Saturday Morning Notebook April 30 2011

Looking through race stories and comments on the forums it appears that several Friday night tracks in the area had yellow fever last evening. I think we forget just how much a strong and persistent wind effects tracks conditions......410 Sprints are alive and well in west central Illinois. Twenty-five cars at Jacksonville's opener last night with the veteran Jim Moughan taking the win......Billy Moyer returned to his native state to earn ten grand at Farley last night and he will look to double that tonight in West Liberty. Seven-time All Iowa Points champ Ron Barker won the IMCA Modified main event.....New Mexico's Johnny Scott topped a field of 53 USMTS Modifieds at Outlaw Motor Speedway in Muskogee, Oklahoma.....Jill George used a provisional and finished 20th in the World of Outlaw Late Model show won by Darrell Lanigan in Hartford, Michigan. George is currently 17th in series points......short notebook today, several area tracks hosting their openers tonight and others holding their second, third, fourth or in the case of Boone, fifth race of the season. While I'm celebrating the 50th birthday of a friend tonight I hope that you are able to take in some action at the speedway of your choice. Enjoy!

Guss and Foster Among Winners At Lee County Opener

Following two straight weeks of putting too much moisture into the track Mother Nature switched course and did everything she could to take it out of the Lee County Speedway during the 2011 season opener in Donnellson Friday night. A stiff east wind continued after sunset keeping the surface dry and dusty for the huge field of 130 cars in six divisions and several drivers struggled with the conditions. A couple of well-timed watering sessions by promoter Terry Hoenig made for multi-grooved action though and the racing was good between the cautions.

The Sport Mod feature was the first on the list and they did not set a good tone for the evening with four cautions in the first three-laps for the twenty-two car starting field. When they were racing eventual front row starters Jeff Mueller and Dylan Book did battle for the lead with Book taking the win after the checkered flag waved following the sixth caution and eight completed laps. The young driver told the crowd from victory lane that he planned to make the long trip down from Adel to compete here every Friday night and for Mueller it was an impressive debut in the 3D roofing ride that Jason Cook drove to a track championship here last year. Dean Kratzer finished in the third spot, Mike Shelton was fourth and Rick Barlow Jr. took fifth.

Dan Wenig started from the inside of row three for the Hobby Stock feature and when the drivers in front of him slipped up the track in turns one and two on the opening lap the veteran driver said "thanks guys" and drove to the lead down the back stretch. Four cautions would keep the field bunched together and the last of those occurred when a three-wide battle for second between Dane Fenton, Rob Wilsey and Matt Gavin went bad with Gavin and Wilsey smacking the guardrail in turn one as Gavin tried to split the other two and ran out of room. On the restart Fenton applied some pressure over the final laps, but he could not keep Wenig from taking the win on opening night. Jim Lynch came from row five to finish third followed by Nick Fenton and Ray Raker. Nathan Anders who was the cause of the first caution, restarted seventeenth and came back to finish sixth.

The IMCA Late Models were making a special appearance tonight with 24 drivers on hand looking for the $1,000 top prize and with Mark Burgtorf and Ray Guss Jr. drawing the front row for the twenty-five-lap feature it was a pretty good bet that your winner would be one of those two. This race went green to checkers with Burgtorf chasing Guss and on a couple of occasions Mark was able to stick his nose under the leader, but there was no stopping the defending champion of everything in the IMCA Late Model division as Guss took the win. Burgtorf had to fight off a few challenges from Jason Perry as well to finish second, Perry was third followed by Justin Reed while Jeff Aikey took fifth. Charlie McKenna, Rob Toland, Jason Frankel, Boone McLaughlin and Tom Bowling Jr. filled out the top ten.

A solid field of thirty IMCA Modifieds were on hand for opening night and that included three or four drivers who will normally race at the Davenport Speedway, a track that had another type of event going on this Friday night. One of those visitors, Kevin Goben raced to the early lead in the twenty-lap finale only to have former track champion Josh Foster go blasting by on lap five. Foster had started seventh and appeared to be the class of the field only to have Dennis LaVeine mount a challenge late in the event. LaVeine was able to pull up to Foster's rear bumper a couple of times, but could not find a way around him as Josh earned the opening night trophy. Brandon Rothzen nearly stole second away from LaVeine at the checkers as he finished third followed by Tyler Cale and Jim Roach. Jeff Waterman had to win the B-Main to start this one from row nine and he raced his way up to sixth.

