After taking last weekend off from racing to move my son and his fiancee' from West Des Moines to Dallas I am excited to get three straights nights of action in the book starting on Wednesday with the return of racing at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. After opening their season on April 10th under less than ideal conditions, the track has gone through four weeks of no racing, one that was scheduled that way and three that were weathered out, so as announcer Jerry Mackey noted last night it seemed like a whole new season opener. And what a pleasant night it was, the first time this year that I did not have to put on a jacket before the final checkered flag and in fact I was wishing that I had worn shorts during the heat race action.
Consider it a blessing or a curse, dependent upon your point of view, this track has a dominant driver in each of its four divisions right now although on this night one of those was missing from the roster. Race fans will look upon this in many different ways. Obviously if you are a fan of one of those dominate drivers you are going to love your Wednesday nights as more often than not your hero is going to end up in victory lane. If you are a fan of another driver you are going to hate it, because on most nights you know that your best possible outcome will be to run second. And, for fans like me, while it is not an ideal scenario you still have the urge to be there every week to see if somebody is going to be able to step up and beat the star knowing that if that does not happen you are still going to be impressed with how this driver goes about his work each week to take the win.
As each feature race takes the green flag at Osky it almost feels like the theme music from Jaws should start playing as well knowing that one driver will soon be making his way to the front to devour the competition and on this night it would start with Curtis Van Der Wal in the Sport Mods. Lining up fifth on the starting grid for the sixteen lap main event, Van Der Wal quickly moved to second on the opening lap when the row two starters left the door open for him on the inside into turn one, the racing equivalent of needing a bigger boat. Two laps later early leader Jason Hall was eaten up by Van Der Wal who drove under him in turn four. From there it was race for second as Van Der Wal cruised to the win, his first of the season though as Austin Paul got out to a big enough early lead on that cold night in April that he was able to make it ashore before the checkered flag waved. Paul was not in attendance on this night.
Carter Vandenberg picked up the second spot on lap nine and he would chase Van Der Wal in for second. Logan Anderson had a top five finish in hand before he dropped out of the race on lap eleven and Hall was still in third when he popped a radiator hose with a lap and a half to go. That moved Blaine Webster into third at the checkers with Colton Livezy fourth and impressive rookie Dylan VanWyk completing the top five.
Cayden Carter is the shark of the Stock Cars and after starting fifth he would be in second by lap three. Just one lap later Carter would go around Scott Dickey on the high side of turn two to take the lead where he would then check out on the field for his second win of the season. The battle for second was entertaining as Dickey did his best to fight off Nathan Wood and Derrick Agee, but in the end it would be Agee and Wood in second and third as division rookie Jason McDaniel dropped Dickey to fifth in the final laps.
2018 track champion Brandon Housley started out this season with a win, but he was missing tonight and that made for quite an entertaining and, in the end, controversial ten lap feature for the Sport Compacts. Tanner Wilson, Brandon Allison and Trent Orwig were three wide exiting turn four on the opening lap, but when Wilson and Allison made contact that allowed Orwig to claim the lead. Allison would gather himself back up though and soon he was challenging Orwig for the lead pulling even with him as the crossed flags were shown to the leaders on lap five.
Orwig, who picked up the win on a half-mile in Webster City last Saturday night, was doing his best to protect the bottom against his challenger and was able to fight off Allison, but as the white flag waved Brandon took the gloves off and muscled his way back under Orwig down the front stretch and into turn one. Yes, there was some contact, but these were two drivers racing hard for the win on the final lap and going down the back stretch Allison edged ahead before they entered the final set of turns.
Orwig would swing high coming out of turn four and with Allison running the rail they were no longer door handle to door handle, literally, as they drag raced to the checkered flag and that would make this one a tougher call than had they been glued together like previous laps. As soon evidenced by their reaction to who pulled into victory lane, most of the fans in the stands felt that Allison had crossed the finish line first, but only one set of eyes matters and the scorekeeper had Orwig as the winner instead. Tanner Wilson would hold on for third, his best feature finish to date, while Billy Cain and James Haring filled out the top five.
Cue up the music again as the Hobby Stocks would close out the night for fourteen laps with Dustin Griffiths starting from the eighth position. Brok Hopwood would lead the opening lap as Griffiths charged to third and before lap two could be scored Cody Cleghorn and Jesse Williams would tangle on the back stretch. On the restart it would be Christian Huffman jumping to the front, but he could only hold off Griffiths for two laps before the 2014 All Iowa Points Hobby Stock Champion drove by for the lead. Derek Kirkland would get to second with two laps to go and while he was able to get to the rear bumper of the leader on the final lap he could not mount a challenge before Griffiths claimed another checkered flag. Kirkland would settle for second ahead of Clint Nelson, Huffman and Craig Brown while a new face to the speedway, Blake Henry would finish sixth after winning an entertaining three car battle in his heat race.
Even with rides for kids before hot laps and a candy dash before the features, the final checkered flag waved at 9:11 p.m. making it an easy choice to return next Wednesday to see if anybody can defeat the sharks. (Note: In this day and age of Political Correctness I am compelled to clarify that I am NOT suggesting that somebody actually kill "the sharks" by sticking an air canister in their mouths and then shooting it.....have a sense of humor y'all!)
Tonight the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will make 34 Raceway near Burlington a national stage in what should be a spectacular show and on Friday night we hope to finally start the 2019 season for the Sprint Invaders. Hope to see you out there on the Back Stretch!
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Monday, May 6, 2019
Patient Pierce Completes MLRA Weekend Sweep at Quincy
If you ask one hundred dirt Late Model race fans in the Midwest how they would describe Bobby Pierce in just one word I would wager that none of them would blurt out the word "patient". But on Sunday night with a dry, slick surface that had taken rubber around the top the young phenom was just that at the Quincy Raceways allowing him to win for the third time this weekend with the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Model series.
Following a week of steady and heavy rains the track prep crew at Quincy was faced with the challenge of first getting the place dried out enough to race and then trying to prepare a track that would showcase the Super Late Models in their first appearance of the season, and the first ever visit to the "Bullring on Broadway" by the MLRA. A high sun and an early start time heightened the challenge and the quick quarter became the slick quarter as it dried out after hot laps.
