Kevin Swindell made a late pass to pick up a win in the USAC Midget main event and his father Sammy nearly did the same in the 410 c.i. Sprint Car feature Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway.
This was night number two of the Pepsi/Mountain Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals and the driver who swept the event in 2008, Brad Sweet, jumped to the early lead from the outside of the front row. The track was much racier tonight as drivers ran both high and low and, with Sweet up on the top side, Jerry Coons Jr. made the pass for the lead using the rail on lap number three. Kevin Swindell had started his Bullet chassis in row four and he was on the move primarily using the low groove to move up to the second spot. With no cautions in the event, by the time Swindell picked up the chase of Coons he was a full straightaway behind with less than ten laps remaining.
I could sense that the lead was shrinking a bit, but not enough that he could make a challenge so my attention was pulled further back in the field where drivers were racing in groups of four or five swapping lines, and positions, in each corner. This was exactly the type of action that has been seen in the past when the Midgets have made their appearance at the big half-mile. With three laps to go I took a peek back to the front to see that Swindell was now within striking distance of the lead coming out of turn four and as they went through turns one and two and down the back straightaway it was evident who the faster car was now. Going into turn three Coons appeared to miss his mark and slipped just off the bottom enough that Kevin was able to slide under him for the lead coming to the white flag. Over the final five laps Swindell had been using a higher line in one and two so Coons charged back to the bottom and nosed ahead again, but only for a split second as Swindell's momentum off the top side rocketed him to the front off turn two and he claimed the victory much to the approval of the solid crowd on hand. Sweet and fellow Californian Darren Hagen swaped the third spot back and forth several times over the last ten laps and at the checkers it was Sweet who prevailed for the position with defending USAC Midget points champion Cole Whitt rounding out the top five.
As Kevin climbed from his car in victory lane his mother Amy looked around and asked "where's Sammy", but the youngster had to celebrate without his father as Sammy was strapping himself into Ricky Logan's car #10 in preparation for the twenty-lap Sprint Car main event that was up next. Logan had some family commitments that he needed to tend to and with Swindell in town to run, and win the Master's Classic the night before (driving Clint Garner's #40) who better to fill in for the evening? For the second week in a row, the right qualifying time and the proper draw of the invert pill by the fastest qualifier landed point leader Johnny Herrera on the front row of the starting grid and he wasted no time establishing a solid lead. Terry McCarl moved quickly from eighth to second and when the caution waved for Joey Moughan who had stopped in turn one, the crowd was energized as McCarl pulled alongside Herrera under caution to let him know who was second and then Swindell pulled alongside McCarl as if to say, "hey don't forget that you have me back here".
Herrera again opened a bit of a lead, but it shrunk quickly as the lead trio quickly approached traffic with eight laps to go. The leader was able to put a few cars between himself and his challengers and Swindell drove past McCarl for the second spot. With two to go, the two lapped cars between Herrera and Swindell slipped out of the groove and Swindell stormed by quickly closing in on the leader. On the final lap Herrera slipped just a bit off of turn two and Swindell made a run at him trying to squeeze past on the bottom, but Herrera pinched him down entering three to stop the charge and pick up another 2009 win at Knoxville. McCarl finished in third with quick qualifier Dusty Zomer fourth and pole-sitter Skip Jackson was fifth.
