This weekend belonged to Terry McCarl as the Altoona, Iowa, driver captured three wins in two nights following his Saturday night sweep at the Knoxville Raceway. The final checkered flag was McCarl’s third Knoxville 360 Sprint Car Nationals title.
McCarl started out the night with a victory in the weekly 410 show as for the second night in a row he passed Brian Brown to pick up the win. Last night it was on the final corner of the final lap, while tonight McCarl made his move on Brown following a restart on lap nine of the twenty-lap main event. Brown did not go down easily as he actually regained the lead from McCarl for half a lap before Terry established himself up front once again and drove away for the convincing win. Brown ran a comfortable second while point leader Johnny Herrera came from row four to finish third. Skip Jackson took home fourth-place money while Billy Alley came from sixteenth to pass Davey Heskin off turn four of the final lap to finish fifth.
After taking care of the victory lane celebration for his win in the 410’s, McCarl climbed aboard his Big Game Tree Stands #24 with the 360 cubic inch engine under the hood and started next to Alley on the front row for the 25-lap main event that would determine the 2009 360 Nationals Champion. McCarl opened up a big lead early only to have Alley start to reel him in while working traffic with less than ten laps remaining. With five laps to go the red flag appeared when the fifth place car of Shane Stewart tagged the turn three guardrail and got upside down.
On the restart McCarl pulled away as the battle for second heated up with Alley and Wayne Johnson swapping slide jobs back and forth over the next three laps. As McCarl cruised to the checkers Johnson held off Alley for the runner-up honors with Jason Johnson taking fourth and Brian Brown fifth. Travis Rilat was sixth, Jack Dover came from eighteenth to finish seventh, Gregg Bakker was eighth, Kaley Gharst started twenty-third and finished ninth while Tony Bruce Jr. rounded out the top ten.
It was a perfect weekend for McCarl who now puts on his promoter hat for the Monday and Tuesday events at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Then, beginning Wednesday, we’ll see if he can become the first Iowan ever to win the Knoxville Nationals.
Saturday Notes……Pennsylvania youngster Cody Darrah set quick time for the forty-two 410’s entered tonight. He would later finish tenth in the main event…..Jesse Hockett rolled his 410 entry after contact with Pete Crall in the first heat race and he then later dropped out of the 360 D-Main. Hockett’s only highlight of the week came on Thursday night when he worked alongside Bill Wright on the Hosehead’s Radio internet broadcast…..Ben Gregg jumped the start from the pole position of the third 410 heat race and was immediately sent to the rear of the field…..In that third heat Johnny Herrera trailed quite a veil of smoke throughout the eight laps, but still finished in third…..Congratulations to our friend Alan Zoutte who held off former All Iowa Points champion Jody Rosenboom to win the 360 Nationals E-Main. We spend a lot of time with Alan’s family during Nationals week and they are some of the nicest people that you will ever meet…..Paul McMahan won the 360 D-Main, then started seventeenth and advanced to fifth in the twelve lap C-Main race. Unfortunately only the top two would advance…..The 360 B-Main went fifteen-laps without a caution as Matt Covington picked up the win. Justin Henderson was on the move after starting twenty-second and would have loved to see a caution as he finished eighth. Only the top four transferred with Johnny Herrera taking that last ticket to the A in his own #45x……During the red flag for Stewart’s flip in the feature race both Davey Heskin and Cale Conley were sent to the pits for the rest of the night “for rolling through the red”. Heskin was obviously upset with the call and searched out an official for further explanation……Sam Hafertepe Jr. was running fourth with two laps to go when his left rear tire blew apart. The young Texan pulled off the track without pulling a caution…..The USAC non-wing sprints take to the Knoxville Raceway on Sunday night with the 305 c.i. sprints joining the show in support.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
McCarl Edges Out Brown in Friday Night Thriller at Knoxville
Night number two of the Arnold Motor Supply Knoxville 360 Nationals started out with a new track record for the division and ended with a pass for the lead coming off turn four for the checkers.
With Brian Brown starting from the pole position in the twenty-lap main event you knew that he would be the man to beat and he lived up to that promise early by opening up a solid lead over Travis Rilat. A lap four caution involving Ben Gregg and Don Young slowed the pace and on the restart it was “The Gasman” Jack Dover on the move as he drove past Gregg Bakker to take second. Dover appeared to be reeling in Brown when on lap nine a puff of smoke ended his night as he coasted to a halt in turn four.
Both Terry McCarl and Sam Hafertepe Jr. made strong moves on this restart with McCarl picking off the second spot from Rilat while Hafertepe drove past Bakker for fourth. With open track in front of him Brown continued to set a blistering pace while McCarl stayed just within striking distance. With the laps winding down McCarl searched out a different groove and he found what he wanted as he closed to within four car lengths with two laps to go. With just one lapped car between him and the checkers Brown disposed of Kenneth Walker coming to the white flag and he maintained his four car length advantage over McCarl headed down the backstretch.