Series point leader Will Vaught broke a motor during his heat race so it would be a seventeen car field that would line up for forty laps come feature time with Pierce sitting to the outside of Kyle Bronson in row one. The high side was the preferred line and that allowed Pierce to get to the lead as Bronson squeezed up into second ahead of Brian Shirley. It did not take long for the leaders to catch the back of the field and after getting around Matt Mickleson with ease, Pierce then found himself behind Rookie-of-the-Year contender Joseph Gorby.
Gorby was riding around the top as well and after taking a look down low a couple of times Pierce decided to play it safe and settled in behind Gorby waiting for him to make a mistake rather than forcing the issue. Around lap seventeen, when Gorby slipped a bit high into turn three, Pierce left the top for a moment to try to put him a lap down only to think better of it and with his momentum slowed just a bit Bronson threw a slider on the leader into turn one.
Coming up the track in two Bronson did not have Pierce cleared and that allowed Shirley to slip under him to take over second. A few laps later Gorby finally slipped up enough that it allowed the leaders to get around him and when Pierce also drove under Justin Reed in turn one he even had an extra buffer between himself and Shirley. This process would continue with each lapped car as Dennis Erb Jr. dropped Bronson to fourth and with just four laps to go Hudson O'Neal would make contact with Gorby turning him around in turn four.
The only caution of the race now gave the leader a clear race track and the field ran in single file formation around the top to the checkers with Pierce taking the win ahead of Shirley, Erb, Bronson and Logan Martin. O'Neal finished sixth followed by Mark Burgtorf, Mitch McGrath, Dewayne Kiefer and Jamie Wilson.
It was a tough weekend for the series as eight drivers had entered all events prior to this swing, but with Payton Looney losing a motor at Stuart and Jesse Stovall leaving West Liberty after his heat race that count is now at six. With Vaught's early exit on Sunday the points should be tight at the top between him, Martin and McGrath with Jake Neal, Jeremy Grady and Gorby being the other drivers with perfect attendance. The MLRA next runs in tandem with the Show Me 100 at the Lucas Oil Speedway before closing out that weekend on Sunday at the Monett Speedway for another four night run.
Two divisions provided support for the evening with their feature races sandwiching the Late Models. The Sport Mods were up first and it would be pole-sitter Adam Birck who would lead all eighteen laps surviving seven cautions and one red flag period to take the win. The red was needed when Daniel Fellows got into the front stretch wall coming out of turn four and was then hit hard by Brandon Niekamp. Both drivers were uninjured, but will have plenty of work to do to repair their damaged race cars. Justin Ebbing chased Birck the entire distance to finish second, Terry Wilson started seventh and finished third, Tanner Klingele was fourth and Nathan Bringer filled out the top five.
Open Stock Cars would complete the evening with some UMP Street Stocks joining the IMCA Stock Cars and the three Girard family Mini Stocks to give us twelve of the thirteen cars signed in to start an eighteen lap feature. The initial start was waved off and pole-sitter Craig Bangert was sent to the rear for firing before the cone in turn four. That moved Beau Taylor to the pole position and he would take advantage by racing to the lead. This race too was caution plagued, but unlike the Sport Mods the words "time limit" were mentioned and after the seventh caution flag waved on lap eleven the race, and the evening was brought to a close by waving the checkers with Taylor taking the win over Scott Jordan, Jesse Wegs, Shane Richardson and Dakota Girard.
That wrapped up a four race swing for me as well and I was thankful to be on the road and headed for home around 8:30. As just a fan who is now in his middle fifties, four nights in a row takes it toll so I can't even imagine how tough it is on these regional race teams and their equipment. After a couple of nights off though I will be ready to hit the road again for the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday if the weather allows. Hopefully it will stay dry enough in Oskaloosa on the Back Stretch.
Following a week of steady and heavy rains the track prep crew at Quincy was faced with the challenge of first getting the place dried out enough to race and then trying to prepare a track that would showcase the Super Late Models in their first appearance of the season, and the first ever visit to the "Bullring on Broadway" by the MLRA. A high sun and an early start time heightened the challenge and the quick quarter became the slick quarter as it dried out after hot laps.
Series point leader Will Vaught broke a motor during his heat race so it would be a seventeen car field that would line up for forty laps come feature time with Pierce sitting to the outside of Kyle Bronson in row one. The high side was the preferred line and that allowed Pierce to get to the lead as Bronson squeezed up into second ahead of Brian Shirley. It did not take long for the leaders to catch the back of the field and after getting around Matt Mickleson with ease, Pierce then found himself behind Rookie-of-the-Year contender Joseph Gorby.
Gorby was riding around the top as well and after taking a look down low a couple of times Pierce decided to play it safe and settled in behind Gorby waiting for him to make a mistake rather than forcing the issue. Around lap seventeen, when Gorby slipped a bit high into turn three, Pierce left the top for a moment to try to put him a lap down only to think better of it and with his momentum slowed just a bit Bronson threw a slider on the leader into turn one.
Coming up the track in two Bronson did not have Pierce cleared and that allowed Shirley to slip under him to take over second. A few laps later Gorby finally slipped up enough that it allowed the leaders to get around him and when Pierce also drove under Justin Reed in turn one he even had an extra buffer between himself and Shirley. This process would continue with each lapped car as Dennis Erb Jr. dropped Bronson to fourth and with just four laps to go Hudson O'Neal would make contact with Gorby turning him around in turn four.
The only caution of the race now gave the leader a clear race track and the field ran in single file formation around the top to the checkers with Pierce taking the win ahead of Shirley, Erb, Bronson and Logan Martin. O'Neal finished sixth followed by Mark Burgtorf, Mitch McGrath, Dewayne Kiefer and Jamie Wilson.
It was a tough weekend for the series as eight drivers had entered all events prior to this swing, but with Payton Looney losing a motor at Stuart and Jesse Stovall leaving West Liberty after his heat race that count is now at six. With Vaught's early exit on Sunday the points should be tight at the top between him, Martin and McGrath with Jake Neal, Jeremy Grady and Gorby being the other drivers with perfect attendance. The MLRA next runs in tandem with the Show Me 100 at the Lucas Oil Speedway before closing out that weekend on Sunday at the Monett Speedway for another four night run.
Two divisions provided support for the evening with their feature races sandwiching the Late Models. The Sport Mods were up first and it would be pole-sitter Adam Birck who would lead all eighteen laps surviving seven cautions and one red flag period to take the win. The red was needed when Daniel Fellows got into the front stretch wall coming out of turn four and was then hit hard by Brandon Niekamp. Both drivers were uninjured, but will have plenty of work to do to repair their damaged race cars. Justin Ebbing chased Birck the entire distance to finish second, Terry Wilson started seventh and finished third, Tanner Klingele was fourth and Nathan Bringer filled out the top five.