The IMCA Stock Cars were up next and after celebrating the birth of his first child this past week, it seemed unlikely that the rest of the field would be able to keep Jeff Mueller from going to victory lane tonight. Mueller started on the inside of row two and blew past Jeremy Pundt and Jason Cook on the opening lap. He then walked away from the competition and won going away putting that first trophy in his little girl's nursery. Jim Redman and Kevin Tomlinson were racing door-to-door for second on the final lap until contact in turn two saw Tomlinson hop a wheel and slap the guardrail losing several positions. Redman started eighth and finished second, Jason Cook settled in for third, Matt Greiner moved from tenth to fourth and Cale Samberg wound up fifth.

With Christine scheduled to work early on Saturday we headed for the car as the four cylinder Wild Things came on the track for the final feature of the night and I was amazed that the wind was still blowing strong at a sustained twenty miles per hour or more at this time of night. Thank goodness it was blowing from the east, from turn one to turn three, as it kept the grandstand and likely most of the pit area dust free but it sure did create challenging conditions for all involved on this night. Expect the track to be back to its normal sticky self, weather-willing, as action continues next Friday night at the Lee County Speedway.

Lasoski, Darbyshire, Mueller, MOWA, 34 Raceway.....Everybody Finally Beats Mother Nature!

They had to fight the weather every step of the way but with the long-term legwork of Kenny Dobson and partners Joey Moughan and Jeremy Standridge, and the short-term persistence of Jeff and Amy Laue and their crew, the inaugural event for the Monster Energy Drink Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) 410 Sprint series at 34 Raceway was a big success Saturday night. The pre-race promotion and recruitment of the drivers by the series resulted in a potential entrants list that had everyone excited and it was likely due to that pre-race anticipation that the folks at 34 Raceway decided to put in the yeoman effort to fight off another full week of rain just to get the facility ready to race. And, after all that work, with a full pit area and a darn near full grandstand, they sure weren’t going to let a series of random sprinkles during the actual races wash away their efforts.


MOWA had estimated around thirty-five entrants for the event, but with a few surprises such as Danny Lasoski, Kerry Madsen and Craig Dollansky following an early morning rainout of the World of Outlaws in Oklahoma, the count ended up at thirty-nine. And with this also being the opening night for track points in the Late Model and Stock Car division, there were twenty-six cars in each partially due to the fact Boone was the only other track in the region able to race tonight.

Lasoski drew the outside pole for the MOWA thirty-lap main event and darted to the early lead. Dollansky moved quickly from sixth up to second and when the leader started to deal with lapped traffic on lap four the gap closed quickly. Third-starting Kerry Madsen was also on the charge and when Dollansky was held up by a slower car on the low side of turn four on lap six Madsen made his move to the outside. Dollansky moved up the track on the front stretch and the space between the car he was passing and the wall closed quickly for Madsen. The two contenders made contact breaking the front end on Dollansky’s #7 and causing Madsen’s #92 to smack the wall with his right rear tire. As Dollansky helplessly turned down the track Robbie Standridge had nowhere to go and tipped his car over bringing out the red. The Big Game Treestands crew tried to make repairs to the #7 car during the break, but they were not able to restart.

Once back to green, Lasoski again opened up a large lead only to have Madsen reel him in quickly and pass him on lap eleven. The time at the front for Madsen was short though as a lap later his right rear tire went flat, likely from damage during his earlier incident with Dollansky. With his two primary challengers now on the shelf it looked as though Lasoski would have an easy drive for the win. Joey Moughan and Kaley Gharst had a different plan though. Moughan had held off Lasoski earlier in a heat race and he was closing in on Lasoski as the laps wound down and just behind him you had Gharst who had started from row nine after winning the second B-Main. When Moughan nearly drove off the top side of turn two with five laps to go, Gharst drove under him for second and he now had to make up a full straightaway to catch “The Dude”.