Then it happened. As race fans at Knoxville have seen many times over the years, Terry McCarl has the unique ability to find that one burst of speed that he needs to make a big pass and tonight was no different as he stuck the Big Game Tree Stands #24 to the bottom of turn three to take the lead and the win away from Brown off the final turn of the race. Rilat would take home the third spot with Hafertepe fourth and Bakker in fifth. Bronson Maeschen started sixth and finished sixth, Garry Lee Maier was seventh, Tim Crawley worked his way forward from row seven to finish eighth, Lou Kennedy Jr. was ninth and Davey Heskin completed the top ten.
With Brian Brown starting from the pole position in the twenty-lap main event you knew that he would be the man to beat and he lived up to that promise early by opening up a solid lead over Travis Rilat. A lap four caution involving Ben Gregg and Don Young slowed the pace and on the restart it was “The Gasman” Jack Dover on the move as he drove past Gregg Bakker to take second. Dover appeared to be reeling in Brown when on lap nine a puff of smoke ended his night as he coasted to a halt in turn four.
Both Terry McCarl and Sam Hafertepe Jr. made strong moves on this restart with McCarl picking off the second spot from Rilat while Hafertepe drove past Bakker for fourth. With open track in front of him Brown continued to set a blistering pace while McCarl stayed just within striking distance. With the laps winding down McCarl searched out a different groove and he found what he wanted as he closed to within four car lengths with two laps to go. With just one lapped car between him and the checkers Brown disposed of Kenneth Walker coming to the white flag and he maintained his four car length advantage over McCarl headed down the backstretch.
Then it happened. As race fans at Knoxville have seen many times over the years, Terry McCarl has the unique ability to find that one burst of speed that he needs to make a big pass and tonight was no different as he stuck the Big Game Tree Stands #24 to the bottom of turn three to take the lead and the win away from Brown off the final turn of the race. Rilat would take home the third spot with Hafertepe fourth and Bakker in fifth. Bronson Maeschen started sixth and finished sixth, Garry Lee Maier was seventh, Tim Crawley worked his way forward from row seven to finish eighth, Lou Kennedy Jr. was ninth and Davey Heskin completed the top ten.
Brian Brown had a special paint scheme for his #21 at the 360 Nationals as he lines up next to Travis Rilat - Barry Johnson photo
Friday Notes…..Jack Dover was the first car out to time and established a new track record for the 360’s but his hold on that record was short-lived as 17-year-old Cale Conley from Vienna, West Virginia, took it even lower with a lap of 15.973…..Conley failed to transfer out of the first heat, won the B-Main from the pole and then finished 18th in the feature race…..Colorado driver Joe McCarthy timed in well, but he would then like to forget the rest of the night. McCarthy tangled with Butch Hanssen in the second heat sending him to the C-Main that he won convincingly. His night came to an abrupt halt in the B-Main when he slapped the turn one guardrail on lap two and rolled hard three times…..Garry Lee Maier edged out track regular Dennis Moore Jr. for the fourth and final transfer position in the fourth heat…..Arizona driver Ben Gregg looked good winning the fifth heat only to have his night end early in the lap four incident in the A-Main…..The start of the B-Main had its own drama as the pole-sitter Conley set a very slow pace coming to the line in turn four. The first start was called back by flagman Justin Clark and on the second try the fourth starting Kenny Jacobs hit the go button a bit early and climbed the left rear wheel of outside front row starter Kevin Ramey. Jacobs’ car got onto its side, but from a distance did not appear to be too damaged. The veteran driver however climbed out and walked away dejectedly apparently looking for someone to vent his frustration to…..Brad Sweet, driving one of Kasey Kahne’s sprinters, held off Brady Bacon for the fourth and final transfer out of the B……The track stayed heavy and somewhat narrow all night after steady rain fell for most of the morning……Saturday’s forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-90’s so it won’t only be the racing that is hot at Knoxville as a full program of 410’s will be run along with the finals of the 360 Nationals…..I’m looking at purchasing a horizontal directional drill from Vermeer to take care of some gophers in my backyard. See, event sponsorship really does work!
Johnson Sets Himself Up For a 360 Nationals Repeat By Taking Thursday Win at Knoxville
Night number one of the Arnold Motor Supply Knoxville 360 Sprint Car Nationals presented by Vermeer is in the books and it was a night of extremes for drivers that had to be considered pre-race favorites. The last two champions of the event, Wayne Johnson and Shane Stewart, finished one-two while a couple of other big names never even got out of the starting blocks Thursday night.