K-ville Notes....Brady Bacon was running fifth late in the Midget main after starting eleventh, but he dropped out of the event late in the race....Hall of Fame inductee Fred Rahmer came up one position short of qualifying for the Sprint Car feature as Josh Schneiderman held him off over the final laps of the B-Main......Joey Moughan was impressive in winning his heat race tonight before having mechanical issues in the feature.....Both Brian Brown and Terry McCarl donated their purse money tonight to the family of Chad McDaniel who lost his life the night before in a two car crash during the Midget feature.....There was plenty of speculation, but no cold hard reason that I could report on in regard to the disappointing car count for the USAC Midgets. But I will say that the eighteen cars that started tonight's feature put on one heck of a show!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tragic Night at Knoxville
I have been writing about racing for thirty-one years now and for the first twenty-four of those I never witnessed a fatality at the track and therefore I never had to write about one. In the seven years before last night, I was in the stands when terrible accidents took the lives of Keith Hutton and Steve King, and in both instances I chose not to write a column for Hawkeye Racing News on the event. I felt the same way this morning after learning of the passing of Kansas Midget driver Chad McDaniel after a crash late in the feature race at the Knoxville Raceway. I am not a journalist, I don't write articles with researched information and facts. My columns are my thoughts and observations from my location in the grandstands, and that is it, and when I see someone lose their life in a racing accident, I feel like the rest of what went on that night, good, bad or in between, doesn't really matter. I still feel that way today and while I did start to write a blog this morning to talk about the win of Sammy Swindell in the Masters Classic and the fact that no other driver will likely ever pull off the Chili Bowl/Masters double in the same season, and that Tracy Hines was the eventual winner in the Midget feature, it just didn't feel right. So with that, please know that my thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of Chad McDaniel and, like the too many other drivers who have passed before him, we will assume that he would have wanted racing to carry on just like it will tonight at the Knoxville Raceway.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Iowa and Missouri Points Updated through Memorial Day
It has been another wet spring and while some tracks have been able to get several shows in (ten at West Plains and eight each at Burlington and Boone) some tracks still only have two or three shows in the books through the Memorial Day weekend. Here's hoping that the rain stops falling on race night!
In the All Iowa Points Quincy drivers Mark Burgtorf and Jason Frankel continue to lead the Late Model standings with Kevin Blum on the move up to the third spot one point ahead of Jeff Aikey. Jeremy Mills continues to pace the Modified class while Adam Larson has made the big move up to second ahead of Ryan Dolan. Jay Noteboom and defending champion Todd Shute are tied for fourth.
It remains a tight four horse race in the Limited Mods as Austin Kaplan and Jesse Sobbing are tied at the top just two points ahead of both Kevin Sather and Luke Wanninger. Shannon Anderson appears to be headed toward his second straight All Iowa Points Hobby Stock title as he enjoys a twenty-five point, or a five feature win equivalent advantage over Devin Smith. Dustin Larson and Kevin Schmauss have cracked the top five along with Chris Hovden. Gary Peiffer puts on the miles in his Des Moines to Webster City to Vinton weekend schedule and his points are adding up as well. He leads Jeremy Campbell, Nathan Chandler and Nate Coopman in the latest update.
Terry McCarl was the man to beat before the All Iowa Points went on hiatus in 1998 and with his return to weekly racing at Knoxville and Husets he may be the standard bearer again. Johnny Herrera has three wins to sit in second with Lynton Jeffrey and Brian Brown next in line. Jody Rosenboom has returned to the top in the 360 division, the class that he has dominated over the past two years. Eagle Raceway regulars Jack Dover, Mike Boston and Billy Alley are next in line. Bobby Mincer showed that he can win on the 1/2-miles as well by traveling up to Webster City this past weekend. The 34 Raceway regular leads the 305 Sprint points over Kevin Hetrick and Jaysin Dittsworth.
In the All Missouri Points the rain-out weary drivers head into the summer months as follows. In the Late Model ranks Randy Korte sits on top with Tim Manville and Terry Phillips next in line. Kyle Berry of Poplar Bluff leads the Limited Late Model contingent with Darin Walker and Shawn Rayfield close behind. Vance Wilson has jumped over two West Plains competitors, Shawn Walsh and Brandon Ball, to now lead the Modified division. Billy Smith, David Shepard, Jason Russell and defending champion Tim Setzer are in a four-way tie for fourth.
This is the first year for tabulating points in the Limited Modified division in Missouri and the race is a close one early on with Brad Smith and Dan Bimson currently tied for the lead. Colt Cheevers sits in third with Blake David and Brian Ziegler next in line. The Sprint Car points are tight as well with Jerrod Hull enjoying a one point advantage over young Josh Fisher. Jesse Hockett, Randy Martin and Joey Montgomery are next in line.