Much of the crowd were on their feet and waving their arms trying to give the chaser any help that they could and when the white flag flew Kaley was within striking distance. He drove hard to the inside of turn one pulling almost even with the rim-riding Lasoski, but when he could not hold his line and drifted up the track in turn two the wily veteran pulled away down the backstretch and negotiated turns three and four flawlessly to claim the $2,500 victory. Lasoski was the winner, but Gharst was the “hero” on this night coming from eighteenth to second. Moughan was impressive in the third spot, Brandon Wimmer finished fourth and Jerrod Hull completed the top five.

This was an impressive debut for the MOWA organization as not only did they prove that they could get drivers (Hurley, Faucon, Bruns, Charron, Vandervere, etc.) who in the past never would have even thought of pulling over to Burlington for a 410 show, but they showed that they have the respect of the Knoxville regulars and even the Outlaws to compete with them when they are given the opportunity. The next event on the MOWA schedule is Friday May 13th at Jacksonville, Illinois, and they return to 34 Raceway on September 24th. You can find both of these events and much more on the Specials calendar at Positively Racing.com.

The IMCA Late Model feature had a bit of drama mid-race involving Rob Toland and Tom Darbyshire. Keith Pratt was the early leader on a track that was lightning fast, but had the drivers looking for a smooth line due to the week-long precipitation. Toland had started sixth and moved into challenge Pratt taking the point on lap eight. Darbyshire was keeping pace with the new leader and on lap fourteen when Toland quickly closed on a slower car entering turn one on the high line he turned hard left looking for the bottom groove. Darbyshire was already there and was not about to lift so the two cars slapped doors hard with Darbyshire holding the advantage off of turn two. Toland was right on his bumper though, literally, and from the contact both cars got sideways down the back stretch. Darbyshire slid to the infield but kept going driving back onto the track in turn three while Toland slid sideways to a halt just before entering turn three bringing out the caution. Rather than starting at the rear Toland headed to the pits while Darbyshire would restart from the front having crossed the line in second on the last fully completed lap. Denny Woodworth kept the pressure on over the final laps, but would have to settle for second as Darbyshire held on for the victory. Tom Goble moved from a fifth row start to finish third, Jason Frankel came from the seventh row to take fourth and Jason Perry rounded out the top five.

The IMCA Stock Car feature was the first of the night and the large field ran a clean and entertaining twenty laps that saw just one caution period. Jeff Mueller passed John Oliver Jr. on lap seven and drove on to the win with Oliver taking second. Corey Strothman came from ninth to finish third, Matt Greiner moved from row eight up to fourth and Derek St. Clair was fifth after starting in the seventh row. Two drivers saw top-five runs come to an end late as Abe Huls dropped out while running fourth with four laps remaining and Brett Timmerman went by the wayside while third with just two laps to go.

A big thumbs up to everybody at 34 Raceway for putting in the extra effort to make this show even happen as it was exactly what the doctor ordered for a lot of race-starved fans and drivers. Despite at least three rain delays the final checkered flag still waved at 11:35 p.m. My night started off on a yummy note on the way to the track as I stopped in for a double cheeseburger and fries at the Finish Line restaurant in New London. You can find their ad on the homepage of Positively Racing so stop in sometime whether you are on your way to race or just traveling through southeast Iowa.

Late Model Points From Other States....

With all of the rainouts here in Iowa these are the only points that I have been able to compile here in April.

Alabama

1 Stacy Holmes Munford 14
2 Ronnie Johnson Chattanooga TN 11
3 Dillon Crim Talladega 9
4 Mark Mears Decatur 9
5 Brandon King Decatur 8
6 Jason Wilson Margaret 7
7 William Thomas Phenix City 7
8 Bradley Price Hamilton 6
9 Kelly Hanvey Cullman 6
10 Clint Smith Senoia GA 5
11 Jamie Flannagan Tuscumbia 5
12 Shane Clanton Locust Grove GA 5
13 Terry Smith Anniston 5
14 Tim Busha Boaz 5