Dale Blaney had racked up the third highest point total through qualifying and the heat races and was slated to start sixth in the twenty lap main event. He pushed off with the rest of the twenty-four-car field and made a slow lap or two before stalling on the frontstretch. After two courtesy laps Blaney tried again to light the fire under his #6 with no luck and the race started without him. A first turn melee that saw Matt Covington go for a tumble brought out the red and it looked like Blaney might have been handed a gift as his crew now had time to change out the MSD box assuming that was the issue. When the field pushed off once again Blaney soon found that there was something else that was keeping his car from starting and his night was through.
The 2007 champion Shane Stewart started inside row two and outdragged pole-sitter Dustin Daggett from Michigan into run one for the lead at the drop of the green. Wayne Johnson, the defending 360 Nationals champion started right behind Stewart and he soon disposed of Daggett and picked up the chase for the lead. Johnson shadowed Stewart for the next several laps until the midway point when he drove under him in turn one to take the lead. Quick qualifier Billy Alley who started eighth was now third and had the top two in sight as the leaders began to work traffic, while Tony Bruce Jr. was doing his best to chase down Daggett for fourth.
The top five cars kind of settled in over the final five laps as even in traffic nobody was able to make a move and Johnson put himself in a good position to repeat his title by taking the win. Stewart was second, Alley will come out of night number one as the high point man finishing third while Bruce slipped by Daggett in the final laps to finish fourth. Kaley Gharst took the green in fourteenth and raced the Phillips Floors #7K up to sixth at the checkers while current ASCS National Series point leader Jason Johnson was the hard charger of the night coming from twenty-third to finish in seventh. Chuck Swenson faded from the front row to eighth, Ricky Logan was ninth and Johnny Anderson came from row eleven after winning the B-Main to take tenth in the feature.
Wayne Johnson leads Shane Stewart off turn two and down the back straightaway - Barry Johnson photo
360 Nats Thursday Notes…… Dustin Selvage currently ranks fifth in the track’s weekly points and had to be looking forward to a big weekend at the 360 Nationals, but instead it will be a big disappointment as he could not get his car to fire all night long and never even took to the track……After timing in sixth quick Jason Johnson missed out qualifying for the feature in the first heat race by inches as Ryan Anderson held him off at the finish line. After changing motors Johnson didn’t show much in the B-Main starting third and finishing third, but he salvaged a pretty good point night with the big run to seventh in the feature. He will be fun to watch from deep in the pack on Saturday night……Another of the pre-race favorites coming into the week had his night, and perhaps his whole weekend go down the tube at the drop of the green in heat race number two. Clint Garner currently leads the 360 track points at Knoxville and has been dominating at times on Saturday nights this season. After setting the seventh quick time Garner and Tasker Phillips made contact once coming off four at the start and again going for the low groove into turn one sending Garner into a spin. Rod Richards found himself with nowhere to go as he drilled Garner head on and then went for a tumble. Both cars were finished for the night……Ohio driver Greg Wilson set the third fastest time in qualifying and then had his driveline go sour as he was trying to push off for the third heat race. Wilson did not return for the C-Main later in the evening……Kyle McCutcheon pulled his #5 car for twenty-four hours straight from Alamogordo, New Mexico, to Knoxville only to have his engine erupt in a ball of flames as he took the checkers in heat race number four……Phillips hooked the rear bumper of New Mexico’s Kyle Sager and the two went for a spin in turn one during the B-Main sending Ricky Montgomery hard into the wall and nearly upside down…….Matt Covington ran away with the 2009 season opener in the 360’s here at Knoxville and he qualified well here tonight with the fourth fastest time. After failing to advance from his heat race Covington ran second to Johnny Anderson in the B-Main before his first lap tumble in the feature……Sixty-one cars are on the list for the second night of qualifying on Friday and we were told that more than thirty drivers will be doing double duty on Saturday night when the 410’s run a full show alongside the finale for the 360 Nationals…..We’ll look for you in Knoxville!
Dale Blaney had racked up the third highest point total through qualifying and the heat races and was slated to start sixth in the twenty lap main event. He pushed off with the rest of the twenty-four-car field and made a slow lap or two before stalling on the frontstretch. After two courtesy laps Blaney tried again to light the fire under his #6 with no luck and the race started without him. A first turn melee that saw Matt Covington go for a tumble brought out the red and it looked like Blaney might have been handed a gift as his crew now had time to change out the MSD box assuming that was the issue. When the field pushed off once again Blaney soon found that there was something else that was keeping his car from starting and his night was through.
The 2007 champion Shane Stewart started inside row two and outdragged pole-sitter Dustin Daggett from Michigan into run one for the lead at the drop of the green. Wayne Johnson, the defending 360 Nationals champion started right behind Stewart and he soon disposed of Daggett and picked up the chase for the lead. Johnson shadowed Stewart for the next several laps until the midway point when he drove under him in turn one to take the lead. Quick qualifier Billy Alley who started eighth was now third and had the top two in sight as the leaders began to work traffic, while Tony Bruce Jr. was doing his best to chase down Daggett for fourth.