Check out the full point standings for all divisions on the Points page at www.positivelyracing.com
In the All Iowa Points Quincy drivers Mark Burgtorf and Jason Frankel continue to lead the Late Model standings with Kevin Blum on the move up to the third spot one point ahead of Jeff Aikey. Jeremy Mills continues to pace the Modified class while Adam Larson has made the big move up to second ahead of Ryan Dolan. Jay Noteboom and defending champion Todd Shute are tied for fourth.
It remains a tight four horse race in the Limited Mods as Austin Kaplan and Jesse Sobbing are tied at the top just two points ahead of both Kevin Sather and Luke Wanninger. Shannon Anderson appears to be headed toward his second straight All Iowa Points Hobby Stock title as he enjoys a twenty-five point, or a five feature win equivalent advantage over Devin Smith. Dustin Larson and Kevin Schmauss have cracked the top five along with Chris Hovden. Gary Peiffer puts on the miles in his Des Moines to Webster City to Vinton weekend schedule and his points are adding up as well. He leads Jeremy Campbell, Nathan Chandler and Nate Coopman in the latest update.
Terry McCarl was the man to beat before the All Iowa Points went on hiatus in 1998 and with his return to weekly racing at Knoxville and Husets he may be the standard bearer again. Johnny Herrera has three wins to sit in second with Lynton Jeffrey and Brian Brown next in line. Jody Rosenboom has returned to the top in the 360 division, the class that he has dominated over the past two years. Eagle Raceway regulars Jack Dover, Mike Boston and Billy Alley are next in line. Bobby Mincer showed that he can win on the 1/2-miles as well by traveling up to Webster City this past weekend. The 34 Raceway regular leads the 305 Sprint points over Kevin Hetrick and Jaysin Dittsworth.
In the All Missouri Points the rain-out weary drivers head into the summer months as follows. In the Late Model ranks Randy Korte sits on top with Tim Manville and Terry Phillips next in line. Kyle Berry of Poplar Bluff leads the Limited Late Model contingent with Darin Walker and Shawn Rayfield close behind. Vance Wilson has jumped over two West Plains competitors, Shawn Walsh and Brandon Ball, to now lead the Modified division. Billy Smith, David Shepard, Jason Russell and defending champion Tim Setzer are in a four-way tie for fourth.
This is the first year for tabulating points in the Limited Modified division in Missouri and the race is a close one early on with Brad Smith and Dan Bimson currently tied for the lead. Colt Cheevers sits in third with Blake David and Brian Ziegler next in line. The Sprint Car points are tight as well with Jerrod Hull enjoying a one point advantage over young Josh Fisher. Jesse Hockett, Randy Martin and Joey Montgomery are next in line.
Check out the full point standings for all divisions on the Points page at www.positivelyracing.com
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Herrera Holds Back McCarl, Dobesh Also Wins at Knoxville
Johnny Herrera fought off a slide job by Terry McCarl on the final lap to win the 410 Sprint feature at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday night, while Bryan Dobesh dominated the field in the 360 c.i. Sprints.
Young Josh Schneiderman blew by pole sitter Mark Dobmeier and quickly opened a sizable lead in the twenty-lap finale for the 410 division. A caution for a spinning Pete Crall on lap three wiped out that advantage though and on the restart Johnny Herrera drove by Schneiderman for the lead in turn one. With Herrera now comfortably up front, the show was mid-pack as Terry McCarl was steadily picking off cars after starting in the twelfth position. With five laps remaining McCarl slipped by Lynton Jeffrey for second, but he was still a full straightaway behind Herrera. The race changed dramatically two laps later though when the hub broke on the right front wheel of the car of Billy Alley bringing out the caution and setting up a three-lap showdown. Alley was running fourth at the time of his misfortune.
On the restart Herrera went low into turn one to block McCarl's first attempt and again in turns three and four he entered low and then drifted to the cushion. Herrera drove the same line in both sets of turns the next lap and it looked like McCarl would not even be able to make a bid for the win. As the leaders took the white flag though Herrera stayed up on the cushion going into turn one and "T-Mac" took his shot with the slider. As McCarl drifted up the track Herrera had to give just a bit of ground to keep the two from making contact, but he maintained his momentum and the lead down the backstretch. McCarl made one last run at him off the low side of turn four heading for the checkers and Herrera won it by a little more than a car length at the stripe. Jeffrey followed the duo in for third with Brian Brown fourth and Kerry Madsen fifth.