Open Stock Cars would complete the evening with some UMP Street Stocks joining the IMCA Stock Cars and the three Girard family Mini Stocks to give us twelve of the thirteen cars signed in to start an eighteen lap feature. The initial start was waved off and pole-sitter Craig Bangert was sent to the rear for firing before the cone in turn four. That moved Beau Taylor to the pole position and he would take advantage by racing to the lead. This race too was caution plagued, but unlike the Sport Mods the words "time limit" were mentioned and after the seventh caution flag waved on lap eleven the race, and the evening was brought to a close by waving the checkers with Taylor taking the win over Scott Jordan, Jesse Wegs, Shane Richardson and Dakota Girard.
That wrapped up a four race swing for me as well and I was thankful to be on the road and headed for home around 8:30. As just a fan who is now in his middle fifties, four nights in a row takes it toll so I can't even imagine how tough it is on these regional race teams and their equipment. After a couple of nights off though I will be ready to hit the road again for the Southern Iowa Speedway on Wednesday if the weather allows. Hopefully it will stay dry enough in Oskaloosa on the Back Stretch.
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Two Down, One To Go For Pierce On MLRA Weekend Swing
Bobby Pierce has already proven himself to be a short track wizard, but the young driver can go hammer down on the big tracks as well and on Saturday night at the West Liberty Raceway he did just that to dominate the twenty-five lap MLRA Late Model main event.
Twenty-seven Late Models signed in for the evening and the high speed half mile took its toll with four of them scratching, and at least two of them even loading up and leaving due to mechanical issues in the heat races. The heavy rains of the past week challenged the track prep crew and while turns one and two held up nicely throughout the evening, turn three started to chop out likely contributing to the attrition in the main event as well.
Defending MLRA champion Chad Simpson would bring the field to green and while he would get to turn one first it would be Pierce who would rocket off the cushion and to the lead down the back stretch. Simpson would honor the torrid pace though and as the leaders approached traffic already on lap six he looked like he had a run at the leader off the bottom of turn four. Just ahead of them though Jeremy Grady was slowing down the front straightaway and the caution waved with several cars narrowly missing Grady who was coasting next to the wall.
Just two more laps were scored before a scary incident unfolded right in front of the near capacity crowd. Nick Marolf had slowed coming down the front stretch and was looking to pull to the infield where the infield wall ends just past the judges stand and as Jordan Yaggy closed in on him quickly he veered to the right to miss the slowing car. Dave Wada was racing to the outside though and when Yaggy's right rear caught Wada's left front it turned Yaggy nose first into the outside wall where he then executed a series barrel rolls right along the catch fence finally coming to rest at the entrance of turn one. Thankfully both Yaggy and Wada were able to escape injury although Yaggy's #77 looked like it had gone through a metal grinder.
During the red flag period a few more drivers retired to the pit area including Billy Moyer who had been running in the top five leaving just twelve cars on the track for the restart. Pierce would again open up a big lead as the race to watch was for second where Hudson O'Neal now went to work on Simpson. After trying the bottom a couple of times with no success, O'Neal would pull off a daring move around the outside squeezing between Simpson and the outside concrete wall exiting turn four on lap seventeen and when Dave Eckrich stopped in turn one after shredding a a left rear tire it looked like the stage was set for a battle between the two young guns, Pierce and O'Neal.
That wish was short lived though when O'Neal lost several positions in turns one and two on the restart and then slowed down the back stretch with a flat right rear tire. After a quick tire change he would rejoin the twelve car lineup and it would now be MLRA point leader Will Vaught moving up to second. Vaught would stay right with the leader for the next two laps even taking a look to the inside of Pierce out of four on lap nineteen. Catching a ripple off four Vaught stumbled just a bit though and that would allow Pierce to again pull away and ride with ease to the checkers. Vaught would extend his point lead as the runner-up, Simpson would join them on the podium in third while Jason Rauen slipped past Jake Neal in the closing laps for fourth. Rich Bell, Logan Martin, O'Neal, Chad Holladay and Mitch McGrath would complete the top ten while Eckrich and Joseph Gorby were the final two cars on the track.
After winning at Stuart on Thursday night before Friday's rainout at Davenport, Pierce now heads to the Quincy Raceways tonight to try to pull off the MLRA weekend sweep.
In support class action Ron Barker drove Keith Simmons' beautiful #38 to a dominating win in the American Iron Racing Series (AIRS) main event. Bruce Yoerger paced lap one with Dan Kessler leading the second lap before Barker took control. When R.J. Lank spun his Edsel in turn one while running fourth on lap seven, three other cars were also involved and eliminated including Yoerger. Matt Hudspeth would edge out Kessler for second as Bart Miller and Dennis Etten also finished the ten lap distance.
The Stock Car feature brought the fantastic crowd to its feet on the twelfth and final lap. David Brandies started from the pole and had opened up at least a half straightaway lead before John Oliver Jr. could get to second after starting fifth. Slowly but surely the defending All Iowa Points Champion would reel in the leader and with two laps to go Oliver would nose ahead of Brandies at the stripe. David would fight back though to reclaim the lead as the white flag waved and as they came out of four to the checkers Oliver again had a run off the bottom. With two of the best in the region now drag racing to the checkers it would be Brandies by half of a car length for the win over Oliver. Michael Peterson was not far behind in third and the score keepers had to watch the race for fourth closely as Johnny Spaw split the middle of Jared Miller and Jason See to get the spot.
Dan Brockert charged from fifth to lead the opening lap of the Sport Mod main event, but he brought the seventh starting Logan Anderson with him and after taking over on lap two Anderson would weather two restarts to take a dominating win. Shane Paris would finish in the second spot followed by Matt Fulton, Brandon Dale and Austin Heacock.
The stands were still half full as the Modifieds closed out the evening for twenty laps that saw Chris Zogg lead each and every one of them. Justin Kay started sixth and got around Kurt Kile for second on lap seven, but he had no luck in closing the gap on Zogg who posted the convincing win. Kile would be a full three quarters of a lap behind Zogg and Kay at the checkers for third, Dakota Hayden was fourth and Jarrett Brown finished fifth.