The top five cars kind of settled in over the final five laps as even in traffic nobody was able to make a move and Johnson put himself in a good position to repeat his title by taking the win. Stewart was second, Alley will come out of night number one as the high point man finishing third while Bruce slipped by Daggett in the final laps to finish fourth. Kaley Gharst took the green in fourteenth and raced the Phillips Floors #7K up to sixth at the checkers while current ASCS National Series point leader Jason Johnson was the hard charger of the night coming from twenty-third to finish in seventh. Chuck Swenson faded from the front row to eighth, Ricky Logan was ninth and Johnny Anderson came from row eleven after winning the B-Main to take tenth in the feature.
Wayne Johnson leads Shane Stewart off turn two and down the back straightaway - Barry Johnson photo360 Nats Thursday Notes…… Dustin Selvage currently ranks fifth in the track’s weekly points and had to be looking forward to a big weekend at the 360 Nationals, but instead it will be a big disappointment as he could not get his car to fire all night long and never even took to the track……After timing in sixth quick Jason Johnson missed out qualifying for the feature in the first heat race by inches as Ryan Anderson held him off at the finish line. After changing motors Johnson didn’t show much in the B-Main starting third and finishing third, but he salvaged a pretty good point night with the big run to seventh in the feature. He will be fun to watch from deep in the pack on Saturday night……Another of the pre-race favorites coming into the week had his night, and perhaps his whole weekend go down the tube at the drop of the green in heat race number two. Clint Garner currently leads the 360 track points at Knoxville and has been dominating at times on Saturday nights this season. After setting the seventh quick time Garner and Tasker Phillips made contact once coming off four at the start and again going for the low groove into turn one sending Garner into a spin. Rod Richards found himself with nowhere to go as he drilled Garner head on and then went for a tumble. Both cars were finished for the night……Ohio driver Greg Wilson set the third fastest time in qualifying and then had his driveline go sour as he was trying to push off for the third heat race. Wilson did not return for the C-Main later in the evening……Kyle McCutcheon pulled his #5 car for twenty-four hours straight from Alamogordo, New Mexico, to Knoxville only to have his engine erupt in a ball of flames as he took the checkers in heat race number four……Phillips hooked the rear bumper of New Mexico’s Kyle Sager and the two went for a spin in turn one during the B-Main sending Ricky Montgomery hard into the wall and nearly upside down…….Matt Covington ran away with the 2009 season opener in the 360’s here at Knoxville and he qualified well here tonight with the fourth fastest time. After failing to advance from his heat race Covington ran second to Johnny Anderson in the B-Main before his first lap tumble in the feature……Sixty-one cars are on the list for the second night of qualifying on Friday and we were told that more than thirty drivers will be doing double duty on Saturday night when the 410’s run a full show alongside the finale for the 360 Nationals…..We’ll look for you in Knoxville!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Hejna Takes a Thriller At Osky
The United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) rolled into the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa Wednesday night and at the end of the night they sent a large crowd home buzzing about a tremendous thirty-lap feature race. Five different drivers held the lead at some point during the event and for a five-lap span late in the race there were four challengers within two car-lengths of each other racing for the lead. In the end it was Al Hejna who picked up his second straight series victory following up to his flag-to-flag win the night before in Cresco.
Sixteen-year-old Kansas driver Chase Junghans jumped from the pole and settled into the lead for the first three laps before a caution involving Michael Long and Steve Blattler in turn three. On the restart, series and track regular Zack VanderBeek used the bottom line to swipe the lead away from Junghans while many-time USMTS champion Kelly Shryock picked up the chase in second. Working a higher line around the sweeping half-mile oval Shryock was able to move past VanderBeek on lap six, but only by the slightest of margins as VanderBeek would pull alongside the leader regularly while continuing to work the low groove. The winner from Monday’s show in Fort Dodge, Ryan Gustin was closing quickly on the lead pair and with Gustin running the very top of the racetrack we now had a three-way battle for the lead. You could hear the large crowd cheering over the roar of the motors as Gustin pulled even with Shryock at the line on lap seventeen and when Al Hejna moved in to make it a four-car battle the atmosphere was electric.
Gustin finally cleared Shryock for the lead on lap nineteen and began to put some distance on the battle for second, that is until Hejna cleared that pack and picked up the chase. As the laps wound down it was clear that Hejna was closing in on Gustin and with just five laps remaining Hejna had closed to within a car-length of the youngster from Marshalltown. The two-car showdown was halted a lap later when the caution waved for Brad Pinkerton who had stopped in turn three, so now instead of just two cars squaring off for the win over the final four laps, we now had the entire field bunched back up for a restart. Hejna drove past Gustin in turn one to take the lead, but Ryan fought back in turn four and looked as though he might have a run on the new leader coming off turn two only to have the caution fly once again for Jake Neal.