Florida
 
1 Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg TN 31
2 Billy Moyer Batesville AR 23
3 Don O'Neal Martinsville IN 20
4 Bryan Bernhardt Clearwater 15
5 Jimmy Owens Newport TN 14
6 Jimmy Mars Elk Mound WI 13
7 Brady Smith Solon Springs WI 11
8 Josh Richards Shinnston WV 11
9 Austin Hubbard Seaford DE 10
10 David Schmauss Tampa 10


Georgia
 
1 Ronnie Johnson Chattanooga TN 15
2 Steve Shaver Vienna WV 10
3 Chip Brindle Chatsworth 9
4 Jonathan Davenport Blairsville 6
5 Derek Ellis Chatsworth 5
6 John Henderson Aiken SC 5
7 Michael Page 5
8 Billy Ogle Jr. Knoxville TN 4
9 Chris Madden Gray Court SC 4
10 Chris Brown Houston TX 4
11 Lamar Haygood 4
12 Ray Cook Brasstown NC 4
13 Riley Hickman Ooltewah TN 4
14 Steve Francis Ashland KY 4


Illinois
 
1 Michael Kloos Trenton 18
2 Ryan Unzicker El Paso 17
3 Mike Spatola Manhattan 11
4 Randy Korte Highland 9
5 Brian Shirley Chatham 8
6 Mark Burgtorf Quincy 8
7 Mike Schulte Summerfield 7
8 Brandon Sheppard New Berlin 6
9 Cory Daugherty Blue Mound 5
10 Frankie Martin DuQuoin 5
11 Jason Perry Payson 5
12 Mark Voigt Marine 5
13 Matt Bailey Quincy 5
14 Mike Hammerle St. Charles MO 5
15 Paul Bailey Pocahontas 5


Louisiana
 
1 Ray Moore Shreveport 13
2 Morgan Bagley Longview TX 8
3 Kenny Merchant West Monroe 7
4 Allen Tippen Minden 5
5 Chris Wall Holden 5
6 Gary Christian Broken Bow OK 5
7 Bub McCool Vicksburg MS 4
8 Chris Holley Dayton TX 4
9 Nicholas Brown 4
10 Timothy Culp West Monroe 4


Mississippi
 
1 Klint Byars Carrollton 14
2 Jimmy Cliburn Star 9
3 Jason Cliburn Star 8
4 David Breazeale Four Corners 6
5 George Paul 6
6 Rodney Wing Meridian 6
7 Steve Bryan Collinsville 6
8 Darrell Lanigan Union KY 5
9 Brooks Strength Byram 5
10 Greg Fore Greenville 5
11 Jay Burchfield 5
12 Neil Baggett Shannon 5


Missouri
 
1 Nick Lyons Centralia IL 10
2 Larry Jones Eldorado Springs 9
3 Justin Wells Aurora 7
4 Terry Phillips Springfield 6
5 Brandon Imhoff Lake Ozark 5
6 Chad Simpson Marion IA 5
7 Dewayne Kiefer 5
8 Ken Essary Galena 5
9 Rylan Long Greenfield 5
10 Tony Jackson Jr. Lebanon 5


North Carolina
 
1 Luke Roffers Concord 13
2 Danny Ledford Warne 10
3 Mike Gault Gaffney SC 7
4 Chris Ferguson Gastonia 5
5 Jonathan Davenport Blairsville GA 5
6 Austin Dillon Lewisville 4
7 David Payne Murphy 4
8 Dustin Mitchell Pine Level 4
9 Johnny Chastain 4
10 Johnny Pursley Clover SC 4


Tennessee
 
1 Lamar Scoggins Cleveland 20
2 Eric Hickerson Linden 18
3 Jimmy Owens Newport 16
4 Terry English Benton KY 16
5 Jeff Walston Paducah KY 14
6 John Owenby 13
7 Carnell Parker III Clarksville 12
8 Tanner English Benton KY 11
9 Ray Cook Brasstown NC 10
10 Tony Morris Murfreesboro 10

Weather Stops Sunday Short-Track Daily Double

Mother Nature stopped me from pulling off something that I haven’t done for more than twenty-five years yesterday, seeing two full short track racing programs in the same day at different tracks. It is not too hard to go to a NASCAR event during the day and then on to a short track that night (Talladega and Talladega Short Track, Daytona and New Smyrna or Volusia, etc.), but the opportunity to do it with two short tracks just does not come along very often. The last time that I can remember doing this was when I announced an afternoon IMCA Modified show at DeSoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida, and then hurried up the road to East Bay Raceway for races that same night in Gibsonton.

