turn two and when Blair did not lift he was forced to go over the cushion and off the back stretch losing several positions in the process.
Hudson O'Neal would keep the pressure on Erb in the closing laps, but he would have to settle for second. Bobby Pierce had to transfer out of the B-Main to start from row eleven and he wasn't really making much noise before he slowed on lap twenty-nine to cause a caution. Whatever they did to the car in the work area though was magic as he rejoined the field at the rear and then charged all the way up to third at the checkers. Nick Hoffman started in the seventh row and finished fourth while Dillard completed a successful night in fifth.
I was on my way back up on Tuesday, excited to see the other half of the Modified field and another battle for the Super Late Models, but another one of those mid-summer storms washed things out around six o'clock so I stopped in Wapello for my first taste of a Sal Vitale's pizza. They have sponsored some cars in the area so I wanted to give them a try and the pizza was fantastic! Don't be surprised if I make another pizza run to Wapello again soon.
The plan then was to run Tuesday's Modified show at 4 p.m. on Wednesday before presenting the final night of the Davenport Deal, but more rain wiped that out as well and now XR is looking for a good date to reschedule the remainder of the event. Even without the Late Models, I will be keeping my eye out for that announcement in hope of being able to attend.
Next up for me will be my first "new to me" track of the season in another state this Saturday with my next action after that being the 63rd NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey's August 7th through the 10th. Perhaps I'll see you there and thanks for checking in on the Back Stretch!