With just three laps remaining the field thundered to the green once again and the big move was made by Tommy Myer going from fifth to second in turns one and two. As Hejna put some room between he and Myer, Gustin faded and fell out of the top five eventually finishing seventh. For Hejna it was his second win in as many nights while Myer would have to settle for second after starting fifteenth. Shryock would nail down the third spot with VanderBeek fourth and track regular Colt Mather completed an impressive drive in fifth.
Racing in the other three divisions set the stage nicely for the USMTS thriller. The B-Mods were up first with young Carter VanDenBerg pacing the field for the first six laps before Andrew Schroeder took over the point. Point leader Tyler Groendendyk then made it a three-wide race for the lead moving to the front on lap nine, but he slowed while heading down the back stretch two laps later bringing out the caution. For much of the race it looked like Bryon Weyer had the fastest car especially coming off the topside of four, but every time that it looked like he had a shot at leading something would happen to halt his run. On the lap eleven restart that “something” was VanDenBerg as he got the jump and moved up to Weyer’s line over the final four laps to finish second behind the winner Andrew Schroeder. Mike Shelton slipped by Weyer to finish in the third spot while Cayden Carter completed the top five.
Shane Weller started on the outside of row one and dominated the Stock Car main event going wire-to-wire for the victory. Brian Mitrisin was doing his best to hold off the challenges of Mike VanGenderen for second until his tire blew on lap twelve sending him pitside. Mike Greiner was able to slip past VenGenderen in the final three laps to take a distant second to Weller while Nathan Wood and Chase Mitrisin were fourth and fifth at the finish.
It was all Danny Thrasher in the Hobby Stock headliner as he took off from the pole and then kept Dustin Griffith at a consistent distance throughout the fifteen-lap run. In victory lane Thrasher credited one of his sponsors Scharky Frame for making some recent adjustments to his car and turning it into a rocket as he also won last Friday night in Bloomfield. Nathan Wood came from twelfth to finish third with Kris Walker fourth and Missouri driver Andrew Hustead in fifth.
Osky Notes…..It was NASCAR night at the speedway with Kenny Wallace competing with the Modifieds (he finished 16th) and Michael Waltrip on hand visiting with the fans. I got a kick out of watching Waltrip wave the green flag to start the Modified feature as his grin was ear-to-ear when he handed it back over to starter Ryne Staley…..Ryan Cook was back from his time in Iraq with the military and ran his #27R Stock Car…..Travelers in the support divisions included Kurt Krauskopf down from Decorah with his Stock Car and Austin Wolfgram from Webster City with the #24 Hobby Stock……While the first three heat race winners Gustin, Shryock and Mather, started from the front row, Brad Diercks showed that it could be done from the back as well coming from row four to win the fourth and final heat race in the Modifieds…..Adam Bell edged out series regular Grant Junghans by inches for the final transfer in the first Modified B-Main and that had to sting as Junghans missed out on a provisional as well. Corey Dripps, who lost a left rear wheel in his heat, and Derek Ramirez earned those USMTS provisional starts while track provisionals went to Brandon Banks and John Fellman…..I have to say “hi” and “thanks” to Michelle at the pit gate as she always greets me with a smile when I come to the Southern Iowa Speedway…..I think I heard Tony Paris mention that Todd Staley will promote a two-day show in Memphis MO on October 16th and 17th, so stay tuned for more details…..No weekly Wednesday night racing at Osky next week, but the place will be busy on Monday night with the Front Row Challenge featuring the All-Star Sprints and on Tuesday night with the non-winged USAC Sprints running The Ultimate Challenge. Hope to see you there!
Sixteen-year-old Kansas driver Chase Junghans jumped from the pole and settled into the lead for the first three laps before a caution involving Michael Long and Steve Blattler in turn three. On the restart, series and track regular Zack VanderBeek used the bottom line to swipe the lead away from Junghans while many-time USMTS champion Kelly Shryock picked up the chase in second. Working a higher line around the sweeping half-mile oval Shryock was able to move past VanderBeek on lap six, but only by the slightest of margins as VanderBeek would pull alongside the leader regularly while continuing to work the low groove. The winner from Monday’s show in Fort Dodge, Ryan Gustin was closing quickly on the lead pair and with Gustin running the very top of the racetrack we now had a three-way battle for the lead. You could hear the large crowd cheering over the roar of the motors as Gustin pulled even with Shryock at the line on lap seventeen and when Al Hejna moved in to make it a four-car battle the atmosphere was electric.
Gustin finally cleared Shryock for the lead on lap nineteen and began to put some distance on the battle for second, that is until Hejna cleared that pack and picked up the chase. As the laps wound down it was clear that Hejna was closing in on Gustin and with just five laps remaining Hejna had closed to within a car-length of the youngster from Marshalltown. The two-car showdown was halted a lap later when the caution waved for Brad Pinkerton who had stopped in turn three, so now instead of just two cars squaring off for the win over the final four laps, we now had the entire field bunched back up for a restart. Hejna drove past Gustin in turn one to take the lead, but Ryan fought back in turn four and looked as though he might have a run on the new leader coming off turn two only to have the caution fly once again for Jake Neal.