Bryan Dobesh left little doubt as to who would win the 360 main event starting outside of row one and dominating the entire fifteen-lap distance. Last week's winner Ryan Roberts started next to Dobesh and had to fight off a mid-race challenge from Jonathan Cornell to hold on for the runner-up finish. Point leader Clint Garner put on a show coming from sixteenth to take third with Cornell and Matt Moro completing the top five.
Knoxville Knotes.....Madsen started next to McCarl on row six of the feature and was still in eighth for the final restart. He passed three cars in the final three laps to crack the top five.....Mark Dobmeier changed motors after qualifying and then won the third heat in dominating fashion. In the feature though his pole position start resulted in just a sixth-place finish.....After setting quick time Terry McCarl noted that he is just having fun this season and not chasing points anywhere. He said that a #24 car would be at Knoxville the rest of the year and, if it wasn't him in the seat, it would be Lynton Jeffrey in the backup car.....Chad Humston followed up an ASCS Midwest Region win on Thursday night at the I-80 Speedway in Nebraska with a sixth-place run in tonight's 360 main event.....The two upside down incidents of the night came during the first two attempts at starting the 360 B-Main. Chad Heimbaugh got into the turn one fence and ended up on his side while Travis Porter also took a bit of a tumble in turn one. Neither driver was injured.....Jon Corbin dropped out of the B-Main with three laps remaining while running second allowing infrequent Knoxville visitor Ryan Bickett to pick up the final transfer position.....the USAC Midget Nationals take center stage at the Knoxville Raceway next weekend. On Friday night the mighty midgets will be joined by the annual Masters Classic and on Saturday night the 410's will be on hand.
Morgan and I spent Friday and Saturday in Des Moines watching the human races on the blue oval at Drake Stadium for the Iowa High School co-ed track meet and we were originally set to be in Burlington Saturday night for the World of Outlaw Late Model show. A quick check of the radar though showed some heavy rain around southeast Iowa so we hung around Pella until we heard the news that the show at 34 had been rained out. The World of Outlaws are looking for a possible make-up date for that event so keep an eye out for that announcement. Also, the West Liberty Raceway was rained out on Saturday so they will now run a full program on Memorial Day Monday night with extra money on the line in the NASCAR Late Models.
Young Josh Schneiderman blew by pole sitter Mark Dobmeier and quickly opened a sizable lead in the twenty-lap finale for the 410 division. A caution for a spinning Pete Crall on lap three wiped out that advantage though and on the restart Johnny Herrera drove by Schneiderman for the lead in turn one. With Herrera now comfortably up front, the show was mid-pack as Terry McCarl was steadily picking off cars after starting in the twelfth position. With five laps remaining McCarl slipped by Lynton Jeffrey for second, but he was still a full straightaway behind Herrera. The race changed dramatically two laps later though when the hub broke on the right front wheel of the car of Billy Alley bringing out the caution and setting up a three-lap showdown. Alley was running fourth at the time of his misfortune.
On the restart Herrera went low into turn one to block McCarl's first attempt and again in turns three and four he entered low and then drifted to the cushion. Herrera drove the same line in both sets of turns the next lap and it looked like McCarl would not even be able to make a bid for the win. As the leaders took the white flag though Herrera stayed up on the cushion going into turn one and "T-Mac" took his shot with the slider. As McCarl drifted up the track Herrera had to give just a bit of ground to keep the two from making contact, but he maintained his momentum and the lead down the backstretch. McCarl made one last run at him off the low side of turn four heading for the checkers and Herrera won it by a little more than a car length at the stripe. Jeffrey followed the duo in for third with Brian Brown fourth and Kerry Madsen fifth.
Bryan Dobesh left little doubt as to who would win the 360 main event starting outside of row one and dominating the entire fifteen-lap distance. Last week's winner Ryan Roberts started next to Dobesh and had to fight off a mid-race challenge from Jonathan Cornell to hold on for the runner-up finish. Point leader Clint Garner put on a show coming from sixteenth to take third with Cornell and Matt Moro completing the top five.