My combo for Sunday would be the 34th Annual Spring Classic at the Rockford Speedway followed by the Deery Brothers Summer Series stop at the Quad City Speedway in East Moline. With an hour and forty-five minute drive between the two tracks I would need to have the Rockford show run off efficiently and perhaps have the East Moline show start just a few minutes late in order to see two “full” shows and, as it worked out, the timing could not have been any better.

One of the things that I love about asphalt tracks is that as long as it has not just rained, or is raining, there is no reason to start late and the Rockford show started right on time at one o’clock. It has probably been about twenty years since I was last here and I was amazed at how the neighborhood around the Speedway has changed. The historic track was once nestled into a wooded area well north of the population base of the second largest city in Illinois, but now there is a huge Menard’s and a strip mall across the road to the north, a new-looking hospital just to the east and a very large housing addition was in clear view looking from the grandstand over turn three. The Spring Opener was kicking off the 64th year of continuous operation at the Rockford Speedway and here’s hoping that the new neighbors always remember who was there first.

The Big 8 Late Model series served as the headliner for the afternoon while the Mid-American Stock Cars were the undercard and following the preliminary events the Stock Car fifty-lapper was up first. Pole-sitter Ryan Gutknecht was loose early as he drifted back to seventh in the first two laps with defending series champ Lyle Nowak stuck behind him and fading as well. Veteran driver Bill Prietzel, who was supposed to start fourth but moved up a row when Jake Finney failed to make the call, assumed the lead with James Swan in hot pursuit. The lead duo pulled away from the field and they looked like they would decide it amongst themselves until the first caution of the event waved on lap twenty-six when Chris Storey spun in turn two. With a complete double-file restart Swan started even with Prietzel and the two touched in turn four causing the rest of the field to stack up behind them. Scotty Null was the primary victim as he coasted to a halt when the battery dropped out of his car that had been running fifth prior to the caution.

Once back to action Nowak emerged as a third contender for the lead looking for racing room around Prietzel and Swan, but with just ten laps remaining Nowak drove it too deep into turn three and spun to bring out the final caution. With ten or fewer laps remaining the series uses a single-file restart and Swan went right back to work on Prietzel with the wave of the green. Swan was able to stick a nose under Prietzel on a couple of occasions over the final laps and on his final bid the two touched in turn three coming to the checkers. The two veterans, who between them have won seven of the series’ championships, recovered nicely with Prietzel holding on to take the victory over Swan. Fast qualifier Travis Rodewald advanced from an outside row four start to take third, Jeremy Spoonmore finished fourth and Brian Back was fifth.

The Big 8 Late Models were scheduled to go 108 laps, but first they had to get one in the books as incidents on the first two attempts at a start kept that from happening. One of Rockford’s best, seven-time track champ Bobby Wilberg was involved in both and after changing a right rear tire he would now start the event from the 24th position. Young Zach Riddle would pace the first nine laps of racing before Dale Nottestad muscled his way to the front on lap ten. The caution waved again a lap later this time for fast qualifier Steve Rubeck who had spun in turn two while running fifth. For the restart I was thrilled to see that the Big 8 series uses the “pick and choose” method of lining up with the leader out front and the rest of the field having to drive either below or above a cone on the frontstretch to form up double-file behind him. The process alone adds a bit of a thrill to the event as “The Hammer” Eric Huenefeld made the call over the p.a. system. With the top-side being the preferred groove here at Rockford the second-place driver always picked the high side and I believe that the third-place driver went high every time as well. This meant that the fourth-place driver then had to make a split second decision to either start on the inside of the first double row or on the outside of the third double row and so on. Wilberg, who had been working his way back toward the front using the low-line anyway, always seemed to move up several track positions during the restarts as he would opt for the low side of that cone on each restart. The fact that I had just blogged about this type of restart the day before (see the Saturday Notebook April 16th, 2011) made me enjoy this even more!