The Modifieds will be the featured attraction when the DRT Trak Racing Inc. promotional team returns to the West Liberty Raceway on Saturday May 18th with $2,000 going to the winner. The Sport Mods will also have a four figure winners check at $1,000, plus the Stocks Cars, Four Cylinders and AIRS will be in action as well.
Several good options on the table for tonight so after I get the yard mowed I will check the weather and then make a decision. You never know where you might see me except for right here on the Back Stretch!
Twenty-seven Late Models signed in for the evening and the high speed half mile took its toll with four of them scratching, and at least two of them even loading up and leaving due to mechanical issues in the heat races. The heavy rains of the past week challenged the track prep crew and while turns one and two held up nicely throughout the evening, turn three started to chop out likely contributing to the attrition in the main event as well.
Defending MLRA champion Chad Simpson would bring the field to green and while he would get to turn one first it would be Pierce who would rocket off the cushion and to the lead down the back stretch. Simpson would honor the torrid pace though and as the leaders approached traffic already on lap six he looked like he had a run at the leader off the bottom of turn four. Just ahead of them though Jeremy Grady was slowing down the front straightaway and the caution waved with several cars narrowly missing Grady who was coasting next to the wall.
Just two more laps were scored before a scary incident unfolded right in front of the near capacity crowd. Nick Marolf had slowed coming down the front stretch and was looking to pull to the infield where the infield wall ends just past the judges stand and as Jordan Yaggy closed in on him quickly he veered to the right to miss the slowing car. Dave Wada was racing to the outside though and when Yaggy's right rear caught Wada's left front it turned Yaggy nose first into the outside wall where he then executed a series barrel rolls right along the catch fence finally coming to rest at the entrance of turn one. Thankfully both Yaggy and Wada were able to escape injury although Yaggy's #77 looked like it had gone through a metal grinder.
During the red flag period a few more drivers retired to the pit area including Billy Moyer who had been running in the top five leaving just twelve cars on the track for the restart. Pierce would again open up a big lead as the race to watch was for second where Hudson O'Neal now went to work on Simpson. After trying the bottom a couple of times with no success, O'Neal would pull off a daring move around the outside squeezing between Simpson and the outside concrete wall exiting turn four on lap seventeen and when Dave Eckrich stopped in turn one after shredding a a left rear tire it looked like the stage was set for a battle between the two young guns, Pierce and O'Neal.
That wish was short lived though when O'Neal lost several positions in turns one and two on the restart and then slowed down the back stretch with a flat right rear tire. After a quick tire change he would rejoin the twelve car lineup and it would now be MLRA point leader Will Vaught moving up to second. Vaught would stay right with the leader for the next two laps even taking a look to the inside of Pierce out of four on lap nineteen. Catching a ripple off four Vaught stumbled just a bit though and that would allow Pierce to again pull away and ride with ease to the checkers. Vaught would extend his point lead as the runner-up, Simpson would join them on the podium in third while Jason Rauen slipped past Jake Neal in the closing laps for fourth. Rich Bell, Logan Martin, O'Neal, Chad Holladay and Mitch McGrath would complete the top ten while Eckrich and Joseph Gorby were the final two cars on the track.
After winning at Stuart on Thursday night before Friday's rainout at Davenport, Pierce now heads to the Quincy Raceways tonight to try to pull off the MLRA weekend sweep.
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| Bobby Pierce at Stuart on Thursday night - Barry Johnson photo |
In support class action Ron Barker drove Keith Simmons' beautiful #38 to a dominating win in the American Iron Racing Series (AIRS) main event. Bruce Yoerger paced lap one with Dan Kessler leading the second lap before Barker took control. When R.J. Lank spun his Edsel in turn one while running fourth on lap seven, three other cars were also involved and eliminated including Yoerger. Matt Hudspeth would edge out Kessler for second as Bart Miller and Dennis Etten also finished the ten lap distance.
The Stock Car feature brought the fantastic crowd to its feet on the twelfth and final lap. David Brandies started from the pole and had opened up at least a half straightaway lead before John Oliver Jr. could get to second after starting fifth. Slowly but surely the defending All Iowa Points Champion would reel in the leader and with two laps to go Oliver would nose ahead of Brandies at the stripe. David would fight back though to reclaim the lead as the white flag waved and as they came out of four to the checkers Oliver again had a run off the bottom. With two of the best in the region now drag racing to the checkers it would be Brandies by half of a car length for the win over Oliver. Michael Peterson was not far behind in third and the score keepers had to watch the race for fourth closely as Johnny Spaw split the middle of Jared Miller and Jason See to get the spot.
Dan Brockert charged from fifth to lead the opening lap of the Sport Mod main event, but he brought the seventh starting Logan Anderson with him and after taking over on lap two Anderson would weather two restarts to take a dominating win. Shane Paris would finish in the second spot followed by Matt Fulton, Brandon Dale and Austin Heacock.
The stands were still half full as the Modifieds closed out the evening for twenty laps that saw Chris Zogg lead each and every one of them. Justin Kay started sixth and got around Kurt Kile for second on lap seven, but he had no luck in closing the gap on Zogg who posted the convincing win. Kile would be a full three quarters of a lap behind Zogg and Kay at the checkers for third, Dakota Hayden was fourth and Jarrett Brown finished fifth.
The Modifieds will be the featured attraction when the DRT Trak Racing Inc. promotional team returns to the West Liberty Raceway on Saturday May 18th with $2,000 going to the winner. The Sport Mods will also have a four figure winners check at $1,000, plus the Stocks Cars, Four Cylinders and AIRS will be in action as well.
Several good options on the table for tonight so after I get the yard mowed I will check the weather and then make a decision. You never know where you might see me except for right here on the Back Stretch!
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Kay and Rust Dominate, Ritter, Olson, Rieks and Morrill Win As Well At Marshalltown
With every other IMCA sanctioned Friday night track to the south and east of them rained out, the Marshalltown Speedway drew in some extra cars for its weekly racing action that is already supreme even without the extras. I mentioned earlier this year that Marshalltown had moved into the list of my five favorite race tracks so with it being my closest option last night I didn't even hesitate about making the trip that takes just over two hours for my third visit to the Toby Kruse promoted facility in this young season.
An interesting mix of twenty IMCA Late Models were on hand and it is easy to tell who is running the Crate motors as they sound like heavy duty vacuum cleaners as they idle by you. But when the green flag drops that rules package seems to be every bit as strong as the traditional spec motors and the speeds were high around the quick quarter-mile. With this being the opening night for track points in this division a draw and redraw format was used and as luck would have it two of the best, Todd Cooney and Justin Kay would pull the front row for the twenty lap main event.