With just three laps remaining the field thundered to the green once again and the big move was made by Tommy Myer going from fifth to second in turns one and two. As Hejna put some room between he and Myer, Gustin faded and fell out of the top five eventually finishing seventh. For Hejna it was his second win in as many nights while Myer would have to settle for second after starting fifteenth. Shryock would nail down the third spot with VanderBeek fourth and track regular Colt Mather completed an impressive drive in fifth.
Racing in the other three divisions set the stage nicely for the USMTS thriller. The B-Mods were up first with young Carter VanDenBerg pacing the field for the first six laps before Andrew Schroeder took over the point. Point leader Tyler Groendendyk then made it a three-wide race for the lead moving to the front on lap nine, but he slowed while heading down the back stretch two laps later bringing out the caution. For much of the race it looked like Bryon Weyer had the fastest car especially coming off the topside of four, but every time that it looked like he had a shot at leading something would happen to halt his run. On the lap eleven restart that “something” was VanDenBerg as he got the jump and moved up to Weyer’s line over the final four laps to finish second behind the winner Andrew Schroeder. Mike Shelton slipped by Weyer to finish in the third spot while Cayden Carter completed the top five.
Shane Weller started on the outside of row one and dominated the Stock Car main event going wire-to-wire for the victory. Brian Mitrisin was doing his best to hold off the challenges of Mike VanGenderen for second until his tire blew on lap twelve sending him pitside. Mike Greiner was able to slip past VenGenderen in the final three laps to take a distant second to Weller while Nathan Wood and Chase Mitrisin were fourth and fifth at the finish.
It was all Danny Thrasher in the Hobby Stock headliner as he took off from the pole and then kept Dustin Griffith at a consistent distance throughout the fifteen-lap run. In victory lane Thrasher credited one of his sponsors Scharky Frame for making some recent adjustments to his car and turning it into a rocket as he also won last Friday night in Bloomfield. Nathan Wood came from twelfth to finish third with Kris Walker fourth and Missouri driver Andrew Hustead in fifth.
Osky Notes…..It was NASCAR night at the speedway with Kenny Wallace competing with the Modifieds (he finished 16th) and Michael Waltrip on hand visiting with the fans. I got a kick out of watching Waltrip wave the green flag to start the Modified feature as his grin was ear-to-ear when he handed it back over to starter Ryne Staley…..Ryan Cook was back from his time in Iraq with the military and ran his #27R Stock Car…..Travelers in the support divisions included Kurt Krauskopf down from Decorah with his Stock Car and Austin Wolfgram from Webster City with the #24 Hobby Stock……While the first three heat race winners Gustin, Shryock and Mather, started from the front row, Brad Diercks showed that it could be done from the back as well coming from row four to win the fourth and final heat race in the Modifieds…..Adam Bell edged out series regular Grant Junghans by inches for the final transfer in the first Modified B-Main and that had to sting as Junghans missed out on a provisional as well. Corey Dripps, who lost a left rear wheel in his heat, and Derek Ramirez earned those USMTS provisional starts while track provisionals went to Brandon Banks and John Fellman…..I have to say “hi” and “thanks” to Michelle at the pit gate as she always greets me with a smile when I come to the Southern Iowa Speedway…..I think I heard Tony Paris mention that Todd Staley will promote a two-day show in Memphis MO on October 16th and 17th, so stay tuned for more details…..No weekly Wednesday night racing at Osky next week, but the place will be busy on Monday night with the Front Row Challenge featuring the All-Star Sprints and on Tuesday night with the non-winged USAC Sprints running The Ultimate Challenge. Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Birkhofer Blows 'Em Away On "Tornado Tuesday" at West Liberty
Brian Birkhofer came within a straightaway of lapping the entire field as he blew away the competition on a “Tornado Tuesday” at the West Liberty Raceway. Only one of the best Late Model drivers ever, Billy Moyer, was able to remain on the lead lap as Birkhofer walked away with the $10,000 top prize after fifty laps of domination.
The feature event started on a sour note when Minnesota driver and row five starter Andrew McKay went into a spin in turn three on the opening lap sending the rest of the field scrambling for an opening. Five cars were involved in the mishap with three of them, Tommy Elston, Skip Frey and Kevin Kirkpatrick sustaining enough damage that they were through for the night. The mess took around fifteen minutes to clean up as the large crowd waited patiently for the restart with Birkhofer and Moyer on the front row.