Back to racing, Nottestad was in command with the battle for second between Ryan Carlson and defending series champion Jeremy Miller entertaining the sun-soaked and wind-chilled crowd until Miller slowed suddenly on lap 32 ending his day. Matt Berger, the 2010 Sportsman champ here at Rockford, was another driver who was using the low-line on the restarts and he had moved from row six into the top five before he dropped out on lap 78. Nottestad, the Late Model champion at the Madison Speedway, just kept getting stronger as the race wore on and it became obvious that nobody was going to touch him on this day as he left only the top five cars on the lead lap when he took the checkers for the victory. Carlson appeared to have second locked up until his motor soured with fifteen-laps remaining allowing Rubeck to pick up the runner-up honors in an impressive run back to the front after his early spin. Carlson nursed his #55 in for third, Wilberg also came from the back to take fourth while Kyle Shear advanced from row eleven to take fifth.

My return trip to the Rockford Speedway was now completed at 4:05 p.m. and as I sprinted (more like lumbered) back to the car I made a promise to myself to not wait another twenty years to return to one of racing’s gems here in the upper Midwest.

Driving no more than five miles per hour over the speed limit I arrived at the Quad City Speedway just in time for the A-Modified heat race that was kicking off the night of racing on what was now an overcast and chilly evening in East Moline. Making my way into the stands it was obvious that new track manager Shane Davis and his staff had worked incredibly hard to get the track into a condition that would allow for racing this night as the infield was a muddy mess. Following the rains and cold temperatures of the last three days, the track was fast but rough producing some wild action during the four heat races for the Deery Brothers Summer Series Late Models. Local favorite Shawn Mulvaney held off Mark Burgtorf to win the first heat while Rob Toland muscled his way past T.J. Criss in the final laps to take the third and final transfer spot. Heat two saw last week’s winner of the “Slocum 50” Matt Ryan take the win ahead of Jason Perry while Colby Springsteen slipped by Tom Goble on the final lap for third. In heat race number three Series newcomer Travis Denning of Sterling, Illinois, was impressive holding off an aggressive challenge from Dan Shelliam to lead until the caution waved with three laps remaining. On the restart Denning was now under fire from Shelliam, Brian Harris and Mike Murphy Jr. and on the final lap the top four exited turn four using four different lines in what had to be the second most thrilling finish in racing that day (have you seen the finish at Talladega??). Shelliam took the win, Harris was second, Murphy was credited with third while Denning would end up one spot out of qualifying in fourth. Many in the crowd, including me, thought that Denning had actually crossed the line ahead of Murphy, but I’ll trust that the guys sitting ten feet behind the flagstand had a much better view of it than I did. In the fourth and final heat series point leader Terry Neal appeared to have things well in hand until he had suspension problems in the left front during a mid-race caution. Neal stayed on the track and would have still won the qualifier if not for the high-side charge from Ray Guss Jr. who swept by for the victory. Neal held on for second while Eric Gustaf qualified in third.

A check of the radar as the first of two IMCA Modified heats came to the track showed a narrow line of showers approaching from the southwest and it became obvious that this show would soon be in trouble. Burlington’s Bill Roberts Jr. won the first heat and the second was under caution with two laps to go when the rain started to fall. It didn’t rain hard, but it did rain for at least twenty minutes and with a track that was already holding more than its fair share of moisture the announcement was made that the remainder of the show would be scrubbed. After putting in a gallant effort just to have a chance to race, this scenario could not have been any more frustrating for Davis, but he showed his cool as fans approached him about the decision with the sea of mud and a greasy track just behind him. It was a tough opening night experience, so if Shane can weather this one there are definitely brighter days ahead.

A big thanks to Davis and to Lisa Sanders for their hospitality and I look forward to returning to East Moline for some Sunday night action later this season. Officially I did not pull off the short-track Daily Double due to the rainout, but I did see plenty of laps of racing on an April Sunday both on pavement and dirt! Boone and Stuart were the only two All Iowa Points paying tracks that completed a full show this weekend and if the forecast for the week ahead holds true, getting a race night in may again be a challenge this coming weekend. Hopefully that will change.