With Cooney racing to the preferred high line into turn one, Kay drove low and deep into that opening corner before drifting up the track exiting turn two to take the lead. No doubt that Cooney would have fired back with a slider of his own, but he now had the fourth starting Joel Callahan next to him and I would have to say that the next five or six laps had to be some of the most entertaining action that I have seen so far this season. As Kay pulled away Cooney and Callahan waged a war for second trading lines, tossing sliders and cross overs at each other and even bending some sheet metal on both cars. Finally Callahan would prevail and settle into second, but by now Kay had put a full straightway between himself and the two warriors.
Lapped traffic provided some challenges, but there would be no stopping Kay from going flag-to-flag for the victory. Callahan would chase him home for second with Cooney finishing third ahead of his teammate Curtis Glover who gets faster every time that I see him. Defending All Iowa Points champion Jeremiah Hurst rounded out the top five after starting ninth. Some of that "interesting mix" of drivers included the return of Jill George, Late Model rookies Dalton Simonsen and Stacy Griffis, the return of Mike Smith driving Blair Barton's #7 and Lake Knutti who made the trip over from Lanark, Illinois.
Ronn Lauriten would pace the first four laps of the Modified finale before Zach Rawlins went over the top of turn two to bring out a caution. On the restart both Joel Rust and Tim Ward would drop Lauritzen from first to third out of turn two with Rust taking the point and while Ward was a rocket in his heat race earlier in the evening, he could not keep up with Rust now as the driver from Grundy Center ran away with the win. Jimmy Gustin started ninth and used the bottom to move all the way up to second on the opening lap finished in the third sport with Jeff Aikey and Lauritzen next in line.
The eighteen lap Sport Mod headliner was a good one even if it did have a few too many cautions and it was some of the division's best that were the culprits. Matthew Webb would lead the opening lap before track point leader Jake McBirnie spun in turn one. On lap two the driver ranked second in points Thomas Egenberger would spin in turn one as well with both drivers now restarting at the rear of the twenty-four car field. On the third lap turn one was again the hot point as Tony Olson and Austin Kaplan tangled to bring out another caution. For the restart I couldn't help but notice that while Kaplan lined up begrudgingly at the rear, Olson only found a spot about mid-pack that seemed to go unnoticed and we were back to green.
Kyle Olson was now the leader and after scoring three more laps Jack Housley slowed out of turn two and appeared to be confused as to whether he should turn left into the infield or try to drive it off the top of turn three and head for the pits. He accomplished neither and when he coasted to a halt the caution would wave once again. Olson had plenty of company now as he tried to hold onto that lead with drivers such as Cory Rose and Brayton Carter coming from row seven and eight respectively in to challenge, plus after a lap eleven caution for a Brody Hilmer spin both Jonathan Logue who had started eighteenth and McBirnie who had recovered from his earlier incident also lined up in the top five.
With Olson still leading the way the action was intense just behind him and with two laps to go McBirnie was sent spinning down the back stretch stopping at the top of turn three. With this being his second caution though he was done for the night and for this restart the other driver who started in row eight, Joe Docekal would line up in the top five. Docekal was driving the #89 that will usually be driven by Danville's Ron Kibbe, but the car builder was shaking it down tonight and it definitely looked fast.
Carter would put a slider on Olson once we were back to green, but when Logue got into Docekal exiting turn four coming to the white flag, Logue would wind up sideways for yet another yellow that would put us back to a green white checkers finish. On this one Carter was able to get "the White Castle" ( a slider as referred to by the always entertaining Jerry Vansickel) to stick and he would have the lead crossing the stripe under the white flag with Olson trying to complete the crossover. Heading for turn one for the final time Olson wanted the high line while Carter was looking to go low and contact nearly wiped out the whole field, but the two leaders were able to recover and it would be Kyle Olson back out front for the win as the checkers waved. Carter would settle for second with Rose in third, Docekal would end up in fourth while Tyler Soppe methodically made his way up to fifth after starting seventeenth.
Along with the Cooney/Callahan battle, that Sport Mod feature definitely made me thankful that I had made the trip.
After watching him come from sixteenth to finish second the night before in Stuart, I had a feeling that Shawn Ritter would be hard to beat starting from the front row of the eighteen lap Stock Car feature and he proved me right by going flag-to-flag for his first ever win at Marshalltown. There was plenty of action behind him though including a big charge from Damon Murty who came from ninth to second before slowing suddenly with mechanical issues on on lap twelve.
Joey Hofbauer rolled his car off the top of turn two with two laps remaining and following the restart it would be Steve Meyer holding off Todd Reitzler to finish in second. Defending All Iowa Points Champion John Oliver Jr. made the tow up from Danville to finish fourth after starting from the ninth row and David Atcher would complete the top five.
For the second night in a row I saw a full field of IMCA Hobby Stocks go non-stop in a feature race on a quarter-mile, so now what are the odds of that? David Rieks would pass Ray Fees for the lead on lap two and by the time that Shannon Anderson cleared himself into second on lap six, Rieks was gone and was a very happy winner in victory lane. Last week's winner here Leah Wroten finished third, Nathan Ballard started eleventh and finished fourth while Fees held on for fifth.
The Mod Lite division thrilled the crowd with some five-wide action early on as Mike Morrill came from ninth to score yet another feature win.
A big thanks to Joyce and Dick Eisele for saving me one of the best seat's in the house and as always it was fun to spend the evening with Kevin, Jack, Brad, Fred and my PR colleague Danny Rosencrans for a great night of racing. I even had the chance to announce a heat race and a half of the Hobby Stocks and if you know the nickname of this movie character you will know why.
Tonight I look forward to the MLRA Late Model show at the West Liberty Raceway and on Sunday I will follow the series down to the Quincy Raceways as well. Hope to see you there!
An interesting mix of twenty IMCA Late Models were on hand and it is easy to tell who is running the Crate motors as they sound like heavy duty vacuum cleaners as they idle by you. But when the green flag drops that rules package seems to be every bit as strong as the traditional spec motors and the speeds were high around the quick quarter-mile. With this being the opening night for track points in this division a draw and redraw format was used and as luck would have it two of the best, Todd Cooney and Justin Kay would pull the front row for the twenty lap main event.