Knoxville Knotes.....Madsen started next to McCarl on row six of the feature and was still in eighth for the final restart. He passed three cars in the final three laps to crack the top five.....Mark Dobmeier changed motors after qualifying and then won the third heat in dominating fashion. In the feature though his pole position start resulted in just a sixth-place finish.....After setting quick time Terry McCarl noted that he is just having fun this season and not chasing points anywhere. He said that a #24 car would be at Knoxville the rest of the year and, if it wasn't him in the seat, it would be Lynton Jeffrey in the backup car.....Chad Humston followed up an ASCS Midwest Region win on Thursday night at the I-80 Speedway in Nebraska with a sixth-place run in tonight's 360 main event.....The two upside down incidents of the night came during the first two attempts at starting the 360 B-Main. Chad Heimbaugh got into the turn one fence and ended up on his side while Travis Porter also took a bit of a tumble in turn one. Neither driver was injured.....Jon Corbin dropped out of the B-Main with three laps remaining while running second allowing infrequent Knoxville visitor Ryan Bickett to pick up the final transfer position.....the USAC Midget Nationals take center stage at the Knoxville Raceway next weekend. On Friday night the mighty midgets will be joined by the annual Masters Classic and on Saturday night the 410's will be on hand.
Morgan and I spent Friday and Saturday in Des Moines watching the human races on the blue oval at Drake Stadium for the Iowa High School co-ed track meet and we were originally set to be in Burlington Saturday night for the World of Outlaw Late Model show. A quick check of the radar though showed some heavy rain around southeast Iowa so we hung around Pella until we heard the news that the show at 34 had been rained out. The World of Outlaws are looking for a possible make-up date for that event so keep an eye out for that announcement. Also, the West Liberty Raceway was rained out on Saturday so they will now run a full program on Memorial Day Monday night with extra money on the line in the NASCAR Late Models.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
No Marshalltown Miscue for Tesch; Takes First Ever Appearance by USMTS
After letting one slip away the night before, South Dakota driver Jon Tesch was flawless on Wednesday night leading all forty laps to win the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) main event at the Marshalltown Speedway. It was the first ever appearance for the group at the high-banked quarter-mile after being rained out in their scheduled debut here in 2008.
A field of forty-two Modifieds filled the pits at Marshalltown and it was the same two drivers up front at the end of the night that were deciding the outcome the night before in Oskaloosa. The main event got off to a rough start as second row starters, and potential contenders, Tommy Myer and Ryan Dolan made contact coming out of turn four to complete the first lap. The field went scrambling behind them with several other cars sustaining damage. Both Myer and Dolan were towed away to the pits while the third row of Rodney Sanders and Scott Drake were also eliminated. Pole-starter Kelly Shryock had the jump on that first start, but on the restart it was fellow front row man Jon Tesch who picked up the lead. Shryock, the many time USMTS National Champion, picked up the chase in second until the fourth circuit when he went too high in turn two and slipped over the banking. Shryock recovered, but lost seven positions due to the miscue.
This put Oklahoma driver Jason Hughes back in the role that he played the night before in chasing Tesch. While the field raced three and sometimes four wide behind them, Tesch and Hughes would pull away making it obvious that the race would be decided between the two of them. With the laps winding down Tesch developed a bit of a push in turn four giving Hughes the opportunity to get a wheel under him, but on this night there were no mistakes by Tesch as he held on for victory. Zack VanderBeek came from the outside of row eight to finish in the third position with young Ryan Gustin thrilling his hometown fans by taking fourth after starting in row seven. Shryock had worked his way back into the top five only to be passed on the final lap by Corey Dripps who had started next to VanderBeek as the third, fourth and fifth place finishers showed just how racy this track was by feature time.