Moyer still had his nose under Birky when the duo completed lap number one, but that would be as close as he would be for the rest of the non-stop fifty-lapper. By lap thirty Birkhofer had built up a half of a lap advantage over Moyer and had lapped all the way up to the fifth-place car of Chris Simpson. Birkhofer’s closest call of the night came with just four laps remaining when he was attempting to lap the third-running car of Chris Simpson. Brian had the nose of his #15B nearly to the drivers door of Simpson’s #25 as they entered turn one and Simpson slammed the door going straight to the bottom groove forcing Birky to back out of it in order to keep from hitting the inside berm. That didn’t slow him much though as he passed Simpson down the backstretch on the same lap and was tracking down Moyer before Doug Haack waved the double checkers on one of the most dominating performances I have ever witnessed. I think I even saw Birkhofer pass me when I was on my way home!
Moyer had nearly a half lap advantage over the third-place car of Chad Simpson at the finish while Matt Miller and Chris Simpson completed the top five. The track was wide and fast tonight, proven out by a new track record set by Moyer in qualifying, and the method of using heats and a fast dash to set the feature lineup definitely saw the cream rise to the top as the top five started first, second, fifth, third and fourth respectively.
A nice field of seventeen Stock Cars provided some great support action as the fifteen-lap main event saw two drivers swap the lead back and forth mid-race. David Brandies and Greg Gill earned front row starts by finishing one-two in the Dash and they pretty much ran the first eight laps of the feature event side-by-side. Brandies officially had the advantage on the scoresheet for the first five laps before Gill slipped by on lap six. Brandies fought back though regaining the lead on lap eight and he then opened up about a ten car-length advantage over the remaining distance to take the $500 win. The race actually ended under red flag conditions as Lavern Cole Jr. rolled his car in turn two just as the leader was exiting turn four for the final time. I must say that I like that the track rules here are to call the race complete in this circumstance with the finish scored from the white flag lap. I have been to other tracks where the rules would have necessitated a green-white-checkered restart that, in my opinion, is completely unfair to a leader, like Brandies, who is only a hundred yards from taking the win to make them restart and run TWO complete laps to keep their victory.
Gill finished in the runner-up spot with Matt Greiner taking third and Scotty Pratt fourth. Justin Temeyer was one of two drivers who normally run IMCA that pulled in for the night and he looked good taking fifth against the West Liberty regulars. Damon Murty was the other visitor and he was locked in a three-way battle for sixth when the red flag came out.
Tornado Tuesday Notes…..The twenty-eight car Late Model field was spiced up by three drivers from California who ran at Cedar Lake this past weekend and who are now headed for Florence, Kentucky. Mike Johnson made the show out of his heat race, pitted after the first lap scramble in the feature and restarted from the rear of the field. Zack Forster was running in a transfer spot in the second B-Main before dropping out with mechanical issues and Johnny Malcum failed to transfer out of the first B-Main…..Track point leader Andy Eckrich took exception to the first-lap move that his brother-in-law Chris Simpson made in their heat race and apparently made his feelings known in the pits afterwards. No official announcement was made on what exactly happened, but Eckrich did not run either of the B-Mains and was done for the night…..Nick Marolf was one of the drivers with no place to go on the first-lap incident although he was able to restart after making some repairs in the pits. Marolf has won a couple of times this season at West Liberty, but destroyed a car here a couple of weeks ago after a meeting with the turn three wall. I was told in the pits before the evening started that Marolf had purchased a car from Matt Furman and the fact that the deck was still painted blue, like Furman’s, to me confirms that info to be pretty good……We were given a preview of what was to come in the Late Model Dash as in just six laps Birkhofer and Moyer had left the other four cars in their wake, a full straightaway behind…..With just two classes on hand there were a few moments of down time here and there that were filled nicely by the announcing duo of Jerry Mackey and Mike Becker. At one point Mackey spoke to the crowd about the tough times that we are all going through and stated that the best way for racing to survive was for all of us to be positive about the sport. That’s why we’re here at PositivelyRacing.com Jerry!…..Weekly action continues on Saturday nights in August at the West Liberty Raceway and on Saturday night August 29th the Late Models will run for a possible $1,500-to-win, plus the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders will join the card for an attractive double-header.
We are proud to add Brian Neal’s Midwest Racing News blog to http://www.positivelyracing.com/ this week! If you are looking for the full scoop on what is going on at Donnellson, Burlington, Quincy and more, you will find it there. And, for news on tonight’s USMTS show at Osky as well as full coverage of the Southern Iowa Sprint Weeks at Knoxville and Oskaloosa you can look here on the Back Stretch as well as on Running The High Side with Barry Johnson. Hope to see you at the track!
The feature event started on a sour note when Minnesota driver and row five starter Andrew McKay went into a spin in turn three on the opening lap sending the rest of the field scrambling for an opening. Five cars were involved in the mishap with three of them, Tommy Elston, Skip Frey and Kevin Kirkpatrick sustaining enough damage that they were through for the night. The mess took around fifteen minutes to clean up as the large crowd waited patiently for the restart with Birkhofer and Moyer on the front row.