With Cooney racing to the preferred high line into turn one, Kay drove low and deep into that opening corner before drifting up the track exiting turn two to take the lead. No doubt that Cooney would have fired back with a slider of his own, but he now had the fourth starting Joel Callahan next to him and I would have to say that the next five or six laps had to be some of the most entertaining action that I have seen so far this season. As Kay pulled away Cooney and Callahan waged a war for second trading lines, tossing sliders and cross overs at each other and even bending some sheet metal on both cars. Finally Callahan would prevail and settle into second, but by now Kay had put a full straightway between himself and the two warriors.
Lapped traffic provided some challenges, but there would be no stopping Kay from going flag-to-flag for the victory. Callahan would chase him home for second with Cooney finishing third ahead of his teammate Curtis Glover who gets faster every time that I see him. Defending All Iowa Points champion Jeremiah Hurst rounded out the top five after starting ninth. Some of that "interesting mix" of drivers included the return of Jill George, Late Model rookies Dalton Simonsen and Stacy Griffis, the return of Mike Smith driving Blair Barton's #7 and Lake Knutti who made the trip over from Lanark, Illinois.
Ronn Lauriten would pace the first four laps of the Modified finale before Zach Rawlins went over the top of turn two to bring out a caution. On the restart both Joel Rust and Tim Ward would drop Lauritzen from first to third out of turn two with Rust taking the point and while Ward was a rocket in his heat race earlier in the evening, he could not keep up with Rust now as the driver from Grundy Center ran away with the win. Jimmy Gustin started ninth and used the bottom to move all the way up to second on the opening lap finished in the third sport with Jeff Aikey and Lauritzen next in line.
The eighteen lap Sport Mod headliner was a good one even if it did have a few too many cautions and it was some of the division's best that were the culprits. Matthew Webb would lead the opening lap before track point leader Jake McBirnie spun in turn one. On lap two the driver ranked second in points Thomas Egenberger would spin in turn one as well with both drivers now restarting at the rear of the twenty-four car field. On the third lap turn one was again the hot point as Tony Olson and Austin Kaplan tangled to bring out another caution. For the restart I couldn't help but notice that while Kaplan lined up begrudgingly at the rear, Olson only found a spot about mid-pack that seemed to go unnoticed and we were back to green.
Kyle Olson was now the leader and after scoring three more laps Jack Housley slowed out of turn two and appeared to be confused as to whether he should turn left into the infield or try to drive it off the top of turn three and head for the pits. He accomplished neither and when he coasted to a halt the caution would wave once again. Olson had plenty of company now as he tried to hold onto that lead with drivers such as Cory Rose and Brayton Carter coming from row seven and eight respectively in to challenge, plus after a lap eleven caution for a Brody Hilmer spin both Jonathan Logue who had started eighteenth and McBirnie who had recovered from his earlier incident also lined up in the top five.
With Olson still leading the way the action was intense just behind him and with two laps to go McBirnie was sent spinning down the back stretch stopping at the top of turn three. With this being his second caution though he was done for the night and for this restart the other driver who started in row eight, Joe Docekal would line up in the top five. Docekal was driving the #89 that will usually be driven by Danville's Ron Kibbe, but the car builder was shaking it down tonight and it definitely looked fast.
Carter would put a slider on Olson once we were back to green, but when Logue got into Docekal exiting turn four coming to the white flag, Logue would wind up sideways for yet another yellow that would put us back to a green white checkers finish. On this one Carter was able to get "the White Castle" ( a slider as referred to by the always entertaining Jerry Vansickel) to stick and he would have the lead crossing the stripe under the white flag with Olson trying to complete the crossover. Heading for turn one for the final time Olson wanted the high line while Carter was looking to go low and contact nearly wiped out the whole field, but the two leaders were able to recover and it would be Kyle Olson back out front for the win as the checkers waved. Carter would settle for second with Rose in third, Docekal would end up in fourth while Tyler Soppe methodically made his way up to fifth after starting seventeenth.
Along with the Cooney/Callahan battle, that Sport Mod feature definitely made me thankful that I had made the trip.
After watching him come from sixteenth to finish second the night before in Stuart, I had a feeling that Shawn Ritter would be hard to beat starting from the front row of the eighteen lap Stock Car feature and he proved me right by going flag-to-flag for his first ever win at Marshalltown. There was plenty of action behind him though including a big charge from Damon Murty who came from ninth to second before slowing suddenly with mechanical issues on on lap twelve.
Joey Hofbauer rolled his car off the top of turn two with two laps remaining and following the restart it would be Steve Meyer holding off Todd Reitzler to finish in second. Defending All Iowa Points Champion John Oliver Jr. made the tow up from Danville to finish fourth after starting from the ninth row and David Atcher would complete the top five.
For the second night in a row I saw a full field of IMCA Hobby Stocks go non-stop in a feature race on a quarter-mile, so now what are the odds of that? David Rieks would pass Ray Fees for the lead on lap two and by the time that Shannon Anderson cleared himself into second on lap six, Rieks was gone and was a very happy winner in victory lane. Last week's winner here Leah Wroten finished third, Nathan Ballard started eleventh and finished fourth while Fees held on for fifth.
The Mod Lite division thrilled the crowd with some five-wide action early on as Mike Morrill came from ninth to score yet another feature win.
A big thanks to Joyce and Dick Eisele for saving me one of the best seat's in the house and as always it was fun to spend the evening with Kevin, Jack, Brad, Fred and my PR colleague Danny Rosencrans for a great night of racing. I even had the chance to announce a heat race and a half of the Hobby Stocks and if you know the nickname of this movie character you will know why.
Tonight I look forward to the MLRA Late Model show at the West Liberty Raceway and on Sunday I will follow the series down to the Quincy Raceways as well. Hope to see you there!
Friday, May 3, 2019
Pierce Impressive In MLRA's Debut At Stuart
When the MLRA Late Models visited the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for the first time a couple of years ago they loved the place and when their follow up appearance was even better with drivers coming from deep in the field to finish near the front several of them proclaimed it as their new favorite track. On Thursday night the MLRA visited the Stuart International Speedway for the first time and they put on a spectacular show with high speed slicing and dicing, racing grooves from top to bottom to choose from and drivers making big runs to the front with the winner declaring just how much he loved this place in victory lane. So why am I bring up the past with Lee County? Two common denominators; the promoter and the race format.