In support class action David Atcher made his first appearance at the Speedway in 2009 and went flag-to-flag to win the Stock Car main event. It was the first victory for Atcher here since 2005. Tom Schmitt made quite a run at Atcher over the final two laps, but came up just short in second with Curt Hook, Mike VanGenderen and Clayton Deppe next in line. Thirty-four Sport Mods/B-Modifieds from all over the state were on hand tonight and when the checkers flew it was a very familiar face in victory lane. Kevin Sather has won every feature race in 2009 at Marshalltown in this division thus far, so when he drew a front row starting spot for the main event it was a pretty good bet that the win would be his. Kyle Brown stayed close though and was even able to pull alongside in the corners on a few occasions before settling for second. Luke Wanninger edged out Scott Davis for the third spot while A.J. Johnson made the most of his first Marshalltown appearance by coming from row ten to take fifth. And in the Hobby Stock portion of the card Todd Reitzler shook off an early challenge from Nathan Wood and then cruised to victory. The race saw three attempts at a green-white-checkers restart and on the final one Kenny Hansen was able slip by Wood out of turn four to steal the runner-up position. Chad Koch finished fourth with Dustin Elliott fifth.
M-Town Notes.....Kenny Wallace and Kenny Schrader were on hand again tonight and both of them raced their way into the feature with Wallace finishing ninth and Schrader twelfth. Unlike the night before at Osky, both NASCAR veterans were brought out to the frontstretch during the evening to be interviewed by announcer Denny Grabenbauer and both were very entertaining. I have had the pleasure on several occasions to interview these two characters and I have learned to ask them a basic question and then just let them roll and that is exactly what Denny did. In a pre-race interview Wallace had the capacity crowd whooping and hollering and then did a pretty good Ric Flair championship belt strut, something that he probably saw a few times this past week when the professional wrestling icon was part of the marketing campaign for the Sprint Cup All-Star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Schrader's interview was at intermission after he had finished second to Mike O'Lear in the third heat race. When asked if he would know his way to the Aaron's Victory Lane at the Marshalltown Speedway Schrader's response was "yea, and when I get there I won't be doing no backflips or anything like that. I'll just sit on the tire and drink a Bud Light". We'll look forward to seeing Schrader compete with the World of Outlaw Late Models at 34 Raceway this Saturday night May 23rd.....Geoff Olson had a top five run go by the wayside in the SportMod feature when he popped a driveshaft with just a few laps to go.....The warm and windy conditions dried out the track quickly tonight and in the second SportMod heat six of the eight starters spun out at least once during the race. But, with the spin-your-in rule in effect, they all kept racing making for an interesting eight laps. By feature time though the track had taken rubber and drivers could run well from top to bottom. In fact as the Stock Car field came out of turn four to complete the first lap they were five-wide!....For the second straight night USMTS rookie contender Tim Shields of Kansas City drew the pole of the first heat race. Last night at Osky he didn't make it to staging in time and had to then start at the rear. He was on time tonight.....There are some things that I just never thought I would hear such as "the Tampa Bay Rays, American League champions" or "Brett Favre stays retired" (guess I still haven't heard that one for sure yet), but I really never thought that I would hear "and now here's your lineup for the IMCA USRA Hobby Stock main event". Maybe now Favre will stay retired.....I always know that when I go to see a Toby Kruse promoted show, or a USMTS-run event by Todd Staley and his family, I am going to see a well-presented program. The combination of the two was a sure thing and it lived up to expectations.
A field of forty-two Modifieds filled the pits at Marshalltown and it was the same two drivers up front at the end of the night that were deciding the outcome the night before in Oskaloosa. The main event got off to a rough start as second row starters, and potential contenders, Tommy Myer and Ryan Dolan made contact coming out of turn four to complete the first lap. The field went scrambling behind them with several other cars sustaining damage. Both Myer and Dolan were towed away to the pits while the third row of Rodney Sanders and Scott Drake were also eliminated. Pole-starter Kelly Shryock had the jump on that first start, but on the restart it was fellow front row man Jon Tesch who picked up the lead. Shryock, the many time USMTS National Champion, picked up the chase in second until the fourth circuit when he went too high in turn two and slipped over the banking. Shryock recovered, but lost seven positions due to the miscue.