Moyer still had his nose under Birky when the duo completed lap number one, but that would be as close as he would be for the rest of the non-stop fifty-lapper. By lap thirty Birkhofer had built up a half of a lap advantage over Moyer and had lapped all the way up to the fifth-place car of Chris Simpson. Birkhofer’s closest call of the night came with just four laps remaining when he was attempting to lap the third-running car of Chris Simpson. Brian had the nose of his #15B nearly to the drivers door of Simpson’s #25 as they entered turn one and Simpson slammed the door going straight to the bottom groove forcing Birky to back out of it in order to keep from hitting the inside berm. That didn’t slow him much though as he passed Simpson down the backstretch on the same lap and was tracking down Moyer before Doug Haack waved the double checkers on one of the most dominating performances I have ever witnessed. I think I even saw Birkhofer pass me when I was on my way home!
Moyer had nearly a half lap advantage over the third-place car of Chad Simpson at the finish while Matt Miller and Chris Simpson completed the top five. The track was wide and fast tonight, proven out by a new track record set by Moyer in qualifying, and the method of using heats and a fast dash to set the feature lineup definitely saw the cream rise to the top as the top five started first, second, fifth, third and fourth respectively.
A nice field of seventeen Stock Cars provided some great support action as the fifteen-lap main event saw two drivers swap the lead back and forth mid-race. David Brandies and Greg Gill earned front row starts by finishing one-two in the Dash and they pretty much ran the first eight laps of the feature event side-by-side. Brandies officially had the advantage on the scoresheet for the first five laps before Gill slipped by on lap six. Brandies fought back though regaining the lead on lap eight and he then opened up about a ten car-length advantage over the remaining distance to take the $500 win. The race actually ended under red flag conditions as Lavern Cole Jr. rolled his car in turn two just as the leader was exiting turn four for the final time. I must say that I like that the track rules here are to call the race complete in this circumstance with the finish scored from the white flag lap. I have been to other tracks where the rules would have necessitated a green-white-checkered restart that, in my opinion, is completely unfair to a leader, like Brandies, who is only a hundred yards from taking the win to make them restart and run TWO complete laps to keep their victory.
Gill finished in the runner-up spot with Matt Greiner taking third and Scotty Pratt fourth. Justin Temeyer was one of two drivers who normally run IMCA that pulled in for the night and he looked good taking fifth against the West Liberty regulars. Damon Murty was the other visitor and he was locked in a three-way battle for sixth when the red flag came out.
Tornado Tuesday Notes…..The twenty-eight car Late Model field was spiced up by three drivers from California who ran at Cedar Lake this past weekend and who are now headed for Florence, Kentucky. Mike Johnson made the show out of his heat race, pitted after the first lap scramble in the feature and restarted from the rear of the field. Zack Forster was running in a transfer spot in the second B-Main before dropping out with mechanical issues and Johnny Malcum failed to transfer out of the first B-Main…..Track point leader Andy Eckrich took exception to the first-lap move that his brother-in-law Chris Simpson made in their heat race and apparently made his feelings known in the pits afterwards. No official announcement was made on what exactly happened, but Eckrich did not run either of the B-Mains and was done for the night…..Nick Marolf was one of the drivers with no place to go on the first-lap incident although he was able to restart after making some repairs in the pits. Marolf has won a couple of times this season at West Liberty, but destroyed a car here a couple of weeks ago after a meeting with the turn three wall. I was told in the pits before the evening started that Marolf had purchased a car from Matt Furman and the fact that the deck was still painted blue, like Furman’s, to me confirms that info to be pretty good……We were given a preview of what was to come in the Late Model Dash as in just six laps Birkhofer and Moyer had left the other four cars in their wake, a full straightaway behind…..With just two classes on hand there were a few moments of down time here and there that were filled nicely by the announcing duo of Jerry Mackey and Mike Becker. At one point Mackey spoke to the crowd about the tough times that we are all going through and stated that the best way for racing to survive was for all of us to be positive about the sport. That’s why we’re here at PositivelyRacing.com Jerry!…..Weekly action continues on Saturday nights in August at the West Liberty Raceway and on Saturday night August 29th the Late Models will run for a possible $1,500-to-win, plus the Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders will join the card for an attractive double-header.
We are proud to add Brian Neal’s Midwest Racing News blog to http://www.positivelyracing.com/ this week! If you are looking for the full scoop on what is going on at Donnellson, Burlington, Quincy and more, you will find it there. And, for news on tonight’s USMTS show at Osky as well as full coverage of the Southern Iowa Sprint Weeks at Knoxville and Oskaloosa you can look here on the Back Stretch as well as on Running The High Side with Barry Johnson. Hope to see you at the track!
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