Mike Van Genderen had to wait out a week of unsettled weather before he could really get to work on the track, but when the skies cleared on Thursday he obviously had a enough time to deliver a surface that the Late Models could really race on. Going with the Passing Points format tonight, gaining positions on the fast and tacky surface during the three heat races was not easy, but with some of the top talent drawing the back of the pack drivers were searching both high and low trying to make their move. And that is something that I have always felt gets lost in the argument between using Passing Points versus Group Qualifying with the fast guys then starting up front.
With Passing Points more racing grooves are developed as faster drivers try to make their way to the front while with Group Qualifying the heat races are generally a parade around the one preferred groove. Bottom line, Passing Points gives the fans a better show not only during the heats, but come feature time as well since the track will now have more room to race than it would have under the Group Qualifying format and I will sum up this argument as I always do. Our sport is called "Racing" not "Chasing".
And boy did we get to see some great racing at Stuart Thursday night, and not just in the Late Models, but more on the weekly divisions later. A solid count of twenty-four MLRA competitors signed in with three heat races to set the field. Payton Looney was impressive taking a win from his third starting spot to earn the pole position for the main event, but it was Bobby Pierce that gave a preview of things to come with perhaps the most entertaining fifth place finish in a heat race ever. Pierce had started eighth and while other stars failed to pick up any positions in just ten laps, the young driver was using every move, groove and line that he could think of to get up to fifth at the checkers. This would put him thirteenth on the grid for the forty lap main event and I couldn't help but to have my focus on Pierce as the race took the green.
Looney would race out to the early lead only to have the caution wave on lap three when Dave Eckrich spun in turn three and in those three laps Pierce had moved up to ninth. On the restart Looney again set a quick pace, but after scoring just one more lap he would slow in turn two with smoke trailing from his car ending the chances for what could have been his first ever MLRA win.
Pierce was now seventh on this restart and with him using the cushion getting the outside row on the Delaware double file realignments was definitely playing into his advantage. Tyler Bruening would now pick up the lead with Looney's departure, but we would only get to lap eight before Jake Neal stopped his car at the top of turn four after being hit in the face of his helmet by debris. The race was red-flagged as medical personal checked out the MLRA Rookie-of-the-Year contender and after a few minutes he buckled down a new helmet and rejoined the race at the back of the pack.
One more lap would be scored before a flat left rear tire sent Jesse Stovall for a spin in turn three and when Andrew Kosiski had no place to go, contact would send them both to the pit area for the remainder of the race.
Pierce was now in third for the restart, again lined up to the high side and he would quickly go to work on the leader. Bruening held tough though holding off the young star until lap fifteen when Pierce sailed past for the lead. As Pierce pulled away the battle for second heated up with both Chris Simpson and series point leader Will Vaught joining Bruening with all three holding the spot at one time or another.
Lapped traffic on the quarter-mile bullring gave Pierce a challenge where he again had to go both low and high to maintain his lead and when the caution waved for debris with eleven laps remaining that would then give him a clear track for the rest of the distance to the checkers. Simpson would prevail in that battle for second followed by Bruening and Vaught while Jordan Yaggy posted another solid run in fifth. Billy Moyer started tenth and finished sixth while Chad Simpson made a big run up to seventh after starting from the tenth row. Mitch McGrath who started next to Chad followed him up to eighth, Richie Gustin proved that his IMCA legal car was capable of posting a top ten in ninth while Logan Martin raced from the eleventh row up to tenth. So as you can see, there was plenty of passing going on in this one!
A stout field of twenty-two IMCA Hobby Stocks started out the feature races in fine fashion going sixteen laps non-stop. Chuck Madden would lead the way early with Jack Phillips applying the pressure along with Shannon Anderson who quickly moved up from fifth. When Phillips tried to get a bite off the bottom, Anderson slipped around him on the high side into second and on lap seven as Phillips again dove low Shannon would split the middle to take the lead. There was plenty of lapped traffic to negotiate and with two laps to go Madden dove low into turn one pulling even with the leader, but Anderson had the momentum off the top to retain the lead and secure the victory. Madden and Phillips were second and third, Clint Nelson started eighth and finished fourth while Adam Ayers moved from tenth to fifth.
The twenty lap Stock Car feature was a good one with Jeremy Gettler setting the early pace. Last week's winner Buck Schafroth would drive past him on lap four dragging along his teammate Todd Van Eaton, but Gettler was not about to give in and on lap six he would dive into turn one extra hard to make it three-wide for the lead going down the back stretch. Unfortunately though on his very low entrance into turn one Gettler had clipped one of the tires marking the infield knocking it just enough on to the racing surface to require a caution flag and the field was rest for the restart.
Van Eaton would keep the heat on Schafroth until lap ten when his driveshaft decided that it had other plans for the evening and following that caution it would now be multi-time IMCA Stock Car National Champion Mike Nichols who would pick up the challenge. Schafroth would hold his line nicely despite the pressure and nearing the finish Shawn Ritter would join the battle after he had started at the back of the sixteen car field. On the final lap Nichols would make one last bid to the inside of the leader in turn three, but when his car bicycled up on its right side wheels he had to let out of the throttle to bring it back down and that would allow Ritter to slip by to finish second as Schafroth made it two wins in a row at Stuart. Kyle Brown started twelfth and finished fourth while the opening night feature winner Josh Daniels was fifth.
The Late Model feature took the checkers just before ten o'clock and with nearly a three hour drive ahead of me I chose to leave knowing that I would be missing a twenty-six car Sport Mod field in their main event. Checking the results I see that Tyler Inman got vindication by taking the win after last week when he went from leading the race entering turn three on the final lap only to finish in third. Hunter Longnecker, Brayton Carter, Austin Kaplan and Jake McBirnie completed the top five.
A big thanks to Mike Van Genderen and his staff for their hospitality as we had five representatives from Positively Racing in attendance. Look for additional reports soon from Danny Rosencrans, Brian Neal and Ed Reichert while Barry Johnson will have some photos up on our Facebook page as well.
Tonight's MLRA event at the Davenport Speedway has been canceled due to wet grounds, but I hope to catch the remaining two events on this swing on Saturday at the West Liberty Raceway and on Sunday when the series makes its first ever appearance at the Quincy Raceways. For tonight though look for the PR gang to be out in full force again joining Joyce and Dick Eisele at the Marshalltown Speedway where the car count could swell even higher after rainouts at Donnellson and Columbus Junction as well. Perhaps we'll see you there!