This put Oklahoma driver Jason Hughes back in the role that he played the night before in chasing Tesch. While the field raced three and sometimes four wide behind them, Tesch and Hughes would pull away making it obvious that the race would be decided between the two of them. With the laps winding down Tesch developed a bit of a push in turn four giving Hughes the opportunity to get a wheel under him, but on this night there were no mistakes by Tesch as he held on for victory. Zack VanderBeek came from the outside of row eight to finish in the third position with young Ryan Gustin thrilling his hometown fans by taking fourth after starting in row seven. Shryock had worked his way back into the top five only to be passed on the final lap by Corey Dripps who had started next to VanderBeek as the third, fourth and fifth place finishers showed just how racy this track was by feature time.
In support class action David Atcher made his first appearance at the Speedway in 2009 and went flag-to-flag to win the Stock Car main event. It was the first victory for Atcher here since 2005. Tom Schmitt made quite a run at Atcher over the final two laps, but came up just short in second with Curt Hook, Mike VanGenderen and Clayton Deppe next in line. Thirty-four Sport Mods/B-Modifieds from all over the state were on hand tonight and when the checkers flew it was a very familiar face in victory lane. Kevin Sather has won every feature race in 2009 at Marshalltown in this division thus far, so when he drew a front row starting spot for the main event it was a pretty good bet that the win would be his. Kyle Brown stayed close though and was even able to pull alongside in the corners on a few occasions before settling for second. Luke Wanninger edged out Scott Davis for the third spot while A.J. Johnson made the most of his first Marshalltown appearance by coming from row ten to take fifth. And in the Hobby Stock portion of the card Todd Reitzler shook off an early challenge from Nathan Wood and then cruised to victory. The race saw three attempts at a green-white-checkers restart and on the final one Kenny Hansen was able slip by Wood out of turn four to steal the runner-up position. Chad Koch finished fourth with Dustin Elliott fifth.
M-Town Notes.....Kenny Wallace and Kenny Schrader were on hand again tonight and both of them raced their way into the feature with Wallace finishing ninth and Schrader twelfth. Unlike the night before at Osky, both NASCAR veterans were brought out to the frontstretch during the evening to be interviewed by announcer Denny Grabenbauer and both were very entertaining. I have had the pleasure on several occasions to interview these two characters and I have learned to ask them a basic question and then just let them roll and that is exactly what Denny did. In a pre-race interview Wallace had the capacity crowd whooping and hollering and then did a pretty good Ric Flair championship belt strut, something that he probably saw a few times this past week when the professional wrestling icon was part of the marketing campaign for the Sprint Cup All-Star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Schrader's interview was at intermission after he had finished second to Mike O'Lear in the third heat race. When asked if he would know his way to the Aaron's Victory Lane at the Marshalltown Speedway Schrader's response was "yea, and when I get there I won't be doing no backflips or anything like that. I'll just sit on the tire and drink a Bud Light". We'll look forward to seeing Schrader compete with the World of Outlaw Late Models at 34 Raceway this Saturday night May 23rd.....Geoff Olson had a top five run go by the wayside in the SportMod feature when he popped a driveshaft with just a few laps to go.....The warm and windy conditions dried out the track quickly tonight and in the second SportMod heat six of the eight starters spun out at least once during the race. But, with the spin-your-in rule in effect, they all kept racing making for an interesting eight laps. By feature time though the track had taken rubber and drivers could run well from top to bottom. In fact as the Stock Car field came out of turn four to complete the first lap they were five-wide!....For the second straight night USMTS rookie contender Tim Shields of Kansas City drew the pole of the first heat race. Last night at Osky he didn't make it to staging in time and had to then start at the rear. He was on time tonight.....There are some things that I just never thought I would hear such as "the Tampa Bay Rays, American League champions" or "Brett Favre stays retired" (guess I still haven't heard that one for sure yet), but I really never thought that I would hear "and now here's your lineup for the IMCA USRA Hobby Stock main event". Maybe now Favre will stay retired.....I always know that when I go to see a Toby Kruse promoted show, or a USMTS-run event by Todd Staley and his family, I am going to see a well-presented program. The combination of the two was a sure thing and it lived up to expectations.
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