Mike Van Genderen had to wait out a week of unsettled weather before he could really get to work on the track, but when the skies cleared on Thursday he obviously had a enough time to deliver a surface that the Late Models could really race on. Going with the Passing Points format tonight, gaining positions on the fast and tacky surface during the three heat races was not easy, but with some of the top talent drawing the back of the pack drivers were searching both high and low trying to make their move. And that is something that I have always felt gets lost in the argument between using Passing Points versus Group Qualifying with the fast guys then starting up front.
With Passing Points more racing grooves are developed as faster drivers try to make their way to the front while with Group Qualifying the heat races are generally a parade around the one preferred groove. Bottom line, Passing Points gives the fans a better show not only during the heats, but come feature time as well since the track will now have more room to race than it would have under the Group Qualifying format and I will sum up this argument as I always do. Our sport is called "Racing" not "Chasing".
And boy did we get to see some great racing at Stuart Thursday night, and not just in the Late Models, but more on the weekly divisions later. A solid count of twenty-four MLRA competitors signed in with three heat races to set the field. Payton Looney was impressive taking a win from his third starting spot to earn the pole position for the main event, but it was Bobby Pierce that gave a preview of things to come with perhaps the most entertaining fifth place finish in a heat race ever. Pierce had started eighth and while other stars failed to pick up any positions in just ten laps, the young driver was using every move, groove and line that he could think of to get up to fifth at the checkers. This would put him thirteenth on the grid for the forty lap main event and I couldn't help but to have my focus on Pierce as the race took the green.
Looney would race out to the early lead only to have the caution wave on lap three when Dave Eckrich spun in turn three and in those three laps Pierce had moved up to ninth. On the restart Looney again set a quick pace, but after scoring just one more lap he would slow in turn two with smoke trailing from his car ending the chances for what could have been his first ever MLRA win.
Pierce was now seventh on this restart and with him using the cushion getting the outside row on the Delaware double file realignments was definitely playing into his advantage. Tyler Bruening would now pick up the lead with Looney's departure, but we would only get to lap eight before Jake Neal stopped his car at the top of turn four after being hit in the face of his helmet by debris. The race was red-flagged as medical personal checked out the MLRA Rookie-of-the-Year contender and after a few minutes he buckled down a new helmet and rejoined the race at the back of the pack.
One more lap would be scored before a flat left rear tire sent Jesse Stovall for a spin in turn three and when Andrew Kosiski had no place to go, contact would send them both to the pit area for the remainder of the race.
Pierce was now in third for the restart, again lined up to the high side and he would quickly go to work on the leader. Bruening held tough though holding off the young star until lap fifteen when Pierce sailed past for the lead. As Pierce pulled away the battle for second heated up with both Chris Simpson and series point leader Will Vaught joining Bruening with all three holding the spot at one time or another.
Lapped traffic on the quarter-mile bullring gave Pierce a challenge where he again had to go both low and high to maintain his lead and when the caution waved for debris with eleven laps remaining that would then give him a clear track for the rest of the distance to the checkers. Simpson would prevail in that battle for second followed by Bruening and Vaught while Jordan Yaggy posted another solid run in fifth. Billy Moyer started tenth and finished sixth while Chad Simpson made a big run up to seventh after starting from the tenth row. Mitch McGrath who started next to Chad followed him up to eighth, Richie Gustin proved that his IMCA legal car was capable of posting a top ten in ninth while Logan Martin raced from the eleventh row up to tenth. So as you can see, there was plenty of passing going on in this one!
A stout field of twenty-two IMCA Hobby Stocks started out the feature races in fine fashion going sixteen laps non-stop. Chuck Madden would lead the way early with Jack Phillips applying the pressure along with Shannon Anderson who quickly moved up from fifth. When Phillips tried to get a bite off the bottom, Anderson slipped around him on the high side into second and on lap seven as Phillips again dove low Shannon would split the middle to take the lead. There was plenty of lapped traffic to negotiate and with two laps to go Madden dove low into turn one pulling even with the leader, but Anderson had the momentum off the top to retain the lead and secure the victory. Madden and Phillips were second and third, Clint Nelson started eighth and finished fourth while Adam Ayers moved from tenth to fifth.
The twenty lap Stock Car feature was a good one with Jeremy Gettler setting the early pace. Last week's winner Buck Schafroth would drive past him on lap four dragging along his teammate Todd Van Eaton, but Gettler was not about to give in and on lap six he would dive into turn one extra hard to make it three-wide for the lead going down the back stretch. Unfortunately though on his very low entrance into turn one Gettler had clipped one of the tires marking the infield knocking it just enough on to the racing surface to require a caution flag and the field was rest for the restart.
Van Eaton would keep the heat on Schafroth until lap ten when his driveshaft decided that it had other plans for the evening and following that caution it would now be multi-time IMCA Stock Car National Champion Mike Nichols who would pick up the challenge. Schafroth would hold his line nicely despite the pressure and nearing the finish Shawn Ritter would join the battle after he had started at the back of the sixteen car field. On the final lap Nichols would make one last bid to the inside of the leader in turn three, but when his car bicycled up on its right side wheels he had to let out of the throttle to bring it back down and that would allow Ritter to slip by to finish second as Schafroth made it two wins in a row at Stuart. Kyle Brown started twelfth and finished fourth while the opening night feature winner Josh Daniels was fifth.
The Late Model feature took the checkers just before ten o'clock and with nearly a three hour drive ahead of me I chose to leave knowing that I would be missing a twenty-six car Sport Mod field in their main event. Checking the results I see that Tyler Inman got vindication by taking the win after last week when he went from leading the race entering turn three on the final lap only to finish in third. Hunter Longnecker, Brayton Carter, Austin Kaplan and Jake McBirnie completed the top five.
A big thanks to Mike Van Genderen and his staff for their hospitality as we had five representatives from Positively Racing in attendance. Look for additional reports soon from Danny Rosencrans, Brian Neal and Ed Reichert while Barry Johnson will have some photos up on our Facebook page as well.
Tonight's MLRA event at the Davenport Speedway has been canceled due to wet grounds, but I hope to catch the remaining two events on this swing on Saturday at the West Liberty Raceway and on Sunday when the series makes its first ever appearance at the Quincy Raceways. For tonight though look for the PR gang to be out in full force again joining Joyce and Dick Eisele at the Marshalltown Speedway where the car count could swell even higher after rainouts at Donnellson and Columbus Junction as well. Perhaps we'll see you there!
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